In our culture belief is the sine qua non of religion. We talk of ‘beliefs’, and ‘believers’, and ‘other beliefs’, as synonyms for religious doctrines, adherents and other religions. The problem with this is that only one religion on the planet actually cares about what you believe: Christianity. Most other religions relate to their doctrines or practices in very different and sometimes contradictory ways, such as having several unresolved and conflicting opinions in one person. For them, this is not a problem, but for Christianity it is. The history of Christianity is mostly about disagreements in doctrine and who had to flee, hide, fight, be killed, or submit to whom, about it. It is true that across human history religion has been an excuse for war or plunder, but that was usually about resources or dominance and not about technical points of theology. Christianity is different.
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heh, the old 'faith vs works' debate... -
That was a very interesting read, thanks. My own take on this is something I've understood since reading Starhawk's "Spiral Dance
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Sam, this was nicely written. Thank you. There are two quotes that I return to again and again on this matter: Joseph Campbell's:
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First of all, the problem with Christians isn't that they tend to disagree with one another. The problem is that they have a tende
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My experience with Goddess is entirely faith based and I place no value in the experiential. Furthermore, I could care less if how
Number 2 – Balance; Yin/Yang; Opposites Unified (Taoism); "Good Things Comes in Pairs" (Chinese philosophy); Diversity (Pythagoras); Potential for Disorder/Evil (Pythagoras); Balance; Duality; Opposition
Black and White Pillars – As the number 2, black and white signifies duality—yin/yang, dark/light, feminine/masculine, severity/mercy, passive/aggressive, esoteric/exoteric, heart/mind, intuition/logic and so on. Toggling back and forth, they are "either/or". However, the central veil featuring pomegranates and the date palm tree connects the two pillars—suggesting integration and the union of opposites. The two pillars, when joined by the veil, signify "both".
