What's your view of this approach to religion?

Ah, belief is such a difficult thing, but knowing so much harder.

The exploration of all that is life and all that is around us is to live to the full.

Those who belief they know and those who belief there is nothing to know are blinded to the possibilities of knowing.

There is much more to everything that the everything of man.

If and I say If there is a god then this magnificence can only be infinite and therefore all that is part of this infinity is part of god.

So the way to know god is to live and know yourself.

I have fewer words than you on this particular question, but I feel that we can agree.

The depth of knowing is blocked by religious thought, opening your mind is the only way to be part of the whole, closing it causes separation.

You have my respect.

Religion and God are different things to different people.

Think of it like a diamond with many facets and people standing around that diamond looking at it from different angles.

One facet is not the whole truth but only represents a portion of it. Sometimes though it is not always the person who moves but rather it's the jewel so therefore the person sees a new perspective on things without even moving.

Just like a diamond that glistens in the light so it is with religion. The jewel appears to be more attractive at certain angles and more appealing to the one whom is doing the observing but often this powerful attractiveness only lasts for a limited span of time.

To the soldier who has the enemy camped on his doorstep or who is under fire while trying to stay alive in a foxhole the thought of having an all powerful and all knowing God by his side seems far too real and alluring for him to ignore.

Think about this simple question for a moment: If life is an illusion then does this mean that death must be real?

If the answer is yes then I put it to you that when one seems closer to death then one might also seem closer to God and if this is the case then it wouldn't be too hard imagining God being closer to reality at times than being just a mere figment of someone's overactive imagination.

It is one approach.

There have been many other approaches.

I look at the basics like this. Some of the religious experiences might be the result of us having a bicameral mind that hears itself talking. Certain mental malfunction make the brain unable to tell these voices from itself apart from voices from others. In fact parts of the brain might regard messages from most other parts of the brain as being from "Other"

We also live in a culture that promotes a belief that this imaginary "other" is real. When I read religious texts I am amazed at how the description of the vision experiences resemble the seizure temporal lobe epileptics suffer from. Even Pthygoras suffered from these visions. It is also interesting that the description remains steady across different times, cultures and religious belief systems.

Eskimo Shamans and Islamic Prophets, all of them. they have the same set of symptoms as they experience visions.

Anyway, have a nice day.

Honesty and laying it all out on the line is something God appreciates! :)

When you start out in your search, be equally honest to God about what you are seeking....what is it you want? and why.

Personally, I haven't had the experience of being raised in a "fundamentalist Christian family", but, I guess my children HAVE been, lol...

Thing is...each of my children is their own individual child in God's eyes. Each with their own needs, wants, dreams, fears, strengths, etc.,. I tried to instill in them the sense that I cannot decide their life past the time they can think for themselves, but, tried to show them what God CAN do and HAS done for the family as a whole as well as just for myself.

The Bible says that if you teach them about the Lord when young, it will stay within them and if they leave the Faith behind, they WILL have those seeds within them and God WILL help them learn the rest and bring them back to His side.

LOL, recently my younger daughter persuaded me to have a MySpace account. Well, I've decided to use it as a means to share what the Lord has done for me and what I have learned and witnessed happening to others....and writing Blogs.

My daughter called me the other day and said, she didn't know this or that, and why didn't I ever tell her? I thought about it, and, as I had always been open with the kids, I assumed they listened...but, then the Lord reminded me what children and teens find IMPORTANT to "them" is what personally pertains to JUST THEM... AT THAT MINUTE IN TIME.

That's a fact that we all "know", but, somehow it get's lost in the shuffle. :)

The "time" wasn't right for her to know or understand what was behind things she took for granted in our home when she was a child.

However, when those things were no longer evident, when I had been ill and going through a trying time in our life, and then seeing them return one by one now that things are well again, she's able to place more understanding and significance on the things she had always previously had taken for granted. :)

As I said, I'm still fairly new to MySpace, but, if you have an account there, please feel free and drop in on me there, lol, and see what I mean. I speak open and honestly about the things I have spoken about so far, more comming as I can.

My url is on my profile page here. :)

Thing we all have to remember is this very simple thing. Not everyone whom says they are a "Christian" ARE one yet... they are just learning how to BECOME one. :)

I think that is a good beginning. I disapprove those who say "believe and don't search".

I'll say: "search with your both mind and heart and than believing in something will simply came". God doesn't want us to be ignorant.

And you'll see that , in time, you'll understand that everything has a reason, because only when you understand something you really can accept it.

SO...go on , have an open mind and heart !

It's good that you have a good sense of who you are as a person and don't care what other people think about you. Only you know what is best for you.

Makes sense to me. Especially the exploring and learning part. Once we stop doing that, we might as well be dead.

What is your approach to religion?

I like the fact that you have an open mind. www.tentmaker.org

don't

worship YHWH