Re: Religious Theology Lesson 19

I don't believe that the mixing of the customs of different religions by the Cao Dai weakens or dilutes their religion. Personally I think this proof to me that all of the gods of the different religions are actually the one true God.

The Ainu, although they are traditionally animist,  from what I understand is one of the closest to Jesus's commandment that most, love your neighbor as you love yourself. I guess if you believe there are spirits all around you you may have a tendency to be more appreciative of everything and everybody.



Rick Robbins +

Father, Give me the serenity to accept the things I can't change, the courage to change those I can, and the wisdom to know the difference

Religious Philosophy Lesson 19

MY VIEW: MASTER OF RELIGIOUS PHILOSOPHY LESSON 19

                                                     Food for Thought

• Cao Dai is the eclectic Vietnamese faith that has shamelessly "borrowed" from other faiths in an attempt to create a faith that is universally unifying. Do you think that selecting rituals from multiple faiths and then merging them together provides a stronger faith than those from which you borrow? Or, do you believe that this dilutes and diminishes the value of the original faith?

Answer: I think that selecting rituals from multiple faiths and then merging them together do not provide a stronger faith than those from which the idea is borrow rather it makes the new idea a fake, counterfeit and imitation.

• The Ainu are so socially attuned that they greet strangers with irankarapte, meaning "let me softly touch your heart". What do you think of this? Are they a sensitive, caring, socially tolerant people? Or, do you think that this is insincere and phony? If it is legitimate, why do you suppose that the dominant Japanese culture has treated them so poorly (the official government position is that they are "noble savages")?

Answer:  For the dominant Japanese culture to have treated them so poorly (the official government position being that they are "noble savages" or brutal people is a danger signal. There wouldn't be any smoke without fire. There I will believe that their irankarapte attitude is insincere and phony.

Though judgments should not be passed without hearing from both sides; who knows if at first they struggled for some things with the dominant Japanese (like lands and positions of headship or leadership and the dominant Japanese won) and now the dominant Japanese treats them so poorly with their culture. The dominant can overcame the minority group and push them to the corner where they may either be morning and calling on their God silently. If such is the case one would say that their irankarapte attitude is justified, sensitive, caring, and shows they are socially tolerant people to have even tolerated the now dominant Japanese who treated them so poorly with their culture.

Let's not forget (the people you harbor can at times turn against you and overpower you).

 

 

Thanks,

Yours in Him,

Ikpenwa, Chizoba Gabriel

Universal Life Church

Religious Philosophy Course Lesson 21

MY VIEW: MASTER OF RELIGIOUS PHILOSOPHY LESSON 21

                                                     Food for Thought

• Critics, and some academics, have sometimes maintained that it is this focus on the internal self that has prevented societies where these religions are predominant that has resulted in their lack of material gain and progress. They accept the notion that it is this psychological focus that has removed any emphasis on scientific, educational, or economic advances. What are your thoughts? Do you think that emphasizing the "inner you" that that necessarily precludes social or scientific advances?

Answer: I don't go in line with the Critics, and some academics. Though these people may have been affected negatively due to this psychological focus; the whole issue boils back to how the mentors handled the issue of psychological training. Why? Because every human has a lot of wealth embedded within from creation.  Looking within and believing in oneself enables one to maximally utilize the God given potentials. And such can be taught via psychological focus.

 

• If, as we saw earlier in the course, that it is true that religions have tended to focus on one of Russell's 'three great problems' at the expense of the other two, which of these problems seems to you to be the "most important"? Ignoring for the moment the specific religions this indirectly indicates, do you believe the world would be better off if it adopted the views of the Western Ecclesiastical religions (i.e. the natural problem), the Eastern Ecclesiastical religions (i.e. the social problem), or the Southern Ecclesiastical religions (i.e. the psychological problem)? Why?

Answer:  The "most important" is the one that handles the psychological problem because if a man thinks aright, he will most likely behave aright towards everything on earth. The problem with the Southern Ecclesiastical religions is just what I have mentioned above- "how the mentors handled the issue of psychological training. Why? Because every human has a lot of wealth embedded within from creation.  Looking within and believing in oneself enables one to maximally explore and utilize the God given potentials. And such can be taught via psychological focus"

 

 

Thanks,

Yours in Him,

Ikpenwa, Chizoba Gabriel

Universal Life Church

Religious Philosophy lesson 20

Religious Philosophy Course

 
I believe that dominion over animals and plants does give us the right to use them for what ever needs we have. I don't believe it gives us the right to use it to the point it causes a problem in the environment. The problems, so I believe, of environmental  impact comes from being greedy, or not using the resources appropriately. Being wasteful also takes a toll on the environment.

The second question about the invention of a item in one area, changing purposes when it goes to another. Lets say Amy were to invent an item, say hair. She may use it to stuff pillows or mattresses, if you give it to me I will glue it to my head. It is just a matter of what the need of the item is and how it can be changed to meet another need.

Rick Robbins +
Universal Life Church

Father, Give me the serenity to accept the things I can't change, the courage to change those I can, and the wisdom to know the difference

Re: Religious Philosophy Lesson 5

Religious Philosophy Course
1. I feel that in earlier times the values of the parent could be passed on to a child. I believe this was because most of the parents back in the times when I was a child (I am 56), were basically the same, and in most homes the parent was ever a presence. But as time passed values changed, and what people find important now has changed so the parents values are not as important. There was not the amount of social networking as there is now, not referring just to the computer, but to cell phones, television, music, and such that influences children now.Peer pressure is also a major factor that is important in what a child finds important. Now that in a lot of homes both parents have careers and do less child rearing this leaves a child vulnerable to join with peers to find values. So, I believe in some homes the presence of religion is still present and passed on, but not to the extent it use to be.

2. I do believe that chemistry in the brain has something to do with the way people feel. I don't  believe however the God gene theory. There may be a a release of serotonin when a person is worshiping and feels calm due to them being assured that there is a God, but does that mean there is a Budda gene, a Alla gene,.... I am sure these people feel the same way when they worship.

Rick Robbins +

Religious Philosophy

 Master of Religious Philosophy

                                                                                                                                                            Final Essay

This certainly has to be one of the more deeper courses, besides comparative religions, that I've taken. In the introduction I am told that this course " takes a look at the very basis of religion itself, and that Religious Philosophy first began as an academic pursuit during the 18th century in Europe." I'll have to admit that this course worked my 51 year old brain cells pretty good. Although that doesn't take much.

As I progressed through this course week by week I learned the definition of religion, the difference between a religion and an ethical system, and also the difference between a concept and a precept. I also learned the fundamentals most religions share. The 16 fundamentals this course listed were (1) Deity/Ultimate Reality (2)Theophany (3) Prayer (4) Soul (5) Worship (6) Sacrifice (7) Salvation (8) Mysticism (9) Death (10) Dualism/Monism (11) Orthodoxy (12) Orthopraxy (13) Pantheism (14) Universality (15) Uniqueness (16) Truth. I also found out that organized Religion consists of a common methodology and devotional focus.  What I also  found interesting was that cults, according to sociological criteria, don't necessarily have to be dangerous. The Old Order Amish for ex.,met 4 or 5 of the criteria, yet we all know that the Amish are far from dangerous.

In lesson 4 I learned that approximately 98% of the genetics of humans and chimpanzees is the same. Chimpanzees have also showed evidence of religious practices. Also Neanderthals and Cromagnon man constructed alters, sacrificed animals and had burial practices. It certainly seems that where religion began is easier to answer than why it began. According to this course there are several interesting theories. Marx believed that religions were illusions that humans had created to solve their various economic, material conditions they experienced in their lives. Durkheim believed that religion was a cultural tool. And of course Freud saw religion as a projection of Man kinds psychological woes. There were several         other theories mentioned in this course.

As I journeyed on through the course I learned about the Five A's. They are (1) Awareness- that there are other religions in the world. (2) Acknowledgement - recognizing someones, somethings validity, authority etc. (3) Acceptance- is a process of acknowledging something as proper, usual or right. (4) Appreciation- a favorable opinion or judgment, recognizing the the significance, value and quality of people and things. (5) Amalgamation- merging of 2 distinct groups into 1 group.

Lesson 10 talked about Doctrine. What does it mean when we use the term doctrine? This course taught that Doctrine is all about dogma, principle, sets of principles and religious theory that constitute a key part of  a religious believe system. One    would think that every religion has, religious theory, dogma and doctrine. That's what I used to think to. I learned through this course that the Religious Society of Friends ( Quakers)  claim that they have no creeds, dogma or doctrine. Another group in the Universalist movement, the Unitarians, make similar claims. Interesting to say the least.

It never ceases to amaze me how words evolve over time and how their meanings change. For example scripture is such a word. It comes from the Latin word scribere which simply meant to write. Since early writing was done by scratching on all sorts of materials, scribere early on in time could have meant simply to scratch. So in the big picture scripture can mean any thing written or a document. As time progressed scripture became defined as any written material as definitive and authoritative. Of course today in modern times scripture refers to any sacred book or sacred writing. 

This was a deep and informative course and I only scratched the surface of it in this small essay of mine. Since I am studying to hopefully be a chaplain someday I lot of times I privately wonder whether religion has a future or not. This course brings up several interesting points. Religious history has taught  us that religion will probably not be knocked out politically, however there could be other forms of religious destruction. For example like technology, culture, and environmental issues. Even still I learned that religion will probably exist in the future in some way but it will it will probably in all likelihood not look like it does today. This certainly gives me hope. I like what French philosopher Voltaire once said, "If GOD did not exist, it would be necessary to invent Him." For people of faith of course they don't have to invent GOD they just believe. In my heart of hearts I believe that religion will always be, in what ever form it takes in the future, a valuable asset for a lot of reasons. Hope being one of them.   

Good course

God Bless

Rev. Terry G. Rempel 

*******************************

The Universal Life Church is a comprehensive online seminary where we have various classes in Christianity, one on Wicca, along with several Pagan courses, more than a few courses about Metaphysics with more being added regularly.

The  ULC, run by Rev. Long, has created a chaplaincy program to help train our ministers. We also have a huge catalog of minister supplies.  I've been ordained with the Universal Life Church for many years and am proud to have started the Seminary.

Try our new free toolbar at: ULC Toolbar

 

Religious Philosophy Course

Religious Philosophy is complex and mutual.
Rev. Dianne Theil McNinch, Minister ULC

    Religion, the Latin verb, religare, to tie back, can be said to mean: to tie back humans to God. The majority of humans on our planet, belonging to the 5,200 documented religions, ‘tie-back’ to divine source. Depending upon the location of their birthplace, family and culture, the Divine source comes equipped with various names. Vishnu, Shiva, Brahma, Hanuman, Ganesh, Lakshmi, Shakti are a few of the Hindu names. Jesus is the name Christians prefer. Apollo, Aphrodite, Venus, Thor, Mercury were popular among the Greeks and Romans. Buddha is the name of the Divine Teacher of the followers of Buddhism. These deities are primarily geographical in their origins.

    Faith is part of religion. Recent writings by Dr. Dean Hamer, point to science to show that our human self is biologically designed to believe in God. Dr. Hamers’ book, The God Gene, How Faith is Hardwired into our Genes is convincing on this view. 

Religion is an accumulation of meaningful rituals, historic events and culture. Religion had four distinct faith forms, according to Dr. A. Wallace, University of Pennsylvania. They are, Individual, Communal, Shamanistic and Ecclesiastical faiths.

There are instances, where various Religions have tales, ie: stories, myths, parables in common. One example: the tale of Noah appears with various names starting back in 2200 BCE, as Ziusudra, 1900 BCE as Atrahasis, 1600 BCE as Utnapishtim, and finally Noah 570 BCE. Additionally, many Religions have foundations that are similar, beliefs as to how to treat/take care of our fellow humans. The schism occurs when an examination of individual dogmas happens. 

Scripture, (to scribe, to write); it seems to me that when looking at Religions, once beliefs are written, they become immutable truth. Books containing  major beliefs are The Bible, Book of Mormon, Tao Te Ching, Tanakh, and The Koran to name a few. These beliefs, written by humans, may have been explorations of thought. However, some followers turn these into dogma. Other followers choose to interpret the same writings, generally to prove a personal point of view.

Religion is helpful to many, or it would not be so very powerful. Religion helps us to make sense of the world, and our place in it. Faith helps us resolve the great problems of life, and gives reassurance that a higher power will help us, giving us a sense of control of life. Religion is also a cultural tool to help us share values and feel a part of community. Religious philosophy is as varied as each of the 5,200 documented religions, yet each religion does have philosophy. Religious philosophy is a colorful and varied weaving of the common and uncommon elements that influence the majority of humans that inhabit our planet.


 

*******************************

The Universal Life Church is a comprehensive online seminary where we have various classes in Christianity, one on Wicca, along with several Pagan courses, more than a few courses about Metaphysics with more being added regularly.

Ordination with the Universal Life Church, is free, legal and lasts for life, so please take advantage of our Free Online Ordination.

The  ULC, run by Rev. Long, has created a chaplaincy program to help train our ministers. We also have a huge catalog of minister supplies.  I've been ordained with the Universal Life Church for many years and am proud to have started the Seminary.

Try our new free toolbar at: ULC Toolbar