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Originally posted by Second Attention
I'll probably get hated for this, but regardless, here goes:
First off, I have to say I see that this board(or at least it seems to me) is dominated by people whom follow the Christian faith. I don't find this bizarre, by any means, however a bit surprising, really. Now, knowing that, I would like to know how most Christians feel about their faith, whether their interpretation of the texts that comprise their religion is taken literally, or figuratively? For instance, one of my professors when I took philosophy was a priest that had his priesthood taken away for asking too many questions, and eventually deciding that to take the Bible literally was foolish, and that to take it figuratively, as though the morals behind the stories were more important than the actual stories, was a much more realistic view on things. He still attends church, he still considers himself a devout Christian, however he does NOT believe that the Bible, and other religious texts, should ever be taken literally. I completely agree with him.
On to the next point. I don't believe in this wholeheartedly, but I believe there is something to it. In Castaneda's books, he is given a rule. This rule states that when we die their is a creature, of some unknown nature, but due to certain qualities(which I cannot recall off the top of my head) this entity is referred to as the Eagle. Now, the Eagle's purpose(if purpose it can be called) is basically: when people die, their awareness/consciousness/soul/ghost/whatever is devoured by the Eagle. So basically, the Eagle is there to claim us after our deaths. However, the Eagle has given us ALL the ability to avoid this end. And of course, to avoid this end you have to follow the procedures that Carlos follows in the books; however, I believe this was simply their way of avoiding this end.
There are mirrors for this type of thing in many religions. Reincanation and karma in buddhism. To reach Nirvana, one must continually live this life over until they have discovered \"enlightenment\" and can reach eternal bliss. Similar, grant it, not the same, but similar. I'm not sure how exactly to equate this to Christianity, perhaps you could view Hell as one's \"being devoured\" and Heaven as one's \"escape\". Although, I'm sure there is more to it than that, and if I knew more about Christianity, I might possibly have a better way to equate it.
Also, I was kind of wondering if anyone could explain the whole trinity thing to me, because I know Jesus is the son, God is the father, and but what is the Holy Ghost? Is that the infinity? The unknowable?
Any ways, my whole point, which has been horribly lost amongst my meanderings, was that I believe most religions are basically the same at the core, just with emphasis on different ideas/symbolism to get their meaning out. If you take away all the crap that's been made up in the last few thousand years about any major religion, get down to the core of it(if it is even possible still at this point), then you will see that they are all the same. Every major religion has been corrupted by the hand of man after being transcribed a billion times over. Any one who says otherwise should seriously question their beliefs.