I have hit a crossroad on my spiritual journey. There are soo many  different beliefs  in the world. I felt that I had a strong belief in the afterlife and this is a relativly new  concept for me. I went on a Religion/ Philosophical chat forum and it seemed to me there was a strong bias in favour of Christianity and Catholic beleifs. There was no room for other perspectives. According to the poeple I spoke with; there is no afterlife. The only people who will be ressurected are those who believe in Jesus. PERIOD. No one else will be saved. They told me the dead were to be forgotten and that there was no way to communicate with them. They bombarded me with scriptures and they treated my ideas as though they were insane and I was completely alone. They told me that the dead are dead until God chooses to ressurect those and only those that believe in Jesus. These beleifs dont resonate with me.....even though I have no problem with others choosing to belive this. The people on this forum were very aggressive and they put me on the defense. I have even started to question my own views and experiences. According to them....if its not literally written out word for word in the bible......then it couldnt be soo................How does one maintain thier own beliefs and find the truth when there are so many convincing arguements and perspectives out there?

I can only speak for the Catholic faith, and the TRUE teaching of the Catholic Church is very ecumenical. I.E.  There will be Buddhists, Muslims, Pagans, and people of all other faiths in Heaven.  Without going into a big theological discussion, it can be summed up that if a person has become truly Christ-Like in their life, and adhered to their faith in a relation to God as they have been taught (I.E. a Muslim in Iran, a pagan in pre-christian times, etc.), and done good genuinely to others, then they would be Heaven-bound.  This is an area where Catholics get roundly criticized by more fundamentalist protestant denominiations, but I have never understood anyone who truly understands what Christ is about that could say that a good Muslim, Buddhist, etc. who didn't ever get exposed to Christianity, or was brought up by their family in a faith, would be sent to some "hell".

Faith, in Catholicsim, is not lip service, but an expression of the person you have become  (the fruits by which you are known).  As such, a muslim, buddhist, etc. can certainly be a person of good fruit. 

Alot of Catholics are very unaware of this, and I would suggest for you to tell them to check with their parish priest if they doubt this, and they will be corrected on the true catechism regarding this.

Feel free to email or pm me anytime regarding Catholic issues/curiosities, as that is one area I can perhaps answer some of your questions in regards to what you might hear in a chat room.   The media does a lousy job of properly representing true Catholic teaching and what different sacraments truly mean.

Greetings,
IMO, Christianity and mysticism don't conflict. There have been some wonderful Christian mystics. (Oh yeah, they did have a hard time with their church sometimes.)
Jesus was the first major teacher to identify God as Love. If you believe in Love, you have been taught by Christ's teachings, directly or indirectly. So yo believe in Christ.
On this site we often call Love  PUL (Pure Unconditional Love) since love has come to mean such a wide range of experiences.
Much of this site has a different vocabulary but the intent is the same as promoting the brotherhood of man. We learn this stuff so we can go out and help people. Along the way we visit about how to do it, how we do it, and related issues, and that keeps the topic alive and builds a community of friends.
Maybe you're in conflict with the way some beliefs (there and here) are described, but not with their core truths.
bets

Cricket,

I think that's because there's only one spirituality, despite a multitude of theologies and religions. Too many religions/belief systems are influenced by fear. That fear may be well intentioned, from the religious person's point of view, but it still contracticts Love, which from my experience, is the only real spirituality there is. Others may cling to other things, like fear, and get stuck on them, but what they are stuck on really isn't real.

I'm not suprised that John is still around, that he didn't get stuck in a belief system territory, from what you told me. I agree that those with no particular religion do just fine. I might go further and say they do better, although ultimately it doesn't matter.

Has John gone to Focus 27, done his life review, and all that, or is he there because he's stuck?

Love,
Rob

Hey,

I find truths in all religions and also ideas and thoughts I don't resonate with. Some things I read and they just don't fit with me, if thats makes sense and i usually use that as a guide as to what i believe, its just opinion really, and I'm open to new ideas, love them but some things, using a stereotypical view here, no dis-respect to anyone who follows a religion but they seem to put rules, do this or you wont get that kind of approach, and this doesn't fit with me so i don't follow. I know this isn't true in all religions and to that extent.

I would use this encounter in the chatroom as a chance to explore and work out your beliefs and maybe validate some as many people I read are doing here. I liked what Rob Roy said about experience, I'm where I am today because of experience, and i know thats the one thing i can trust more than anything else i read/hear.

Ryan

On the one hand there is the viewpoint that you have to accept a "particular" viewpoint, or your damned.

On the other hand there is the viewpoint that you need to become the most loving person you can, and what you believe is secondary.

Considering that we live in a World that usually reveals such a small part of the entire picture, it is hard for us to know which belief system is true and which isn't. The fact of how people believe so many different things show that this is the case.

The good news is that it doesn't really matter what you believe in order for you to become a loving person, as long as you don't believe in a hate based philosophy.

I'm certain that God and his helpers in the spirit World understand the above, and therefore the fate of each of us will be determined accordingly. Certainly self determinism has a lot to do with it.

Or another way to look at is that certainly God is more interested in seeing us become loving happy souls, rather than becoming obedient people who fear and worship him. Only egotistical beings desire to be feared and worshiped. My feeling is that God is way beyond such tomfoolery. Perhaps the fear based viewpoint is more of a reflection of the perspective of some of the translators of the Bible, rather than a reflection of the perspective of God.

Thanks for the kudos Recoverer.

I want to add some interesting info here.   I went to an IANDS meeting a while back and met a woman who had a Near Death experience.  In her experience she met an extremely bright and loving "light" which she claimed was God.  During her conversation with God she asked which church or religion is best to believe in.  God's answer:  "IT DOESN'T MATTER"!
There was a lot more to it than that but that's what stuck with me.  The woman was Catholic when she had the experience and remains Catholic.  I'm not sure why, but perhaps she just feels comfortable with it.  And although it's not for me - so what?  Her husband of many years is a Buddhist too.  How cool is that?

If you must have a belief system, at least have one that isn't surrounded by walls or barbed wire.

love Rick