I may not believe that the bible is complete truth like the Christians, but I do have a great deal of respect for them. I do believe and accept the idealism that Christ was a messenger of God. I believe that Buddha, Ramanuja, Madhvacharya, Chaitanya, and Confucius were also men of God too though….and maybe even Joseph Smith….I don’t believe he talked to Christ, but that is my opinion. I do think he had some great ideas…well, for the most part….some of their ideas go a little over my head, but the Mormons idealisms are theirs, and I won’t knock it, because I could easily be wrong. I have heard some people say that they think he was drinking or smoking some serious stuff in those woods though…and no, they weren’t Christians, but they have some serious things to say about the Mormons too. Honestly though…the Mormons that I have ran into, have done some great good in this world. The group that was in the area that I grew up, heard that a Baptist family had just lost their home to a fire and the father had lost his job…these people in this Mormon church rallied together and helped him get a job…they found him a house…they gave the family clothes and food…they were super awesome people. So to be honest, I like Mormons, and they are Christians in my book even if the rest of the Christians don’t see them as such.
Some Christians believe that Christ was God. Some believe he was the Son of God and some believe as I do that he was just a messenger. All Christians though believe he died on the cross for the their sins. I don’t believe he died on the cross. I do believe he suffered on the cross for us, yet managed to survive the ordeal of it and fake his own death in order to evade being further persecution and being put to death fro real in hopes to try and bring forth new hope, salvation and maybe even truth. But, I believe he went on to teach Buddhism elsewhere. Yeah, I’m sorry, but I believe that he was Buddhist. I just don’t believe in the bible in its entirety as being complete fact. That is my opinion and only an opinion, and it really shouldn’t effect how you feel about Christ. Of course it might be annoying that I don’t believe the same way, but it is still my view on it. I have the right to my views and you have the right to yours.
The Christians have lots of great teachings even if some feel that they have a lot of negatives. I find it disturbing that the bible does teach some discriminatory viewpoints, but so does many other teachings. So lets get away from the negatives of other people’s views and ideas. If we look only at the negatives, then we are spending too much time looking at the wrong areas. The positives are the most important parts and those positives are what need to be conserved. I know that I do down the bible a lot, but Christians do a lot of good in the world. Harboring ill will towards anyone for any reason does no good at all.
Here in Mexico were I am, the Catholic Church serves food to the less fortunate every weekday at 10 AM. There are Christian churches all over the place here giving food, clothing, blankets, and more to the people down here that need it. They even help the local orphanages. They do a bounty of good.
Christians aren’t the only one with their heavenly teachers. There are Buddhists, Taoist, Wiccans, Muslims, Hindus, and Egyptians. Each culture has specific teachings about heavenly beings coming to earth to teach the human race in some form or another. Despite the fact that the statues are crumbling and the stories are taught as myths in school, some people still pray to the Greek gods and goddesses as well. Some believe they are gods and goddesses, but I digress from that any further.
Please stay with me on this next one, because I know it is a group that isn’t well liked or looked upon because their very name brings shivers, but please bare with me…. I’ve listened to the people from Satanist groups that have made considerable donations to countless organizations including homeless shelters and animal protection. They get a lot of bad publicity because they are believed to worship Satin. Some worship satin and some don’t believe in Satin at all. They recognize Satin to be an imaginary figurehead I understood. Not all groups believe the same thing in any religious or spiritual idealism. It seems like no one can agree on who is right and who is wrong about anything, but they do seem to understand that there are just some things that are absolutely necessary for a society to run properly.
Despite the fact that I don’t like drug lords, but I have even heard that they make contributions to the public to help out with charities and community help organizations, but no one is going to talk about that much.
Muslims even make contributions to society. I know two lesbian Muslim females that were talking about a few. I wish I could name them but I get a little excited when I talk to them. They are beautiful women. Not all Muslims are bad. It is the extremists that make them look that way.
I only have trouble with extremists to be honest…people who take their idealisms and views to harmful levels. There are extremists in every faction. Hitler used Pagan idealism in his fascist army and insane ideals to murder masses. Jonestown mass suicide disaster was all done under the veil Apostical (Pentecostal) idealism which was and is suppose to be a Christian group. Christopher Hitchens is an extremist in the fact that he wants to do away with religion all together saying that it is evil. He says it poisons everything. I say that hate poisons everything not religion, not spirituality, or the lack of, and not Atheism, but hate itself is the destroyer of nations or even of worlds.
The Westboro Baptist church is another good example of extremists…they are the ones that protest at funerals causing great emotional pain to those that attend the funerals. I find these people to be such evil people…
Harold Camping is another extremist…a person who continually screams end of the world is here or is coming. He even gives specific times and dates for it to happen only to be wrong every time, yet people still listen to him. You would think someone would ask him to kindly step down and stop making a fool of himself, but I hear he has made yet another prediction for October. This will make number 12 after it is over…so far he has been wrong 11 times. He is either crazy, an extremist, or a con artist. I vote for all three.
The Muslims that hijacked the planes and flew them into the twin towers were obvious extremists.
The people who burned the witches and the people who burned the Christians for the difference in views are examples of extremists.
You have heard the saying it is my way or the highway…that is an extremist point of view to be honest…it really is and shows the inability to compromise and get along. I haven’t seen to many who don’t use that saying though or a saying simular. Those that don’t are usually considered weak by others, but are they really, or are they actually stronger because they can get along better than the rest of us…? I’ve even used that saying, so I know that I even have trouble getting along with others.
There are many examples of extremists, but I can’t list them all, because for one I can’t remember them all, but I think you get the idea. I have nothing against religion in any form. I have nothing against Atheists either. I just have a big problem with extremists. They upset me to no ends…well, then again…sometimes I get a few pushy people at my door that tell me I’m going to go to hell because I practice a diversity of spiritual views and beliefs and not just Christianity. I practice Buddhism, Wicca, Tao, and a little bit of Hinduism too.
They really get mad when I tell them that I believe Christ existed but that I believe he was a Buddhist and that I don’t believe that he died on the cross. I actually don’t mean to make them mad (well, maybe I did just a little), but I didn’t ask them to come to my door either to preach their views. In my defense, if they hadn’t knocked on my door, preached their views and then asked my opinion on the subject then I probably wouldn’t have told them. I usually wait till they ask my opinion…if they don’t ask then I usually allow them to preach till they are blue in the face. They aren’t hurting anything, and it is obvious that they are very happy with who they are. It is good to see people who are truly happy with their ideas and views. It makes me feel even better when people can actually accept me for my views and ideas. I do occasionally have let them know that I’m not interested at times…it just depends on my mood at the time. Sometimes I’m in the mood to listen…sometimes, I’m not.
Most idealisms have similar views and usually agree with the following:
1. we must love one another unconditionally
2. we need to stop passing judgment on others for their idealisms and views
3. we need to do our best to help our fellow human being…be they male, female, or double gendered
4. we shouldn’t hurt other mentally, physically, or spiritually for any reason if we can help it, but also we shouldn’t allow others to hurt others either or we are just as guilty as those who we did not prevent from doing the harm in the first place.
Not everyone seems to be capable of loving unconditionally. No one seems to be incapable of not passing judgment on others…I’m even guilty from time to time. I continuously remind myself that just because my views are not the same as my friends, doesn’t mean they are wrong and it doesn’t mean that I am…. of course it doesn’t mean that either one of us are right either. We might all be wrong. I will laugh myself blue in the face if everyone in the world was completely off mark on their ideas and views…. it will make me laugh far more than you understand to find out how wrong I am in the end.
Many people do well at helping their fellow man out…it drives me crazy though, when I see people who talk about their religion or their views about how they should help others and then do the exact opposite, but then I have to remind myself that I’m passing judgment and that it isn’t my place and that if I want to help that I should step in if I can. If I am capable of helping then I usually do, even if it means handing over my last loaf of bread, I’ve been known to do it. I’ve given people my last dollar knowing I might not eat the next day. I have shared my water, knowing I may have nothing to drink the next morning or even in the next few hours.
I think we are all guilty of not stepping in to keep others from being harmed by those who are doing harm from time to time…I mean that I think that we are guilty of not offering help when needed at times…like for instance, when we see people being bullied, beaten, or something in this form or in this category. When we see people pushing others around and fail to step in to defend the other person by saying simply that the other person has their rights to their views, to their cultural ways, or whatever they need the defense for. It can be done in such a way that neither party needs to be offended, but many prefer to pick sides or not get involved at all because they are afraid to offend someone or worse maybe even being sued. It is hard to know when is the right time to step in sometimes. If someone has physical bruising than there is physical evidence, but the mental abuse that some people endure can’t be seen and it can be far more damaging than that done with a fist or any other weapon. Words are the harshest weapon that people have to endure. When we make remarks about the evils of other peoples ideas we do considerable damage. Sometimes we make those remarks trying to protect others. Sometimes we feel like we are defending our own views. Sometimes we are defending our own views, and sometimes we are just showing how insecure we really are.