Welcome Guest [Log In] [Register]
Rotation Advertisements



We hope you enjoy your visit to this forum.


If you are reading this then it means you are currently browsing the forum as a guest, we don’t limit any of the content posted from guests however if you join, you will have the ability to join the discussions! We are always happy to see new faces at this forum and we would like to hear your opinion, so why not register now? It doesn’t take long and you can get posting right away.


Click here to Register!

If you are having difficulties validating your account please email us at admin@dbzf.co.uk


If you're already a member please log in to your account:

Username:   Password:
Add Reply
  • Pages:
  • 1
  • 3
Religious Misconceptions
Topic Started: Feb 26 2014, 02:33 AM (1,983 Views)
Doggo Champion 2k17
Default Avatar


I'm not religious, but it still pisses me off that there are so many misconceptions about certain religions out there, especially here in America (specifically Oklahoma) where Christianity is so prevalent.

I am willing to venture that the vast majority of people have misconceptions about other religions. I've noticed that the religions that get the most hate here in America are Islam and Satanism (not really a religion necessarily, but yeah). I suppose this can all just be chalked up to the old saying that people hate what they don't understand. It's sad, and it really ticks me off.

Where I live, everyone seems to think that all Muslims are terrorists, all Satanists want to make crazy sacrifices and worship the devil, all Buddhists bow down to Buddha, and all atheists are sad and ignorant. These are just a few examples. I hear these types of things most often from Christians, who then turn around and claim that there are misconceptions about Christianity and that Christianity is bashed in the media constantly. That simply isn't true. No one that I've ever talked to has misconceptions about Christianity or goes around saying "Oh, you're a Christian? That's so weird. Ewww."

I know that this has kind of developed into a rant, and I don't mean to pick on any group specifically, but something needs to be done about these misconceptions. There's a big debate going around about teaching creationism in schools, but if you ask me we should be teaching other religions in schools just so ignorant people don't go around spouting off their nonsense and insulting large groups of people.

I remember in Sunday school one day we had a series going on where we learned about different religions. That "learning" process basically consisted of us reading blatantly flawed information about different religions and laughing about how stupid and "evil" it all was. That isn't education - that's bias. I just wish that humans weren't so ignorant sometimes...

Anyway, rant over. Please feel free to share your own thoughts on the matter. ^_^

Side note: Just learned a lot more about Mormonism. Gotta say I like it more than mainstream Christianity. (personal preference)
Edited by Doggo Champion 2k17, Feb 26 2014, 02:59 AM.
Member Offline View Profile Quote Post Goto Top
 
Rogafufuken
Member Avatar


I know what you mean. It's stupid that people think that all Muslims are terrorists. Most Muslims are peaceful people. The other misconceptions are stupid too. The question is, why are people prejudice (excuse me for my possibly horrible grammar in the end of that last sentence). They always teach you in basic schooling to be nice to people, so why do some people just seem to forget about that?
Posted Image
Member Offline View Profile Quote Post Goto Top
 
+ Pelador
Member Avatar
Crazy Awesome Legend

How many people even know what a Sikh is? In secondary school it was the first religion we learned about in religious studies. We studied from their founding prophet guy all the way up to the modern day equivalent which is oddly just a book. It's called the Guru Granth Sahib and is actually considered to be the head of their religion. I think they are even allowed to carry swords around as part of their faith but most choose not to because it conflicts so much with offensive weapon laws and such. Fascinating religion. Then we studied Hinduism and had like a mock Hindu ceremony or something with incense and tradition Hindu dishes ect. Very fun. This is how religion should be taught in schools. No one's telling you to worship anyone or join the faith. Just partake in the experiences to gain understanding.



Posted Image

http://www.youtube.com/user/jonjits
Member Offline View Profile Quote Post Goto Top
 
* Ketchup Revenge
Member Avatar
"Gentlemen, you can't fight in here! This is the war room!"

I agree with Pelador.

A lot of Atheists pick on Christianity, simply because Christianity is so accessible in developed countries, so that's the belief that Atheists (who are free to debate belief in these countries without fear of prosecution) mostly run into. But a lot of Atheists don't actually know a lot about non-Christian religion.
For example, most non-Muslims don't know that Mohammad in the Islamic culture believed himself to be descended from Abraham through his youngest son Ishmael. Judaism, Christianity, and Islam all worship the same Abraham, but in the Qu'ran it is spelled "Ibraham".

With this lack of knowledge, most Christians believe that Allah is a completely different god than the one that they worship, while if you honestly look at the world's three major religions, Allah, Yeweh, and the Christian God all the same god because both Christianity and Islam originated from Judaism and the Old Testament/Hebrew Bible.
The only thing that differs between these three religions is the way that this exact same God is worshiped.

I have to admit, I can't say that I know a whole lot about Buddhism, Hinduism, and Islam. Judaism isn't that hard to figure out because the Hebrew Bible is the "Old Testament" in Christianity.
Edited by Ketchup Revenge, Feb 26 2014, 05:06 AM.
Posted Image
The vengeance is her's for as long as she stands by Him.
Member Offline View Profile Quote Post Goto Top
 
Doggo Champion 2k17
Default Avatar


Islam, Judaism, and Christianity are all very similar, and Hinduism is similar to Buddhism (with the obvious deity discrepancies).

I find it amusing that many Christians don't even know what their fellow Christians believe. You have Catholics, protestants (baptists, Presbyterians, nazarenes, etc.), Mormons, and the list goes on. At least Islam and Judaism don't seem to be as divided.
Member Offline View Profile Quote Post Goto Top
 
* Ketchup Revenge
Member Avatar
"Gentlemen, you can't fight in here! This is the war room!"

ObsessiveFanGirl
Feb 26 2014, 05:21 AM
Islam, Judaism, and Christianity are all very similar, and Hinduism is similar to Buddhism (with the obvious deity discrepancies).

I find it amusing that many Christians don't even know what their fellow Christians believe. You have Catholics, protestants (baptists, Presbyterians, nazarenes, etc.), Mormons, and the list goes on. At least Islam and Judaism don't seem to be as divided.
That is true, but that's because almost every text that came after The Hebrew Bible spawned non-Jewish religions like Christianity and Islam, even though those two are technically Judaism at their core.

Islam actually has two entirely different factions. There's the ones who simply follow the teachings of the Qua'ran (which includes many things from the Old Testament/Hebrew Bible), and then you have the others who follow the teachings of Mohammad... of whom followed the Qua'ran and apparently traced his lineage back to the prophet Abraham from the Hebrew Bible.

Buddhism doesn't worship any gods, and the founder of Buddhism was a Hindu prince named Gautama Saddhartha who left his palace, and discovered the suffering of the world, and tried to find the meaning of it through meditation. This set of beliefs later became Buddhism, and he became known to the world as "Buddha", or "The Enlightened one". More specifically, he was known as Guatama Buddha, and he's as central to Buddhism as Jesus is to Christianity. However, the difference is that Saddhartha never claimed to be a God or anything but human.
Posted Image
The vengeance is her's for as long as she stands by Him.
Member Offline View Profile Quote Post Goto Top
 
Doggo Champion 2k17
Default Avatar


Ketchupis Ultionis
Feb 26 2014, 05:40 AM
ObsessiveFanGirl
Feb 26 2014, 05:21 AM
Islam, Judaism, and Christianity are all very similar, and Hinduism is similar to Buddhism (with the obvious deity discrepancies).

I find it amusing that many Christians don't even know what their fellow Christians believe. You have Catholics, protestants (baptists, Presbyterians, nazarenes, etc.), Mormons, and the list goes on. At least Islam and Judaism don't seem to be as divided.
That is true, but that's because almost every text that came after The Hebrew Bible spawned non-Jewish religions like Christianity and Islam, even though those two are technically Judaism at their core.

Islam actually has two entirely different factions. There's the ones who simply follow the teachings of the Qua'ran (which includes many things from the Old Testament/Hebrew Bible), and then you have the others who follow the teachings of Mohammad... of whom followed the Qua'ran and apparently traced his lineage back to the prophet Abraham from the Hebrew Bible.

Buddhism doesn't worship any gods, and the founder of Buddhism was a Hindu prince named Gautama Saddhartha who left his palace, and discovered the suffering of the world, and tried to find the meaning of it through meditation. This set of beliefs later became Buddhism, and he became known to the world as "Buddha", or "The Enlightened one". More specifically, he was known as Guatama Buddha, and he's as central to Buddhism as Jesus is to Christianity. However, the difference is that Saddhartha never claimed to be a God or anything but human.
Yeah, I know a lot about Buddhism. I follow a lot of Buddhist principles and agree with most everything about it, but I wouldn't consider myself a full-fledged Buddhist.

Hindus do worship gods, though, which is what I was referring to. I can't really talk much about it though since it's the religion that I lack the most knowledge of.
Member Offline View Profile Quote Post Goto Top
 
* Ketchup Revenge
Member Avatar
"Gentlemen, you can't fight in here! This is the war room!"

ObsessiveFanGirl
Feb 26 2014, 05:43 AM
Ketchupis Ultionis
Feb 26 2014, 05:40 AM
ObsessiveFanGirl
Feb 26 2014, 05:21 AM
Islam, Judaism, and Christianity are all very similar, and Hinduism is similar to Buddhism (with the obvious deity discrepancies).

I find it amusing that many Christians don't even know what their fellow Christians believe. You have Catholics, protestants (baptists, Presbyterians, nazarenes, etc.), Mormons, and the list goes on. At least Islam and Judaism don't seem to be as divided.
That is true, but that's because almost every text that came after The Hebrew Bible spawned non-Jewish religions like Christianity and Islam, even though those two are technically Judaism at their core.

Islam actually has two entirely different factions. There's the ones who simply follow the teachings of the Qua'ran (which includes many things from the Old Testament/Hebrew Bible), and then you have the others who follow the teachings of Mohammad... of whom followed the Qua'ran and apparently traced his lineage back to the prophet Abraham from the Hebrew Bible.

Buddhism doesn't worship any gods, and the founder of Buddhism was a Hindu prince named Gautama Saddhartha who left his palace, and discovered the suffering of the world, and tried to find the meaning of it through meditation. This set of beliefs later became Buddhism, and he became known to the world as "Buddha", or "The Enlightened one". More specifically, he was known as Guatama Buddha, and he's as central to Buddhism as Jesus is to Christianity. However, the difference is that Saddhartha never claimed to be a God or anything but human.
Yeah, I know a lot about Buddhism. I follow a lot of Buddhist principles and agree with most everything about it, but I wouldn't consider myself a full-fledged Buddhist.

Hindus do worship gods, though, which is what I was referring to. I can't really talk much about it though since it's the religion that I lack the most knowledge of.
I don't know a whole lot about it either. All I really know is that cows are considered holy and it's the largest polytheistic religion in the world.
Posted Image
The vengeance is her's for as long as she stands by Him.
Member Offline View Profile Quote Post Goto Top
 
Doggo Champion 2k17
Default Avatar


I should youtube it. Youtubing Mormonism proved to be very interesting. ^_^

I feel so dumb because I used to hate on Mormons and make fun of them back when I was a Christian.
Member Offline View Profile Quote Post Goto Top
 
* Ketchup Revenge
Member Avatar
"Gentlemen, you can't fight in here! This is the war room!"

I've learned a good chunk about Mormanism. It's pretty normal until they get to the part where Jesus was from another planet and had multiple wives.
Posted Image
The vengeance is her's for as long as she stands by Him.
Member Offline View Profile Quote Post Goto Top
 
Doggo Champion 2k17
Default Avatar


Ketchupis Ultionis
Feb 26 2014, 05:54 AM
I've learned a good chunk about Mormanism. It's pretty normal until they get to the part where Jesus was from another planet and had multiple wives.
Like Christianity, Mormonism has many different interpretations. I don't claim to know a whole lot about the religion, but every Mormon I've talked to doesn't believe that, and the research I've done proves the same (research from unbiased sources, that is, which can be relatively difficult to find).
Member Offline View Profile Quote Post Goto Top
 
* Ketchup Revenge
Member Avatar
"Gentlemen, you can't fight in here! This is the war room!"

ObsessiveFanGirl
Feb 26 2014, 06:20 AM
Ketchupis Ultionis
Feb 26 2014, 05:54 AM
I've learned a good chunk about Mormanism. It's pretty normal until they get to the part where Jesus was from another planet and had multiple wives.
Like Christianity, Mormonism has many different interpretations. I don't claim to know a whole lot about the religion, but every Mormon I've talked to doesn't believe that, and the research I've done proves the same (research from unbiased sources, that is, which can be relatively difficult to find).
Even then, there's different types of Mormon.
You have the basic, friendly neighborhood type, but then you have the kind with Warren Jeffs with underage marriages, and that fiasco from his convent that was found in Texas several years ago where there were girls and children living in squalor.
His sect of Mormonism is portrayed in the TLC show "Breaking the Faith", which documents these former Warren Jeffs male followers who help oppressed girls get out of the community and live normal lives.
Of course this is American Television, so it's probably not 100% accurate.

Not every Mormon thinks like Warren Jeffs, but he makes Mormons look bad. It's the same with the fact that not all Muslims follow the violent teachings of Mohammad. And the same thing that not all Christians agree with the preachings of Fred Phelps and his Westboro Baptist Church.
Edited by Ketchup Revenge, Feb 26 2014, 06:42 AM.
Posted Image
The vengeance is her's for as long as she stands by Him.
Member Offline View Profile Quote Post Goto Top
 
Copy_Ninja
Member Avatar
Novacane for the pain

ObsessiveFanGirl
Feb 26 2014, 05:21 AM
I find it amusing that many Christians don't even know what their fellow Christians believe. You have Catholics, protestants (baptists, Presbyterians, nazarenes, etc.), Mormons, and the list goes on. At least Islam and Judaism don't seem to be as divided.
Islam doesn't have as many denominations but in the modern day their division is worse in some ways. Suuni and Shia Muslims are still killing each other in Iraq and Pakistan and it's not looking like there'll be an end to that any time soon. Plus their divisions seem to run a lot deeper compared to most of the Christian denominations where it's usually a difference in focus (e.g. the Catholic Church holds more of the sacraments and actually worships directly to Mary in some prayers, Mormons have more literal interpretations of certain things in the Bible). Right now, Islam is in a similar state to what Christianity was during the 16th and 17th Century where Catholics and Protestants were warring, albeit on a smaller scale.

I think some Atheists are purposely ignorant about Christianity too so they can find it easier to mock. Such as taking quotes out of context and trying to use them in an argument, then outright rejecting any other interpretation of the text. I'm not religious by any means but when people do that it's incredibly frustrating.

Posted ImageWe'll never be those kids again
Member Offline View Profile Quote Post Goto Top
 
* Ketchup Revenge
Member Avatar
"Gentlemen, you can't fight in here! This is the war room!"

Copy_Ninja
Feb 26 2014, 06:40 AM
I think some Atheists are purposely ignorant about Christianity too so they can find it easier to mock. Such as taking quotes out of context and trying to use them in an argument, then outright rejecting any other interpretation of the text. I'm not religious by any means but when people do that it's incredibly frustrating.

I agree for the most part, but even if it's taken out of context, it's still seen to condone certain questionable behaviors or values under the right circumstances. There's no question about that.

For example, slavery is one, even if it's not an indiscriminate and absolute condoning, it still condones actually keeping another human being for servitude. However, the string attached is that it can only be a fellow Jew (this is the Old Testament, so Christianity didn't exist then), and you must allow him to leave your ownership after seven years. I don't know the exact text right off hand, but I believe if he chooses to stay in your employ, you must buy him a wife or something of that nature, and his wife and children are yours as well.

The Bible even condones murder and genocide under certain circumstances, which at face value, seems to violate and contradict the "Thou Shalt Not Kill" commandment. However, there's certain rules that allow it as according to God.

So the Bible does indeed have contradictions, but it does actually usually clarify these circumstances to which it's allowed.
However, on occasion, you will get conflicting stories. Sometimes it can be explained by the fact that not all scriptures that were considered holy were actually put into the Bible. In addition to this, phrase meanings got lost in translation, and you do get some that don't make a whole lot of sense at all and do blatantly contradict not only the word of God, but the other texts as well.
Going back to the texts that were left out, The Gospel of Judas is one that was left out.

Therefore even if the Bible is the "word of god", it's not the full word of God due to censorship from the church when these texts were compiled into an actual book, which wasn't until around year 700.
Edited by Ketchup Revenge, Feb 26 2014, 07:04 AM.
Posted Image
The vengeance is her's for as long as she stands by Him.
Member Offline View Profile Quote Post Goto Top
 
Herald of the Titans
Default Avatar


I had to make an account (being a long time browser myself) to reply to this topic, if only to point out a bit of hypocrisy..

I mean no offense by this, but perusing this very debate forum, it seems that the OP is extremely guilty of what he or she is describing. A lot of people, in fact. I can't count how many times (while reading the amusing threads and "debates" posted here) where people that claim to not be Christians post the most outlandish and out of context Bible verses to make their point, when in fact, are completely off the mark and incorrect as to what the passage is referring to or implying.

There also seems to be a lot of "mainstream Christian bashing" that goes on here, too. Most people on this forum view Christians as hateful, judgmental people, who Bible bash and tell gays they're going to hell and that God doesn't love them. This could not be further from the truth, but all you see is what you see on the news and media. Most Christians are not like this, as Jesus Christ definitely did not set that example. Broaden your horizons a bit.

Just saying.
Member Offline View Profile Quote Post Goto Top
 
0 users reading this topic
ZetaBoards - Free Forum Hosting
ZetaBoards gives you all the tools to create a successful discussion community.
Go to Next Page
« Previous Topic · Deep Discussion · Next Topic »
Add Reply
  • Pages:
  • 1
  • 3

Theme Designed by McKee91