Perplexed wrote:I've been vouncing around between religions since I was 16, and I've never been completely happy with any of them, yet I'm a naturally religious person, I revel in meditations and prayers, but I've never been perfectly satisfied. I've never had that feeling that "yes, this is the right path, this is where I'm supposed to be" I was always afraid that in reality, what I might think was what God wanted was really what he most wanted me to avoid. "DON'T GO TO THAT CHURCH MY CHILD, THOSE PEOPLE ARE NOT WITH ME." "DON'T SAY THAT PRAYER, SON, IT SAYS THINGS WHICH ARE NOT TRUE"
How can I ever find peace if God won't tell me straight out what he wants? Why bother going through all these secondary, indirect, DOUBTFUL source, shouldn't he make it clear himself? And don't tell m he has, because he hasn't, all religions are doubtful, none has incontrovertable PROOF.
Perplexed, face it. You are not into waiting at all. You yourself said you have been bouncing around from religion to religion for 7 years (7 religions in that time)
How can you find peace if God won't tell you straight out? Why the obvious answer is through people, like us, and every other person you choose to hear. I know God exists, I just wish I knew exactly what does and does not piss him off.
You ask why you should bother going through all these secondary, indirect, DOUBTFUL sources, and say that all religions are doubtful, that none have incontrovertable proof. You also take umbrage at the statement that religions are man made, that one can't Prove that.
Well, make up you mind.
You worry that people are going to think you're (whatever it is you worry we're going to think) because you have jumped around a lot, but your reason of something like "that's just how it is" doesn't really answer.
You want proof, but don't want logic. You want patience, you want it now.
You want God to speak to you, but you don't want to listen to the conduits he uses for that purpose.
You say you want God to speak to you directly. Are you meaning you actually want to hear God's voice itself?
You say you are a religion student....if you are, I'm surprised you are asking the questions you are asking, and making the points you are making. I would have thought much deeper aspects would have been covered in class.
How are you going to know when God speaks to you directly? How do you know he has not already? You're such a whirling dervish you may have missed him.
There's an idea, why not try being a whirling dervish? Isn't that a method they use to bring them closer to God. I'm serious, it might work.
ok - I just took a momemnt to wik the work dervish...actually, the bold part sound pretty cool....
The Mevlevi Order or the Mevleviye are a Sufi order founded by the followers of the Persian Jalal al-Din Muhammad Rumi in 1273 in Konya present day Turkey; also known as the Whirling Dervishes due to their famous practice of whirling as a form of dhikr (remembrance of Allah). Dervishes are members of Sufi ascetic religious Tarika or "confraternities", known for their extreme poverty and austerity.
Whirling Dervishes perform near the Mevlevi Museum in Konya, Turkey.The Mevlevi, or Mevleviye, one of the most well-known of the Sufi orders, was founded in 1273 by Rumi's followers after his death, particularly his son, Sultan Veled Celebi (Çelebi, Chelebi). The Mevlevi, or "The Whirling Dervishes", believe in performing their dhikr in the form of a 'dance' and music ceremony called the sema.
The Sema represents a mystical journey of man's spiritual ascent through mind and love to "Perfect." Turning towards the truth, the follower grows through love, deserts his ego, finds the truth and arrives to the "Perfect." He then returns from this spiritual journey as a man who has reached maturity and a greater perfection, so as to love and to be of service to the whole of creation.
Man, was I wrong! I thought it was a young Sally Fields!
