I also think creation is vastly beautiful and awe inspiring and the creator must be multitudes more so...

And I wonder then how man can think that he can guess *anything* about the nature of god.

How presumptious to think that we could truly comprehend the nature of the creator?

Peace.

Me too M. For me it is nature- how beautiful is the world. I am glad you feel god near you.

Peace and joy to you my friend.

Wow I don't know where you live. I have lived in NC and SC and they prayed at government meetings "in jesus name" and people were hired because they were christian, companies flat out advertised that they only hired christians, I had 7 day adventists come by at least weekly... the 7th day adventists didn't bother me.

But being at my place of employment, a secular government agency, and being required to attend meetings that began and ended with prayers to jesus bothered me. Noticing that the holders of the 6 highest positions in the agency all attended church of christ churches that bothered many of us. So we left. I do have a friend who still works there. She is Church of Christ. She feels like her career is a shoo-in. She doesn't think it's right, but admits that she has every reason to believe she will be favored because of her church.

i don't really care to dwell any further... but all this does not mean I "don't like" christians. How stupid. I once had my purse stolen by a hispanic man. a friend asked me if i hated or feared hispanics now? Of course not. just because people have something in common doesn't mean that they are all the same or act the same in any other way.

By the same token the opposite is true. You saying that something doesn't happen just because you personally have never experienced it is ridiculous. If you haven't had cancer I'm happy for you, that doesn't mean that cancer doesn't exist.

I respect your right to discuss your religions. All of them. But when you say something incredibly arrogant and self-centered like "this never happened to me, therefore it doesn't happen" that is obviously ridiculous.

Think. Peace.

And I do agree with Abra, I think Redy would be an excellent goddess. Also Jessie Lee. And don't forget Cute. She would be a no-nonsense, action-oriented goddess.

Nite all. Peace and joy.

I was going to vote for myself (despite the op's gentle discouragement of such... oh naughty me disobeying instructions!!! )

But you beat me to it Abra.

But I don't really want to be head goddess. I can be a minor goddess. I could just give people *interesting* dreams or something...

Actually I don't even need to be a goddess. Empress suits me just fine.

Ahh... but what if sex is part of ones religion? Perhaps it is a sacrament.

It can be...

Oh I never thought you were... after all we have occasionally had similar thoughts...

and I am eminently reasonable.

Peace and joy.

I thought we already started that cult??!!?

Actually some do and some don't. the west african (original) voodoo has nothing to do with christianity or satan. But the american and island versions (voudou, vodun, santeria, etc.) mixed voodoo and christianity- specifically catholicism which is ritualized and thus appealed to them.

Actually, traditional voodoo has nothing to do with "satan" or christianity. It is based on sun and moon goddesses. Mawa is the sun and lisa the moon.

But you are right that in the sects of voodoo that mixed it with christianity when it moved through the slave communities of the carribean islands and into the islands and the US. However, these practitioners are more likely to call upon forces of earth, wind, fire or water or even on catholic saints for assistance than to "satan". Some sects do use the "fallen angel" "satan" as a source of power but it's hardly primarily satanic.

I didn't read through the whole thread so I apologize if this is repetitious but...

There are many practitoners of voodoo here- we have large Haitian and DR populations and the religion is quite popular in Haiti and the Dominican Republic and other carribean islands.

Any religion can be called a cult by outsiders but I really don't see how VooDoo in general can be called a cult because to me a cult seeks to entrap people and isolate them. Most voodoo preiests and preistesses do not keep their followers away from family or non-believers.

In general, voodoo (which has various sects and different practices just like christianity or Islam, etc. e.g.) is about how everything is divine and has power that can be tapped by practitioners. In a sense it is therefore primarily a religion of nature.

Like most religions voodoo seeks to answer questions about why things are the way that they are and what happens after death,etc. The main difference between voodoo and most western and many eastern religions is that voodoo practitioners believe that they can change things in practical, immediate ways. They believe that they can use their religious practices to control the actions of other humans and make things happen in the world at large. Voodoo also is about family and tribal histories, genealogy, general history, and fables. Gods and ancestors are both honored and worshipped.

Of course I'm sure that there are cults based on voodoo just like there are cults loosely based on other religions...

I asked a question a bunch of posts back and wanted to see if anyone had an answer for me...

It seems rehashing the same arguments was all consuming.

Sigh.

There were some other interesting points in here too, but all are lost in the he said she saids....

Maybe they were just trying to make sure the person was really dead...

so they wouldn't be buried alive?

and it sounded good....

I heard it, I heard it!!!!

I think this is interesting. Isn't Jesus Christ god? Do you thank him for himself?

The trinity confuses me. Especially as some here have professed that the god of the old testament is jesus? That's not how I interpreted the old and new testaments... but if jesus didn't exist prior to the birth of the man jesus christ, was he then a creation of the other god?

this is confusing to me.

You are very welcome.

Oh Abra stop being such a "hater"...



People, he doesn't hate the player(s)- he hates the game!

No problem I reply to a post that catches my attention before reading the rest all the time!!

I have no intent to offend you but to me that is like saying that Santa Claus must exist because some people don't believe in him??!!??