Jump to content
Science Forums

The Bible and it's religion.


eMTee

Recommended Posts

There are many denominations claiming to be "the Church" and to be "Christian", but how many are actually fallowing the teachings of the very book they base their faith on? "Christianity" is one of biggest religion in the world..coming in at least second or third (to my understanding).

 

Any questions about anything, or comments?

Link to comment
Share on other sites

According to my 1994 World Almanac, giving its source as the 1993 Encyclopedia Brittanica Book of the Year, the total population by religion is:

Christian 1,833,022,000

Islam 971,328,700

non-religious 876,323,000

Hindu 732,812,000

Buddhist 314,939,000

atheists 240,310,000

and so on

Link to comment
Share on other sites

to understand the real purpose of life, it is advisable for a person to choose and follow an ethical-moral system that restrains a person from evil deeds, encourages him to do good, and enables him to purify his mind. for simplicity, we shall call this system 'Religion'. Christianity helped to civilised the west, and Buddhism, as i'm a buddhist, civilised the greater part of the east long before. while western men seek to conquer the universe for material ends, buddhism and eastern philosophy like hinduism strive to attain harmony with nature or spiritual satisfaction. islam is also one of the well-versed religions and it's advisable to achieve understanding well. i think every religion has strong and weak points. for me, i still believe what i'm believing and understand it further more. that's the harmonious journey to me.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I

know one of the other major religions is Islam. What would the third one be? Some Eastern religion like Hindu or Buddhism?

yes..I would be guessing those two, but just as Zadojla says...

 

According to my 1994 World Almanac, giving its source as the 1993 Encyclopedia Brittanica Book of the Year, the total population by religion is:

Christian 1,833,022,000

Islam 971,328,700

non-religious 876,323,000

Hindu 732,812,000

Buddhist 314,939,000

atheists 240,310,000

 

"Christianity" was possably and probably up on top at that time..but that 1994 book is like 11-13 years old..and the muslim's are probably close to (if not already) on top.

 

Although, the people who claim to be christians (when asked about the reason they are), most of them don't answer that question with what the Bible teaches, but rather contrary to what the Bible teaches.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

to understand the real purpose of life, it is advisable for a person to choose and follow an ethical-moral system that restrains a person from evil deeds, encourages him to do good, and enables him to purify his mind. for simplicity, we shall call this system 'Religion'.
I agree with you on that explaination of what 'religion' is. what is the spiritual reason for religion? What does religion do for you as a Buddahist in the afterlife? after all is that the main reason for religion?
Link to comment
Share on other sites

I agree with you on that explaination of what 'religion' is. what is the spiritual reason for religion? What does religion do for you as a Buddahist in the afterlife? after all is that the main reason for religion?

 

if you don't have faith in your religious volition, there is no reason to believe it any more because you don't believe it truly. so spiritual belief in that religion is maintained to achieve higher level. in budhism, pure spiritual gain is the highest order of the religion and attain the arahatahood. we're always aware of afterlives (not afterlife) because current life is one of the subsequent lives, which means we believe in cleansing our spiritual sins in many lives. finally, we will lead to the highest level of spiritual understanding of the meaning of our lives. there is a saying goes, "life is uncertain and death is certain".

Link to comment
Share on other sites

There are many denominations claiming to be "the Church" and to be "Christian", but how many are actually fallowing the teachings of the very book they base their faith on? "Christianity" is one of biggest religion in the world..coming in at least second or third (to my understanding).

 

Any questions about anything, or comments?

 

The problem is each faction of chrinstianity defines or inteprets the Bible a bit different. Their set of truths tends to vary from sect to sect. One might ask a better question of is there one absolute set of truths taught by the Bible or is it all subject to interpretation?

Link to comment
Share on other sites

is there one absolute set of truths taught by the Bible or is it all subject to interpretation?

 

There is one absolute truth taught in the Bible, but everyone tries to interpret that truth in many ways.

 

What defines everyone’s separate views on the subjects of the Bible is mainly determined by what each person decides to believe or not to believe, and what to believe as literal or un-literal.

 

There are many "churches" and denominations that don't take the Bible in entirety, they do not believe random portions, and don't consider them the Bible. One question that I would have to this is; how would one determine what is true and what is not? People will claim to be Christians, but at the same time not believe the Bible.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

There is one absolute truth taught in the Bible, but everyone tries to interpret that truth in many ways.

 

What defines everyone’s separate views on the subjects of the Bible is mainly determined by what each person decides to believe or not to believe, and what to believe as literal or un-literal.

 

There are many "churches" and denominations that don't take the Bible in entirety, they do not believe random portions, and don't consider them the Bible. One question that I would have to this is; how would one determine what is true and what is not? People will claim to be Christians, but at the same time not believe the Bible.

 

Personally, interpretation is an individual thing. I live in a Christian country, per say. But I do not claim to be one either and I do not believe the Bible even if I see some of it as historically correct. One could let the scriptures interpret scriptures. However, I like certain liberal Christians think since we do not live in a vacuum that trurth period, no matter its scourse must interpret truth.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

There is one absolute truth taught in the Bible, but everyone tries to interpret that truth in many ways.

 

There are many "churches" and denominations that don't take the Bible in entirety, they do not believe random portions, and don't consider them the Bible. One question that I would have to this is; how would one determine what is true and what is not? People will claim to be Christians, but at the same time not believe the Bible.

 

The Roman Catholic Church (of which I'm a member) does a bit of the opposite: our Bible has a few more books in it than most other Christian churches, and we also follow rules and teachings that aren't in the Bible at all. Our religion has two main sources: the Bible, and Tradition, which is composed of writings by the early Saints, Popes, and Doctors of the Church. I don't think this is a problem because most of these traditional writings seek to explain and elaborate on what is written in the Bible. The early Christians, too, were well-versed in texts that weren't part of the Hebrew scriptures (e.g. the Book of Enoch).

 

The Bible is a difficult book to follow in its entirety because it has such a variety of texts in it, and many passages (especially between the OT and NT) seem contradictory unless you study them very carefully. I believe a good Christian can't just follow the particular teachings of their church, but must achieve a personal understanding of the entire Bible. Christian may worship in a community, but Faith is really a personal relationship with God, a relationship that you can't achieve well if you just blindly follow the doctrine of your church.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I completely agree with paultrr's first post, the bible is by construction made to interpret, there are heaps of parabolas and from those you can draw different conclusions.

You ask if all this subsects of christianity follow the bible and I answer yes, their interpretation of it.

 

Take an example: the bible says somewhere to help the others. Some people as consequences think that going on a peace/freedom-mission is therefore good and join the army, others say soldiers have to kill (or help to) and that isn't helping others and therefore don't join the army. All a matter of interpretation but both think to follow the bible (look for a thread in this section called "believers in the army", if you want to see arguments from both sides, for example mine for the second side)

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I completely agree with paultrr's first post, the bible is by construction made to interpret, there are heaps of parabolas and from those you can draw different conclusions.

You ask if all this subsects of christianity follow the bible and I answer yes, their interpretation of it.

 

Take an example: the bible says somewhere to help the others. Some people as consequences think that going on a peace/freedom-mission is therefore good and join the army, others say soldiers have to kill (or help to) and that isn't helping others and therefore don't join the army. All a matter of interpretation but both think to follow the bible (look for a thread in this section called "believers in the army", if you want to see arguments from both sides, for example mine for the second side)

 

Kind of an ironic view, considering your avatar :rant:

 

The Bible is supposed to be Truth given from God, and you wouldn't think Truth would be subject to interpretation. Do you (you = anyone) think that God has to side with one interpretation or another of His scriptures? Or are many interpretations equally valid?

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Kind of an ironic view, considering your avatar :rant:

 

The Bible is supposed to be Truth given from God, and you wouldn't think Truth would be subject to interpretation. Do you (you = anyone) think that God has to side with one interpretation or another of His scriptures? Or are many interpretations equally valid?

 

Perhaps thats the real meaning behind the Truth shall set you free. If truth has such a variable quality then in essence no matter the faith if one recognizes the truth then one is set free. Yes, that sounds like Universalism as its commonly taught. So, be it. Truth for myself is that which I have discovered by scientific investigation. It sets me free to better understand the universe, who I am, and where we all come from. Yes, there are unanswered questions which only time will allow us to answer. But knowing the truth is far better than not knowing which perhaps is the real meaning of being set free.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Kind of an ironic view, considering your avatar :rant:

 

I choose my name without thinking of its consequences, but because listening to a song (great song actually) called Sanctus. By the way didn't you notice the horns and the beard on my avataer.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Join the conversation

You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.

Guest
Reply to this topic...

×   Pasted as rich text.   Paste as plain text instead

  Only 75 emoji are allowed.

×   Your link has been automatically embedded.   Display as a link instead

×   Your previous content has been restored.   Clear editor

×   You cannot paste images directly. Upload or insert images from URL.

Loading...
×
×
  • Create New...