Religion
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You are currently reading a thread in /lit/ - Literature
You are currently reading a thread in /lit/ - Literature
Hello /lit/
What are the religions out there that i can study and maybe adhere to if i do not believe in an anthropomorphic/abrahamic god?i know that there is buddhism, but are there any others that you can tell me about? and some books which i can get my hands on to read about said religions.
>>7555846
It's not really a religion but deism. Read Thomas Paine's The Age of Reason
>choosing what religion to follow based on what 4chan posters tell you
Don't do that
>>7555846
Christianity is the true religion.
>>7555863
I'm not choosing in the strict sense as you put it, i'm merely asking for suggestions to read on said religion and see if i develop interest in it.
>>7555902
Osho The Book Of Secrets
Eckart Tohle The Power Of Now
thank me later
>>7555913
Thanks anon, will check them out
>>7555846
There's pantheism, but it's not really a religion. The obvious recomendation is Spinoza. Don't know about contemporaries though.
Read Bernanos
Read the Tao Te Ching to understand how to live in harmony
>>7556496
any recommendations on a translation?
>>7556677
READ THE AGE OF REASON YOU FUCKING FAGGOT.
>>7557320
Jeez man, i will, but i would like to read other books as well
>>7555846
just read hypersphere anon ;)
it contains all the best /lit/ memes.
>>7556455
Catholic convert here. I definitely recommend Bernanos too.
Before I converted I was just like any other /lit/ user; apathetic, self-pitying and casually (almost ironically) nihilistic. Needless to say I was living a dull, monotonous life despite my alleged ambitions, constantly finding reasons to live a life devoid of pleasure, human company or any meaningful activity. Now I am 6'2, content with my place in the universe, and possess a patience I never even felt capable of possessing as an "atheist".
>>7558043
>patience as a virtue
>PLEASURE as a Christian
>ambitions unfulfilled? Become a Catholic!
You're fooling yourself. Anyways Christianity is unevitably dying. Satan has been and will always be the only god of this world, for he represents nature and nature is all there is.
Your ideals of a world beyond death, of a God that rules the world, etc. already mean nothing.
>>7558028
do i need to start with the greeks?
>>7558632
Greeks are fags. Start with the Holy Bible.
>>7559077
Nah, said i don't want an abrahamic god book
>>7559077
>greeks are fags
>NT was originally written in greek
>some of the very first converts were greeks
Brah
>>7555846
Gnosticism, but good luck finding other Gnostics to hang out with.
>>7555846
The God of the Bible is not anthropomorphic. When the Romans entered into the enclave behind the Veil in the Temple they expected to see a statue in a similar vein to their own Gods, but found it empty. They were told that Yahweh was beyond sight beyond physical form because he prevades all.
The truth is though that Yahweh is only one of a number of deities called the Elohim (planetary intelligences created by God) and who all share the same incorporiality. All of these Elohim belong to a higher genus of God which is what Jesus belongs to.
Jesus came down to offer himself as a sacrifice to the blind God Yahweh, to alter his corrupt make-up from within. Jesus is sort of like a computer virus or antidote infecting the corrupt makeup of Yahweh to restore order and peace to humanity. If you find his endeavours to be hateful and sinful then that means either its taking effect on you or that conversely you are a lost cause.
>>7558043
>Now I am 6'2
>>>>>
>>7559994
>deities called the Elohim
>plural
Elohim is used with a verb in the singular in the Hebrew of the OT. Yes the form of the word Elohim is plural but it's generally understood as a plural of majesty (cf. the Queen saying 'We are not amused', speaking of herself).
>>7560070
I just think it is interesting that there is a distinction made in Genesis between God and the YHWH God. One of them appears to make the heavens and the earth and the other one is responsible for creation of man. I think that this distinction was deliberate and that it was intended to separate the two. Perhaps the Elohim refers to the royal we like you said, and that that is a singular God, but it still denotes others, in the same way that a ruler cannot rule without subjects. In some sense them the Elohim can be split from the whole. When I said that all the Elohim belong to a higher genus, I was being loose with my words, perhaps I should have said 'are parts of a higher order of God' in that they are as a whole indistinguishable from the One True God, as is believed by the Gnostics.
>>7560257
Ah, okay, got it; you never know how sincere someone might be.
One thing about the Elohim/YHWH difference is that some (who practice what's labeled 'higher criticism') have claimed that more than one source document went into the production of Genesis, among them a document referring to God as YHWH (the Yahwist source, or J as in Jehovah) and another using Elohim (the Elohist source, or E for short). A more conservative/traditionalist approach just chalks it up to a stylistic choice from one instance to another.
>>7560313
Yeah that's interesting and I can totally see that happening. Perhaps the Gnostics just read too much into the distinction than what actually exists in reality. Then again if there is no actual evidence of these two different sources (the J source or Elohist source as you put it) then it is still open to speculation and interpretation. It is for me, in part at least, the wealth of interpretations which emerge from these Judeo-Christian texts that what makes this subject so fascinating.
