Since it is Sunday, I thought it would be a good day to cover religion. Hard topic to talk about with most people but still something I want to go over. Every religion has their ideas about how the world came about that is if you believe in religion at all. However, with time their have come so many new branches of religion that to list them all would probably take a few pages. I myself am Methodist a Christian branch and my feelings about different branches are that the founders of a religion wanted to change a few things they did not like with the original religion and it went from there.
I believe having so many religions and branches of religions is just unnecessary and wrong. People will wage war over almost anything but why should we give them the excuse of different religions to have a holy war. My personal feelings are that the high power is good so why would it (I do not want to put a gender on this) ever want people to have people fighting about their beliefs. It just does not make sense to me and yet throughout history it is a predominant theme. I personally feel sorry for all that, the Jewish community has been put through simply for the fact that they are Jewish. People make the mistake of trying to make a religion sound like a race and it is not that was one of Hitler’s biggest mistakes (If you do not know what I am talking about just wait for the topic labeled Holocaust).
Therefore, my solution for this and it sounds something like the pope would say have one unified religion. Abolish all of the smaller sect and just create one religion that incorporated the bigger beliefs. I admit combining Muslim beliefs, with Christian beliefs, and Jewish beliefs as well seems a challenging task (These seem to be the main religions).
However, one has to stand back and look at the bigger principal these beliefs all have a few things in common with one another. A belief in a higher power named Jehovah (Understand where Jehovah witness comes from now). Besides that over in the Middle Eastern area, every single one of the above named religion has seemed to decide that one city is the holiest city; Jerusalem.
For the Muslims Jerusalem holds the Dome of the Rock one of their most sacred place of worship. Muslims are drawn to this site because it is said to be where their prophet Muhammad came to a stone and took a journey into heaven. Jewish religion also believes the rock to be the site of Abraham’s near sacrifice of his son.
For the Jewish community it holds the last existing wall of Herod’s Temple a Jewish temple that is so holy to them because the largest of the stones weighs 628 tons. Impressive already but dwell on this the temple was made before the use of the tools we have today (even with our technology it would be hard) and these stones weigh about four times the stones that made the pyramid. The temple was not built as the pyramids were, slanted on the ends so that the slave could drag the stones up the side either. It is just a mystery and a major holy site for the Jews.
Finally, for the Christians Jerusalem is quite important as well. We know that it is the believed birthplace of Jesus Christ. However, what some may not know King Solomon’s temple resides in Jerusalem as well it is closed off to tourist however, because inside is the Holy of Holies. The Holy of Holies is supposed to be a place in the temple that has no furniture, only a pedestal containing nothing that is supposed to signify the image of god. Only the high priest was aloud in the room once a year for prayer. Therefore, no one is aloud in the temple for fear of accidentally entering the room.
The whole point is that all of these religions decided that this one city was the holiest city in the world to praise their lord. The irony of it is that if you look down at Jerusalem from above the three shrines I just mentioned are within walking distance of each other they form a small triangle.
Jerusalem has no other value than a place of god however it is one of the most sought after places in the world. It holds no economic value whatsoever. They had no water, no money (gold), and no food. Before these religions settled here, it was simply out in nowhere. Yet for some reason everyone wants this small piece of land even though there is no value in it at all. Civilization upon civilization has settled there. Archaeologist have dug down and found that after the wars to obtain the place the conquerors would just build atop of the previous civilization.
Therefore, this is another thing our religions have in common and it is one of the biggest ones. My personal belief is to create one religion. Those that do not believe in any religion may just fall away but for those that do it is a chance to stop the wars, stop the fighting over god. Tell me what is your belief and why? Do you agree with my theory and if so how can we make it a reality?
...what about the people that have no religion? You're creating a system of government that rules all the people. What about the people who want to have the right to choose to not be part of that rule?
I believe in abolishing religion.
... yea, that'll work. Because telling people they can't will prevent wars and nobody will go underground or anything.
I think you will find more problems with forcing people to give up the beliefs they have held for generations than just letting them continue to hold on to them and make tolerance the law.
I like having many different religions. I am even thinking about practicing a different religion each week, since I currently do not follow any religion at all. I think it's very interesting to read about all of the different religious beliefs and rituals. People who can so devoutly possess faith without prove just intrigues me.
"Life is journey toward a common goal of peace. We, as humans are constantly separating ourselves from one another via differences such as race, religion, skin color, social status, economic status, or demographics. Just as an animal has instincts within itself that aide in its survival, so do we. The basic morals of society and life are always included in the human gene package. Many forget or purposely chose to ignore what has been written in our DNA. We are intelligent beings, perhaps the most intelligent beings on this planet. Yet, many of us seem to be misguided and lost, full of questions that cannot be answered by a fellow human being. Everything that you need to know about how to live your life in a socially sound manner is within your mind right now. It has always been there, and will never go away. As you progress yourself and become wiser, you will begin to realize what I am describing to you. No man or woman has the power to tell me or anyone in existence what I should be doing with my life or how to maintain my relationship with God. Materialistic ideals, radical views, closed-mindedness and greed should not be qualities that you seek in a leader or someone that you seek advice from. When you are a child, you slowly learn how to crawl, then walk, then begin speaking. With more time you begin to comprehend the things around you. Learning about the power of your own mind is called progression. There is absolutely no reason to seek an outside source of guidance when you have a direct link to your creator within yourself. Have you ever stolen something? Do you remember that feeling that you had right before you took something that didn't belong to you? That was your Conscious, your direct link of guidance and advice. This world that we live in has laws, set up by governments to protect, guide, and empower humans to do what is right in society. These laws in combination with your conscious will keep you on the right path. Why confuse your life with additional theories and concepts when your life can be so peaceful and simple. When you want a genuine original do you seek its creator or settle for a supposed witness? One, should never, ever, under no circumstance financially fund another person for guidance that is second or third handed down to you. Why would you when it is free and easily accessed within yourself. This is simply my opinion of life and the struggle that many people have within themselves." This is a very open discussion, and I would like your input or opinion of my notes. Please remember that I have respect for other peoples beliefs and feelings and and expect the same from you."- Alexander O. Ansari