I am making a short film soon and........

[Henry Rollins]

I need information on the opinions of people here, especially those that belong to a church, like some form of christianity. Now my short film is not going to be a propagandic film at all saying christianity is wrong or something, I just need this info as a backdrop for the subject matter to help me out with writing the movie and then making it and what I think is important. Also, when answering, be as pithy as possible.

Why do you think your religion speaks the truth?

What are your general feelings toward non-believers?

~rougerum

 

[foray]

I'm busy at the moment, rouge; do wait for my reply in a few day's time.

foray

 

[Anthony]

1) Why do you think your religion speaks the truth?

What is truth, as Pilot asked Jesus during his trial? Primarily, I don't have a religion, but I do believe that my BELIEFS, as they are, do stand for something. To me, they are quite liberal when it comes to modern life, but as personal and spiritual yard-sticks, they tell me to find God in everyone and everywhere, and try to come to terms with such an understanding. I rejected catholicism because it was out-dated and, in many ways, incredibly fascist. ANd its not just Catholicism, every religion, since it is man-made and not God-made, is guilty of some sin or another. Religion does not speak truth, it merely points to the truth. You will find that God, the shadow behind religion and its beating heart, does speak truth.

2) What are your general feelings toward non-believers?

I think that atheists are the purest people in the world. Bascially, because they live their lives, do their best, do what they should and indulge in the existentialism of it all in the name of their own SELVES, not out of fear of God or judgement. The God I believe in doesn't Judge anyone, who are we to think of non-believers as misguided and lacking soul? I think they probably have more soul than any other believer, if not more moral fibre. Ultimately, you do get many people believing in their dochtrine merely because out of fear of not going anywhere after death, or fear of making the wrong choice and being judged by an angry judge-like God. I admire Athiests for they are very honest with themselves, and are that much more decent than people who believe in God for the wrong reasons. No faith is better than false faith. However, my belief is that God is in everyone, and if an athiest does believe in his or herself, then in essence, he or she does believe in God! Directly or indirectly, there is not such thing as an athiest. Show me a human being who does not believe in something or someone of some sort, and I'll show you something that is not human.

What do you mean by non-believers? Athiests, or people of different religions? People of different religions must realise one day (if they don't already) that there is only one religion serving one God, anything else is just bullshit in the haze. Jesus wasn't misguided when he said that the 'kingdom of God is within', he meant to tell us that God doesn't lurk up in the sky or in a holy building. You wont find God in a diocese, but you will within yourself.

Anyway, there you have it.
Ant.

 

[foray]

I'm just sitting here wondering if it could be appropriate for one to rebut another's statement.

Also, I'd be delighted if 80sU2IsBest replied to this thread, as I think he and I are pretty head to head on Christianity; I've faith that he'd have a great say on this.

still preoccupied,
foray

 

[Henry Rollins]

Don't die this quick.

~rougerum

 

[melon]

Well, since I'm a filmmaker myself, I'll try and help you out. I don't, however, think I'm really the best person to answer this, as I'm not representative of most religious (I don't think).

1) Why do you think your religion speaks the truth?

Well, I wish I could say for sure that my religion speaks the truth, but I don't know for sure. In fact, I don't think any of us can really be sure. To me, however, it's conscience, this gut feeling that tells me that what I'm doing is right. Perhaps this will sound a bit egotistical, but I do think that God has a major plan for me and that I don't know what it is yet. However, I do believe that even if I'm wrong in my beliefs, that God will be merciful because, at least, I tried.

Note: I'm a personalist regarding religion, not an essentialist.

2) What are your general feelings toward non-believers?

Well, to be honest, I'm not totally sure. The reality is that only 30% of our world is Christian. So does that mean that 70% of our world will automatically go to hell with, in most cases, it being no fault of their own?

I look at 75 years of forced atheism in the Soviet Union. So will God punish those who were born, lived, and died being indoctrinated into atheism under Soviet rule? I look at over 8,000 years of Hinduism, with innumerable generations knowing this as their only religion. Were all their lives for naught? Is God some sadistic and egotistical Being who selectively preordains who will be born in Christian nations (hence more likely to be 'saved') and who will be left utterly hopeless in a non-Christian nation (hence will be automatically cast into hell)? Does a Being with an infinitely larger capacity to love really act like a tyrant when it comes to His own creation?

Truthfully, I have a hard time believing that God is like that. I think those who consciously reject God will get their just judgment, but for those who live their lives true to their own religion and faith will be rewarded. Perhaps I am so kind, because what if all of us Christians were wrong? What if Judaism was correct? What if Islam was correct? Heck, what if Hinduism or Buddhism were correct? I would hope that I would be judged with compassion due to the purity of my own conscience, rather than failing because of getting the semantics wrong. After all, isn't religion generally there to teach us to love one another anyway? To quote St. Paul, "Love is the fulfillment of the Law."

Melon

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?Confused by thoughts, we experience duality in life. Unencumbered by ideas, the enlightened see the one reality.? - Hui-neng (638-713)

 

[AchtungBono]

Henry Rollins is one of my FAVORITE artists. I listen to his "Think Tank" CD constantly - it RULZ!!!!

I helped promote his Israeli tour in December 1998 which was a HUGE success. He's such a great guy....

LUV his tattoos....

YOU RAWK HENRY!!!

----

To answer your question:

I'm Jewish (I hope that doesn't matter) and I'd like to add my voice to this thread:

1. Why do I think my religion speaks the truth??

That's a tough question that I'll have to think about a little more.

2. My general view of non-believers? - well, my first instinct is to feel sorry for them - why? because if you don't believe that there is a higher authority and that there is a master plan for everything AND that everything (good or bad) happens for a reason - then life is pretty meaningless and people can (and do) live in despair.

I hope I've made sense.



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My body belongs to Bono but my heart belongs to Darren Hayes

 

[foray]

Why do you think your religion speaks the truth?
1. ...because it has not let me down before; the answers I garner from Christianity are satisfying.

Remember when I said to you that Christianity is about both Faith & Rationale, not one or the other? The key is that these two approaches to Christianity are 2 sides of the same coin, like how Love is the flipside of Pain, End is the flipside of Beginning, etc. You can't have one without the other. Now, most people think that if you can't rationalise Christianity/God, it/He must be flawed. I, on the other hand, think that we cannot possibly fathom God and how He works (reason being that imperfect beings cannot grasp perfection), so when faced with a perplexing situation where I can't rationalise why-God-is-like-this/why-the-Bible-says-this, I then tread by faith, and not my head. This is not to say that when I can't figure things out, there is no answer. There will always be an answer and I'll elaborate on this in point #3. It is just that I am a flawed human being with limited faculties, therefore I am not able to explain to myself the entire 'philosophy' of God. But when I am able to figure it out, the entire idea adds up for me. Like I said, the answers are satisfying. You, however, being a 100% rationalist, probably think that it's foolish for me to go by faith once rationale 'fails' me (it's me failing rationale, actually

).

2. I think it is possible, though, for some people to acquiesce to the Christian ideology by rationalising it out. C.S. Lewis used to be an atheist and it was when he set out to disprove Christianity that he converted to it, simply because he couldn't find anything contradictory in it.

3. As I said earlier, there will always be answers, and one real Truth (with subsets of many Truths). I don't believe in relative reality because it is illogical. Christianity to me comes closest to the Truth.

4. When I put my faith in God, He doesn't let me down. I feel His presence; it is not a high on Ecstasy, trippy sort of feeling. So, I believe in God because of personal experiences.

I'll have to answer question #2 another time

foray