I Was Asked Do I Believe In The Trinity, my answer is no

WizardofOwls

I think you explained it rather well. Also you reminded me, Wasn't it St. Patrick who used th shamrock to explain the trinity? Three distinct leaves but one plant.

Yes that is the myth.

My faith is that deity is in every living thing, and that every living thing should be treated accordingly. I do not attend a worship service. There is no need, when I spend as much time as I can out in the temple that was created for us all. Living, refecting...and so on..... very simple.

barddas,

would I be safe in assuming then that you do not believe in a heaven or hell?
or rather an etearnal resting place for everyone's souls, both those we consider evil and those we consider good?

I'm just curious.

Um, I think that if you do good deeds,or are just kind at heart, you then are able to sit among the others that have as well in a here after. If you have wronged people ( ie rape, murder, abuse etc, etc....) then those deeds fall back upon you. Basically karma is what I am getting at.

And until you have learned that lesson, that doing bad things to others( Including ones self) is wrong. You would not be permitted.

Do I believe there are seprate 'places'? Not exactly..... Because good and evil are one in the same coin. You will never have one with out the other. It is your choices that make the outcome of your everafter, and everyone has the potential to right or wrong. So it is possible that those who have yet to learn that lesson wonder the outter reaches of 'heavan', valhalla..what have you...... Maybe their 'Hell' is being so close to the eternal ever after?????



Does that make sence????

That would be the real hell wouldn't it? To see paradise but not be in it. Doesn't work with my Christian beliefs, but would make a good story.

Yes, good and evil are sides of the same coin (one of my favorite authors uses that analogy often) But I believe that is only true here on earth. To have paradise, evil can't be there as well. If both co-existed then it would only be the same as earth. Perhaps a plane or two higher, but not perfection.

And I as well prefer the temple of nature to that man made. But, fellowship is important as well, having a community of believers. So, I go to church.

Barddas, I understand what you are saying. I don't agree with it and I think there are some problems with your idea of the hereafter. However, that is not what this string is about.

Like I said, I was just curious.

Nicely explained Elspeth. This weekend I worked for a youth conference. It was amazing. The kids were so into their faith, it seemed so pure.

Very interesting views on all of this, thank you all for posting. I feel at this point it would be futile for me to post anything because of the time I do not have to research this wonderful subject futher. WizardofOwls did a wonderful job explaining things and everyone has great points from their perspectives. Not wanting for things to get way out of hand I hope each one of you will respect the others opinion and continue to edify one another on their views. Down to the very depths of my soul I believe in the Trinity and I will post to that effect later. We all come from such diverse backgrounds and read different versions of the same book that it would be hard to definitive and conclusive end. So, please think of others before you post.

Thinking the best of all of you. Commited to you all.

Sincerely,
Jim

As there are problems with all written text ......


Jim, thank you for your well thought out post.

I second that.

I realized that an earlier post of mine could be misunderstood. I was not trying to antagonize barddas. I apologize if that is the way it was taken. I was merely trying to state that he and I disagree and that most likely neither of us would convinvce the other. Again, I apologize if it seemed antogonistic or condescending. That was not the intent.