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I am a Christian, I believe that Jesus Christ is my savior and died on the cross so that I may be forgiven for my sins and live eternal life in Heaven. I read my bible, and I believe every word printed in it. Thats just how I am, I have had so many answered prayers, too many to count. I am blessed and God is good to me.
Those are strong words, coming from a strong heart.
I am glad to see others coming forth and explaining their religion. I love to see how others worship/or not. It is very interesting to me and I commend everyone who has the courage/strength to speak about it. Thank you everone.
I do have one question though....Sarala, why do you spell God, G-d? just curious. thanks again.
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Not only did you open up about your own faith but you've helped ME learn a LOT about all my friends here, I love that! 
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Take care,
Michelle
...the greatest of these is LOVE. (I Cor 13)
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i am a christian and believe every word the bible says, i also believe God still performs miracles. I go to what they call a full gospel church lol i guess it would be non denominational but i can wear jeans and tshirts.. they also call it southern gospel, theres a band..and they sing the best upbeat music..its great
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http://www.myspace.com/rachelle423
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Interesting thread Shannon...
I hesitated to participate because I don't know what you mean by close minded to religion. I am not against religion (any religion) for others because I can see the appeal in their being a higher power, and I can see how it would be comforting to have that faith. I am glad for people who have that in their life. I also am jealous of the social aspects of churches, meeting people is harder when you're an adult so the fellowship aspect seems cool.
you said:
"to me the saddest or most wrong thing in life is to have NOTHING to believe in."
I just wanted to say that though atheism isn't a religion, I think it's a beautiful thing to have no higher power to believe in. It forces me to acknowledge that all of my choices are my own (though highly influenced by my community). I have to be as ethical as possible all the time, because there is no one to forgive me (but the people I might hurt or myself, and we're all tough task masters, I'm not that forgiving of myself). And's there's no do-over, I have to do the most I can to have a positive impact this go around. There's a philosopher named John Rawls (sorry if you know this) who said that the ideal way to run the world is to imagine yourself in the worst possible position and make laws and act accordingly. So I try to do that to determine what's right or wrong.
I think it would be nice to have some kind of faith, but I just can't force myself to believe in any higher powers. But I think I'm a happy, ethical person (to the best of my ability) none the less.
Edited by chinagrl (03/10/06 06:39 AM)
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Re: Neat!.
#251323 - 03/10/06 07:06 AM
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jaime g
Reged: 07/27/05
Posts: 961
Loc: new york city
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actually, and i'm mostly sure about this, yeshua is actually just jesus' hebrew name. "moshiach" actually means messiah.
(from the agnostic/non-practicing pagan/culturally jewish girl who spent K-6th in a hebrew day school. a useful repository of information, if nothing else.  )
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jaime
ibs-a (mostly d) // vegetarian
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birds are kosher as long as they're herbivores - carnivores and scavengers aren't kosher.
when kosher animals (it includes beef and venison, off the top of my head) are slaughtered, there are specific ways it must be done for the meat to be kosher. all of the blood has to be drained - blood, i believe, isn't kosher. the slaughter rules are also aimed at, i believe, humane slaughter. as much as that's a possibility.
there's also the rule of not eating dairy & meat together - in the bible as not cooking a calf in its mother's milk.
most of the rules about what's kosher can be traced back to what was safe to eat thousands of years ago - scavengers and carnivores were more likely to get you sick, as were ocean bottom-feeders. (the ocean rules, which are described in terms of scales/no scales, also fall along the lines of bottom-feeders - fish with scales tend to not bottom-feed, while crustaceans do.)
there are also arcane aspects of kashrut - some species of grasshoppers are kosher, for example. the list goes on and on.
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jaime
ibs-a (mostly d) // vegetarian
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Lets see.. I think Sarala/Ruchi answered most of the Judaism questions re: orthodoxy.. of which I know a LOT... having grown up going to orthodox day schools and having a cousin who is very orthodox, like Sarala... She covers her hair with a wig, and has a meat only kitchen with 3 exceptions- small storage areas for dairy things (she is allergic to dairy so there is a dish drainer for dairy dishes, a cabinet for them, and a section of the fridge for dairy for her girls and her husband for breakfast cereal, etc). her dishwasher and stove are both fleishig or just meat.
Personally after a lot of thought and research and introspection I belong to a reconstructionist Jewish Chavurah (we don't have a building so aren't officially a shul).. My dad is a religious education who is nationally known and I grew up in his shadow... so I know a lot and did study comparitive religions, which taught me enought o know I love judaism and the traditions, but I wasn't comfortable with the orthodox and their treatment of women in not allowing them certain roles...
and I wasn't comfortable with reform because it goes to all english and things I dont' like- I know hebrew and appreciate it.... and it leaves out the traditions I love.
my personal home would be egalitarian conservative but there isn't one around here.. and I love the people and some of the practices the chavurah does.. like at our sukkor retreat every year we always chose a spot where there is a natural body of water so we can do mikvah outdoors in nature. (and I have led it the last 2 times I've gotten to go).
We do a lot of singing, chanting and use of the hebrew prayers.. we read the torah, but don't require readers to chant it so I can read it if I want and have time... and we do torah discussions/study as a congregation as well, which I enjoy greatly....
Also- the congregation is welcoming of my household which is interfaith- DH is a believer in G-d but not religion after his upbringing (he was raised by a KY southern baptist and a catholic who divorced and lived with other people without remarrying for years!)
he goes with me, but not all the time and doesn't feel a need at this point to convert.. though our kids will be raised jewish and we keep a kosher meat home.. he eats dairy out!
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Dietetics Student (anticipating RD exam in Aug 2010)
IBS - A
Dairy Allergic
Fructose and MSG intollerant
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Re: my take
#251330 - 03/10/06 07:40 AM
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jaime g
Reged: 07/27/05
Posts: 961
Loc: new york city
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i think i labeled myself in another post here an agnostic/non-practicing pagan/cultural jew. i think it's accurate. my family is jewish, and though we're not religious, i went, from kindergarten through sixth grade, to a conservative hebrew day school. (judaism is ranked, roughly, from least-religious/strict to most: reform, conservative, orthodox.) so while at home my mom was reading about reincarnation and spirituality, i was learning about judaism every day in school.
synagogue was never a spiritual place for me - i always objected to the idea that wearing a skirt and tights made anyone more spiritual - i was bat mitzvahed, but did it more because it was something you did. after that my family went to synagogue on the high holy days (rosh hashannah and yom kippur - the jewish new year and day of atonement), but, since it really didn't mean anything to me, i stopped going to those during high school. it felt good, liberating - i was being true to myself, and not just going through the motions.
i still love jewish traditions, but sort of the way i love thanksgiving - family brought together around tradition and ritual, a connection to the past, both in terms of human past and our family's history. although i stopped keeping kosher for passover (not eating leavened bread) a few years ago (it was an odd hold-over, along with fasting on yom kippur - things i did mostly because there where 'what you did,' and not doing them indicated weak willpower), i still love the passover seder (a sort of organized ritual meal, like thanksigivng with lots of steps to follow). and i also have a lot of love for jewish traditions and stories - i think it's an attachment to what i was raised with. i used to think, even a few years ago, that being 'culturally jewish' was silly, that it's a religion, not a club. but i've realized that even though i don't think the bible is the word of god, the holidays and traditions are important to my life.
for a very neurotic, second-guessy person, i'm surprisingly comfortable with my agnosticism. it's not an unsure, questing, lost thing for me. i don't know if there's a god, many gods, some sort of force - and i don't think there's any way to know. our consciousness might end when we die, or it might not. and, for me, it doesn't really matter. (i think believing that there's no way to know is most of why i so easily accept this.) i realized in high school that i didn't want to believe in a god who cared if i believed in him - shouldn't he have bigger things to worry about? the existence of god wouldn't change how i live my life - i strive to be a good person, a thoughtful and kind person, to respect people and the world.
i also have always had a deep love for science, and i've found in it the mystery and awe that a lot of people find in religion. (although i do know many scientists who are religious - ken miller, a biology professor from where i went to school, is the go-to man for defending evolution against intelligent design - he's a huge supporter of evolution as scientific fact, and also a devout catholic. there's actually a great article i read this morning in the new yorker about science and religion & politics, and how comparing them and pitting them against one another is totally apples and oranges.) learning about cosmology and particle physics, looking at pictures taken of distant galaxies, fills me with a deep, intense love of the universe. there might be some force behind it all - life and the universe are so amazing - but i don't begin to imagine that it's something i can comprehend.
the non-practicing pagan thing comes from that - the intense mystery and beauty of nature are what i connect to, which is an aspect of paganism, but i don't ascribe actual deities to it. it's definitely a jaime-made thing. all we can know for sure is the world, and so all i can do is try to be as good as possible to people and nature and everything in it. if there is a god or force of any kind who has any interest in what i do, i assume (and really hope) that's what he/she/it/they would want.
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jaime
ibs-a (mostly d) // vegetarian
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and I mean FRIENDS, I love and value ALL my friends here and I'm so thankful for the internet, I mean where else would all of us with all these different backgrounds and beliefs get to sit down and share this way? We probably wouldn't even KNOW each other even if we lived in the same city because we'd run in different circles and never cross paths. I just think this is too cool...
So there's a question I've been wondering about a long time and would love to ask you all, it is not a loaded question, I just truly would love to know, what are your beliefs/thoughts/feelings about Jesus? And are you still waiting for a Messiah?
If you'd feel more comfortable answering in email I'm fine with that but we are all learning so much from each other I'd love to keep it "open". I just hope/pray no one becomes defensive, because this has been a wonderful discussion thus far! I have no intentions of challenging your answer, I truly just want to know YOUR beliefs/thoughts. THANKS!
Love ya ALL!
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Take care,
Michelle
...the greatest of these is LOVE. (I Cor 13)
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hoping i can answer as a non-religious jew, since i went to school with all this for six years and am pretty well-versed.
jews don't think jesus was the messiah, so yup, still waiting. i don't think most jews would go so far to call him a prophet, as muslims regard him, but some jews think jesus was a cool guy with some groovy ideas (as eddie izzard would say).
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jaime
ibs-a (mostly d) // vegetarian
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