Religion III

• good doubters
• math, science, and strong witnessable experiences bring real knowledge, while faith rests on fickle feelings

• Belief that God does not exist.
• religion = bad
• science etc = good (source of understanding)

belief in one God

Belief in many Gods

belief that everything in the universe is divine

• originally "measured reed"
• texts used to measure or set or establish or act as authorative for some community

someone reacting against new ideas

• someone who stresses:
• - individual sense of who God is
• -an acceptance of other faiths
• -a human veiw of the bible
• -a negative veiw of hell
• -modern issues (i.e. equal rights for women, homosexuals)
• -likes new technology, John Lennon, and Buddhism

• stress:
• -a traditional, communal, historic sense of who God is
• -the differences between our faith and others
• -the Authority and Divine origin of the Bible
• -the consequences of evil
• -traditional issues like morality and the family
• -likes antiques, nationalism, and Islam

• ortho = right
• doxa = belief
• most conservative groups

the belief that only my religion is right and my religion is the only path to salvation

christianity is the fulfillment of all other positive religions

the belief that one religion is best but others can be pretty good and even lead to salvation

all religions lead to salvation, each one as good as any other, yet we must point to the uniqueness of Jesus not the exclusiveness

we all have our own truth when it comes to religion

"no self" there is no soul. one of three characteristics of existance: impermanence, suffering, and no-self

Soul

Law of cause and effect - what you do comes back to you

Western term for the religions of ideas (other than Muslim, Buddhist, Sikh, Christian, Jain, etc.)

Non-duality - the idea that all is ultimately one. Pantheism is the Western term for this Indian idea

Law or Duty or path - law Karma follows

Hindu god who is the incarnation of Vishnu

(compare to heaven and nirvana) - Hindu heaven - release from the cycle of birth, death, and rebirth

cycle of death, birth, rebirth, etc - this passing physical world

Hindu god

in Mahayana Buddhism it is a person who is striving toward enlightenment and puts enlightenment off so that he/she can help others on their path - they share their merit with others

awake

literally "great ocean leader" - the highest Lama or spiritual guide in the Tibetan Buddhism

(Tibetian Buddhism) - this is the state one is in (always passing) now we are in the bardo of existence

link between moments as they arise and decay in the endless, impermanent flow of existence...the phrase explains how ego-ridden existence perceives cause and effect

That which is firmly established or doctrinal or orthodox. The path taught by the Buddha

middle way between worldliness and asceticism

• 1. there is suffering
• 2. suffering is caused by desire
• 3. the cessation of suffering is possible
• 4. following this path will stop suffering

"greater vehicle" - refers to northern Buddhism which sees that the way to enlightenment is open to all

"blowing out of a flame" - marks the end of suffering and freedom from rebirth

• paradise established by the Amitabha Buddha by reason of his great merit and compassion for suffering beings who by faith may enter this paradise at death.
• It is also the name of a Buddhist sect in Japan - Jodo

when Theravada monks remain in the monastery and intensify their discipline and study

Community

the way of the elders, southern Budhism that seems to stress the grace of a Buddha

Japanese sect of sitting meditation - seek a state of no mind

• -Total Depravity
• -Unconditional Election
• -Limited Atonement
• -Irresistible Grace
• -Perseverance of the Saints

roots mean peace, but both really mean submission

• -Confession (there is no God but god, Muhammad is his prophet)
• -Salat - prayer five times a day
• -Give to the poor
• -Fast during Ramadan
• -Hajj - trip to Mecca

Jesus - although both Quran and Bible are books since most Muslims see the Koran as perfect (the path of salvation), a perfect copy of something in heaven, and taken into the believer...

• Organic Inspiration - God works through the lives and histories of the writers (hundreds of writers over many years)
• Dictation Inspiration - God puts exact words in the head of the writer (Muhammad over a few years)

Big black box

Pilgrimage to Mecca

Prayer (5 times a day)

• Shi'a - smaller sect of Islam - found in Iran and Southern Iraq mainly - 12 leaders from Muhammad's family, await the return of the 12th Immam
• Sunni - majority - 85-90% - follow the will of the community

• 500 BC - The life of Siddhartha Gautama (the Buddha)
• 70 - Israel destroyed
• 325 - Nicea says Jesus is God and man alive
• 622 - Islam begins their calendar
• 1054 - Eastern and Western churches split
• 1517 - reformation
• 1776 - rise of modernism
• 1859 - Darwin publishes Origin of Species
• 1920s - rise of fundamentalism against modernism
• 1948 - Israel again becomes a state

Theory of missions

written down by Uthman

Spoiled and never allowed to see pain, saw pain when he was about 30, sought to discover a way out of suffering, tried the Hindu way (didn't work), then found a middle way - became the Buddha or Enlightened One