So Abra, what you were saying with those lovely pictures is that the purpose of religion should be to teach man to love one another?!?

or was it that the purpose of religion is to show people the hidden, deeper meanings to life...

just connecting your art to the OP.

???

Oh wait was it supposed to make a picture?

I know it is a picture of me laughing my head off!

I totally agree...

I would think religion would be the last thing God would care about... except in that religion ends up effecting creation- usually in a destructive manner.

Oh you boys...

I love the hearts... where are the flowers?

I wonder have you asked those who tell you this how or why they feel this way?

Is it because they themselves feel that they have abilities and recognize the same in you? Or was there some other reason?

I think that people all have different talents and of course it is possible that you could have some natural abilities that are uncommon, however, I find it difficult to understand how someone could just look at you and know whether you had them or not...

Peace to you and yours.

Strength and peace to all.

Oh yes, excellent point. I believe in a lot of things from the bible. I took a class in the bible as historical literature in college and I "believe" in it in that sense... but as for the trilogy, the man jesus christ being the "son of god" , etc.- those aspects are not part of my current belief system. And the old testament god is even more incompatable with my views...

I was thinking of the question more from the traditional supposed conflicts between creationism and evolution. I believe the two can be reconciled if you agree with metaphorical interpretations of parts of the bible.

I believe the original question has been answered- religion arose from a need to explain nature, the universe, and what happens after death etc. and "evolved" to include moral instructions, control the people, extort money, justify war, etc. etc.

But I wondered Dragoness, in your view what happens to "your spirit" after it enters the "energy of the universe"?

Is it not reused somehow? Or where would it go?

Just curious. I'm not at all certain I know what happens when we die... but I think we continue in other forms- reincarnation- I wondered why you were so certain we don't...

Peace.

I agree with Slow, except that I don't share his beliefs in the bible or christianity. But I find that the bible can be interpreted many ways- especially if you are willing to accept that not all was not all intended to be taken literally.

Science and the bible are not necessarily irreconcilable, and again especially if you are willing to admit that errors in translations and interpretations within the bible exist and need to be taken into account...

I'm not sure what it would be that would make me believe in the bible though...

Peace.

And do you think that is part of the reason that the keeping of pet (as opposed to work) animals is so pervasive in our culture? Because we have potential sacrificial animals conveniently at hand? Maybe if we kept the animals as part of the family then we would not have to sacrifice actual family members but could sacrifice the animals instead...

I think it is very plausible, that lovers pledged to die for one another and then decided that if they could feel ready to do such a thing shouldn't their God be at least equally willing to do so? Shouldn't their *god* in fact be willing and able to do *more* than they could?

But which came first, a god that would die for you or a human? The idea that wanting to or being wiling to die for another person stems from "god dying for man" stories does make a kind of sense and is appealing to me.

But then I think the notion could more likely have just arisen from that burst of emotion you get when you look at a lover or other beloved (which can also easily happen when looking at your child) and you think, "this person is so important to me, I can think of nothing I care about more, I would rather die myself than allow anything bad to happen to this person..."

So to me it was probably an instinct to bargain, to think "I would die for you", "I would do anything for love."

Of course dying for the mother of your children or the children themselves also could just have arisen from survival instinct. Genetic continuation is a stronger instinct than individual survival in many creatures. So preserving a potentially impregnated female is more imparative to the male that has a strong genetic survival instinct than keeping himself alive... It's just practical.

But for me it's enough to have had that feeling, and to continue to have it every day.

Peace.

I often wonder if these steps (self-examination, etc) wouldn't be helpful to many people...

I myself have been extremely fortunate to only be addicted to cigarettes and chocolate and I stopped smoking almost 3 years ago... I have no plans to quit chocolate.

I have lived with alcoholics and drug addicts though. It is sad to see people self-destruct and there is nothing you can do to stop it.

Good luck to you all. Stay strong.

Very subtle Voil- and succinct as well!!!

Peace and joy to all.

Gosh a bunch of us were running around a fire naked a while ago but we *specifically* stated that no kittens would be sacrificed...

Abra even wrote a couple of poems about it...

Wait... Damn weren't you there? At wench and sisters drum circle?!



Oh wait, was that a secret?!? Shoot... I didn't know it was secret...

BTW I think God created everything and man created "evil" because it was too hard to accept that bad things could happen randomly.

It is hard to believe that no matter what you do, how good a person you are, bad things can still happen to you. So it must be "satan" causing the bad things... someone must be at "fault".

I don't know if that's always true.

There can be, as you pointed out, death without evil e.g. act of nature. But I think that there can also be evil without intent.

If a mother kills her child because she decides that the world is too horrible and she wants to "protect" her child from evil then the fact that her intent was harmless in her eyes doesn't keep the act of murdering a child from being an evil act.

Or even more commonly, a drunk driver full of joy and laughter and stupidity and carelessness plows into a family car and kills them all. The driver/killer has no intent to harm but to me is still evil.

Sadly it seems that the only pagan interaction was antagonistic...

I don't understand what you are saying here- do you mean that none of the media anywhere are reliable at all? What "actual sources" would you accept then?

It seems to me that you are saying people should only accept what they personally have experienced? Am I misunderstanding you?

I will roast marsh mellows with you.