[jen_jen]

@(f)politics? wrote:

Thanks for the post jen, see i told you was an interesting topic to discuss, its odd as i don’t actually follow a singular religion but have a singular deep faith, whereever that takes me, i agree with alot of faiths some more than others,but also disagree with parts of all, i’m a religious nomad always searching for a final stop :D

Always an interesting topic…what I’ve shared so far is just the tip of my iceberg though :wink:

What you describe as your approach to faith and religion is becoming more and more popular. More of us are resisting being pushed into one religious box and instead looking across the religions and taking the things that resonate with us whilst discarding the things that don’t. A friend of mine is an interfaith minister; when we first met I asked her what that was and she said “well I think of it as pick and mix, I don’t align myself with any one religion, I look across them all and take on the aspects that resonate with me, the love, compassion and empathy, and I discard the aspects that don’t, like fear, judgementalism, separation.” I realised that that was what I’d been doing since my late teens when I rejected organised religion, so now I have a “label” for my belief system to satisfy those that need to have everything neatly compartmentalised but that “label” doesn’t constrict me or force me to conform to anyone else’s belief system. Live and let live :D

[jen_jen]

Tiptoes in and hopes her absence wasn’t noted….

[jen_jen]

Awwwww sorry….passes the tissues….

[jen_jen]

Incidentally I am not Wiccan, Pagan or a Heathen…just in case anyone was wondering :lol:

You do not need to follow an organised religion to have faith, and you don’t have to have faith to follow an organised religion.

I do believe in a higher energy or being (although I prefer to think of it as central rather than higher). I do believe that we are all connected to this higher energy and via this higher energy…we are not separate from it or from each other. I do believe that this higher energy is one of love and compassion and not fear and judgementalism. And I believe that this connection continues after death, our energy or our soul or whatever label you wish to give it continues and it is this that enables us, in “spirit”, to have contact with and help those still in their earthly bodies.

I once had a visit from the mother of a therapist who was working from the shop. I had already been told that I would probably never meet this woman as she was a West Indian Catholic which apparently is “worse than Irish Catholics!” and that she would be against everything in my shop and never step over the threshold. I felt this was a great shame as her 3 year old granddaughter was a natural and intuitive healer and I suspected this might be quashed in a wave of religious fervour. This very upright and quite intimidating woman walked around the shop with pursed disapproving lips until she stopped at my shop counter. We had a discussion about her granddaughter (I won’t go into that here, it adds little to the topic) and then she said “I suppose you believe in spirits too.” I replied that yes I did and just got a very disapproving “hmmmmmm”. Then somehow I found myself asking:
“Mrs C, your faith is very important to you isn’t it?”
“Oh yes, it is indeed” she beamed…I swear she lit up from inside.
“And when you die, will you go to heaven do you think?”
“Oh yes, I certainly hope so if God finds me worthy.”
“You have a lovely daughter and a lovely granddaughter and you obviously love them very much.”
“Oh yes, with all my heart.” she beamed again.
“So when you die and you go to heaven, is that it?”
“What do you mean?” narrowed eyes.
“Well you go through those pearly gates and you never look back? You forget about this life and the loved ones you’ve left behind and never look back? Or do you? If you could look back and see your loved ones, if you could reach out and help them, wouldn’t you? Wouldn’t the bonds of love transcend death or do they all just disappear? Why is it such a leap of faith to think that might be possible?”
Then the words stopped, I had no idea where they had come from and was suddenly uncertain, thinking that I might have said too much.

Then this proud, tall, imposing West Indian lady pulled herself up to her full 5ft 11 height (I’m 5ft 1.5!), looked down her nose at me, nostrils flaring and I thought “oh oh now you’ve done it!”…then she softened, smiled and said “thank you young lady, you’ve given me something to think about today.” As she left I breathed a huge sigh of relief and thanked the powers that be for guiding me!

To me it isn’t such a huge leap of faith. Our connectivity doesn’t die when our earthly bodies die, we don’t disappear completely only physically, and our energy, our souls, our love goes on.

[jen_jen]

@a certain sadness wrote:

Throws a deck of cards on the table and loosens belt.

Strip snap? :lol:

[jen_jen]

I have what you might call a new age gift shop…to the local Christian community, who seem to think they have a god-given right to sit in judgement of me, that means that I must be Wiccan, Pagan or a Heathen. I have actually had printers refuse to do my printing “because of what you represent”. On Saturday just gone I had a local Christian actually leave his toddler in a buggy outside my shop (it’s a main thoroughfare) to come in and tell me about how Christ was the only way to heaven and all that I believed in and represented was just smoke and mirrors, an illusion that would stop me passing through the gates of heaven. He ranted for 10 minutes with his back to the shop window and oblivious to his child sitting outside. He only stopped when I asked him where he worked.
“Why do you want to know?” he asked.
“So I can come to see you at your workplace on my day off and tell you all about my religious beliefs” I replied.
“I don’t need to know about the devil, I see him every day” he replied and walked out.

I only talk about my faith and beliefs with people who ask and are genuinely interested, yet I am constantly judged and condemned by Christians, Jehovah s Witnesses, Mormons and more recently the Scientologists that set up their stall in town…hiding their identity but everyone knew who they were.

According to all these people, the only way to heaven is through their faith, their chosen prophet or figurehead, and that seems to give them the right to judge others. They seem flummoxed when I ask whether Mahatma Gandhi went to heaven or hell, or where they think the Dalai Lama will go and so on. My final answer is “there is only one that can judge me and I will happily answer to the One when the time comes.”

There are many roads to the same destination, your road is right for you, my road is right for me but as long as we travel our roads with love and compassion for our fellow man, help each other where we can and do no harm, then we will have lived a good life and be prepared for whatever we each believe comes afterwards or if we believe there is nothing, then with the knowledge that we lived the best life we could.

2 quotes that I like from Mahatma Gandhi:

“God has no religion”

“For me, the different religions are beautiful flowers from the same garden, or they are branches of the same majestic tree. Therefore they are equally true, though being received and interpreted through human instruments equally imperfect.”

[jen_jen]

I guess it isn’t the right place for me as my beliefs are based on personal experience that I wouldn’t be comfortable sharing on a forum like JC.

[jen_jen]

@panda12 wrote:

@jen_jen wrote:

Ummmm….what does a group of friends playing strip poker, strip billiards or even strip snap in private have to do with my views on the rape thread?

Strip poker, strip billiards, strip whatever, spin the bottle and so on…games that people play with friends when they’re young and letting their hair down…or maybe I led a life of debauchery? How very reckless of me.

It’s fact that most rape is committed by ppl the victim knows and trusts.

If you think stripping naked in front of ppl you know and trust means you are in no danger of being raped, unlike young girls who dress scantily and get drunk at nightclubs, then I am afraid you are very much mistaken.

As is clearly illustrated in Harry’s example with the pictures being leaked, you really don’t know who you can trust, do you?

Ah but you missed a point that I kept on making in that thread…my comments related to the poster campaign and the issue it was addressing, not the topic of rape in its entirety.

Yes the majority of rapes are committed by people the victims know…I’m not sure I would agree with trust.

Yes if you strip naked in front of people you know, there is a risk, but then as you pointed out people get raped in the middle of winter fully clothed.

You can live your life closeted away, out of sight of the world and with little or no risk of being raped, or you can get out and live your life in a balanced way. That balance is always a fine line between enjoying yourself whilst taking calculated risks or recklessly putting yourself in a high risk situation.

Playing strip poker or similar with people you know and trust has an element of risk but generally that risk is low.
Playing strip poker or similar with people you’re acquainted with but don’t really know that well has a higher degree of risk.
Playing strip poker or similar with people you’ve only just met is recklessly putting yourself in a high risk situation.
Going out with friends, scantily clad, where you all get so inebriated that you can barely stand or talk or look out for yourself let alone for each other is not just high risk but foolhardy.

None of that excuses rape though.

Life is all about calculated risk. We each decide what level of risk we’re comfortable with and what’s comfortable for one person may not be for the next.

[jen_jen]

Ummmm….what does a group of friends playing strip poker, strip billiards or even strip snap in private have to do with my views on the rape thread?

Strip poker, strip billiards, strip whatever, spin the bottle and so on…games that people play with friends when they’re young and letting their hair down…or maybe I led a life of debauchery? How very reckless of me.

[jen_jen]

@panda12 wrote:

Not sure I’d class that as “normal” behaviour amongst young men or women.

It is however, a sad day when rubbish like that is considered “news.”

You never played strip poker or similar then?

[Author]

Posts