Tonyat10.com
THE COMEBACK:
I DON’T KNOW IF I’M HUNGRY OR HORNEY!
WELL THEN, STAY OUT OF MY REFRIGERATOR!
THE MESSAGE:
In trying to come to grips with religion and the after life, I have reconciled an idea that refers to ’Soul Heaven’. I grew up as a first generation Italian with ties to the Catholic church and its theories of divinity, heaven and hell. The concept of an all merciful Trinity was very difficult for me to hold onto. Does an 'all merciful god' make any sense when the concept of hell is introduced to punish the wicked? Do three gods in one not challenge the faith surrounding the concept of creation? Was insemination a possibility during the time of the conception of Jesus? Was this the function of the Holy Ghost? (Oops will I burn in hell for that one?) Consider the complex nature of the human body, and the fact that it is a mortal reality. Recognizing that the human soul is far more complex; it is very difficult to imagine the extinction of the human spirit or soul with the passing of physical life on earth.
The concept of ’Soul Heaven’ presents that upon the passing of an individual who is beloved in the hearts and minds of someone left on earth, said individual spirit is transported to a place that I refer to as ’Soul Heaven’. If an individual has no-one that loves him after death, then he or she disappears into a black hole of evil.
THE BLURB:
How many different religions exist today? Why does humankind require some form of a religious belief?
Some Protestants believe that faith in God alone is needed to get into heaven, a tenet known as 'sola fide'. Roman Catholics believe that both good deeds and faith in God are needed to get into heaven.
Given that God stands for ‘goodness’; isn't it really enough to adopt the principal of faith as a universal requirement?
BUDDHISM
Three Universal Truths:
- Everything in life is impermanent and always changing.
- Because nothing is permanent, a life based on possessing things or persons doesn't make you happy.
- There is no eternal, unchanging soul and "self" is just a collection of changing characteristics or attributes.
- Human life has a lot of suffering.
- The cause of suffering is greed.
- There is an end to suffering which is called Nirvana
- The way to end suffering is to follow the Middle Path which meant not leading a life of luxury and indulgence but also not one of too much fasting and hardship.
- Right understanding and viewpoint (based on the Four Noble Truths).
- Right values and attitude (compassion rather than selfishness).
- Right speech (don't tell lies, avoid harsh, abusive speech, avoid gossip).
- Right action (help others, live honestly, don't harm living things, take care of the environment).
- Right work (do something useful, avoid jobs which harm others).
- Right effort (encourage good, helpful thoughts, discourage unwholesome destructive thoughts).
- Right mindfulness (be aware of what you feel, think and do).
- Right meditation (calm mind, practice meditation which leads to nirvana)
The Five Precepts:
Even though each form of Buddhism took on its own identity, all Buddhists follow a set of guidelines for daily life called the Five Precepts. These are:
1. Do not harm or kill living things.
2. Do not take things unless they are freely given.
3. Lead a decent life.
4. Do not speak unkindly or tell lies.
5. Do not abuse drugs or drink alcohol.
3. Lead a decent life.
4. Do not speak unkindly or tell lies.
5. Do not abuse drugs or drink alcohol.
ISLAMIC RELIGION
Reference to Elizabeth Chuck. She a social media and breaking news writer and editor on the news team. Previously, she was an NBC News web producer, creating web-exclusive supplements to various NBC News properties.
Sunnis vs Shiite- The divide is traced to 632 A.D., when the Islamic Prophet Muhammad died and a debate emerged about who should be his successor.
Both sides agreed that Allah is the one true God and that Muhammad was his messenger, but one group (Shiites) felt Muhammad's successor should be someone in his bloodline, while the other (Sunnis) felt a pious individual who would follow the Prophet's customs was acceptable.
The original schism between Islam's two largest sects was not over religious doctrine. It was over political leadership.What do Sunnis and Shiites have in common?
Both Sunnis and Shiites read the Quran, the sayings of the Prophet. Both believe Prophet Muhammad was the messenger of Allah. And both follow the five tenets of Islam: They fast during Ramadan, pledge to make a pilgrimage to Mecca, practice ritual prayer (which includes five prayers each day), give charity to the poor, and pledge themselves to their faith.
RELIGIOUS BELIEFS OF VARIOUS FORMS OF CHRISTIANITY ON SELECTED DOGMA.
Mary Fairchild is a full-time Christian minister, writer, and editor of two Christian anthologies, including "Stories of Cavalry.” She has worked full time in Christian ministry since 1988.
Mary also worked as the general editor on several Christian books and booklets for Calvary Chapel St. Petersburg from 2006 until 2017. Recently, Mary joined the team of writers for GotQuestions.org, where she provides responses to questions related to the nature of God, the Scriptures, salvation, and other spiritual topics.
I have used her detailed comparisons of some Christian religions to present what I believe to be insignificant rather than irreconcilable differences.
1. FREE WILL VS PREDESTINATION
Anglican/Episcopal - Predestination to Life is the everlasting purpose of God, whereby ... he hath constantly decreed by his counsel secret to us, to deliver from curse and damnation those whom he hath chosen ... to bring them by Christ to everlasting salvation ..
Baptist -"Election is the gracious purpose of God, according to which He regenerates, justifies, sanctifies, and glorifies sinners. It is consistent with the free agency of man ..."
Lutheran - "...we reject ... the doctrine that conversion is wrought not by the grace and power of God alone, but in part also by the co-operation of man himself ... or anything else whereby man's conversion and salvation is taken out of the gracious hands of God and made to depend on what man does or leaves undone. We reject also the doctrine that man is able to decide for conversion through 'powers imparted by grace' ..."
Methodist - "The condition of man after the fall of Adam is such that he cannot turn and prepare himself, by his own natural strength and works, to faith, and calling upon God; wherefore we have no power to do good works ..."
Presbyterian - "There is nothing that we can do to earn God's favor. Rather, our salvation comes from God alone. We are able to choose God because God first chose us."
Roman Catholic - "God predestines no one to go to hell"
Anglican/Episcopal - Heaven, means eternal life in our enjoyment of God.”
Baptist - "The righteous in their resurrected and glorified bodies will receive their reward and will dwell forever in Heaven with the Lord.”
Lutheran - "Eternal, or everlasting, life ... is the end of faith, the ultimate object of a Christian's hope and striving ...”
Methodist - "John Wesley himself believed in an intermediate state between death and the final judgment, where those who rejected Christ would be aware of their coming doom ... and believers would share in the "bosom of Abraham" or "paradise," even continuing to grow in holiness there. This belief, however, is not formally affirmed in Methodist doctrinal standards, which reject the idea of purgatory but beyond that maintain silence on what lies between death and the last judgment.”
Presbyterian - "If there is a Presbyterian narrative about life after death, this is it: When you die, your soul goes to be with God, where it enjoys God's glory and waits for the final judgment. At the final judgment bodies are reunited with souls, and eternal rewards and punishments are handed out.”
Roman Catholic - "Heaven is the ultimate end and fulfillment of the deepest human longings, the state of supreme, definitive happiness." "To live in heaven is "to be with Christ.”
3. HELL
Baptist - "The unrighteous will be consigned to Hell, the place of everlasting punishment.”
Lutheran - "The doctrine of eternal punishment, repugnant to natural man, has been repudiated byerrorists ... but is clearly revealed in Scripture. To deny this doctrine is to reject the authority of Scripture.”
Methodist - "John Wesley himself believed in an intermediate state between death and the final judgment, where those who rejected Christ would be aware of their coming doom ... This belief, however, is not formally affirmed in Methodist doctrinal standards, which reject the idea of purgatory but beyond that maintain silence on what lies between death and the last judgment.”
Presbyterian - "The only official Presbyterian statement that includes any comment on hell since the 1930s is a 1974 paper on universalism adopted by the General Assembly of the Presbyterian Church in the United States. It warns of judgment and promises hope, acknowledging that these two ideas seem to be "in tension or even in paradox." In the end, the statement concedes, how God works redemption and judgment is a mystery.”
Roman Catholic - "To die in mortal sin without repenting and accepting God's merciful lovemeans remaining separated from him for ever by our own free choice. This state of definitive self- exclusion from communion with God and the blessed is called "hell.”
4. END TIMES
LOOK CLOSER |
Anglican/Episcopal - "We believe Christ will come in glory and judge the living and the dead ... God will raise us from death in the fullness of our being, that we may live with Christ in the communion of the saints.”
Assembly of God - "But human language is inadequate to describe either heaven or hell. The realities of both fall well beyond our most imaginative dreams. It is impossible to describe ... the terror and torment of hell ... Hell is a place where one will experience total separation from God ...
Baptist - "God, in His own time ... will bring the world to its appropriate end ... Jesus Christ will return ... to the earth; the dead will be raised; and Christ will judge all men ... The unrighteous will be consigned to ... everlasting punishment. The righteous ... will receive their reward and will dwell forever in Heaven ....”
Lutheran - "We reject every type of millennialism ... that Christ will return visibly to this earth a thousand years before the end of the world and establish a dominion ...”
Methodist - "Christ did truly rise again from the dead, and took again his body ... wherewith he ascended into heaven ... until he returns to judge all men at the last day.”
Presbyterian - "Presbyterians have clear teaching ... about the end of the world. These come under the theological category of eschatology ... But fundamental ... is a rejection of idle speculation about the "end times." Certainty that God's purposes will be fulfilled is enough for Presbyterians.
Roman Catholic - "At the end of time, the Kingdom of God will come in its fullness. After the universal judgment, the righteous will reign for ever with Christ ... The universe itself will be renewed: The Church . . . will receive her perfection ... At that time, together with the human race, the universe itself ... will be perfectly re-established in Christ."
THE QUESTION:
DOES HUMANKIND REALLY REQUIRE RELIGION OTHER THAN THE 5 PRECEPTS OF BUDDHISM?
THE LEMON:
To all the priests of the Catholic Archdioceses of Boston and Pennsylvania who were found guilty of sexual abuse of children.
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