Laudetur Iesus Christus
Is it bad that I'm fascinated by other religions? I'm not interested in converting, I treat them as I treat Greek mythology - an intetesting view of the world that isn't true. However, maybe there are some dark forces, that make such interest dangerous?
Also, since we're at it, you can share which religions you're interested in.
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It reeeeeeaaaally depends on what you mean by “interest”
That’s fine
No, no, that’s not okay
I like to read about Aztec and Tupi paganism, some Lovecraft mythology as well as some occultist texts, but I know that it is false and demonic doctrine, so I dont mix it with Christianity.
Learning things is never a bad thing.
Leave the "staying stupid" part for the baptists.
I absobed a lot of gnosticism and general occult before coming to a proper understanding of Orthodoxy. I also learned taoism (that's more of a philosophy than a religion), and "Bardo Thodo" (the tibetan book of the dead) . That one has parallels with a christian text on how hell is simply the presence of God as experienced by the sinful . Tough I can't recall how it was called. If anyone knows it please tell.
Interestingly, the problem of evil is clearly solved (as far as I know) in the Bible. Suffering and harmony (Taoist principle) are both part and parcel of life, our human attributes and attitudes to these are simply projectinos of our nature. I think this is partly seen in the Book of Job, metaphorically of course.
t. i think some things but I might have no idea, also studied Taoism for a while
Nothing wrong at all. My Religious Studies teacher is a hardcore Catholic but teaches us just about everything of all religions and is open to dialogue about different conceptions of the Absolute or God from a sociological, psychological and hermeneutic perspective.
Nothing inherently wrong about it as long as you keep your faith instead of being tempted by stupid magical things like the ones in neo-pagan faiths or any form of gnosticism.
Evil is simply a consequence of free will/multiplicity/time. People choose (to move closer to) God, or to move away from him. It's a sort of altered "privatio boni" : "nothingness" isn't inherently evil, but it certainly gives you possibilies. That's the whole point.
en.wikipedia.org
I believe in a sort of determinism. However, I just believe that suffering and harmony just 'are because they are'. They're just a natural part of existence.
Interesting perspective when it comes to Evil though.
patheos.com
patheos.com
patheos.com
These 3 articles helped me better understand my faith (and faith in general) . Might as well post'em here.
I'll give them a read, thanks for the links!
Have you read this book?
I haven't but it is generally recommended by the Orthodox around here who did Oriental Religions/philosophies before becoming Orthodox.
Thes say it is very good.
Oh wow, that looks pretty good. I'll get it for my Kindle, since it's going to be impossible to find it here, and importing it might end up costing about 40 dollars. Thanks mayne.
False religions mostly stem from humans corrupting/forgetting the garden of Eden and worship of the Lord
demons also probably had a hand in this corruption
Are you saying that you're a Christian who's fascinated by other religions? Of course, other religions are freaking awesome. There are some really great metaphysical traditions and symbols and narratives in other faiths. Sometimes they even share many similarities with Christianity. I would make sure not to read actual garbage and to stick to orthodox grand traditions of the world with established histories.
t, guy who studies islam, daoism, and hinduism as well
i bought this book because of you. i've seen it three times and all with good recommendation from trustworthy non-hippy perspectives so i got it
here, posted a couple times recently re: my current drive to learn more about other faiths due to not knowing about them feeling like it weakens my own, books in my spoiler look interesting for anyone looking for that sort of thing.
Along similar lines to this, I listened to a series of short expositions on world religions last night which mentioned a conversation between Desmond Tutu and the Dalai Lama (so Buddhist rather than Toaist) approach to suffering, with reference being made to the Christian view mentioned in Romans 5:3-4* with the question posed re: the Buddhist take on it: 'What do you make of the passage considering Buddhism is all about escaping suffering?' to which the Dalai Lama responded with something along the lines of 'O contrare, Mr Tutu, the verse somewhat parrellels the Buddhist approach whereby we distinguish between pain and suffering - that is to say yes pain is inevitable, but suffering is how we respond to it, which is within our control.' paraphrased After starting watching it I realised it was a series held and run by a Methodist church so unfortunately inclusivist and the bloke even endorsed views of this Harold Kushner guy, a rabbi who wrote a very unorthodox book on the problem of evil a while back.
*
I'm also just starting vid related youtube.com
Although to expand on this, the minister did declare where and when he didn't agree with particular points, the fact that his analysis was looking for common ground between Christianity and one of the others, it did lead me to think similarly to what says in that
I think as far as I can tell, the other traditions may have some wisdom and portions of the truth, they are not complete and potentially spiritually dangerous as OP says if not being careful as a noob dabling in anything of the sort, but if of firm Christian faith you should be fine. I don't think it's appropriate to rubbish and disrespect them (the other faiths) like I've seen some do on here though. By all means point out the falsehoods where Christianity builds on and/or better describes reality and the human condition, but the other people of different faiths come from what might be a wholly alien world view and culture to the Christian metaphysics, so we should be required to woo them gently and rebuke them firmly rather than rubbish them and eembarrass them (practitioners of other faiths, that is).
BTFO so quickly
The hindu is particularly interesting just because of the age of its scriptures. It's always sobering to know that people thousands of year back were more or less the same as we are.
The New Age movement is garbage.
Catholic means universal
There is nothing wrong with it. Curiosity is how we learn.
You have to be careful. There are books out there that will cause entities to try to enter your soul if you are not strong. But those texts are rare but they still work.
I started reading Lovecraft in school and was always sad the world wasn't as crazy as the mythos. Then I discovered the occult and it is pretty much the same tbh
Here is a dilemma for you, Zig Forums: if you were to find a 1500+ year old book about witchcraft, would you donate it to your local museum or burn it?
i've actually become more interesting in learning the theology of foreign religions; spotting the inconsistencies and idiocies is a pleasurable past-time
Praise Christ.