What are your beliefs?

I think people can be conservative and level headed, that's what they used to be. I used to watch William F. Buckley and I don't think I ever him use any of the crazy talk like the current republicans you hear on tv and radio now. And moderate really just means working with those on the other side. Attributes that are lacking in the tea party brand of republicans. I can guarantee you I didn't vote for Obama because he is black. As far as health care, my vote is for single payer system, I don't know if Obamacare brings us closer to this or not, but I think it would be better than what we have. My crystal ball is broken so I can't tell you for certain it would be better, just my opinion.

 

BA

I think that is what we (this country) is severely, and sadly lacking


Level headed people

Be they republican, democrat, independent – liberal, moderate, conservative – black, white, brown, yellow – male, female

RN

 

Was raised as a fundamentalist evangelical.
Went to a small Midwestern church owned university.
Very Conservative.
Based on those beliefs first vote was for Nixon's second term. Voted for Reagan, & first Bush. Noticed that Clinton was balancing the budget. W... during the debates they talked about him spending his college career by and large drunk on the floor and doing signigicant heroin and cocaine. He wasn't born not being able to talk, mixing up his words. His being saved at a Billy Grahm meeting didn't off set either his self admitted addictive nature or the results of the drugs he did [he publicly describes himself as a recovering addict, and had a 'dry' white house]. Being saved didn't offset the results of that past and make him presidential material. Tho I greatly admire his effort. Voted for the other guy. So the influence between religion and politics was shifting for me.

To explain that and other shifts in beliefs for me, it starts back in my own college days. In Christian Belief's class (required as a student) the prof said that while he was instructed to pretty much tell us what to think, that some of us had a different connection to the divine than our organizations party line. So he presented the concept of different religious groups starting with a different Bible text as the key around which all the rest of the Bible hung together. If you pick the one that makes sense to you... the rest of the scriptures have different emphasis, etc. He presented the 4 most accepted starting texts and through the course explained how different religions worked out their beliefs based on them.

As we went along I surprisingly realized that my experience of God was very different than anyone else in the class. I became pretty quiet pretty fast.

To me the main thread thru the old testament is one of separation from God, and then we humans putting something or someone in between us and God. We wanted a prophet to tell us what to do and intercede for us. A King to do the same. etc. etc. I part from many I grew up with in thinking we wanted sacred scriptures to do the same.... and did and do put our sacred writings in between us and our spiritual relationship. Scripture as external authority actually separtes us from God. Stands between us in a way.

So to me the Old Testament turns on the scripture in Jeremiah where God says enough of this, I will send my son and the Holy Sprit. The result of this is my Word written on your heart.

If Christ has come, and the Spirit... then God is one on one with us. Or the door is open for that on God's side. External scriptures are secondary. Spiritual life from the inside out, not needing to be so much ‘parented’ from the outside in. More adult to adult as a relationship, if you want to go there.

I didn't see Christ had any plans for organizing a religion. In fact he was harsh with the existing religious framework. I suspect that today God only works with our religious structure because many insist on it. Totally a mercy on his part.

Half the disciples apparently thought this way also and didn't go the organized religious route. We know now that within 2 - 3 generations they where stamped out utterly by those who took Christ's teachings in another direction. Weird.
Religion has done some good, but history is clear Christian religion has also done a lot I don't think Christ would have gone along with at all. To my observation religion pretty much is one more thing that functionally separates us from God. There is a place for organized religion, but IMO it is given way to much position. To much power, money and politics at the heart of it, or something, I’m not sure what it is. Giving organized religion a seat at the national political table doesn't make sense to me.

I do believe we should spend more time doing things as Christ did, then going to church and talking about it. Or putting on public (in church) displays about it.

You have to fill in the blanks on how to do that for yourself.
I fit in the spiritual but not religious group. My spirituality is the essential part of me, I‘m aware of it and act consciously, certainly not all of the time, but much of it. Virtue is virtue. Right and wrong is not hard to figure out. Living in service to the divine works.

Can't explain it much better, and certainly don't have the time.

 

I spent a good part of my life believing others could be responsible for my happiness. It was a grand illusion.

Blame was a tool I could easily wield, but as a tool, I would liken it to a paint gun. It only put a temporary mask on top of the rust and decay that lay beneath.

 

That group of scientists that refer to themselves as the “Nuker Team” all do this alot.

No doubt they are a brilliant group of individuals, but man they can talk from there asses sometimes.

It’s laughable when one of them states something like “In the moments immediately proceeding the Big bang, for every 1 billion particles of Anti-matter, there were 1 billion and 1 particles of Matter. These left over particles that didn't get cancelled out now make up for All of the Matter in the universe today.”

I’m sorry, but those numbers, and the belief itself was probably conceived after Alex Philippenko pulled out a doobey and passed it around the Nuker table.

 

How about a golden calf?

Torture devices?

Where in Nature can you show me one other example of a living being that creates an inanimate object (golden calf) in the image of another being, solely for the purpose of worship?

Where in Nature is one other example of a living being that creates a device used to prolong the agony and suffering of another being.

Where in nature does another living being exist that tortures other beings for selfish and morbid reasons such as pleasure?

Is this Natural behavior?



Point to me any object that a non-human being uses for a particular purpose and I can likely show you examples in Nature where other non-human beings use similar objects for similar purposes.

Point to me any behavior that exists in a non-human being, and I can likely show you a similar behavior in Nature amongst other non-human beings.

 

I believe that Christ is the Son of God. The Jewish Messiah prophesied in the Old Testament. Came from a virgin birth. Performed miracles. Went to the cross as a perfect atonement for sin, to redeem mankind back to the Father. Died, and resurrected on the 3rd day. I believe in the Holy Trinity - the Father, Son and Holy Spirit. Most of the Bible I think is true, although, like HH mentioned, there are "holes". The Biblical account of humanities sinful nature - a spiritual problem - is the root of evil. Ultimately, we are spiritual creatures inhabiting a physical universe with lusts and avarice that pull us toward darkness. I am a bad Christian. I am not repenting, and could easily die in my sin and go to hell. This is not a comforting or welcome feeling, but something Christians accept as truth and the nature of Christs righteousness.

I believe in the supernatural - spirits, demons, spirit channeling, conjuring, majic, the occult, devil worship, angels etc. Once a person acknowledges the existence of God, it opens up a whole new universe of possibilities in terms of spiritual creatures - angels, demons etc. This can be a very difficult reality to accept with our Western "sensibilities" and empirical snobbery that's ingrained in us via public education.

Although I won't discuss it, I had a supernatural experience with Christ. The best experience of my life and proved to me He is 100000000% REAL, TRUE and GOD. I also witnessed a supernatural event first-hand, that would verifiable qualify as possession. I have spoken to other people, who i trust, who have related supernatural experiences - enough to make your hair curl - more on the dark side. I don't like to equate the Holy Spirit with anything dark, because the two can't even be compared, except, they both are supernatural and deal in the spiritual realm. Anyway, it's all real, and people need to be careful. Myself included. The CIA did some work on remote viewing awhile ago. There was a thread about it here, recently. Traders using it to project daily price action. This is stuff squarely in the occultic realm, while it works, its playing with pure fire. The elites of this world are into the Spiritual realm too. Except they are into the Dark Side. Spirit conjuring, channeling, Luciferian stuff. Many of our political/industrial and media elite attend Bohemian Grove every year where they perform Druidic ceremonies and sacrifice an effigy of a child to the Canaanite Owl God, Moloch - a 30 ft Owl Idol built right there in the Grove. This is not a joke. The Spiritual realm is much more powerful than anything in the physical realm. Many of the elite know this, so they actively channel evil spirits to gain more power. The Nazis were big into the occult. Usually, where death, destruction, pedophilia and power-mad psycho's reside, is where the occultic crap is going on behind closed doors. That includes the Catholic Church. Everything new age, is Satanic. It's designed to tap into the spiritual realm, in one way, or another. Yahwey made specific and stern warnings not to engage in any of that stuff in the Old Testament. All this stuff - psychics, channeling, witch craft, spells, ouji board, remote viewing - they are all gateways to the dark side. They let demons in. Some give power in the process, knowledge, create lusts to get you hooked. Lead you down a path, then destroy your life. It's all very dangerous. Look at Skull and Bones and the shit those "good ol boys' were doin in the crypt of their frat house. Same thing.