Who do you trust

[china]

Dear Vereya ,I do apologize .I will not answer your posts again.The "recipe" was not exclusively for you ,there are other people who read the forum .

 

[oneeno]

Oneeno, it was a very good question, and I will try to give as good an answer.
First of all, I would like to say that for me religion is a very important thing. I do not treat it like something speculative or like some remote philosophical notion. I have had ample opportunities to observe people of different religions, I have changed my religion at one point in my life, and I really did see the way it influenced my whole life, and I was able to draw one conclusion, that is actually based upon facts - religion is a very powerful force, that influences every area of a person's life, despite the fact whether that person realizes that or not.
As for my definition of religion it is as follows - religion is a set of spiritual beliefs that you ACTIVELY practice in your life. The set of beliefs, characteristic of any given religion is shaped by the Deity, or Deities, worshipped in that religion. In any religion a Deity is a kind of immaculate personality, who sets down certain rules, that are in accordance with the kind of a personality the Deity is. Therefore, the ultimate goal of any religion is to reflect in your personality the personality of your Deity, as much as you possibly can, being human. On a more mundane level, a religion, your religion, the essence of your religion, is the guiding principle of your life, some kind of criterion, that helps you to make the right choices. And I also firmly believe that in this world religion exists in order to help people develop and grow.
I hope I have answered you question, and I hope I didn't make my answer sound too general.

religion is a set of spiritual beliefs that you ACTIVELY practice in your life.

belonging to a religion means having been ritually introduced into that religion. For instance, if you've been baptized in a christian church, the ritual of baptism places you into the christian religion, within the chistian egregor. And even if later in life you decide that christianity is not for you, you still remain a christian, as long as you do not remove that ritual by means of another one.

now i am not throwing this as a blow to you but to me this is a contradiction. from waht i gather, to you, being baptised or going through whatever ritual connects you to that religion regardless if you practice it or even determine that the religion is not for you, until you perform another ritual releasing you from the original ritural. but if a religion itself, from your own description, is a set of beliefs that you "ACTIVELY PRACTICE", how can you be a part of a religion if you dont actively practice. i was baptised catholic as a baby but i have never been raised to follow or believe the system of that specific religion. i dont even think i was baptised out of pure faith, it was more out of pressure of my elder family members to my parents. (both my younger sister and brother were never baptised..) so even the ritual itself was not an ACTIVE, BELIEVING PRACTICE...i dont see how you can be taken into a religion when the intent behind the ritual was not faith/belief oriented.

not saying it was created by you, but the above belief seems to me more as a control tactic of fear. using acceptance as a means of control...the people or system in power cannot remain in power if they were to lose their followers, and by not letting you go allows them to not to lose their power..at least in there minds.. seems awful cult-like...

i agree that a religion is a big part of life and affects all parts of your life, even in ways you may not be aware of..and i agree as well, that all of those extra occurances in your life stems from your ACTIVE PRACTICE of the systems ways(sorta on the lines of good karma/bad karma), but once you no longer choose to follow those beliefs, then you are no longer part of that religion. ..to me a religion is a set of beliefs, a history, a SYSTEM and a guide used to gain something spiritual in life..its not a direct attachment to god..we are already attached to god - we are all given the same opportunities...
a religion is a man-made/outer world thing and all man-made/outer world things can be broken/altered....
its just a matter of choice..which is one of the greatest gifts we have..