Welcome to Gaia! ::

You're right, I'm sorry, I shouldn't be so mean.

I had a few Jews in at work the other night, they heckled the bartender over G-d knows what and got drunk and played pool and texted on their cellphone.

As much as I hate to judge people, if you're wearing kippah and tallis, behave like a Jew.

The line between Haredi and centrist is being blurred though. It makes no sense to be an Orthodox Jew if you're not willing to follow Judaism religiously.

You should be PROUD to follow all the mitzvah you can, not pick and choose what you want to follow.

I would be the happiest girl alive if I was able to observe shabbos as a Jew, observe holidays as a Jew, dress modestly, as a Jewish woman does.

being a religious Orthodox Jew means observing Halakhah.

i'm not religious. i am spiritual. if you want to call me something you can call me a non-religious spiritualist, or for simplicity a Chaos Shaman, or just Shaman. if you want to be as officially correct as possible you could call me an Interfaith Minister, seeing as i am ordained by the ULC (Universal Life Church Monastery).

I'm Christian. Simple as that. ^ ^ Non-demoniacal. (Sp?)

heart One day I found something deep inside myself; a whisper if you will. Everytime I close my eyes, and open my heart, I can hear it ever faintly. It always speaks in love, and answers the deepest of my inquiries.
Is it God? Is it something else? To be honest, all that I know, is that it's the truth for me. It's the truth I have, the truth no one can take away, and I would die before denouncing it. No matter, the time, the place, or the moment, I ask for guidance... and in love that voice replies.

When I went looking into the world for anything of the world that might be of God, I found one absolute and universal message. The message of God was love. Because of that, I just knew, that I had that love in my heart.

For a time I sought after religion, and many did I experience. But I was quick to find that religion was anchoring my heart to the earth, and binding my love to the will of men. For me God was freedom, yet religion, time and again, attempted to yoke the very essence of my being to rituals and practices that were not of heaven, but of earth. For this I found, religion was not for me.

Many, from various religions, cited scripture to me time and again as it was written in their books, as written by men. Perhaps, the men that first heard them truly heard the words of God. But why recite that which one man heard from God if you may tell what it is that you have heard from God? Is not your own testimony more fruitful; more laborous and worthy of recognition?

God is love. God is freedom. God is just. I need not cite ancient scripure or fumble through books, or age old tomes to know this. God is living, ever present and divine.

Man created religion because man desires control. But man also made religion for love, to share with their neighbor what they have found, and to pass the message of love from one person to the next. This message takes many forms. But we must remember, that though the message of God may be laced in truth throughout our various religions, that it will also be diluded by the hands of men.

Again, I say God in the sense of that which speaks from our hearts, in knowing all that which is good, loving, free and pure... from all that which is hate, bitterness, and suffering. heart

Suppose I should qualify myself here too, as it seems I never did.

I fall into a sort of mixture of Thien (Vietnamese Zen) and Theravada Buddhism. I'm probably closer to Theravada right now, because I'm heavily invested in learning about the classical works of Buddhism, but I may go back to leaning more Thien as time goes on. Or I may end up somewhere else. We'll see where the investigation takes me. 3nodding

As for the poster earlier in the thread who seemed to link Buddhism to a universe creating god (if I was reading it right) and therefore needed to separate themselves from the faith as a whole, I have a surprise: Buddhism doesn't hold that as a doctrine, and in fact, any of us may have been deities (well, our karmatic string may have come from them) in past. That's the joy of the system over here, in some ways - the gods aren't permanent, and they're stuck in the cycle with us. Therefore, they're not really objects worthy of worship (though there are some sects that make allowances for them, often in the form of prayers to bodhisattvas who are deities and the like). Long story short? Belief in creator deity is not necessary here. 3nodding

I forgot about that.

So...uhhh...you let snakes bite you? cool That's almost as bad as the Catholic cult consuming glass with mercury on it.

The things people do...

I'm not going to post mine because someone (read the how do you get started on Wicca forum) will say it doesn't exist, then twist their words to mean it's the wrong name.

I think he said he didn't do that, but there is a southern church who does something dangerous involving snakes. I can't remember exactly what, or what Bible verse they claim to be following...

And I don't know if I posted before so I'll just say it again: I'm an evangelical, fundamentalist, non-denominational Christian. I really heart my God, and I agree with most of the things John Eldredge and CS Lewis assert in their books.