Religions and Denominations

[daddysfiddler]

I'm curious about everybody's religion, and also the different denominations in those religions. Please keep this discussion civil. Do not try to convert others to your religion, just let us know what you believe in.

For example, I am a Christian and a Mennonite. The Mennonite Church believes in peace between people (spiritual and physical); unity of fellow believers; and that believers should be baptized upon a confession of faith, not as an infant. There are other smaller things like communion and such. Mennonites are mostly known however for being peacemakers. Also there is a difference between Amish and Mennonites. They are now two seperate denominations.

I hope everyone enjoys this thread. I'm sorry if this topic has already been covered, but it never hurts to do it again. <><

[simon]

Okay I have a question for you. What is the difference between Mennonites, Hutterites, and the Amish?

[Ancestor]

Spiritualist whom does believe in a higher being but I do not follow a organized religion. I am more new age type of thinking although many spirtualist do believe and practice the Bible's teachings. I am not a full believer in the Bible but I do not put the Bible down. All faiths are interesting to me and I love to learn more about others faiths. It adds to my well of knowledge which I hope never shall run dry.

[kilted exile]

I was raised Church of Scotland Presbyterian, lots of hell-fire and brimstone & singing "God save the Queen" at the end of each service (we had to protest against the evil catholics, trying to overthrow us & reinstitute rule from Rome you know). Currently however I am nothing.

A question however for you fiddler, I was under the impression menonites did not believe in the use of new technology?

[Virgil]

I guess I'm one of those evil Roman Catholics!

[rachel]

I am even more evil, a Jew and one that recognizes Jesus as the awaited Messiah.I am also Catholic which is just the natural continuation from what the Messiah instituted as it is merely the universal church that has an unbroken line from Peter whom Jesus anointed.

Oh and KIlted, you are NEVER going to be nothing. You are more loving and kind and compassionate than a great many people I have met or know that come under the umbrella of Christian.You rock Kilted. a bonnie laddie if ever there was one in this world.

[daddysfiddler]

Okay I have a question for you. What is the difference between Mennonites, Hutterites, and the Amish?
Well first off, Mennonites, Hutterites, Amish and about 60 other organized groups including Beachy Amish, Old Order Mennonites, and the Church of the Bretheren all began as Anabaptists. Over the years they have split to become many different groups. As to the differences, they all believe similarly when it comes to Jesus Christ as our Lord and Saviour. However the Hutterites believe in a community of goods, all material things are held in common. The Amish believe in a strict separation from the world. They also believe in a simple life with little or no technology and plain clothes, etc. Most Mennonites are not different on the outside from other people. They still believe in simple life, but not separation from the world. Within each of these denominations and the others there are still many different interpretations. Each church can choose how strict or liberal they want to be.


A question however for you fiddler, I was under the impression menonites did not believe in the use of new technology?
Amish and some Old Order Mennonites do not believe in the use of technology. Most Mennonites however are not as strict.

[Virgil]

Amish and some Old Order Mennonites do not believe in the use of technology. Most Mennonites however are not as strict.
Obviously or you couldn't be on a computer. ;) Thanks for explaining all that. I have wondered at various times what the differences are.

If there are any questions you have about Roman Catholics, feel free to ask and I'll do my best to explain. Otherwise a statement of faith (called the Credo) for Catholics is The Apostle's Creed, a prayer which summarizes Catholic faith. Here it is:


The Apostles' Creed
I believe in God, the Father almighty,
creator of heaven and earth.

I believe in Jesus Christ, God's only Son, our Lord,
who was conceived by the Holy Spirit,
born of the Virgin Mary,
suffered under Pontius Pilate,
was crucified, died, and was buried;
he descended to the dead.
On the third day he rose again;
he ascended into heaven,
he is seated at the right hand of the Father,
and he will come again to judge the living and the dead.

I believe in the Holy Spirit,
the holy catholic Church,
the communion of saints,
the forgiveness of sins,
the resurrection of the body,
and the life everlasting. Amen.


Out of curiosity, daddyfiddler, are you male or female, if you don't mind saying. Your name suggests male (I think) but your avatar suggests female. You have a beautiful avatar, BTW.

[bluevictim]

As I understand it, most Protestants also fully believe the Apostle's Creed (albeit with a different specific understanding of the lines 'the holy catholic church // the communion of saints'). The line 'he descended to the dead (sic)' is probably just as controversial among Protestants as it is among Roman Catholics. I'm sure you're aware that neither Protestant nor Roman Catholic belief is so easily summarized. That is not to say, of course, that your personal faith is not, in fact, well summarized by the Credo.

[emily655321]

I'll chime in, since I make appearances on the Religion forum from time to time, albeit with decreasing frequency.

I was raised Roman Catholic by my mother (my father is non-religious). Our church was a very liberal one, though; we sang folk songs and had female altar servers (I was one), and were basically the hippie-poster-child for the Second Vatican Council. I've been an atheist/agnostic for three or four years, now, but I still sing in the choir when I go home to visit, which I suppose is a little odd. They don't know, though.

[XXdarkclarityXX]

Ok, you are all probably dreading my two cents because between my avatar, signature, and former posts....well, let's just say I've painted a very dark picture for myself here. However, even the darkest colors fade when they are placed on a canvas and exposed to the light that is constant enlightenment. I also believe that my previous assumption of god (involving him giving me the middle finger) was wrong and I merely failed to see that the other four fingers on his hand were also up....He was just saying "hey", not "F*** you" like I had thought.

Well I guess if I'm going to answer the question I'll have to say that I'm a bibliophile. It's not a denomination, nor it is a religion. It's a term I've made for myself, and you can probably guess it means "lover of the Bible". That's what I've come to be, really. Not THAT religious, and not overly concerned with following rules. But for some reason, the Bible makes sense to me. Maybe that dark picture will, with enough light, turn to gray and in that gray area I will be able to find the truth.

[rachel]

dark,
I love your posts and never dread hearing from you. You are a walking poet, day and night and I wish you would make a book of poetry about all those emotions and beauty that continually flow thru you.
You don't fool me at all and I think you are sweet.

[rachel]

I'll chime in, since I make appearances on the Religion forum from time to time, albeit with decreasing frequency.

I was raised Roman Catholic by my mother (my father is non-religious). Our church was a very liberal one, though; we sang folk songs and had female altar servers (I was one), and were basically the hippie-poster-child for the Second Vatican Council. I've been an atheist/agnostic for three or four years, now, but I still sing in the choir when I go home to visit, which I suppose is a little odd. They don't know, though.

darling Em,
you are so multifaceted, a perfect diamond. I just HAVE to write a book based on you one day. Pretty, mega intelligent, sensitive,blushes like me, cries like me, whimsical, and sings in the choir. so a pretty voice you have too.
That is funny though. Once before we were even confirmed at Our Lady, someone in my family, Travis decided to visit an eastern rite church(he did from time to time because he was friends with father Basarab). He has taught himself eight languages, yes eight I think and actually helps scholars with root words and their origins in the manner of Tolkien. Well a couple of times f. basarab had asked Trav to stand and read certain parts in Ukrainian and he did. He didn't tell him he was not confirmed yet. And when we did get confirmed and father found out he nearly fainted away!!
now then are you on msn messaging Em? do you have the 'audio' set up, all you need is a mike. And then we can message each other and I can hear your beautiful voice.

[Xamonas Chegwe]

I am an atheist.

I was raised in an anglican family but eventually my doubts overcame what I perceived as my faith. I had tried my whole life up until then to believe but the doubts kept piling up. I felt that I had been doing nothing more than paying lip-service. The more I learnt about the world, the bigger the pile of doubts became. I threw myself into religion, reading the Bible, the Qu'ran, the Baghavad Gita and tons of new-age nonsense; but all that this did was give me more things to doubt. I joined more and more evangelical and far-out religious groups; but all that did was convince me that these groups are run by control-freaks and full of the insecure and easily-led.

I can't stop questioning you see. I question everything. The more I learn, the more questions I learn (roughly 3 for every answer I acquire). Eventually, at about the age of 21, the pile of questions squashed the God in me like the proverbial last straw crushed the proverbial camel.

I came to what I saw as the inevitable conclusion that the God that I had been brought up to believe in, and the variations that I had read about and dabbled with, could not possibly exist in the same world as I inhabited. I became an atheist. At first reluctantly, I'll admit. To begin with I called it agnosticism (but it never really was). I went through the classic anger-denial-bargaining-depression-acceptance routine for my lost faith, just as I would for a lost loved one. I am now firmly ensconced in the last of these; happy with my beliefs and as confident as one as questioning as me can ever be in their validity.

I have no problem with believers as long as they don't mind the fact that I will put my case every but as strongly as they put theirs (in other words, if you don't want a religious argument, don't mention religion.) As I have mentioned elsewhere, I have a deep sense of morality and consider this no contradiction to not believing in God - Aleister Crowley was not representative of atheism, any more than the Spanish Inquisition is representative of Christianity.

In summary then; I'm a friendly, non-threatening, atheist. The type of atheist of whom you can say, "Some of my best friends are atheists, they're not all like Marilyn Manson you know!"

[Taliesin]

We don't know.

We think that the following faiths could describe us or that we honor some of the principles of these faiths:
*agnosticism
*spirituality
*Estonian paganism
*buddhism
*christianity
*animatism
*taara-faith (an Estonian neo-paganism faith born around the 1920ies. Its' main principles are believing in tomorrow and that it will be better than today and in one god that Estonians call Taara and who is indepictable and percievable by nothing else but soul)

But how we feel about these beliefs (for example which we prefer over others) at a certain period is unsure. We must consider all this before we can reach certanity.

[daddysfiddler]

Out of curiosity, daddyfiddler, are you male or female, if you don't mind saying. Your name suggests male (I think) but your avatar suggests female. You have a beautiful avatar, BTW.

Hey Virgil, I am a girl. My dad wanted a fiddler for playing bluegrass so I'm daddy's fiddler. I'm glad you like my avatar, I found it on the internet.

Thanks for all these amazing answers everybody. <><

[Virgil]

As I understand it, most Protestants also fully believe the Apostle's Creed (albeit with a different specific understanding of the lines 'the holy catholic church // the communion of saints'). The line 'he descended to the dead (sic)' is probably just as controversial among Protestants as it is among Roman Catholics. I'm sure you're aware that neither Protestant nor Roman Catholic belief is so easily summarized. That is not to say, of course, that your personal faith is not, in fact, well summarized by the Credo.
I just found that out when I posted the Credo. When I went to the internet to copy and paste, I wound up reading that some Protestant denominations also use the same credo. I didn't know that.

Kilted - We're a lot similar than people think.

Actually what now comes to mind is Beethoven's 9th symphony, 5th movement where he integrates the Protestant musical tradition with the Catholic.

[Mililalil XXIV]

Well first off, Mennonites, Hutterites, Amish and about 60 other organized groups including Beachy Amish, Old Order Mennonites, and the Church of the Bretheren all began as Anabaptists. Over the years they have split to become many different groups. As to the differences, they all believe similarly when it comes to Jesus Christ as our Lord and Saviour. However the Hutterites believe in a community of goods, all material things are held in common. The Amish believe in a strict separation from the world. They also believe in a simple life with little or no technology and plain clothes, etc. Most Mennonites are not different on the outside from other people. They still believe in simple life, but not separation from the world. Within each of these denominations and the others there are still many different interpretations. Each church can choose how strict or liberal they want to be.


Amish and some Old Order Mennonites do not believe in the use of technology. Most Mennonites however are not as strict.
J.R.R.Tolkien, a Catholic, was himself much grieved about the whole face of modernism. In the sense of wanting to retain pristine Spirituality, some of the above described are like those that developed Monasticism. Since I see few Marriages as entered into for perfect Love, I fear that many Amish and Catholic individuals alike have no reason to think themselves superior to monks for being in union with someone of the other sex. To some Marriage is a Vocation, to some entering into the role of a Eunuch for the Kingdom of GOD is as the first-mentioned entering into good Marriages. But the ideal of distinction from all that obscures one's Spirituality is not a trifling sentiment.
While I have good arguments against the things that distinguish Anabaptists from the Church they broke away from, I admire many of the sentiments they relish in sincerity within their educational moulding.
I used to lean towards Anabaptists ideas, but could no longer keep that train of thought after years of research for an anti-Catholic work I had long aspired to raise up like a catapault to cave the Church in with.

[dark_182_88]

Daddysfiddler, I recommend you look into religions practiced in the Middle East, you might find many interesting religions/denominations.

Those religions (denominations) are usualy intertwined between religion and culture, and most of them have a very interesting history which goes in hand. They have turned into cultures more than religions, and even people who detach from their religions still have a hard time detaching from their religion's history and culture.

I'll give you a couple of examples:
Christians: Assyrian Christians, Chaldean Christians, Coptic Christians, Maronite Christians, Melchite Christians and Jacobite Syrian Christians.

Muslims: Allawite Muslims, Ismaili Muslims, and Druze (although those are not recognized as muslims, neither do they identify themselves as muslims, but they are originaly a muslim denomination which became so detached from Islam that it is not considered muslim anymore).

[kilted exile]

I just found that out when I posted the Credo. When I went to the internet to copy and paste, I wound up reading that some Protestant denominations also use the same credo. I didn't know that.

Kilted - We're a lot similar than people think.

hehehehe.....I wouldn't say that too loudly in either N.Ireland or the West Coast of Scotland if I were you.
On a more serious note (well not much more serious, but slightly more serious, ok not really more serious at all) it is amusing that the majority of the sectarian bigots, dont have any clue about either denomination.

[Theshizznigg]

Firstly I'd like to greet you, Fiddy.
I know some Menanites personally and I found along with Amish are one of the nicest groups of people to deal with.

As for your question of my religious denomination.

I used to be what I would have said, was Anglican, but I gave that up a long time ago.
I do not believe in denominations, or different churchs, because that is merely human seperation into groups.
I also don't agree with several Anglican - Catholic teachings, nor any of the more newer churches either.
The church I'm with now encourages religous freedom, as we like to say, we are there for God, and nothing else.
Hence the reason that I have no denomination, if you needed to peg me with one, I'd probably be Protestant, I do however prefer the term of Free Christian or merely Free Catholic, since it means all embracing.

Aside from that, I am a believer that man need not priest, nor religion, all you need is a bible, and the ability to discern its truths, to find true salvation.

As for that I say to you Adieu, your off to a great start.
Sincerely
Shizz

"I'm not, not, looking for a Knot, I'm not looking for a cord."
- Original piece of Thought - Shizznigg.

P.s. Now Is that quote refering to a piece of wood, or a piece of string?

[RobinHood3000]

Well I guess if I'm going to answer the question I'll have to say that I'm a bibliophile. It's not a denomination, nor it is a religion. It's a term I've made for myself, and you can probably guess it means "lover of the Bible".
In point of clarification, "bibliophile" is a real word that means "lover or collector of books."

I'm an atheist, and have been for several years now (although the exact moment escapes me).

[rachel]

M'Lord,
I find it hard to think that anything escapes that wondrous mind of yours.

[XXdarkclarityXX]

Except a bit of common sense along the way. T'is acceptable, for his mind is blinded by the light. Fill it with darkness and ye will truly see.

[rachel]

oh Dark,
hugs to you. i am learning a great deal from all of you. What great minds.

[RobinHood3000]

Except a bit of common sense sense along the way. T'is acceptable, for his mind is blinded by the light. Fill it with darkness and ye will truly see.
That wasn't very nice.

[Theshizznigg]

Lets not start religous mace swinging here.
Were supposed to be talking of denominations, not the fact that everyone thinks that their denomination is the right one, because its the one they expressly believe in.