I am no longer walking on the path of Islam .

I like the simplicity of the summation of the heart of the law and the prophets as:

Love the LORD your God with all your heart, all your soul, all your mind, and all your strength and ("no less important" Jesus) love your neighbor as yourself.

That and the golden rule of do unto others as you would have them do unto you.

It's very simple, but not easy. It's a challenge and it takes real work to strive towards while maintaining balance and grace.

I've also tried reading the Quran and have looked at historical scholarship regarding Islam, and I kept running into a stark line of exclusivity and condemnation along with well problems with the historical authenticity of much of it's practices and edicts.

What I like about Christianity, is an unmerited Grace, which for me points not only to God's righteousness and holiness, but also God's sense of humor, mirth and irony which likes to take us by surprise.

My God is a good good God who's slow to anger and quick to forgive, but who requires a certain broken-heartedness when our own allusions prove to be vacuous, small minded and lacking in both imagination and courage.

Be blessed.

Ankh

For the OP and those still searching.

Some people can identify and acknowledge the spiritual need that resides in the core of our DNA of who we are as humans, it's what makes us different than the animals. The OP is such a person, but he has also discovered false religion as well, from Mormonism to Christianity to Islam. Because Catholicism and Protestantism destroyed first century Christianity, it seems that it is wrong too.

But there is a type of worship that has always been closest to what God wants from humans, if you are sincere in your search, my suggestion is that you search back to the basics. It goes something like this Noah & Family , Abraham & Family, Ancient Isrealite Judaism, First Century Christians, Waldenses, Lollards......Millennialism. Telling you what it is never works, you need to discover that light bulb Epiphany moment on your own timeline.

a reply to: the2ofusr1

LOL but like every other believer you have nothing except personal testimony.
What's the weather like up there on your high horse?

a reply to: TJames

Consider the alternative:

For God to not let it happen would mean He would have to step in actively prevent all that He considers to be sin, which would, of course, include those things you mention.

However, since you have accepted that He needs to meddle in those things, you have now also accepted that He needs to then meddle in all things He considers to be sin. That would mean that the next time you decide you want to hook up with some random girl in a bar for a nice night of nookie ... God intervenes. That is sexual immorality and it doesn't take much searching to see where He abhors it.

Now He's meddling in *your* life, preventing the things that you are doing wrong that you may not consider wrong, but He does.

Now you're ticked off because you never wanted that.

And *that* is why God doesn't prevent every human evil we see in the world. He doesn't just prevent the things *you* would prefer He prevent. He either prevents *all* bad things or none.

originally posted by: Sapphire
a reply to: muzzleflash

The simpler life is. The better.

Though things ought to be simple, many of them never are.
Believe me, I wish it was simple.

a reply to: ketsuko

Your god is just like people who film injured folk instead of helping.
Your god created the circumstances for suffering and knew it. Your god sounds a beast to me.

...either way you have nothing except personal testimony, and claims of an unverifiable entity.

originally posted by: TJames
a reply to: ketsuko

Your god is just like people who film injured folk instead of helping.
Your god created the circumstances for suffering and knew it. Your god sounds a beast to me.

...either way you have nothing except personal testimony, and claims of an unverifiable entity.

Go ahead and hate Him all you want. That is your choice and He lets you make it.

There is a reason it's called faith, and you peevish assertions that I can't prove my experiences to you mean precisely squat to me. I never intended that I could prove anything. It. Is. Faith. If you don't understand the meaning of the word, look it up. Proof is not involved in it, and I am perfectly fine with that.

I have what I've sought. I'm just sorry you don't.

a reply to: ketsuko

Faith in unverifiable claims seems silly to me, but if it helps you psychologically or whatever good luck with it.

originally posted by: eisegesis
FYI, there are two Hermetic routes of Ascension. The Sanskrit way, using energy channels or “chakras” (evolution of the first seven by way of sky or earth), and the Kabbalist way, using the Sefirotic Tree and the 22 letters of the Hebrew alphabet (ascent to sky/decent to earth).

It’s too bad, Sufism would have been worth embracing.

Just ask the Freemasons.

I'm not sure the masons even have the answers 0o .
Maybe bits and pieces like other organizations.

originally posted by: Anonymousman
Do you disbelieve in any of these essential pillars of belief ?
s20.postimg.org...

Yes I do absoutly. I find error in them.

originally posted by: trollz

originally posted by: Kapusta
after becoming torn away from Christianity due to errors and lies in scripture

I'm aware of numerous errors in the bible, but could you elaborate about which errors or lies you're referring to in specific? Just curious to see if it's something I've never come across.

Forgive me Respectfully I want to avoid a debate on that topic . I am solid in my discovery . if you are want to know out of curiosity then a bit of research will reveal the deception I speak of .

Again I am sorry . I hope you can understand .

Humbly


Kap.

a reply to: TJames

LOL but like every other believer you have nothing except personal testimony. What's the weather like up there on your high horse?

Its not a high horse position I find myself in but one that requires more humility . Your cartoonist picture of God keeps you on your egotistical high horse not mine . Has anyone ever told you that your are the smartest person that has ever lived ? Ever wonder why ?

originally posted by: muzzleflash
a reply to: Kapusta

I just get this feeling that you are completely lost and very compulsive.

The way you jump around declaring yourself an adherent of this one or that one, it's too much.

Can you just sit down and stop believing in stuff for a minute please?
This is like Spiritual ADHD.

I am sorry you get that feeling. I don't feel lost anymore. I feel decieved really . This is part of me growing spiritually . I wish I could sit down and stop . It's just not that simple . Perhaps an alien abduction from my back yard should be in order :p lol thanks for the reply muzz. Good to see you .

originally posted by: intrptr

originally posted by: Kapusta

originally posted by: intrptr
a reply to: Kapusta

I can only assume that had the knowledge been and pure it would only reflect divinity that is void of evil and perversion . Currently no religious scripture I have found is that way.

To get that 'purity' we gave to consult the spirit thru our soul.

Spirituality is different than organized religions writings or dogma.

The true essence of religion is what ? To give you the tools needed to understand spirituality ? Your soul etc.

Like I said religion is man made. Used as a control measure to misguide people. To keep them from discovering the truth. To that end scripture is misintperetmed on purpose by the controllers.

I fully agree here . As the saying goes " the truth is out there "

originally posted by: pavil
a reply to: Kapusta

What did you take away from being exposed to Sufism? Its always sounded like the most tolerant version of Islam to other Religions.

What about it was is contradiction to your training in Islam?

To me, Islam seems to lost it's way in the modern world, it didn't adapt and "turtled" for lack of a better word.

In the battle of ideas, it seems it doesn't want to have open debates about itself or its relationship to other Religions.

Good question ! Sufism was a deeper understanding of the soul . It seemed to focus on this. I was very much into it and I really liked what I was learing. But I found it was riddled with Bid'ah and shirk . This essentially went against the Quran and Sunna . Sufism essentially gave the ok to do things outside sunna and not feel guilty about it. I have a lot more to add on this but i have little time . Maybe I can elaborate a little more on this at a later time .

originally posted by: the2ofusr1
a reply to: TJames

LOL but like every other believer you have nothing except personal testimony. What's the weather like up there on your high horse?

Its not a high horse position I find myself in but one that requires more humility . Your cartoonist picture of God keeps you on your egotistical high horse not mine . Has anyone ever told you that your are the smartest person that has ever lived ? Ever wonder why ?

LOL has anyone told you the same?
Silly question but made me chuckle.
If you believe cool, I'm not saying there are no gods n stuff, just I don't believe because the claims are unverifiable.

originally posted by: AnkhMorpork
I like the simplicity of the summation of the heart of the law and the prophets as:

Love the LORD your God with all your heart, all your soul, all your mind, and all your strength and ("no less important" Jesus) love your neighbor as yourself.

That and the golden rule of do unto others as you would have them do unto you.

It's very simple, but not easy. It's a challenge and it takes real work to strive towards while maintaining balance and grace.

I've also tried reading the Quran and have looked at historical scholarship regarding Islam, and I kept running into a stark line of exclusivity and condemnation along with well problems with the historical authenticity of much of it's practices and edicts.

What I like about Christianity, is an unmerited Grace, which for me points not only to God's righteousness and holiness, but also God's sense of humor, mirth and irony which likes to take us by surprise.

My God is a good good God who's slow to anger and quick to forgive, but who requires a certain broken-heartedness when our own allusions prove to be vacuous, small minded and lacking in both imagination and courage.

Be blessed.

Ankh

Asumming you are speaking of the God of the new testament? Because the God of the old was rather harsh.

0o.

Humbly kap.

a reply to: pavil

I know your post isn't aimed at me, but there's one point that I want to address. When you said this:

To me, Islam seems to lost it's way in the modern world, it didn't adapt and "turtled" for lack of a better word.

I think that's a common misconception. Most Islamic denominations & communities have had no problem with modernization, be it economic, political, or consumer goods/services related. For example, the 3 largest Muslim majority countries have all had female Heads of State just since the 1990s (and it's 4 out of 5 if you count Turkey). Muslim majority countries can also have democracies, secular govts, advanced technology, modern pop cultures and norms, etc.

The problem is that many people don't seem willing to acknowledge that Islam has ultra liberal interpretations, mildly liberal interpretations, ultra conservative interpretations, mildly conservative interpretations, and everything in between. And some of the most famous/infamous interpretations today are ultra conservative reform movements (as in, reform movements that thought the current state of Islam was too lenient/liberal/watered down, so they strive to "fix it").

Look at Iranian social life before the 1979 ultra conservative Shiite revolution. It was a similar situation in Afghanistan before the ultra conservative Taliban took over in the early 1990s. Even Saudi Arabia was way more lax socially before the 1979 Grand Mosque siege by fanatics, which caused the govt to adopt more conservative policies to appease the ultra conservatives there.

But these ultra conservative groups/countries get all of the attention in Western media so people here think they're the norm when they're not. That's ironic to me since there are many famous Muslim Americans but people never seem to associate them with Islam, even though their lifestyles would obliterate the stereotypes. Who considers Dave Chappelle, Ice Cube, or Mike Tyson to be ultra conservatives who are stuck in the past?

originally posted by: TJames
I'm not saying there are no gods n stuff, just I don't believe because the claims are unverifiable.

Look around, without and within. Seek and you will discover, provided you can approach the question with an open mind and heart free from any sort of contemptuous bias, prior to investigation.

"There is a principal which serves as a bar against all information and proof against all arguments, and which cannot fail to keep a man in everlasting ignorance. That principal is called, contempt, prior to investigation."
~ Herbert Spencer, Scientist

a reply to: AnkhMorpork

Oh perhaps I wasn't clear enough, my investigations led me to contempt of all alleged god creator entities.