On Christian Philosophy...
I have been wondering just how odd my religious views are, and am hoping to get some outside opinion, and hopefully others' views that I can compare mine to...
I am a confirmed Episcopalian, but with some ... quirks to my religious views.
I believe that all religions are partially right and partially wrong.
I believe that God is something like the Universe's CEO, and all the polytheistic Gods and spirits are lower executives and officials, in charge of progressively smaller-scale aspects of life in the universe.
I have not yet decided my views on Jesus, but have toyed with the idea of Jesus as a time-traveling missionary from the future.
All of this, in my mind, meshes perfectly with Christian values, as interpreted by my (very liberal) Episcopal parish.
Opinions, responses anyone?
_________________
Life is a long series of juxtapositions, ironies, and paradoxes.
Joker
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I am a confirmed Episcopalian, but with some ... quirks to my religious views.
I believe that all religions are partially right and partially wrong.
I believe that God is something like the Universe's CEO, and all the polytheistic Gods and spirits are lower executives and officials, in charge of progressively smaller-scale aspects of life in the universe.
I have not yet decided my views on Jesus, but have toyed with the idea of Jesus as a time-traveling missionary from the future.
All of this, in my mind, meshes perfectly with Christian values, as interpreted by my (very liberal) Episcopal parish.
Opinions, responses anyone?
I believe the same as you do and I am a Methodist.
Joker
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Joined: 19 Mar 2011
Age: 37
Gender: Male
Posts: 7,593
Location: North Carolina The Tar Heel State :)
Any thoughts on saints, prophets, and the afterlife?
My thoughts on the Saints, is I think christians can learn a lot about their lifes and are good role models for religious people Saint Augustine is my favorite saint.
The Prophets, played a big role in the coming of Jesus I also accept Muhammad as a prophet, even though I am not a muslim.
As for the afterlife I believe in Heaven and Hell even purgatory but my view on Hell is that it's more then just fire it is being completly shut off from God he can't asnwer your prayers he can no longer help you your in Hell which means you wish to be tortured that is how I view it.
My views on Heaven is that everything you ever wanted when you was on Earth comes true in Heaven cause in Heaven all things are possible.
Thank you for your thoughtful responses to my curiosity!
I agree on the subject of Muhammad. I can't really conceptualize heaven, though except as an idealized combination of real life and my Mindscape. This bears some thought...
Thanks again!
_________________
Life is a long series of juxtapositions, ironies, and paradoxes.
Joker
Veteran
Joined: 19 Mar 2011
Age: 37
Gender: Male
Posts: 7,593
Location: North Carolina The Tar Heel State :)
I agree on the subject of Muhammad. I can't really conceptualize heaven, though except as an idealized combination of real life and my Mindscape. This bears some thought...
Thanks again!
You are welcome and I love your avatar
Does that include your own? Or do you simply mean that beliefs that are not the correct one are usually also partially correct? If the latter, that's probably no problem in terms of consistency. You just have to accept the existence of some truth.
Not really terrible.
A time-travelling missionary has all sorts of problems, including just the fact that the Jesus who died on the cross, will likely influence the time traveler to go back in time. It's kind of like a grandfather paradox.
In the western half of Eurasia they all started out polytheistic.
All of the ancient civilizations had pantheons of gods.
But then the local pantheons were all driven to extinction by the world monotheistic religions- atleast from Iran westward.
But in Hindu India they seemed to have evolved a way of having it both ways.
They have zillions of gods but the lesser gods are avatars (manifestations) of greater gods which are manifestitions of greater gods and it traces up one or few chief dieties.
They have a chief god called Indra who is kinda like Zeus, but he is also kinda like Jehovah.
But then they also "the Trimurti" - a tripartite god head consisting of Brahma the creator, Vishnu the preserver, and Shiva the destroyer. The millions of lesser dieties are avatars of one of those three.
So your idea that Jehovah is chairman of the board and the pagan dieties of old are lower district managers of the various natural forces is very Hindu like.
Actually, orthodox christianity also employs two "avatars" of Jehovah: the son and the holy ghost- so a hybrid polytheistic-monotheism is not a completely foreign concept to the West. But thats another can of worms.
I have no quarrel with the idea that "all religions are right, and all are wrong". Thats practically self-evident.
Even the extinct pagan religion of ancient Greece produced a rich mythology that is still read as literature because the tales of the gods of mt olympus contain truths about the human condition even if they are not true stories. Ditto for the Old Testament. But for some odd reason folks want the myths of the old testament to be taught as true stories- in biology class, rather than being taught as stories-that-contain-truth in literature class.
Jesus being a time traveling missionary from the future is an intriguing idea for a science fiction novel. Its a bit hard to envision why a future civilization would send an emissary back to the past in order to change the past- and thus change their present. But atleast its a change of pace from the ancient space alien ideas that are getting a bit tiresome.
In the western half of Eurasia they all started out polytheistic.
All of the ancient civilizations had pantheons of gods.
But then the local pantheons were all driven to extinction by the world monotheistic religions- atleast from Iran westward.
But in Hindu India they seemed to have evolved a way of having it both ways.
They have zillions of gods but the lesser gods are avatars (manifestations) of greater gods which are manifestitions of greater gods and it traces up one or few chief dieties.
They have a chief god called Indra who is kinda like Zeus, but he is also kinda like Jehovah.
But then they also "the Trimurti" - a tripartite god head consisting of Brahma the creator, Vishnu the preserver, and Shiva the destroyer. The millions of lesser dieties are avatars of one of those three.
So your idea that Jehovah is chairman of the board and the pagan dieties of old are lower district managers of the various natural forces is very Hindu like.
Actually, orthodox christianity also employs two "avatars" of Jehovah: the son and the holy ghost- so a hybrid polytheistic-monotheism is not a completely foreign concept to the West (But thats another can of worms).
I have no quarrel with the idea that "all religions are right, and all are wrong". Thats practically self-evident.
Even the extinct pagan religion of ancient Greece produced a rich mythology that is still read as literature because the tales of the gods of mt olympus contain truths about the human condition even if they are not true stories. Ditto for the Old Testament. But for some odd reason folks want the myths of the old testament to be taught as true stories- in biology class, rather than being taught as stories-that-contain-truth in literature class where they belong (alongside the Greek myths).
Jesus being a time traveling missionary from the future is an intriguing idea for a science fiction novel. Its a bit hard to envision why a future civilization would send an emissary back to the past in order to change the past- and thus change their present. But atleast its a change of pace from the ancient space alien ideas that are getting a bit tiresome.
Joker
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Joined: 19 Mar 2011
Age: 37
Gender: Male
Posts: 7,593
Location: North Carolina The Tar Heel State :)
Does that include your own? Or do you simply mean that beliefs that are not the correct one are usually also partially correct? If the latter, that's probably no problem in terms of consistency. You just have to accept the existence of some truth.
Not really terrible.
To answer your questin yes that includes her religion and mine
A time-travelling missionary has all sorts of problems, including just the fact that the Jesus who died on the cross, will likely influence the time traveler to
go back in time. It's kind of like a grandfather paradox.
Joker
Veteran
Joined: 19 Mar 2011
Age: 37
Gender: Male
Posts: 7,593
Location: North Carolina The Tar Heel State :)
