| | spiritual or religious?Page 1 of 3 (1, 2, 3) | | my biggest quandary in life is this. should i be spiritual or should i be religious?. or are they the same? i know that every person in the land would say that we should each choose our own form of belief but strict church or whatever you go to have what they would say was the RIGHT way to believe!.who is right? | |
|
| spiritual or religious?
Posted: 9/18/2006 6:22:08 AM | | Religion is basically the rules, dogma, rituals, and community that go along with spirituality. Do you need all that stuff? | |
|
| spiritual or religious?
Posted: 9/18/2006 6:32:52 AM | Spiritual or religious/
From my prospective spiritual is what your soul feels, it allows you to maximise life's experiences. To live from the soul, to care for the world around you. To shine your light from inside and fill your world with love, care and devotion.
Religious? Unfortunately in today's world this has taken on a sour taste, there is so much conflict and who has the right to say who is right and who is wrong. If you wish to choose and follow a religion you need to study it well and know that you feel it's teachings with every fibre in your body.
Often people choose a religion just for the sake of status. Follow your heart and it will show you the way. | |
|
| spirit vs. religion
Posted: 9/19/2006 8:35:09 AM | Trace the roots of the words.
Religion's origin is 'to bind.' It's something that ties you down, gives you a firm foundation.
Spiritual's origin is ' to breathe.' It's that inner living breath of you, the development of your innermost self.
So your question is between a system that binds you to a solid foundation (with established rites, clergy, and the like) and a system which is about personal growth (less structured with a higher emphasis on development).
You are the person that must answer this question. Which are you seeking, stability or freedom?
As for who is right....like Mama Gump said, "You're gonna have to find out for yourself." | |
|
| spirit vs. religion
Posted: 9/19/2006 10:07:22 AM | Excellent explanation, rymseypagan!
Personally, I'd choose "spiritual." I don't agree with ALL of the ideas of any religion. I follow a Buddhist/Taoist path, but that path is governed by my spiritual insights. | |
|
| spiritual or religious?
Posted: 9/19/2006 1:04:04 PM | | i thank you all for such a speedy and productive response. you have all given me more of an insight with clear descriptions. my thoughts were leaning towards spirituality,and, you have convinced me!.having just been invited to join a psychic circle i think i should choose the "freedom" route. many many thanks PJ | |
|
| spiritual or religious?
Posted: 9/19/2006 7:46:33 PM | Well if you've chosen the spiritual road than bare in mind you've chosen the harder of the two paths. With the traditional religions and rituals everything is set. All your answers are given to you provided you don't ask the big questions. And that has been working for millions of folks for thousands of years. and I'm not knocking it as there is no heavy lifting required.
The spiritual path is harder cus your compass is within. It takes guts. The first rule is believe nothing blindly(even what I've typed and am about to). Be skeptical of everything! Only if you are brave enuff to know(gnosis) instead of merely believing can you progress. But be a joyful cynic. Have heart and compassion along the way. We're all pilgrims taking that journey. Our ignorance is shared, so be loving to your brothers and sisters on the road. And we will sustain each other for the journey.
Until you reach the top of the mountain you can never know what the other side looks like.
God did not create us as zombies or robots. We can know the "big truths" in our own way if we seek that. It will be different than what you expect and it will change you.
Think of Moses on Mount Sinai. He climbed that desolate rock cus he DIDN'T believe in God. And if there was a God he was gonna ream him out good for the sorry way God treated his Isrealite children and himself. He was both brave and MAD. He demanded proof! He had to KNOW! It was for that reason he saw God. Most do not even look. Folks prefer a ritual and go thru the motions.
And when Moses returned with the children of Isreal, he climbed that rock again...alone. He did not have to be.
Anyone could've followed or joined him.
But most want to be told what to believe and do.
That is what seperates the spiritual from the faithful.
The spiritual will climb that mountain to gain personal knowledge.
The faithful will wait below to be told what to believe.
Ritual in place of knowledge is a dry cup.
There is one caveat to consider.
With knowledge comes a higher duty and obligations.
In the end, Moses who was with God...
could not cross over the river Jordan.
He had to watch as mere believers did.
May the peace that passeth understanding be a light unto your path brother.
Stray | |
|
| spiritual or religious?
Posted: 9/19/2006 8:18:40 PM | | If religion meets your spiritual needs, have fun that way. If not, then pursue your own experiences without religion. | |
|
| spiritual or religious?
Posted: 9/19/2006 9:12:26 PM | i don't consider myself religious but i am spiritual. i don't think that you have to attend a church and comply with the ceremonies to be a spiritual person. i don't consider myself a christian because i don't like the hypocrisy of major religions. i have never agreed with the notion that you get "extra points" for converting people. i prefer to let other people make their own choice of what religion to believe in and to respect them for the decision that they have made. if someone is seeking the word of GOD, it will find them whether it is through you or someone else but i don't think it does any good if they come to the word of GOD and convert through force or some other form of duress.
i think you should really do what you feel in your heart and not worry about which one might be the right so that you do not feel conflicted. a conflicted soul is not a very good vessel. as to which is the right way to believe, that is pretty much up to you as well unless you want to believe what someone else tells you even though you do not agree with it.. it's all based on faith(not fact)so follow your heart. | |
|
longte
| | Joined: 10/18/2004
Msg: 10 | |
| spiritual or religious?
Posted: 9/20/2006 4:19:20 AM | The simplest way to answer this is a very easy one
Was Jesus Christ Spiritual or Religious??
Was Buddha Spiritual or Religious??
..
. | |
|
Sentio
| | Joined: 9/13/2006
Msg: 11 | |
| spiritual or religious?
Posted: 9/20/2006 5:12:47 AM | The spiritual path is harder cus your compass is within. It takes guts. The first rule is believe nothing blindly (even what I've typed and am about to). Be skeptical of everything! Only if you are brave enuff to know(gnosis) instead of merely believing can you progress. But be a joyful cynic. Have heart and compassion along the way. We're all pilgrims taking that journey. Our ignorance is shared, so be loving to your brothers and sisters on the road. And we will sustain each other for the journey.
Until you reach the top of the mountain you can never know what the other side looks like.
I liked this a great deal and I think it describes the path I'm presently on. I have had the greatest ‘peace’ in a Mosque, but there are things I still don’t understand. I also feel if I am not able to follow all of the pillars, I would be a hypocrite to claim a follower of that faith. I have learned about different Religions and value many things from there teachings, but I still want more answers. I think I will always be a student and that is what life is about. It’s said that Satan means 'The Accuser' because he chose to question God's actions. I don’t think that is the path I have chosen, I think God has put his wisdom in many forms and its up to me to try and decipher them all. [or try to]. I read 'Memnoch The Devil' by Ann Rice and I wanted to research the facts mixed into fiction and that started part of this 'quest'. Even reading Dan Browns' four books make me research the facts mixed into fiction. | |
|
| spiritual or religious?
Posted: 10/3/2006 1:25:51 PM | | I am learning about this in my Christian Believer class. Basically you are a legalist, just following the rules-being a christian, or you are spiritual and you have a relationship with God. I once dated a guy on here who said he was spiritual but he was really a people pleasing church rule obeying person. I was once like that and my life was empty. I feel God's grace accepting me wart's and all. I feel I am a spiritual person and try my best to Obey God's law not an organized religious laws or man's. Do you follow God with your mind or with your heart. That to me is the difference. | |
|
| spiritual or religious?
Posted: 10/3/2006 4:14:20 PM | True religion, according to the Bible (Timothy?) is helping out the widows and orphans. Let's include single moms, while we are at it, since they are also husbandless, if you may. Spirituality is your connection with the spiritual realm, your closeness to God. Unfortunately, these two are often lumped together, with religion being reduced to church-going, when it has so much more to do with what is happening outside of church | |
|
| spiritual or religious?
Posted: 10/5/2006 5:33:39 AM | | Jesus did not come to give us religion but to give us salvation | |
|
| spiritual or religious?
Posted: 10/5/2006 7:27:46 AM | I would recommend that you be more spiritual. Being spiritual does not
mean you have to belong to any denomination. You can have
your own relationship with God, without following man made rules.
You are also welcome to go to a church that you like.
I think as long as you are actually believing God, and loving God
in your heart, that is being spiritual. Knowing you are more than
just a body, too.
Some people go to church, and just go through the motions, then
they treat their neighbor like crap.
Going to church without believing won't save a soul. | |
|
| spiritual or religious?
Posted: 10/5/2006 9:29:41 AM | Great thread and great insights!!
One is to be without, as in, excepting the experience of others as the template for your journey and the other is from within, from your own personal experience.
I personally choose the path less travelled. I am not one who wants to have a blindfold placed over my eyes and have someone telling what I would see if I was not blind.... | |
|
| spiritual or religious?
Posted: 10/6/2006 1:54:00 AM | | Read "As a Man Thinketh" by James Allen 1902. We are our belief. Being spiritual or religious carries a lot of individual interpretations. While people may agree on this or that spiritual or religious way, in reality no two people have the same identical understanding of a belief system. Is there really only one right belief or path? | |
|
| spiritual or religious?
Posted: 10/6/2006 3:40:46 AM | If you ask the religious alot of them say they are, if you ask the spirtual alot of them say only you can determine that. Whats that tell you?
You have to also ask figure out what "spirtual" means to you, it can be defined in a variety of ways. I love how alot of you defind it and replyed, so awesome post! | |
|
| spiritual or religious?
Posted: 10/6/2006 4:25:12 AM | I was brought up under the parameters of religion but never seemed able to grasp the notion of "spirit". As a result I was vulnerable to doubt and left religion to pursue materialistic goals. It was only after experiencing minor but nevertheless not explainable incidents spread over several decades of my life that I chose to research the realm of spirit.
Near death experience stories are of a beautiful realm introduced to the experiencer by a "Being of Light". I can only account for this as the fulfillment of the words of Jesus in John:14 "I go to prepare a place for you..."
I attend church now with new eyes and a quiet new faith that I too may be guided at death to that glorious promised land. | |
|
obliq
| | Joined: 6/16/2006
Msg: 20 | |
| spiritual or religious?
Posted: 10/6/2006 4:38:34 AM | I am neither religious nor spiritual.
People who seek religion feel unworthy of their very existance and feel they should give unto something that is more than themselves. They think they are giving themselves of god(s), but usually just give it to the ministering authority. Religion gives them direction and something to bind their meaningless life to, like cocaine to a junkie. People in religion have no spirituality.
People who seek spirituality are afraid of the true emptiness and purposelessness of a single lifetime. Spirituality is the noise with which people fill that endless void. Often the sensations of coming in contact with the void are mistaken for a spiritual or religious experience. People in spirituality have no religion.
My life is empty, and it is truly liberating. Both religion and spirituality are mortal shackles. But the great thing about these shackles: they aren't locked.
-----
A full glass must begin existance as an empty glass. Be sure to clean it first. | |
|
| spiritual or religious?
Posted: 10/7/2006 3:03:57 PM | I am neither religious nor spiritual-my eye! You just want soomeone to give you a convincing reason to believe. You have Christians all figured out-but they know your sort quite well!
I hope you find what you are looking for: Devil's Advocate would be a better handle, don't you think??
enjoy your Thanksgiving sweetie | |
|
obliq
| | Joined: 6/16/2006
Msg: 22 | |
| spiritual or religious?
Posted: 10/8/2006 6:05:16 AM | proverbsgirl:
Funny, I don't remember saying christians specifically. Read through my post again. Nope, not there.
You got me. I am searching. I've been searching my whole cognizant life for the question to one answer. The answer that burns in my head to which the question remains elusive: | |
|
| spiritual or religious?
Posted: 10/8/2006 4:24:47 PM | "my biggest quandary in life is this. should i be spiritual or should i be religious?. or are they the same? i know that every person in the land would say that we should each choose our own form of belief but strict church or whatever you go to have what they would say was the RIGHT way to believe!.who is right?"
OP~ I would say God is the way to go..now having said that we can say that God can be "spirit" or spiritual. The problem now occurs that along with God comes the thing called Religion or "religious". That leaves us with even bigger choices yet.
My own personal choice is Jesus Christ and His teachings.
This may or may not be the choice of many others but it IS the choice that I beleive God led me to personally. Of this I have no doubt whatsoever.
It is also my belief that God Himself draws people to a revelation of Himself and Jesus Christ whom He sent along with the Holy Spirit.
With that said, my own answer to your post would be: "SPIRITUAL"- as Christ spoke many times in spiritual terms or language. | |
|
fClef
| | Joined: 5/14/2006
Msg: 24 | |
| spiritual or religious?
Posted: 10/8/2006 6:00:40 PM | Why is it an 'or'?
My take (& oh my gosh YMMV) is that Religion is about what you believe while Spirituality is about what you feel.
No reason they can't co-exist, or even deeply disagree. | |
|
| spiritual or religious?
Posted: 10/8/2006 6:27:10 PM | Hi folks, this is my first time to post. The topic is very dear to my heart. As an older person who has journeyed a long while by now, I have come to some conclusion on my own. Yes, I keep my heart and mind open for new teachings as I always would want to be learning something new until my time on earth passes. Then I will learn much more.
God is a gentleman. He doesn't enter a door where He is not welcome. The door to a person's heart is kept locked until the person decides to open it. I do believe in the Trinity of the Father, Son and Holy Spirit. What you believe is entirely up to you. I will not force my beliefs on anyone but if I am asked I will answer.
You can be religiously very active in said church without at all being spiritual. I agree with what has been said that spirituality is what you live even behind closed doors. I keep my heart and mind open to my relationship with God. For me, I don't get by one day without Him.
He has blessed me so much and I have seen beautiful answers from very sincere prayers.
This is my choice, whether it is yours or not is your own business. If you ask me why I seem at peace and joyful sometimes under very difficult circumstances I will share with you the difference I have found between religious and spiritual. God bless each one of you. | |
|
Home
login 
