[QUOTE=Surya Deva;35867]You are clearly showing yourself for the fluffy, airy-fairy new-ager I have long said you are 
You do not live in this reality I am afraid. You live in some fantasy world where all religions are equal and loving and everybody is happy and gets along. Perhaps there are Easters bunny’s and elves there as well 
It’s hilarious :D[/QUOTE]
Just where I want to be thank you very much. A very happy person indeed!
Peace and love all!
Side by Side comparison of sacred Hindu scriptire and Christian scripture
Vedas:
May this mind of mine
Which travels too far
Which light of all lights
The only source of all wisdom
Which wanders to far off places,
Whether I am asleep or awake,
Resolve on what is noble
Bible:
Anyone who is captured will be run through with a sword. Their little children will be dashed to death right before their eyes. Their homes will be sacked and their wives raped by the attacking hordes. For I will stir up the Medes against Babylon, and no amount of silver or gold will buy them off. The attacking armies will shoot down the young people with arrows. They will have no mercy on helpless babies and will show no compassion for the children. (Isaiah 13:15-18 NLT)
Vedas:
In the eyes of the Lord, no one is big,
no one is small; all are alike; all are recipients
of godly love and prosperity
Bible:
Moses) stood at the entrance to the camp and shouted, “All of you who are on the LORD’s side, come over here and join me.” And all the Levites came. He told them, “This is what the LORD, the God of Israel, says: Strap on your swords! Go back and forth from one end of the camp to the other, killing even your brothers, friends, and neighbors.” The Levites obeyed Moses, and about three thousand people died that day. Then Moses told the Levites, “Today you have been ordained for the service of the LORD, for you obeyed him even though it meant killing your own sons and brothers. Because of this, he will now give you a great blessing.” (Exodus 32:26-29 NLT)
Vedas:
May our prayers be one and the same;
May we belong to one fraternity
May our minds move in unison
For one supreme goal
Let us be inspired by a common ideal
Let us sing thy praises in congregation
May the inmost aspirations of you all
Be perfectly harmonious
May your hearts beat in unison
May absolute concord reign in your minds
May all be welded
Into strong fellowship and unity.
Bible
If even then you remain hostile toward me and refuse to obey, I will inflict you with seven more disasters for your sins. I will release wild animals that will kill your children and destroy your cattle, so your numbers will dwindle and your roads will be deserted. (Leviticus 26:21-22 NLT)
[QUOTE=lotusgirl;35870]Oh Surya, you soooooooo missed my point![/QUOTE]
Answer straight.
Do you think it is is primitive, barbaric and stupid? Or are you actually ok with scripture ordaining mass murder and rape of men, women and children?
Relief Aid Money to Haiti
Where are the western countries on this list, where are the eastern countries, where is India?
Others 639,381,379
Private 593,639,219
United States 466,879,506
Canada 130,733,775
World Bank 82,107,356
Japan 70,744,798
Saudi Arabia 50,000,000
Spain 47,664,745
European Commission 43,290,043
France 33,844,153
United Kingdom 33,070,138
(CERF) 27,976,462
Norway 25,298,044
Sweden 25,039,684
Germany 21,645,022
Brazil 16,884,782
Denmark 16,288,032
Australia 13,489,209
China 10,813,535
UN & agencies 10,000,000
Italy 9,302,037
Switzerland 8,932,039
Finland 8,005,607
Russian Federation 5,700,000
Netherlands 5,050,504
India 5,000,000
United Arab Emirates 3,209,113
Ghana 3,000,000
Ireland 2,886,002
[QUOTE=Surya Deva;35873]Answer straight.
Do you think it is is primitive, barbaric and stupid? Or are you actually ok with scripture ordaining mass murder and rape of men, women and children?[/QUOTE]
Why should I? You don’t listen to what I or others say to you. You have it in your head that you are right and nothing we can say can open your eyes to the bigger picture.
One final time:
The people that wrote the books of the bible lived in a very violent time in history. Much of the bible was passed down through stories and word of mouth. I am not catholic, so any christians out there chime in. That was 2000 years ago. We are a different people today.They do not teach to go out and tape and kill. That is just crazy. Just as crazy as you saying about a Buddhist raping and not feeling bad because it was not his Self. Then you turn around a lump Buddhism with Hinduism saying they are non violent. ??? Anyway. The Clergy does not teach this at all. The catholic church teaches kindness and forgiveness. Again, I have not argued that there has been violence in the name of religion. But we do not live in the past and have evolved. Yes, fluffy, new age talk. But we have. Forgiveness needs to be practiced here. You cannot condemn these people for what has been done in the past. It was not our doing. Many clergy today do not take the bible as literally as they once did. Even taking it literally, they never taught violence, rape or murder.
That’s all for now. Dinner is calling
[QUOTE=Surya Deva;35867]You are clearly showing yourself for the fluffy, airy-fairy new-ager I have long said you are
You do not live in this reality I am afraid. You live in some fantasy world where all religions are equal and loving and everybody is happy and gets along. Perhaps there are Easters bunny’s and elves there as well
It’s hilarious :D[/QUOTE]
I have been called a christmas elf. Does that count?
Glad I made you laugh!
I’m Brethern. A member of a group of Churches called the Peace churches. The Church of the Brethern, Quakers, Mennonites,and Amish are all part of this group. Remember that masacarer in Pennsylvania where a man walked into an Amish school and took the lives of 5 of the 10 young girls he held hostage. Do you know what this community of Christians did after all of that ? They forgave and encouraged the world to not condemn the man and would only accept donations from the public after they agreed to also donate to the family of the killer. Peaceful, forgiving and tolerant.
Our beliefs as Brethern are the same. No war, or violence. Complete forgiviness with time and healing. Simple living and extreme generosity.
Not a fantasy or a dream or fluffy new age thinking, but reality. Peace, tolerance, equality of believers (note it does not just state Christian believers) This is a reality of many of these denominations. We do not judge least we be judged. Why should I remove the needle from the eye of my enemy if I have a log in my own? I am not perfect or God so how can I determine if someone else’s actions or beliefs are wrong or right?
As with some of the above passages, yes they are violent. So what! So is all of history. As Lotusgirl states this does not define us.
Lets do call a spade a spade, but not when it has been beaten into a plow.
Namaste,
I think you have a losing battle for sure now. You now admit the bible does indeed contain these really violent and barbaric things, but you are too politically correct to call it primitive, barbaric and stupid.
However, as I have no such hang up, I can clearly see it for what it is. Anything which commands mass murder, infanticide and raping of women is abominable. Thus I have proven my point that the Abrahamic religions are primitive, barbaric and stupid and Hinduism is a superior religion.
The Abrahamic religions are not the religions of a noble or enlightened people like the dharmic religions, but religions founded by savages that say savage things.
As with some of the above passages, yes they are violent. So what! So is all of history. As Lotusgirl states this does not define us.
Lets do call a spade a spade, but not when it has been beaten into a plow.
They are more than violent, they are disgusting. They certainly do define their religions because they are considered the holy scriptures of that religion.
It is easy to see why these religions have had a constant history of bloodshed and oppression.
They should have been rejected long ago. I would rather be an atheist than be a member of such religions.
The way I see it is what religion can actually help me become a better person and teach me the true vision of reality. It is clear
a religion which has such a bloody history and scripture which ordains mass murder, infanticide and rape of innocent men, women
and children and contains falsities such as the earth being flat cannot help me at all. On the other hand a religion like Hinduism
which gives you a clear vision of reality, and the methods on how to become a better person, which is full of noble and beautiful
thoughts, can indeed help me. This is why I am a Hindu and not a Jew, Christian or a Muslim.
I have lost a lot of respect for Christianity after doing this research. I had no idea the bible contained such evil before the research
I did today. It has even made me revaluate Jesus. I use to believe he was one of the enlightened masters, now I think very differently.
In any case I am content in knowing I am part of a superior religion.
[QUOTE=FlexPenguin;35876]Relief Aid Money to Haiti
Where are the western countries on this list, where are the eastern countries, where is India?
Others 639,381,379
Private 593,639,219
United States 466,879,506
Canada 130,733,775
World Bank 82,107,356
Japan 70,744,798
Saudi Arabia 50,000,000
Spain 47,664,745
European Commission 43,290,043
France 33,844,153
United Kingdom 33,070,138
(CERF) 27,976,462
Norway 25,298,044
Sweden 25,039,684
Germany 21,645,022
Brazil 16,884,782
Denmark 16,288,032
Australia 13,489,209
China 10,813,535
UN & agencies 10,000,000
Italy 9,302,037
Switzerland 8,932,039
Finland 8,005,607
Russian Federation 5,700,000
Netherlands 5,050,504
India 5,000,000
United Arab Emirates 3,209,113
Ghana 3,000,000
Ireland 2,886,002[/QUOTE]
Pretty petty and silly when you measure a countries compassion by how much money they gave in relief. By that measure China and Saudi Arabia, which have the worse human rights records in the world are more compassionate than Ireland, Switzerland, UN etc
You are scraping at the bottom of the barrel now.
Good Lord man, get some rest.
Namaste, I just got up 
[QUOTE=FlexPenguin;35876]Relief Aid Money to Haiti
Where are the western countries on this list, where are the eastern countries, where is India?
Others 639,381,379
Private 593,639,219
United States 466,879,506
Canada 130,733,775
World Bank 82,107,356
Japan 70,744,798
Saudi Arabia 50,000,000
Spain 47,664,745
European Commission 43,290,043
France 33,844,153
United Kingdom 33,070,138
(CERF) 27,976,462
Norway 25,298,044
Sweden 25,039,684
Germany 21,645,022
Brazil 16,884,782
Denmark 16,288,032
Australia 13,489,209
China 10,813,535
UN & agencies 10,000,000
Italy 9,302,037
Switzerland 8,932,039
Finland 8,005,607
Russian Federation 5,700,000
Netherlands 5,050,504
India 5,000,000
United Arab Emirates 3,209,113
Ghana 3,000,000
Ireland 2,886,002[/QUOTE]
Nice post Flex. In the storm of the critique of western civilization its good to see some positive aspects from time to time. I knew Canada is a compassionate nation but its even better seeing how it looks in comparison with such giants like Japan, China and India. You should be proud! 
Ps. Where do I get such t-shirt???
I’ve gone ahead and edited the thread title in an effort to bring a little satya to this thread.
edit 8/25/2010 AND changed it back. I HAD changed it to, “My religion can beat up your religion” for a short time as a joke.
[QUOTE=David;35915]I’ve gone ahead and edited the thread title in an effort to bring a little satya to this thread.[/QUOTE]
This is a much more fitting title!
This discussion was hardly calm and rational. However, I think we have come to a conclusion in this thread now.
I wanted to conclusively demonstrate my points, which I have now:
I can now rest in peace lol
Yes, which goes to show that the conversation I had in preschool with another boy about how my dad could beat up his dad lives on in “adults”.
The following is a conversation I had with my guru a couple years ago regarding emotional maturity:
Yes, which goes to show that the conversation I had in preschool with another boy about how my dad could beat up his dad lives on in “adults”.
There is a truth in this of course. If one person dad is a weaking and the other persons dad is a strong person, then of course the person with the strong person’s dad is going to beat the the person with the weak dad.
Everything in the universe has a scale going from inferior grade to superior grade. Some people are weak, and some people are strong. Some people are ugly, and some people are beautuful. Some people are dumb, and some people are intelligent. Some people have dull concentration and some people have razor sharp concentration. Some people are immoral and some people are moral.
We do the same thing with fashion, jewelry and food. Some people wear cheap clothes from the flea market, and some people wear designer clothes. Some people wear fake 2kt gold and and some people wear 24kt pure gold. Some people eat junk food and some people eat the finest gourmet food.
It is the same with everything else. Some religions are inferior and some religions are superior.
I see no reason to be politically correct about these things. Heirarchy is very much a natural law of the world.
Regarding observation I absolutely agree. I find in regular life when I let go of everything and simply observe it puts me in touch with a higher aspect of myself. I simply accept what is around me and allow it to be. Including the unpleasentness around me. However, it does not make me passive, but rather it makes me more dynamic. I not only observe but respond more appropriately.
We have a choice we can either observe this world as it is and just leave it at that or act to change it into something more pleasent. According to me as long as 2 billion people practice primitive, barbaric and stupid Abrahamic religions, this world is not going to change for the better. When 2 billion people practice a noble and enlightened religion like Hinduism and the world is modelled on those principles, will there be peace and prosperity in this world.
I have many spiritual friends who are non-Hindu who agree that the Abrahamic religions have to go. They have no place in a modern, scientific and civilised world.
[QUOTE=David;35915]I’ve gone ahead and edited the thread title in an effort to bring a little satya to this thread.[/QUOTE]
Or maybe we should settle that issue once and for all? We could pick 10 people to each team - Hindu vs. Abrahmaic. They would compete in several categories: prayer, rituals, philosophical inquiry etc. And maybe also the category or awesomeness. The jury would select winning religion and losers would have to feel ashame and convert!
Like in this clip:
Surya Deva posted before that “Hinduism is the only true tolerant religion on this planet.”
The facts seem to infirm this. Look at the persecution of Christians in India:
Namaste Oak,
Yes historically Hinduism indeed has been the tolerant religion on the planet. It contains no conversion doctrines and it has co-existed with other religions for thousands of years. However, modern Hindus are certainly angry that despite the tolerance that they show, Islamic and Chrisistian terrorists continue to ravage India and disturb the peace of Hindus. Not to mention the anti-Hindu propoganda that is openly spread by Islamic and Christian elements in India. This has lead to some misguided Hindus reacting using violence.
Personally, I condemn this kind of violence and the people who do it. Hinduism is a religion that teaches ahimsa so there is no justification for what some of these misguided Hindu people have done.