What is religion?  There are two meaning which can be applied here.  One is man made where a community develops around the worship of a Manifestation of God - eg:  Christianity tied itself to the message of Jesus and even worships him. But after awhile man made religion ends up creating disharmony, strife, and even bloodshed, caused by the community operating through rules and regulations called dogma and doctrine.  This happens through the decline of that religious system.  The second type of religion and most important imho is Divine Religion and is the outer expression of divine reality manifesting itself in the world.  It is the application of the spiritual teachings brought by the Manifestation of God.  It is the cause of unity, and the source of love and agreement!  When divine religion manifests itself in the world civilization develops and advances as it should!  How you can tell one from the other is through positive results!  The problem is that when we see these positive changes we're not aware of its source of power ...

May 10, 2012 -- 4:54PM, Seefan wrote:

The second type of religion and most important imho is Divine Religion and is the outer expression of divine reality manifesting itself in the world.  It is the application of the spiritual teachings brought by the Manifestation of God.  It is the cause of unity, and the source of love and agreement!  When divine religion manifests itself in the world civilization develops and advances as it should!  How you can tell one from the other is through positive results!  The problem is that when we see these positive changes we're not aware of its source of power ...

English translation:

Religion, in my view, is behaviour - the outer expression of ourselves.  We learn and hope for peace.  We learn to get along!  Good times, bad times!  We really don`t know who the hell we are.

Sorry . . .  I dont like jargon

May 10, 2012 -- 6:50PM, Buggsy wrote:

May 10, 2012 -- 4:54PM, Seefan wrote:

The second type of religion and most important imho is Divine Religion and is the outer expression of divine reality manifesting itself in the world. It is the application of the spiritual teachings brought by the Manifestation of God. It is the cause of unity, and the source of love and agreement! When divine religion manifests itself in the world civilization develops and advances as it should! How you can tell one from the other is through positive results! The problem is that when we see these positive changes we're not aware of its source of power ...

English translation:

Religion, in my view, is behaviour - the outer expression of ourselves. We learn and hope for peace. We learn to get along! Good times, bad times! We really don`t know who the hell we are.

Sorry . . . I dont like jargon

I appreciate that! So to put it another way ...

Divine religion is when the Manifestation of God, of which Jesus was one, comes at the beginning of each age in human development with a new and ever progressive revelation armed with spiritual power and authority from God for the benefit of all of civilization. The individual in tune with this message is the catalyst for the spreading of its influence and knowledge. As long as the focus of this community is centered upon the study, understanding, and adoption of the spiritual principles, civilization develops and advances.

Man made religion begins once man gets its own ideas, partly caused by the dross of time, of what the divine revelation brought by the Manifestation of God meant and the focus shifts and dogma and doctrine develops leading us away from the original message. It would be like going to school and the students deciding to study whatever they wanted and choose what each principle meant – and the fighting, arguing, and loss of direction begins as humanity is lead to disharmony and disunity. This is man made religion imho ...

Hope this is jargon free or at least minimized and more understandable. But this is my understanding of religion and its purpose ...

May 11, 2012 -- 3:00PM, Buggsy wrote:

May 11, 2012 -- 1:40PM, Seefan wrote:

I appreciate that! So to put it another way ...

Divine religion is when the Manifestation of God, of which Jesus was one, comes at the beginning of each age in human development with a new and ever progressive revelation armed with spiritual power and authority from God for the benefit of all of civilization. The individual in tune with this message is the catalyst for the spreading of its influence and knowledge. As long as the focus of this community is centered upon the study, understanding, and adoption of the spiritual principles, civilization develops and advances.

Man made religion begins once man gets its own ideas, partly caused by the dross of time, of what the divine revelation brought by the Manifestation of God meant and the focus shifts and dogma and doctrine develops leading us away from the original message. It would be like going to school and the students deciding to study whatever they wanted and choose what each principle meant – and the fighting, arguing, and loss of direction begins as humanity is lead to disharmony and disunity. This is man made religion imho ...

Hope this is jargon free?? or at least minimized and more understandable. But this is my understanding of religion and its purpose ...

If what is in red is considered as jargon then I guess you really must have problems with most of the bible.  Or it that your point ...

Would you like those word in red explained?

 PS:  Just read your profile!  Are you trying to show your motto in action?

May 11, 2012 -- 3:10PM, Seefan wrote:

If what is in red is considered as jargon then I guess you really must have problems with most of the bible.  

It's not the bible I have problems with - just high sounding 'theology' that really says nothing at all when you get into it, in my view.  Sorry I was criticizing you!

Your signature says:

The sciences of this world are droplets of reality; if then they lead not to reality, what fruit can come of illusion? By the one true God! If learning be not a means of access to Him, the Most Manifest, it is nothing but evident loss. (Baha'i Faith)

What does that mean?