... whereas Buddhists do not believe in one God (and do not necessarily believe in any gods at all, or in many, as you wish) and believe that human destiny is individually determined by our past personal actions, thoughts and words (karma) which act as causes of our future happiness and misery. Karma is entirely focused upon individuals -- group karma is impossible as it must relate to one person. Christians believe that the efforts of another person or being (eg. Jesus, Virgin Mary, Saints, etc) can progress the spiritual condition of a single individual, and thus be the cause of their salvation, whereas Buddhists believe this is not possible and that only through pe ...
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... pipe ritual is loaded with symbolic meaning, and offers a generous insight into Native American belief systems. This essay will first look at the dynamics of the sacred pipe ritual and offer some explanation into its religious significance, then draw some parallels to the more common sweat lodge ceremony. If a recurring spiritual theme appears in separate rituals, it can be considered evidence of a consistent, structured belief system. The use of smoking pipes in Native American cultures is a popular and very ancient practice. Direct predecessors of the modern pipe appear 1,500 years ago, and other less relevant pipes can be found as far back as 2,500 year ...
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... a world where much seems to be discouraging and where problems appear at every corner, we pray that the human spirit will not be taught by cynicism or despair, but rejoice in the possibilities of every new day and accept all Your blessings with thanksgiving. Amen. For some people in the Congress this raises serious questions about when prayer is or is not appropriate. One of the Representatives from Oklahoma made this comment in the Congressional Digest on November 30, 1994: Ò It was fine for Rev. James David Ford to offer this prayer, yet it is a prayer our children our not allowed to say in schoolÓ. Sinc ...
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... of this creation. So, God created man in the image of himself. Man was created from the dust of the ground. God gave him the breath of life and the man became a living soul (Moses 1:1-2:7). With the background of that story, one should look at the Egyptian interpretation of the beginning. At first there was nothing but chaos that contained the seed of everything to come. In this confusion the sun god dwelled. By an effort of his will he emerged from chaos as Ra and gave birth to Shu, the god of air, and Tefnut, the goddess moisture. Shu and Tefnut gave birth to Geb and Nut, the earth god and sky goddess. Thus the physical universe was created. People we ...
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... with impermanence. Dissatisfaction is a larger concept entir ely- it involves the acknowledgment that suffering exists. The world is founded on suffering, (DeSilva, 1991:p 21) and once anything becomes a problem there is bound to be suffering, unsatisfactoriness, or conflict- conflict between our desires and the state of reality. Dissatisfaction is the most difficult characteristic of existence to apply to one's life, as it involves not only the acceptance of this state, but also outlines one on how to treat and cure this state. The notion that the world is an ever-changing environment on all levels of existence is not a radical idea. In fact, those that have n ...
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... world in this way. He creates this grey world to show the observer that the world is not all really black and white. The painting is really divided into two separate pictures. One depictng the “good” scene inside the Garden of Eden. The other side depicting the “bad” scence, outside the garden of Eden. Michelangelo splits the picture like this so that he can create the dichotomus world on which his painting will be based. Although the whole theme is the non-dichotomusness of the world he must do this so that people will have something to relate to. Once this has been achieved he can continue to paint in the greyness whick joins the good and the evil. The dichot ...
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... 1 Our society has decided that the habits referred to by Aristotle, do not matter, when involving religion. Statistics tend to show a different result than what our present society feels. This paper is dealing with several different valid sources, which mesh together to make a collective statement. This statement is that the lack of religious support is one of the main reasons why society and its morals are decreasing. World Vision of Canada has published as of November 1993 statistics dealing with the attendance of church and youth, which states; Canada's church attendance, in all denominations has decreased by twenty-five percent in adults and fif ...
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... In the Bible, Hebrew is used by foreign peoples as a name for the Israelites; today it is applied only to the hebrew language. The origin of the Jews is recounted in the Hebrew Bible. Despite legendary and miraculous elements in its early narratives, most scholars believe that the biblical account is based on historic realities. According to the Book of Genesis, God ordered the patriarch Abraham to leave his home in Mesopotamia and travel to a new land, which he promised to Abraham's descendants as a perpetual inheritance. Although the historicity of Abraham, his son Isaac, and his grandson Jacob is uncertain, the Israelite tribes certainly came to Canaan from ...
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... be rich, which Jesus was not. He thinks that the rich are misrepresenting Jesus because the rich are placing the poor behind themselves. Francis thinks that Jesus represents the poor as well as the rich… "all men are created equal". Francis can't help but to feel scared of lepers in the beginning. After all, being scared is a normal human trait. Being in a big, bulky, helmet must feel awkward. It feels like your being closed in. Francis also feels comfort. He sees birds as a sign of freedom. This idea helps him become independent. Francis going on the roof represents the feeling of freedom compared to his bed where he was miserably enclosed. The way mass was he ...
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... most powerful nation. When communism threatened Vietnam, America acted to defend its democratic belief by sending troops over to thwart the communist attempts. Stone uses the war to portray the failed attempt due to the exploits of the American soldiers. In one scene, Barnes (Tom Berenger) and Bunny (Kevin Dillon), mercilessly kill several innocent villagers. Later in the same scene, some soldiers are caught raping a village woman. The actions taken by the soldiers are Stone's comparison to the Spanish explorers' actions, which finally led to both nation's failed expeditions. To add depth to his religious allegories, Stone not only uses historical reference ...
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