Spiritual Humanism

[Sibling Qwertyuiopasd]

I have some ideas on what I believe, but I'm inconsistent, so if you ask me, I might feel like saying I'm a UU, or Auto-theist, or Apatheistic.

~Qwerty

[Sibling Lambicus the Toluous]

So... when all three are combined, you accept all beliefs as to whether or not you're a god, but you really don't care?   

[Sibling Chatty]

"Until I find a reason to not believe in something, I try to keep an open mind."

I'm the same way. The only problem with it is that I'm sometimes accused of having no convictions!

I generally counter that with the (slightly menacing squinty-eyed) statement that I will worry about the afterlife, the supernatural and the Divine or Holy AFTER the people that are on the planet with me get their shit together and worry about the other people here.

You can have all the lofty beliefs that are possible to stuff in one human mind, but if you don't give a damn about the poor, the starving, the ill, the people that NEED help (whether YOU think they do or not), then all your lofty beliefs and thoughts are nothing but a kind of emotional reward system you set up for yourself to keep you from realizing that you're a failure as a human being.

I did not endear myself to a group of ministers that I knew when they were ministerial students in college. I quoted First Corinthians, Chapter 13 to them (KJV, and verbatim) and told them that all their pious pronouncements and gracious admissions that they needed to expand their flock's awareness of the suffering of others was just so much spiritual 'jerking off'--it made them feel good for a few moments, but it wasn't worth a damn thing.

My personal beliefs are--personal. I don't give a rat's ass if somebody decides that they need to judge me. That's NOT their job. Anybody that wants to judge me had better stick to what they can see, what they can attest to. I may be poor as dirt, but if I have something and somebody needs it, I hand it over. If I can ease a burden, I do it. THAT is as 'spiritual' as anybody ever needs to be in public.

I have little patience and no sympathy for people who have a faith with no convictions.

(And yes, I AM a bleeding heart liberal.)

[Bob in a quantum-state-of-faith]

"Until I find a reason to not believe in something, I try to keep an open mind."

I'm the same way. The only problem with it is that I'm sometimes accused of having no convictions!

I generally counter that with the (slightly menacing squinty-eyed) statement that I will worry about the afterlife, the supernatural and the Divine or Holy AFTER the people that are on the planet with me get their shit together and worry about the other people here.

You can have all the lofty beliefs that are possible to stuff in one human mind, but if you don't give a damn about the poor, the starving, the ill, the people that NEED help (whether YOU think they do or not), then all your lofty beliefs and thoughts are nothing but a kind of emotional reward system you set up for yourself to keep you from realizing that you're a failure as a human being.

I did not endear myself to a group of ministers that I knew when they were ministerial students in college. I quoted First Corinthians, Chapter 13 to them (KJV, and verbatim) and told them that all their pious pronouncements and gracious admissions that they needed to expand their flock's awareness of the suffering of others was just so much spiritual 'jerking off'--it made them feel good for a few moments, but it wasn't worth a damn thing.

My personal beliefs are--personal. I don't give a rat's ass if somebody decides that they need to judge me. That's NOT their job. Anybody that wants to judge me had better stick to what they can see, what they can attest to. I may be poor as dirt, but if I have something and somebody needs it, I hand it over. If I can ease a burden, I do it. THAT is as 'spiritual' as anybody ever needs to be in public.

I have little patience and no sympathy for people who have a faith with no convictions.

(And yes, I AM a bleeding heart liberal.)

You remind me of a very good sermon I heard years ago-- it could be boiled down to "faith is a verb".

I like your attitude-- "shut up and DO SOMETHING" 

Jesus himself said something like that-- keep your beliefs to yourself, but do as much good as you are able.  Let your actions speak your faith for you.

Thanks for reminding me of those ideas.

[Opsa]

Gotta say I really do love that Jesus. It's just what some people have done with what the guy was trying to say that is distressing. And some of those people call themselves Christians. If Jesus is alive today, we shall know him by the hand slap marks on his forehead.

Chatty has got it down better than most people, certainly better than I do. I am so laced with modern-day paranoia I am just as likely to scoot past a streetperson as I am to stop and give him something. I do give to clothing and food banks, but is it enough?

[Sibling Lambicus the Toluous]

Gotta say I really do love that Jesus. It's just what some people have done with what the guy was trying to say that is distressing. And some of those people call themselves Christians. If Jesus is alive today, we shall know him by the hand slap marks on his forehead.

"I like your Christ.  I do not like your Christians.  Your Christians are so unlike your Christ." - Mohandas Ghandi

When I read the Gospels, I found myself thinking two things, almost at the same time:

- there's a lot of merit in what's written there.
- there's quite a difference between what's written there and what's practiced in many churches (though IMO, there's also quite a difference between the Gospels and the Epistles of Paul, so that likely has a fair bit to do with it).

I am so laced with modern-day paranoia I am just as likely to scoot past a streetperson as I am to stop and give him something. I do give to clothing and food banks, but is it enough?

It's definitely a good start.

I've been thinking, though, about how best to combat the root causes of people's troubles... I suppose someone could spend a lifetime at it and not come up with "the" answer, unfortunately.

Which reminds me... the HOT Meals project hasn't really been active lately.

[Sibling Chatty]

Paul was a pushy, irritating grump, for the most part. He was NOT an original disciple no matter how much he wanted to be, he spent most of his time 'off topic' about stuff that annoyed him, he was quite convinced that it should ALL be done HIS way, and he had flaws of his own, but wasn't very forgiving of the flaws of others.

I see him a an extremely early version of Karl Rove sometimes...

[Griffin NoName]

Doesn't sound like a good forum user

[Sibling Zono (anon1mat0)]

Like a troll...

[goat starer]

and that is why you keep a goat around the place

[Griffin NoName]

As long as they don't meet any Devonshire trolls.

[anthrobabe]

Gotta say I really do love that Jesus. It's just what some people have done with what the guy was trying to say that is distressing. And some of those people call themselves Christians. If Jesus is alive today, we shall know him by the hand slap marks on his forehead.

Whether or not one believes in the Christian Bible as fact or not--- it certainly does have merit! The idea of Jesus has merit also- no matter what one believes.

The idea of ( like Dee Dee and others put it) DO SOMETHING! is so important- don't worry about what comes after until you take care of NOW. ( don't that Dee put things well!)

Booker T. Washington said...
"One man can not hold another man down in the ditch with out remaining down in the ditch with him."

[Sibling Qwertyuiopasd]

Jesus is made of win. The bible is made of win. but the churches and higher-ups (old and new) are made of epic fail.

fortunately, many other things are made of win, so we don't need Jesus or the bible.

the problem with really good people with really good messages and really good press is that they'll die, and others will intentionally or intentionally mess with their messages, and then we get.... well, a lot of modern day things.

I mean, I'm surprised at The Buddha for surviving the way he has. of course, the above paragraph does relate mostly to a western culture.

meh.

~Qwerty

[Sibling Zono (anon1mat0)]

Twisting and spinning the words of Buddha is a very hard job indeed. In fact twisting the actual words of Jesus is not that easy, the problem is with the rest of the book...

[Sibling Qwertyuiopasd]

well, it's mostly the editing, how they kept some accounts and not others, and occasionally "accidnetally", I'm sure, poked holes out of words in sentences like "Mary Magdalene kissed him on his [[[]]]" and then not even putting that bit in the bible.

also the way books were copied in Europe before the printing press, transcribers and translators could easily change minor things to their better liking. not all of them did, but a good protion probably did.

and translation is a problem in itself. arameic to Greek to Latin to English? oh yeah, nothing lost in translation whatsoever.

~Qwerty