Posted in Z, tagged belief, cults, gay, Greece, homosexual, myth, mythology, pagan, queer, religion, same-sex, worship, zeus on May 15, 2008 | No Comments »
Athens, Greece Zeus Temple 2007
Originally uploaded by Titanas
Zeus The son of the Titan Cronus and Titaness Rhea, Zeus is the chief of the second generation Greek gods, usually arrayed with thunderbolts and an eagle.
Zeus had numerous offspring with several different goddesses, the most famous being Aphrodite.
He apparently had amorous relations with his young male cup-bearer, [...]
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Posted in Z, tagged Asia, awareness, buddha, buddhism, china, enlightenment, india, koan, life, master, religion, satori, spirit, spirituality, zen on May 15, 2008 | 2 Comments »
Zen Garden
Originally uploaded by euart
Zen This is a Japanese form of Buddhism, introduced to Japan by the monk Eisai (1141-1215 CE).
Dissatisfied with formalistic Buddhism, Esai traveled to China and returned to Japan bringing this new form of the old religion.
The word Zen is derived from the Chinese Ch’an (Ch’an Buddhism).
Ch’an was apparently introduced to [...]
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Posted in A, tagged acropolis, Athena, Athens, classical, cult, Greece, hill, history, myth, nashville, parthenon, religion, sicily, tennesse on May 13, 2008 | No Comments »
Selinunte Acropolis
Originally uploaded by Greg Robbins
Acropolis [Greek akron = point, summit + polis = city]
Initially, an acropolis was simply a fortified hill serving as a stronghold for Greek city-states.
Later, the acropolis took on a religious function. It became a sacred citadel built on high ground within or near a town.
The most famous but by [...]
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Posted in A, tagged acts, apostles, Bible, christianity, history, holy, luke, myth, New Testament, Paul, religion, sacred, scripture, theology on May 12, 2008 | No Comments »
St. Luke
Originally uploaded by jimforest
Acts of the Apostles The fifth book of the New Testament.
Most Catholics believe Acts was authored by St. Luke. Some biblical scholars dispute this with apparently rational arguments, which on closer inspection appear to be irrational.
The book provides historical material about the early spreading of the Gospel and disputes that arose [...]
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Posted in A, tagged adam, Bible, Christian, Eve, evil, Jesus, jewish, old testament, original sin, religion, sin, theology on May 11, 2008 | No Comments »
Adam & Eve, Walker Art Gallery Liverpool
Originally uploaded by stephoto27
Adam (Hebrew, adam = Man) In the Bible’s Old Testament book of Genesis, Adam is said to be the first human being. He was fashioned from earthly clay and brought to life with the living breath of God.
According to Genesis his female counterpart, Eve, was created [...]
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Posted in A, tagged adherents, belief, canada, census, courts, cults, demographics, earth, Eileen Barker, faith, globe, government, humanity, jurisprudence, law, new religious movements, planet, population, records, religion, religion and science, science, statistics, uncertainty, world on May 5, 2008 | No Comments »
Adherents of all Religions It is difficult to get accurate figures for the number of adherents in each world religion.
Religion being a very personal issue, often central to one’s self-image, it’s conceivable that many people don’t wish to report their true beliefs to a proverbial Big Brother and thus will check “other” or “personal” on [...]
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Posted in A, tagged abuse, adi da, avatar, brainwashing, california, church, Clairvoyance, cults, da free john, disciples, dysfunctional, enlightenment, ESP, freedom, guide, guides, guru, heartmaster da, hindu, hinduism, institute, Jesus, jesus christ, leader, liberation, manipulation, mind control, new age, organizations, psi, psychic, reincarnation, religion, sects, seekers, siddhis, soul, spirit, spirituality, teacher on May 3, 2008 | No Comments »
Adi Da (aka Free-John, Da 1939- ) Originally Franklin Jones, Adi Da is an American guru born in Jamaica, New York. He has also gone under the names of Da Free-John, Bubba Free-John and Heartmaster Da.
Adi Da claims to have reached enlightenment at age three years. In their Dictionary of Cults, Sects, Religions and the [...]
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Posted in A, tagged afterlife, anthropology, archaeology, belief, death, eternity, infinity, israel, life, life after death, NDE, NDEs, neanderthalensis, near death experience, paranormal, religion, salvation, soul, spain, spirit, spiritism, spiritual on April 25, 2008 | 5 Comments »
Fayum Mummy of Artemidorus
Originally uploaded by mharrsch
Afterlife The belief that the spirit or soul continues after death.
This belief arguably dates back to prehistoric times (115,000 – 200,000 years ago) where evidence points to Homo neanderthalensis in Israel and Spain buried with food items, tools and possibly weapons in hand, often in fetal position facing sunrise [...]
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Posted in A, tagged afterlife, agape, belief, bread, bread and wine, c. s. lewis, catholic, Christian, communion, Eucharist, feast, Greece, heaven, Holy Communion, jesus christ, life, love, religion, rome, sacrament, sacraments, soul, spirit, wine on April 25, 2008 | No Comments »
Agape In literary circles the Greek term agapē (Latin: caritas) refers to the ideal of universal love, particularly, charitable Christian love among brothers and sisters of the human family.
As C. S. Lewis suggests in The Four Loves (1960), this is distinct from matrimonial, emotional, passionate-erotic and friendly love.
For many Christians, agape also refers to the [...]
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Posted in A, tagged afterlife, agnostic, agnosticism, belief, doubt, faith, gnosis, God, heaven, hell, ignorance, knowledge, religion, skepticism on April 24, 2008 | 5 Comments »
Militant
Originally uploaded by Voxphoto
Agnosticism In the strongest sense of the term agnosticism refers to the belief that we can never know if God, the afterlife, heaven and hell exist because all human experiences, including internal ones, are said to be subjective.
By way of contrast ‘weak agnosticism’ maintains a “maybe, maybe not” position that, until some kind [...]
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