reply
- Feature
- Like
I've studied with Mormons, Jehovah Witnesses, Lutherans, and Muslims and I'm still lost.
reply
- Feature
- Like
I don't belong to a religious group but did study and read the New testament with the Jehovah witnesses next door. I studied and did my first holy communion at 16 with the Catholic church because I thought it would be a neat thing to do and I had a lot of time on my hands. I've studied with students of Sai Baba and have visited the Citadel in Egypt. What I found is that my own place of worship is within myself, I sit quiet and lovingly comfort my own spirit.
reply
- Feature
- Like
Yes and I loved them with equal intensity. Thinking of Japanese and Chinese places of worship. Nothing funny about that or those. Except the time when I sat on one of the Three Chairs reserved for the Chinese Gods solely. The owner had to reprimand me for doing that. Hehehe
reply
- Feature
- Like
I've always believed God was too infinite to be confined in any one place...beyond human grasp...therefore, as a baha'i, convinced all Religion worships One Essence/God, I've enjoyed visiting many different Churches, Mosques and synogogs..unconstrained..
reply
- Feature
- Like
I was raised a Lutheran, in about the third grade or so a field trip took us to a Catholic church. In India I entered their spiritual temples, I've been to the Baha'i holy places and temples in Germany, Chicago, and Delhi,....all are places of worship, and you can feel the prayers that have there been raised!
reply
- Feature
- Like
In the eighth grade our school took us on a tour of all the different places of worship that surround us. We went to a Buddhist temple, a Sikh temple, a Synagogue and a Catholic church. It was wonderful to see how beautiful each place was and that they could all exist so close to one another.
reply
- Feature
- Like
When I was younger I attended Baha'i School then later explored Christianity, Catholicism, and Judaism and attended services of each. I feel fortunate that I had a chance to explore religion so much before I was an adult and I feel I gained a lot in being able to do that, including having compassion to others no matter what their beliefs and an understanding of some belief systems I would not have gained otherwise.
reply
Easter morning mass on the steps of St Peter's Basilica...
- Feature
- Like
Easter morning mass on the steps of St Peter's Basilica...
Friday afternoon prayers at the Al-Aqsa mosque in Jerusalem...
A breathtakingly gorgeous Russian Orthodox Pentecost in Moscow...
Countless bar mitzvahs, orthodox, conservative, reformed...
Stations of the Cross at Metropolitan Cathedral in Mexico City...
Too many visits to black churches with politicians on the campaign trail...
(the churches were great... the politicians weren't)
I love it. It is a privilege to be able to watch people (and, when appropriate, join) their devotions. Except when I'm on the road I am in my own (Episcopal) church every Sunday. But the chances to be with others when they pray has been a great gift. Dying to get to Varanasi in India, and to see the hajj. (I am not allowed to be there, so I won't go).
I complained to my tour guide at Temple Square in Salt Lake City about the rule barring non-Mormons from the Temple. She still didn't let me in.
reply
- Feature
- Like
yep. Growing up as a Navy brat, i had the opportunity to visit a number of places of worship that were are far cry from my grandma's fundamentalist christian: Buddhist, Shinto, Hindu, Jewish, Islam, Native American, and all kinds of Christian Sects, including Catholic and Protestant churches, and even the Quakers (who I prolly liked best).
reply
- Feature
- Like
Yes when I was trying to find what fit me spiritually I attended many churches and experimented with many different religions.
reply
- Feature
- Like
I recently started going to a Unitarian church whos service is at our local community college. I grew up Catholic and my oldest daughter goes to a Catholic church (with her dad) I like the change. I also like they are very close to my belief system.
reply
Probably my favorite was a Church of God in Florida. Mom took us there b/c of the piano player. He was a recovered alcoholic and he really got into playing the hymns. He was great. The others kind of scared me though. One lady ran around the church shouting stuff and running across the the backs of the pews.
- Feature
- Like
Probably my favorite was a Church of God in Florida. Mom took us there b/c of the piano player. He was a recovered alcoholic and he really got into playing the hymns. He was great. The others kind of scared me though. One lady ran around the church shouting stuff and running across the the backs of the pews.
Have visited a Jewish Synagogue and some Catholic services b/c I had cousins who were Catholic. Also went to midnight mass at Christmastime in Spain one year.
reply
Of couirse!
- Feature
- Like
Of couirse!
And indeed, the Baha'i scriptures state explicitly:
"Consort with the followers of all religions with friendliness and fellowship!"
Best! :-)
Bruce
reply
Cherokee sweat lodge - dog day celebration,
- Feature
- Like
Cherokee sweat lodge - dog day celebration,
many Hindu poojas, celebrations in various settings, temples, ashrams.
Buddhist ones too.
Bahai "fireside chats",
a Sikh wedding,
Christian churches - as well as C of E ( episcopalian to you) I have been to
methodist,
unitarian,
gospel,
baptist,
evangelical,
Greek orthodox,
I have also been to Catholic funerals (and would like to attend the ultimate one of those...for the church itself)
and my own is (occasionally) Quakers..
enough experience to be able to see the attractions and methods of so many...
and solidify a sense of amazement that anyone can believe that "theirs is right"...
but the best religious experiences I have had have been in that best place of worship on the planet
...the open air.
reply
Ya - I gave the search a real good go. Numerous Christian, a synagogue, several Buddhist compounds in California, and just a brief encounter with Hindu worship. Outside Christianity, know quite a bit about Buddhism, Taoism and Confucianism, as elements of those three are deeply entrenched in the Qigong I have practiced for many years. Also flirted with Wiccan.
- Feature
- Like
Ya - I gave the search a real good go. Numerous Christian, a synagogue, several Buddhist compounds in California, and just a brief encounter with Hindu worship. Outside Christianity, know quite a bit about Buddhism, Taoism and Confucianism, as elements of those three are deeply entrenched in the Qigong I have practiced for many years. Also flirted with Wiccan.
Ecantually I kinda had to bow out of all of them for the same reasons: the true believers make me have to suppress a giggle. While I appreciate some aspects of religions, at the end of the day, I want to study more science and really learn more about the nuts and bolts of this marvellous life we have on Earth and the cosmos beyond, and I feel very spiritual about that...
reply
- Feature
- Like
