Brenna wrote: I'm not sure if I'm reading what you're saying correctly, but saying "I can go where I please and how I please. Who do you think you are to make a RULE for me to follow?" seems hypocritical after saying that those of us who believe differently to you are ignorant and lacking.
Again let me state: there is nothing wrong with being ignorant. NOTHING.
Now let me try to explain if I can the second part. Saying one is ignorant is not the same as me saying YOU ARE WRONG AND MUST BELIEVE THIS WAY OR GO TO HELL.
Everyone has their own path to follow. Most here call "it" the force, I call "it" God. Yes I am saying the force is god. Those who have felt the force know they have, and then they read from others who have not yet reached that feeling, and those who have felt the force know that the others have not. The ones who have not, lack something in their speech. Those who have had that touch are changed. They begin to think differently and most people just have no idea what in the world they are speaking of. Going to use a bible verse here. "It is spiritually discerned." Yes I believe, The Force, God, and Spirit are all the same. What I am not doing or saying is this. You must believe this, this is the truth. No. I will not say that. But those who know that touch from God, The Force, or Spirit have this special connection with everything. They understand that there is no difference, that there is no separation. Separation is only a perception that is based on past experiences that made a person believe they were separate from everyone else.
Then that touch from the force/god is also different for every individual. To one person that has had that touch they are going to say, "he has not idea at all what he is talking about, and he is way off." For that person I am. He has gained something from the force that I have not, therefor in that area I am ignorant of what he has discovered about "the all." Each person needs certain things to move that person to greater heights. Those things that one may need are not going to be the same as another. Each person must explore their own path to "the force, god, spirit." So long as a person strives to become better than they were the day before, this is all that matters.
Brenna wrote: I struggle to agree that it is ignorant not to believe in the Christian God.
When I say god, do not think I mean the christian god, because I do not.
Brenna wrote: There are many of us who were raised to believe in God and through our experiences of what some may call God we have made a conscious decision to alter the name by which we call the divine presence in the universe.
Nothing wrong with this, that is the path they have chosen, and for them it is the path they must follow.
Brenna wrote: And if you agree that Joseph Campbell is correct that all religions are essentially the same, then are you saying that he is right to say all religions are a collection of stories and teachings designed to explain the divine in ways that simple people can understand?
Yes, but I think that most of us here on this sight are not simple. We are complex, we question everything. I think there is this desire to explore all our programmed beliefs. I think many here probably do not like being told, "you can't do that. Why?(They ask)Because I said so" They were told, or "that is just the way things are." What kind of answer is that. I hate that "do as I say, not as I do," junk.
