RELIGION- THE WAY FOWARD

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I'll drink to that.

Just because you're walking forward doesn't mean you're going in the right direction.

That's both my take on religion, and on 'progressiveism' (that self-masturbatory term the loony left likes to use to describe themselves)

The loony left and the religious right: same genus, different species.

I once heard a great line in a TV show. It was "How come when you talk to God you are praying, but when God talks to you you are crazy?"

The reason I quote that line is in my case (and I have only recently been diagnosed with Asperger's at 39 years of age,) I see logical connection, patterns, and synchronisms EVERYWHERE around me. In the namespaces, the information spaces, languages, mathematics, and on and on. They are so obviously (to me) intelligent in origin I have two possible explanations from which to choose:

1) They are a product of my own mind and I am crazy
2) They exist in the world around me and I am not crazy

The psychiatric establishment labeled me as a schizophrenic and fed me medications ever since 1993. They did nothing to reduce or eliminate the perceptions of these patterns. If anything, the perceptions became clearer and clearer despite these medications. Then I see a different doctor and she says to me I am not schizophrenic at all, that I am far too articulate and clear of thought to possibly have that diagnosis, and she discovers I have Asperger's. So, I am inclined at this point to believe option 2 despite 14 years of being told that it was option 1.

I try not to preach, because as so many of you point out being preached to turns people off. What I try to do instead is just tell people what I see, what I think it may mean, and who I know is doing this and let them exercise their God given right to choose whether they believe me or not, and whether they think I am correct in my interpretations or not.

Am I a religious person? Not really. To this point I never go to church or temple or anything else, I only know a couple of paryers, and I read the Bible only on occasion. Yet, I still believe deeply in God because of the undeniability of what I see. My religion has become a very personal relationship with Him, and I take great comfort and derrive great strength from that.

I don't think preaching really works in today's society. Too many preachers have run churches like mega businesses, have been caught with their hand in the collection plate, have been caught molesting or commiting adultery. Just look at the recent gay sex with a gay prosititute scadal involving the head of the Evengelical Society. There is very little wonder people don't like to be preached to. All I say is this: look around at the world. Read between the lines and look for what seems out of place. There you too may see the hand of God at work, and discover some of the wonderful things I have. But above all else make it a personal journey, and seek to become one with God and the Universe He created, on your own and in your own way and in your own time.

And one more really great quote: "Never place a period where God has placed a comma." My advice to everyone, look for the commas and remember, God is still speaking.

Last edited by AsAdam2Eve on 24 Nov 2006, 2:49 am, edited 1 time in total.

I dream of god, I dream of infinity, I'm in awe of the mysteries of life..

All these mean the same thing to me.

I think that's a great way of looking at it. What really opened my eyes was to define the following words and ponder what their implications are on my life and on society as a whole:

1) Omnipotent
2) Omniscient
3) Omnipresent
4) Eternal

When you truly undersand these words, the possibilities that open up before you are just too great to describe.

I have another word that thinking about gives me pure joy.

Dynamics

and

Motion.

These words don't mean much to quite a few people, but the way I see the both of them always amazes me, in myself, and in everything.

3) They're a harmless product of your mind. Get some sleep.

Nope...they are not. My mind can't impact the physics of the world external to itself.

I say that whovever shows no respect for God, christianity, islam or any religion should not be posting on these religious topics.

What about whoever shows no respect for atheism or agnosticism? And what is it to show respect or disrespect? It would be nice to just have a reasonable exchange of points of view. But that seems to be difficult for many people. The problem is to put away your ego for long enough to accept that other people may see the world differently, and be quite justified in doing so.

I agree. An exchange of points of view is healthy on both sides of the equasion.

So, I will ask you...can you offer me any explaination for what I see other than "It's all in your head?" I've serached in vain for a long, long time.

Depends what you see. If you see a car (I take this example from looking at your profile image), the explanation is, there's a car there, light waves go from it to your eyes and thence to your brain, consequently you see a car.

I'm being very mundane - and deliberately, provocatively mundane. My point is, ask yourself why you need more of an explanation than this.

Ah, very clever...the reason is because the patterns I see contain *information*, or *messages* if you prefer. The detectable patterns that are the fingerprints of intelligence. Some are really, really simple and obvious. Some are highly subjective and nearly impossible to articulate. But, they are there and that's why I needed an explaination.

I just have a few comments:

1. In my own life I have seen clear evidence of God at work. While I am still unsure of the nature of God (meaning that I have a difficult time believing in a particular religion), its existence is without question.

2. There are a lot of religions out there, so finding one that doesn't clash too heavily with your beliefs isn't impossible.

3. Churches provide excellent support networks. The church I currently attend has a policy of "everyone is welcome" and they're a great group of people. They've definitely helped me break through a lot of my isolation.

I have to say I'm skeptical of that, but it sounds interesting. Perhaps we'll hear more on it in time.