mohammed teddy bear *edit* poll added

[PinkPunch]

Can I ask a Q -

Are Christians offended by people who don't believe in Jesus?

It wouldn't offend me at all and I have yet to meet a Christian offended by non believers for simply not being a Christian.

 

[skairdykat]

IMO ALL religion should be eradicted, how many wars would not have been fought if there was no religion?

 

[glitzyglamgirl]

Glad to see this thread has taken an interesting turn that we can discuss maturely

I have met Christians who are offended by me not believing what they do, infact as a Pagan I've been to a few events where Christians are stood outside protesting, standing on boxes with loud speakers telling us we are children of the devil, sinners, are damned etc etc. My usual response is I dont believe in the devil as I am not a christian, and the usual reply to that is "well he believes in you and has fooled you into thinking he doesnt exist"....you just cant win

But I understand these types of christians are a minority, as I also know many christians (and jews, and muslims) who are totally secure in their faith and respect others rights to their own beliefs, and are very open minded.

My own personal opinion on religion as a whole is something ive so far declined from writing about on here, as I dont want to offend anyone who is religious, so lets just say I respect everyones right to believe whatever it is they believe and I wish more people could be like that.

 

[Squiglet]

Glad to see this thread has taken an interesting turn that we can discuss maturely

I have met Christians who are offended by me not believing what they do, infact as a Pagan I've been to a few events where Christians are stood outside protesting, standing on boxes with loud speakers telling us we are children of the devil, sinners, are damned etc etc. My usual response is I dont believe in the devil as I am not a christian, and the usual reply to that is "well he believes in you and has fooled you into thinking he doesnt exist"....you just cant win

But I understand these types of christians are a minority, as I also know many christians (and jews, and muslims) who are totally secure in their faith and respect others rights to their own beliefs, and are very open minded.

My own personal opinion on religion as a whole is something ive so far declined from writing about on here, as I dont want to offend anyone who is religious, so lets just say I respect everyones right to believe whatever it is they believe and I wish more people could be like that.

I just want to back up GGG on this one... I am also Pagan... and the mere fact of my Paganism offends many Christians... I'm not sure why... but what GGG describes about Christians protesting at many Pagan gatherings, is not a lie...although considering how widely spread Christianity is, these are but a small minority... but it does not mean that there are not Christians out there who are offended by not believing in Jesus Christ.

I think the reason why some people, Christians, Jews, Muslims alike... have issues with other religions is because they are insecure in their own beliefs. And the reason why the three religions I have mentioned above have most problems with each other, is because the origins of their religions are very much intertwined with each other, and their seperation is only due to the fact of human interpretation of the original written word. Over 2000 years, translations into many different languages (including some dead ones).. obviously there might be some discrepencies. But each religion teaches the same basic construct of peace and love and its a shame that politics and crazy people come in and obscure that...

I am very secure in my own beliefs and having people declare I will go to hell etc etc, doesn't bother me in the slightest ... But then my beliefs (which would be to complex to explain on a forum) are unique, and specific to me.. which means I have compelete confidence in them...

 

[lauramumof2]

Im not being smart here btw, is paganism related to witchcraft or is that something different. Its a genuine question. Im curious.

 

[Squiglet]

Im not being smart here btw, is paganism related to witchcraft or is that something different. Its a genuine question. Im curious.

Witchcraft is to Paganism as Baptists are to Christianity (for example).. Paganism is the umbrella... witchcraft is only a small part of it. Witchcraft has negative connotations for many people but like all things... you get the good and the bad.. just like every religion... after all Hitler called himself a Christian...

 

[PinkPunch]

I would like to let you know where I stand on this (I sound like Im from Dragons Den now lol).. because I believe in the Lord Jesus, anyone who has not accepted him as their saviour is not saved and will not be able to enter heaven. Regardless of what religion / tradition / rituals you take part in.. only Jesus can save.

"I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me." John 14 v 6.

I think its good that we don't avoid these kind of conversations btw

 

[lauramumof2]

Im not being smart here btw, is paganism related to witchcraft or is that something different. Its a genuine question. Im curious.

Witchcraft is to Paganism as Baptists are to Christianity (for example).. Paganism is the umbrella... witchcraft is only a small part of it. Witchcraft has negative connotations for many people but like all things... you get the good and the bad.. just like every religion... after all Hitler called himself a Christian...

thanks , well explained

 

[budge]

apologies if this has already been posted..
i tried searching for it but didn't find anything..

how pathetic???

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/africa/7112929.stm

if they had called it a Christian name... would the same have happened??

FFS this whole fooking saga with the teddy bear has really gotten my goat!!!

i mean there are muslims and other religious freaks in this coultry who stand on sho burning our FLAG and stating all westerners should be blown up and they get away with it and some woman (stupid but i beleive innocent) goes over to some foreign land and names a teddy Mohammed and gets banged up in jail for it.

fooking load of twats!!!

 

[Kimbo]

apologies if this has already been posted..
i tried searching for it but didn't find anything..

how pathetic???

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/africa/7112929.stm

if they had called it a Christian name... would the same have happened??

FFS this whole fooking saga with the teddy bear has really gotten my goat!!!

i mean there are muslims and other religious freaks in this coultry who stand on sho burning our FLAG and stating all westerners should be blown up and they get away with it and some woman (stupid but i beleive innocent) goes over to some foreign land and names a teddy Mohammed and gets banged up in jail for it.

fooking load of tw*ts!!!

 

[libs]

My grandparents, in fact all my paternal family other than my father are members of a small offshoot of christanity. They believe in the bible and all the same stuff as CofE but have far stricter rules etc. I won't name it as it's a very small offshoot and I don't want them identified in any way.

They strongly disapprove of anyone who doesn't believe in their beliefs - they held a prayer meeting when I got pregnant at 18 and tricked me into attending - it took some time to extract myself from them that day as they tried to get the devil out of me . They would tell everyone that the fact I drank (not when pregnant) showed that the devil was inside me which couldn't be avoided as I was conceived outside of matrimony.

When my stepmother died they talked about how she was going to hell etc as she had never been saved - at the funeral which was wonderfully comforting to my father burying his wife and my brother burying his mother. To them the fact that someone would say they didn't believe in God would offend them to the point of screaming. They are extremists I know - but I think its important to just say that they are out there and it's not just other religions that have extremists. They regularly tell my cousins young child how they will have to work hard to get out of hell as again - conceived outside of wedlock (DS has never met them )

My mum and (step) dad raised us completely outside of religion, they would discuss religion with us and allowed us to attend church for events etc. My grandmother is spiritualist and that was the only church I attended with any regularity as a child (my parents were happy for us to make our own mind up) and I found that a warm welcoming environment.

Now - I consider myself not to belong to any religion, but I couldn't say for sure what my beliefs are.

 

[Squiglet]

apologies if this has already been posted..
i tried searching for it but didn't find anything..

how pathetic???

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/africa/7112929.stm

if they had called it a Christian name... would the same have happened??

FFS this whole fooking saga with the teddy bear has really gotten my goat!!!

i mean there are muslims and other religious freaks in this coultry who stand on sho burning our FLAG and stating all westerners should be blown up and they get away with it and some woman (stupid but i beleive innocent) goes over to some foreign land and names a teddy Mohammed and gets banged up in jail for it.

fooking load of tw*ts!!!

Bloody hell budge... where have you been??? (no legitimately.. Haven't seen you around much recently )

 

[Squiglet]

My mum and (step) dad raised us completely outside of religion, they would discuss religion with us and allowed us to attend church for events etc. My grandmother is spiritualist and that was the only church I attended with any regularity as a child (my parents were happy for us to make our own mind up) and I found that a warm welcoming environment.

Now - I consider myself not to belong to any religion, but I couldn't say for sure what my beliefs are.

I personally think thats the way all children should be raised... Outside of religion, and to allow them to discover their own paths as they get older.

Religion is so much about who we are, about what we believe and how we project ourselves to the world, that concious decisions on faith cannot be made until a child reaches maturity.

I am still a big believer in the importance of belief and religion. I think it grounds people and allows them to explore themselves and their morality...I just have issues with people who take their religion so seriously. Life doesn't work like that, there are too many grey areas in life that obscure the generalisations many religions make. Besides.. you know all these deities are sitting up in the clouds laughing at us down here right? and our all encompassing obsessiveness over ourselves

 

[budge]

apologies if this has already been posted..
i tried searching for it but didn't find anything..

how pathetic???

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/africa/7112929.stm

if they had called it a Christian name... would the same have happened??

FFS this whole fooking saga with the teddy bear has really gotten my goat!!!

i mean there are muslims and other religious freaks in this coultry who stand on sho burning our FLAG and stating all westerners should be blown up and they get away with it and some woman (stupid but i beleive innocent) goes over to some foreign land and names a teddy Mohammed and gets banged up in jail for it.

fooking load of tw*ts!!!

Bloody hell budge... where have you been??? (no legitimately.. Haven't seen you around much recently )

I HAVE BEEN IN HIDING.

 

[budge]

My mum and (step) dad raised us completely outside of religion, they would discuss religion with us and allowed us to attend church for events etc. My grandmother is spiritualist and that was the only church I attended with any regularity as a child (my parents were happy for us to make our own mind up) and I found that a warm welcoming environment.

Now - I consider myself not to belong to any religion, but I couldn't say for sure what my beliefs are.

I personally think thats the way all children should be raised... Outside of religion, and to allow them to discover their own paths as they get older.

Religion is so much about who we are, about what we believe and how we project ourselves to the world, that concious decisions on faith cannot be made until a child reaches maturity.

I am still a big believer in the importance of belief and religion. I think it grounds people and allows them to explore themselves and their morality...I just have issues with people who take their religion so seriously. Life doesn't work like that, there are too many grey areas in life that obscure the generalisations many religions make. Besides.. you know all these deities are sitting up in the clouds laughing at us down here right? and our all encompassing obsessiveness over ourselves

theres nothing wrong with religion .

so long as its religion and not a total way of life like some people make it.

 

[lauramumof2]

have you noticed my ticker budge, im catching up with ya

 

[glitzyglamgirl]

I would like to let you know where I stand on this (I sound like Im from Dragons Den now lol).. because I believe in the Lord Jesus, anyone who has not accepted him as their saviour is not saved and will not be able to enter heaven. Regardless of what religion / tradition / rituals you take part in.. only Jesus can save.

"I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me." John 14 v 6.

I think its good that we don't avoid these kind of conversations btw

I hope you dont take offence at what Im about to say, but when I hear/read things like that I feel like I need to put across a counterpoint, in the spirit of mature debate and nothing else

I find the whole idea that some Christians have, that only those who believe in Jesus will go to heaven, a little strange. I feel this for a number of reasons. Firstly....because while I believe Jesus existed, I also know the historical facts. Any emporar of Rome at his time was refered to as a "Son of God" because they were the only ones with the "authority" to speak on Gods behalf. When Jesus began his prophesising, preaching and healing (something many people do today) he was not the only one - there were a few about - but his followers began calling him "Son of God" in reference to his leadership of them, his seemingly divine powers, and perhaps as an intentional insult to the Roman Emperor of the time. That is why he was crucified....he grew too popular and was used as an example to others like him.

Secondly, it seems obvious to me that the worship of Deity began when we turned from wandering nomadic hunters, to settling farmers. We saw these 2 big, magical looking balls moving across the sky and noticed that they not only controlled the mating and migration habits of the creatures we had hunted, but also the cycles of the year, which in turn influenced our crops. We had a good crop, a good hunt, it was down to these magical balls. We had a bad crop, a bad hunt, it was also down to them, and something had to happen. We gradually invented religion by giving these objects personalities. Every religion stems from the ancient Gods and Goddesses of the sun and the moon, of the sea and wind, everything in nature had a personality to appease. Havn't we outgrown that need now we know what they are?

 

[uncle_bens]

Sorry to offend PP, i didnt put that right. I meant you cant comment on something you dont know much about. I respect others beliefs, not all of my DH family ar emuslim, and i get along fine with them.

Just for Info, The book muslims believe to be the word of God is the same as it doesnt get translated. It was revealed in arabic and memorized by thousands of people (including my dad lol) Every muslim has memorized chapters of it.The authenticity in terms of whether it was the same txt has never been disproven by even orientalist scholars but obviously the disagreement occurs as to whether it the word of God, muslims obviously beleiev yes lol and non muslims no. We dont hold Muhammed Higher, we just believe he's the last and we dont believe in the trinity so kinda like the Arians at the council of Nicea!

 

[kazlin]

Well I am pagan and I practise Witchcraft. I don't go around harming anybody and I respect other religions.
I won't go into depth regarding my belief on here as I don't think that this is the correct forum for it...but I do believe that a higher energy does exist and everyone has there own interpretations of it.

 

[Freya]

I would like to let you know where I stand on this (I sound like Im from Dragons Den now lol).. because I believe in the Lord Jesus, anyone who has not accepted him as their saviour is not saved and will not be able to enter heaven. Regardless of what religion / tradition / rituals you take part in.. only Jesus can save.

"I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me." John 14 v 6.

I think its good that we don't avoid these kind of conversations btw

I am a catholic my daughter goes to a catholic school BUT I personally don't belive the above (sorry ) I know some of my friends do. I think my God will save people who live good honest lives - whatever they do or don't believe. That is just what I believe though.

I love talking with people who follow or believe in something because I think that makes them passionate about life (If you know what I mean). I also feel that the more I understand about other religions the more educated I become and rightly or wrongly I think they are all connected in some way.
Sorry for waffling