Spirituality (page 5)

I think the bible is also clear that either you worship God in spirit and truth or that in fact you are not worshipping God but rather satan the devil. Satan too is a spirit but a very debased and immoral one . I think the common belief is that the snake in the garden of eden was only an illusion and that eve was actually talking to a spirit that misled her and that spirit later became known as the father of the lie satan the devil . This led adam and eve into a state of spiritual darkness and did open what mythology might call the pandoras box ,bringing all the misery we see in the world .

So enlighten us further here if you will , what kind of "room" did you leave for spirituality ? I think some might say making passionate love to someone of the opposite sex .I've heard some say that listening to a beautiful song (which sometimes gives me the goose bumps ) is a form of sprirituality . How about you gumby what is it you personally feel is spiritual ?

Xena

SP,

This is exactly how I feel. I believed in god hardcore for most of my life, I was open to most things regarding him/her/it; and yet I never had these socalled ?experiences?.

I know the feeling. I had a rather heated discussion with a friend regarding this issue. I felt like I had spent my entire JW life TRYING to find God and not suceeding....kind of pissed me off to think of it...but when I took the time to sit and think about it objectively I realized I had just been going thru a lot of motions. It's amazing in retrospect how lacking in spirituality the JW religion is...you focus so much on deeds, you know? When I was totally honest with myself I realized beyond a random prayer or two I hadn't ever really tried to connect spiritually with anything...

I can't say what your experience is in this aspect is, only you can...I'm just relaying what I realized recently about myself personally

Another concept I can?t grasp.. ?hooked up??

Haven't learned to speak Xena yet? lol just my way of expressing the connection. When I feel myself in touch with the "flow of the universe".

frenchbabyface

Spirituality

to me spirituality have always been related to wisdom and some kind of intuition (not to God or something like that) also for instance, something funy (whatever it is a reaction, a answer, something you read, anything) can be spirituel depends on what it is all about and what it leads you to think about.

peacefulpete

Many of the definitions offered here might better fit the word coined by Rudolph Otto, "numinous". A sense of fear that is miggled with awe and humility. Many have twisted his meaning yet even the secular world often uses the word 'Numinous' to embody the broad range of religious sensation of having contacted some profound "other", something outside normal human experience and environment.

A Paduan

Western ?white? folk.

I see it like a fundamental religion - I'm a western white folk myself - but it seems to me that I live in a world where ideals are judged in terms of good and bad - like 'democracy is good', but it is 'mob rule', and 'capitalism is good' but it uses those who are less fortunate but able to work, and particularly those who don't value money.

The culture compares itself to other cultures in terms of 'good and bad' just as religionists do - and with easily the amount of hypocritical thinking.

---------------------------------------------------------

I?m not sure I understand this last part. It seems that God gives unequally. I know of atheists would?ve converted to Christianity because God supposedly came to them and gave them an obvious sign or vision. I say obvious, like he actually spoke to them or predicted something. So if God wanted everyone to believe, why not give everyone these obvious signs?

Believe what ? That there is God - what's the point? even the demons believe and shudder

heathen

A peduan --- I think the important thing is that we determine our own set of values to what is good or bad . We cannot let government tell us what is right or wrong in respect to spirituality . In the democracy of the USA we still have the right to determine what we believe and are free to voice our opinions , I would say that is good . We may be capitalists but the government does provide education and law enforcement or public transportation in some cities . The rich in this country pay half their income in taxes . In this country it is still possible to acheive just about any dream you can come up with , I think that is good . I don't doubt that we are being bamboozled but right now the standard of living is better than ever.

El blanko

Sirona said:
Some would have us sitting meditating for hours upon hours every day, refusing to step on a bug and literally ignoring earthly things as much as possible. That IMHO couldn't be a sadder existence.

I agree with you Sirona. I have several acquaintances who are pressing themselves in this direction, based around primarily Eastern dogma of the soul, combined with a 'Rudolf Steiner' vision of the inside person being a representation of the outer realities.

Balance is needed and the recognition that we are physical beings foremost. If we starve, we die, so much for the inner self being of primary importance.

A set of guiding principles and inner vision coupled with a pragmatic and objective attitude is the key.

As a friend said to me recently - "we are a toilet with wings"

LittleToe:

Christians are required to judge. To say otherwise is nonsense IMO.

Sirona

El Blanko

Balance is needed and the recognition that we are physical beings foremost.

I wouldn't quite go that far. I think that we are much more than physical beings, but that our physicality is there for a reason. So if we attempt to ignore all that is physical - "carnal" then we maybe miss the main point of being here.

Sirona

El blanko

Sirona

I wouldn't quite go that far.

Fair enough.

What is important to you?

Spirituality

Share this