I just wanted to introduce myself. I've been reading on the board (a lurker!) for a little while now. It has been very interesting to me and I have learned a lot.
I was raised in a strict Christian family, but no longer subscribe to that religion. I "gave it up" many years ago and have only recently (6 months ago) found something (an "organized religion") that fits with my beliefs.
Anyway, I just wanted to say hello. If anyone has any questions/curiosities feel free to ask and I'll do the best I can!
My family is having a hard time with my "conversion" LOL (although I really was never a Christian anyhow) and I just need a place I can talk openly to others and learn and grow as well. I am open to exploring ideas from ALL religions.
Basically, if it's good, we'll take it, lol. It's primarily based around the teachings of Jesus as we believe he was "highly enlightened". We believe he was the son of God... but only in the sense that all the rest of us are too. ;) We strive to be like him, we do not worship him. We believe there have been many enlightened teachers and we can learn from them all and that there are many paths to the one God. Everyone has to find "the God of their own understanding". We DO read the Bible, we DO NOT take it literally, and we believe it was written by God... in the sense that everything anyone says or does comes from God. The writers of the Bible were enlightened and progressive... for their time, but times change, people learn and evolve, and now we know that we don't have to take it all word for word. It is a teaching tool, as are other religious books and writings. Religious Science is big on what we call the Collective Conscious, basically that all of us are made of God and a part of God and therefore all connected together in that way. If God is omni-present and omniscient and eternal, then all that exists is made of God. That's our reasoning anyhow. :P
"Our" book is called Science of Mind (although it's not sacred or anything like, for example, the Christians believe the Bible to be).
Those are the basics.
Oh and, we do not believe in a traditional heaven or hell. We believe they are states of mind. When you are disconnected from God it is "hellish" and when you are connected it is "heavenly". We believe in another realm, or afterlife, etc. Some believe in reincarnation. God is the energy of the universe, everything is made up of it, and it cannot be created nor destroyed, so we know that we go on eternally in some capacity, although individual beliefs on the specifics vary.
We do indeed sound like we're on pretty similar paths :) Agree with almost everything you say here, particularly strongly agree with "Jesus is the son of God the way we are all the children of God," and "the bible was written by God in the way that everything that is spoken, sung, written, etc., is by God."
I am not a monotheist, though, nor an atheist, exactly - I'm a pantheist. Which is kind of a fancy way of saying, "I'm a Jedi. The Force be with you." ;)
....okay, now that I read your statement "God is the energy of the Universe," I'm not sure there's a single thing we differ on! Well, except that I follow an earth-based religion wherein many of my fellow Pagans believe in a definitive God and Goddess who are independent beings with wills and opinions and desires and emotions, but I am not one of them.
Which is a long way of saying, "Okay, your religion intrigues the heck out of me, where can I find this book?"
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ "I am a wizard, not a saint." - Harry Dresden
States with legal same-sex marriage:
Maine, Vermont, New Hampshire, Massachusetts, Connecticut, Iowa, Washington D.C.*
Religious Science is also considered pantheism (you might get varying view points from others though). :) I have read a lot of what you have written while I was just a lurker and I agree with most of it. I think a lot of what we believe is very close to a lot of pagan beliefs... actually, it's close to a lot of other religions because we have chosen to find the common threads and base around that.
You should be able to find Science of Mind in any bookstore. It's written by our founder Ernest Holmes... he was a very interesting guy! Friends with Einstein and the founder of AA (Dr. Bill Wilson), you will find a that a lot of our principles have been greatly intertwined into AA which is part of why it is so successful. Really, Religious Science is more of a lifestyle than it is a religion. I like it because it incorporates sound science (we believe in Evolultion) with philosophy and religion. If you've ever seen or read "The Secret" that pretty much comes from us. ;) Or really, the New Thought Movement in general, of which we are a part.
So that's pretty much what we believe IRT God and the Universe, etc... we have a lot of non-traditional words we use to call God. At this point I mostly just prefer, well... "God", lol. But we also use Spirit, The Collective, Energy, etc etc etc. We can choose whatever is comfortable for us.
There's another part to it also, we are very "in to" positive prayer (Which we call Spiritual Mind Treatment) and thought. We believe that you can reshape your mind through meditation and affirmations, and therefore essentially reshape your experiences. We believe that although life happens, we are in total control of what our reaction to it will be, and therefore ultimately what our experience is. It's not "miracles" or anything like that, it's based in pure fact... meditation really can change your brain. We also believe in The Law, which is cause and effect... One of my favorite quotes of Ernest Holmes goes something like "life reflects back to the thinker whatever he thinks into it."
LOL... can you tell I'm a recent convert?! I get so excited about it all. I could just go on and on...and on. haha.
I'm glad you find it interesting! Nice to meet you!
