Hey, welcome. I like your attitude towards God. Reminds me of something Marcus Aurelius said:
“Live a good life. If there are gods and they are just, then they will not care how devout you have been, but will welcome you based on the virtues you have lived by. If there are gods, but unjust, then you should not want to worship them. If there are no gods, then you will be gone, but will have lived a noble life that will live on in the memories of your loved ones.”
I think many Christians and Muslims find parts of their doctrine troubling to their conscience, but they suppress these thoughts and try not to dwell on them out of fear.
Thank you Stuff. Thats a very inspiring quote. It basically says, live the best life you can, don't live in fear of a potentially unjust god/s, and if there is a just god/s or no god at all, well you have nothing to fear anyway. I think thats very inspiring, thanks for sharing.
I think thats very possible. Eg. things like the religious condemnation of homosexuals. If you don't agree with that, or don't agree with one part of the religion, lets say hijab, theres a quote that goes roughly like, "take islam as it is completely, or not at all. do not be one who picks and chooses, i.e an innovator, or you are not from us". So basically, don't question it, take the whole lot, paradise, 72 virgins, hellfire, guilt, shame, and all, or take none of it and be not one of us.
Islam is peacefear.
Entheos, how true is that - about hijab, masturbation, sex.. It's as if it's designed to keep us all strictly in line, thought control etc; suppressing anything creative - can't be healthy o.O
So have you ditched your old friends?
I would say thats pretty accurate. Aspects of islam that contain strong amounts of fear and guilt/suppression of onesself include sex (the biggest one), hellfire, punishment, friday prayer (if you do not attend the prayer 3 weeks in a row, you apparently get a "black mark" on your heart that is nearly 'impossible' to remove). And to be honest its not the hijab itself, its the whole concept of "I own you and I own your body" that is imposed upon females, some of which accept it themselves. If a girl truly wants to wear it of her own accord, more power to her. But to force it on her and convince her that you "own her".. doesnt sit right with me at all. As someone else on this forum said, that smells of male insecurity (who needs to "own" their females other than insecure males that fear losing them?). No, I don't think suppression of onesself is healthy at all.
To be honest I haven't actively "ditched" my friends who would impose on me, but completely naturally without any effort, I've seen them less and less. The ones that are open-minded, fun-loving and accepting (or just don't try to lecture you) I've seen more and more. And now I'm starting to tell people, when I hear the word "should" or "shouldnt" directed at me, "Look, one thing I don't like is someone telling me I should or shouldnt do something. I don't like to impose and I don't like to be imposed on. So lets just accept that we have different views here" more or less. Thats very liberating. So in becoming a new person, I have a new relationship with everyone.
Welcome to the forum, Entheos.
Enjoy your stay.
Thanks ateapotist. I like the parrot
Topic: Hey. Im Entheos.