Devious call for adding Christianity as a subforum

[Apech]

I would like a sub forum sub forum please .

 

The mother of all subs.

[thelerner]

I would like a sub forum sub forum please .

 

 

Great Idea! It could be just like a circular file.

 

 

The mother of all subs.

we could finally get serious discussions of sea men going.

[BaguaKicksAss]

Why did I click on this one? LOL

 

In all seriousness though, most members seem to prefer less subforums and less stickies, as opposed to more. (or perhaps that is "the most vocal majority")

[Dolokhov]

There are forms of Christianity which significantly mirror eastern religions. Thomas Merton (Trappist Monk) wrote a book called "Zen Catholicism" and pioneered dialogue with prominent Asian spiritual figures, including the Dalai Lama and Thich Nhat Hanh. In Eastern Orthodoxy, a monastery actually released a book called "Christ the Eternal Tao" which compares the Tao Te Ching to the mystical theology of Orthodoxy. We are much closer than we realize.

 

But would a forum work? What would we discuss there?

[goatguy-too]

Well, if it helps, I promise that when I finish the GOT thread I won't start anymore. I was going to start "Fundamentalism as taught by Buddha" , "Fundamentalist origins of paganism", and "The esoteric origins of Fundamentalism in I Ching" but I don't want to wear out my welcome ;-)

[Brian]

I, personally, would welcome those threads, goatguy.

[BaguaKicksAss]

Well, if it helps, I promise that when I finish the GOT thread I won't start anymore. I was going to start "Fundamentalism as taught by Buddha" , "Fundamentalist origins of paganism", and "The esoteric origins of Fundamentalism in I Ching" but I don't want to wear out my welcome ;-)

 

Start as many as you like, and if people don't like them for whatever reason, they just won't reply is all.

 

Looks like Taoism is being left out here though, there's just got to be some fundamentalist Taoist leanings as well..

[gatito]

^^^

 

Ditto

 

Although, bear in mind that some of us might like your Gospel of Thomas thread very much - or alternatively, some of us may be unable to make any intelligent contribution

[Brian]

^^^ Some of us (raises hand) might be in BOTH categories...

 

[Marblehead]

Looks like Taoism is being left out here though, there's just got to be some fundamentalist Taoist leanings as well..

Oh, I am here for whenever that need arises. I see little need right now though. The water is flowing fine down toward the sea.

[goatguy-too]

Well I couldn't resist teasing on a thread with the name this one has. I know that the exclusive claims of Christianity can be offensive to others. I appreciate your hospitality. When I get done with Thomas, I may continue in the same thread (to keep a small footprint) to show that the same methods found in Thomas are found throughout the Bible.

[SonOfTheGods]

Well I couldn't resist teasing on a thread with the name this one has. I know that the exclusive claims of Christianity can be offensive to others. I appreciate your hospitality. When I get done with Thomas, I may continue in the same thread (to keep a small footprint) to show that the same methods found in Thomas are found throughout the Bible.

Curious: why do you think Gospel of Thomas wasn't canonized?

[deci belle]

goatguy said:

 

to show that the same methods found in Thomas are found throughout the Bible.

What Thomas said seems (to me, thanks to goatguy's contributions here) to be the same as found in buddhism and taoism at root (in terms of describing a functional spiritually-aware relationship of the conditional and the absolute). It's a shame it is so heavily veiled by the inside puns and other culturally-bound elements. Neither does it offer any real program for personal exploration. Still, in the hands of a gifted worker like goatguy, I am able see what is being described.

 

What goatguy has been clarifying in his work here on TTB totally works for me in terms of Gnostic tradition— which is Asian. Conventional Christianity it isn't. In current geo-political terms, Israel is West Asia. Also, indiginous (non-European jews) are considered Asian jews.

 

I don't feel a literalist bible-based section is warranted on this forum. Bible-study is bound in a historical/spiritual symbology that has long been imbedded with an eternalist symbology that seems never intended to be used to unlock the mystery of people's own inconceivable nature. Never is it said (openly) that one can realize god-knowledge oneself, whereas the Gnostic documents and the other asian traditions all have highly-held auxiliaries that do challenge the individual to do so.

 

The Asian tradition of Buddhism has no god and for good reason. Taoism, being an ancient prehistorically developed and ultimately home-grown proto-Chinese phenomena that has come to define the Chinese mind (along with the other two mainstays) has its underpinnings in the shamanic tradition, therefore exhibits a bit more wiggle-room as regards a "god" —though never treated even remotely as in terms of a deification of the human ego characteristic of the vengeful, fire-breathing demiurge of the Jewish/Christian/Muhammedist monotheistic tradition.

 

When you see god and its you and you don't exist either… don't need no stinkin' christian section around here.❤

[goatguy-too]

Curious: why do you think Gospel of Thomas wasn't canonized?

At the time that Augustine was ridding the western church of Hebraic influence, Constantine was doing the same in the east. Thomas teaches Greeks how to read like a Hebrew sage. So there would have been no motivation to canonize it. I am not sure that I would have proposed it to be cannonized either, for various reasons. But doctrine is not one.

Edited December 16, 2013 by goatguy

[RongzomFan]

All you have to do is have a "Dharmic" subforum and an "Abrahamic" subforum.

[SonOfTheGods]

All you have to do is have a "Dharmic" subforum and an "Abrahamic" subforum.

Maybe have a sub-pit, cause I think the "Abrahamic subforum" will be visiting it a lot.

[thelerner]

Maybe have a sub-pit, cause I think the "Abrahamic subforum" will be visiting it a lot.

Abrahamic.. really. How long from sub pit to The Pit

 

can the Jews, Christians, Moslems

and the fundamentalists amongst them

live and write together in peace?

[SonOfTheGods]

can the Jews, Christians, Moslems

and the fundamentalists amongst them

live and write together in peace?

According to history, they can live together in pieces

[Captain Mar-Vell]

...

 

Isn't it just the fundamentalists that are the problem really?

 

Of every stripe?

 

...

[Dolokhov]

goatguy said:

though never treated even remotely as in terms of a deification of the human ego characteristic of the vengeful, fire-breathing demiurge of the Jewish/Christian/Muhammedist monotheistic tradition.

 

There's a lotta good mystical theology that didn't get cut and dried in the Reformation by Knox and Calvin and Zwingli etc., which exists in the Eastern church traditions, but I admit even there people (mostly laity) anthropomorphize him out of wack

Edited December 17, 2013 by Dolokhov

[Captain Mar-Vell]

...

 

I shouldn't get caught up in this.

 

But further to my post above, I don't "blame" fundamentalists.

 

Inflexibility and dogma seem to be the product of fear responses.

 

...

[thelerner]

Even fundamentalism isn't so bad, there's often great learning and dedication there. If only it was followed by one more step, tolerance..live and let live.

[SonOfTheGods]

The problem I have, is when it is pushed in your face.

 

They want to decide:

 

what movies you can see,

what books you can read,

what god you must pay allegiance to,

what curriculum to teach in public schools,

deny others stem cell procedures,

deny others medical marijuana,

deny a female's right to abortion,

 

but have no problem declaring onward christian soldier and bomb another country back into the stoneage.

 

They have political bigshots in the church's pocket

pay no income tax

have huge ostentatious churches where there could be built homeless shelters, children parks, etc instead

There are more churches built now than ever before, and the world is worse than ever.

 

They are the hugest hypocrites walking this Earth.

They instigate, then cry foul.

 

Religion is a cancer than eventually will crush this planet, and it is IMPOSSIBLE to cure.

 

Enlightenment and religion are Polar Opposites.

 

If you live in small town America, there are churches every 2 blocks.

 

Get caught with a deck of Tarot Cards, and they will burn your house down, with you in it, for the good lord's work.

 

Religious history is brutally horrific, and if they had their way, they would do it over again, with even worse atrocities.

 

Saddest thing of all- all perpetrated for a Myth.

 

Religion restrains Scientific pioneering.

 

Worse of All-

 

You can not have Dark Age/Medieval Mentality and possess High Tech. Nuclear Weapons.

[Captain Mar-Vell]

...

 

By "religion" what do you mean exactly, Son?

 

I would have thought the notions of religion and enlightenment were closely connected.

 

...

Edited December 17, 2013 by Captain Mar-Vell

[thelerner]

The problem I have, is when it is pushed in your face.

 

They want to decide:

 

what movies you can see, what books you can read, what god you must pay allegiance to, what curriculum to teach in public schools, deny others stem cell procedures, deny others medical marijuana, deny a female's right to abortion,

but have no problem declaring onward christian soldier and bomb another country back into the stoneage.

 

They have political bigshots in the church's pocket, pay no income tax, have huge ostentatious churches where there could be built homeless shelters, children parks, etc instead There are more churches built now than ever before, and the world is worse than ever.

 

They are the hugest hypocrites walking this Earth.

They instigate, then cry foul.

 

Religion is a cancer than eventually will crush this planet, and it is IMPOSSIBLE to cure.

Enlightenment and religion are Polar Opposites.

If you live in small town America, there are churches every 2 blocks.

Get caught with a deck of Tarot Cards, and they will burn your house down, with you in it, for the good lord's work.

Religious history is brutally horrific, and if they had their way, they would do it over again, with even worse atrocities.

Saddest thing of all- all perpetrated for a Myth.

Religion restrains Scientific pioneering.

 

Worse of All-

You can not have Dark Age/Medieval Mentality and possess High Tech. Nuclear Weapons.

<Derail>

Some grievances may be appropriate, but all in all you go to far, into exaggeration, imo. Are You so intolerant you'd ban churches if they were too close together. Are You so intolerant that you'd knock down churches confiscate the land and build playgrounds and homeless shelters there? Really, have you ever built any playgrounds or homeless shelters anywhere?

 

There's nationalism and its often overtaken by racism, but honestly we don't send out armies out singing Onward Christian Soldiers. That and a many more comments might have been justified decades or hundreds of years ago, but not now. Tarot readings, astrology, hell they're in the newspaper, at least astrology is and I don't think tarot are the contraband you claim, there are decks and books on them available online and at most book stores.

 

Religious history like most things is a mixed bag. There has been a lot of charities- food, hospitals, and orphanages set up by religion. Wars too. Still last century the atheists won as far as body count. Hard core atheists showed they were every bit as bloody, if not bloodier then religious zealots. I get the feeling your Grand Vision is closer to Mao's Cultural revolution then you might think. Not pretty.

 

I think the cancer isn't religion its in the intolerant point of view. The 'Ban what I'm Against and the World will be a better Place' crowd. If someone wants to rub mud on there belly and dance naked in the moon light, more power to them, as long as they're live and let live types, and don't track in the mud.

Edited December 17, 2013 by thelerner