Guardianism in Signature?

[So fist]

Guardian1239, I noticed you are the founder of a religion of the same namesake.  I read your website and am intrigued.  I've never met someone who has genuinely founded a religion that wasn't a joke to them.  I have a few questions concerning how you arrived to all these conclusions.

1. How did you come to these conclusions about the universe?  Was it a result of revelation like the biblical Abraham and Moses?  Was it based on logical findings of research into other esoteric models?  A combination of the two?  Please explain.

2. Have you developed any rituals or traditions for this religion, and if so were they inspired by revelation or were they arranged as a way of commemorating the original revelation?

3. What do you believe is the most important principle of Guardianism?

Advance thanks for any answers to these questions.

 

[mawk]

P.S. you're a stinking infidel.

 

[moog]

Wait, this is serious:

http://www.gamingw.net/forums/index.php?topic=71162.0

 

[So fist]

Miek, you should be more tolerant of the beliefs of others.  Just because I'm not a Muslim and Guardian isn't a muslim doesn't mean you should be getting all judgemental on us.

A better link for what I'm talking about is Guardian's own webpage about the subject.
http://www.freewebs.com/guardians-united/

The answers to my questions won't be found there, though.  Which is why I'm asking.

 

[holloway]

It's spreading. like mrs margarine's legs

 

[Grathea]

Well, here's my opinion on religions. Nobody decides to start a religion. Generally, certain people believe that they have received a message from a god or something, and they try to spread their faith, but due to differences, the followers schism and eventually become a separate religion. Like how Jesus was Jewish, and so on.

And generally, these people don't want to create a new religion - they want to spread the word of their god(s) and enlighten the others. Not the forced enlightenment of the Inquisition, either - name me a religious figure who didn't preach acceptance and peace.
Go on, I'm waiting.
See, what I'm trying to get at is that any attempt to start a new religion is doomed to failure. Religions aren't started by people, they form around them.
[/my2cents]

 

[Jeff]

Well, here's my opinion on religions. Nobody decides to start a religion. Generally, certain people believe that they have received a message from a god or something, and they try to spread their faith, but due to differences, the followers schism and eventually become a separate religion. Like how Jesus was Jewish, and so on.

And generally, these people don't want to create a new religion - they want to spread the word of their god(s) and enlighten the others. Not the forced enlightenment of the Inquisition, either - name me a religious figure who didn't preach acceptance and peace.
Go on, I'm waiting.

Well I hate to shoot a hole in your argument here (I lied; I don't mind) but your underlying question would have to be "what separates a cult from a religion?" Because if they are just synonyms, then I could easily call up Scientology and a number of other suicide cults in the US alone, not to mention segments of animism in other areas of the world or so-called political reactionary sects. The normal definition would be that the difference between a cult and a religion is the intent of the founder, but since you are arguing here based on the definition of a religion, such a definition could not enter into your argument or else it would turn out to be something like "my statement stands because I define x as y" and that doesn't hold up to scrutiny. In addition, arguments against this definition would include Islam, which is a hybrid system of religion and government, as Mohammed primarily used it as an instrument to promote cohesion in a chaotic region, which goes against your statement anyway, since Mohammed can be seen as a religious figure who relied not only on god's voice to shape a religion, but instead reacted both to religious revelation and to present economic and cultural traditions and conditions of the time. Foundations of many ancient religions can be seen not as results of divine revelation, but efforts to explain things that at the time were not explainable or to form some structure placing people in the world instead of pure chaos. Judaism can be termed as such a religion, since the concept of Yahweh predated the revelations of Moses.

 

[moog]

The point of this thread is not to elaborate on people's views of religion.

 

[Jeff]

The point of this thread is not to elaborate on people's views of religion.

Yeah it is only to elaborate on one person's views of religion.

 

[So fist]

Nietzsche would disagree on that count Gratheo.  God is dead and all that.  Instead cultural artifacts such as religion are created by extraordinary individuals that are able to destroy the moral values of their era and replace them with the universal values they embodies.  Guardian could very well be proof positive of this, a modern day ubermensch ready to move beyond our laissez faire American verbiage and values.  But it is also possible that he has recieved the word of god from a classic revelation, and for it to form around him it takes time.

Also religions are at some level made up.  Priests in the Christian tradition looked at the body of work and debated what was to be canon and what was to be stuff only other priest would read for research purposes.  In that essence they did construct religion.  The Hebrews likely did the same thing as does most religions that have a formal priesthood.  Its why priesthoods exist.

But this isn't a religion symposium.  I am genuinely curious about the answers to my questions at the top of my thread.  Only one man can answer them apart from god.

 

[Stardust]

Guardian1239, I noticed you are the founder of a religion of the same namesake.  I read your website and am intrigued.  I've never met someone who has genuinely founded a religion that wasn't a joke to them.  I have a few questions concerning how you arrived to all these conclusions.

1. How did you come to these conclusions about the universe?  Was it a result of revelation like the biblical Abraham and Moses?  Was it based on logical findings of research into other esoteric models?  A combination of the two?  Please explain.

2. Have you developed any rituals or traditions for this religion, and if so were they inspired by revelation or were they arranged as a way of commemorating the original revelation?

3. What do you believe is the most important principle of Guardianism?

Advance thanks for any answers to these questions.

1. It is my idea of what is practical.  As Jeff stated, I am trying to explain what we don't know yet.  I don't think most people find Adam and Eve very practical after we discovered evolution and it began to become accepted.

2. Not really.  Meditation is something I do from time to time, but I'm not meditating to anyone or anything - it's just to relax.

3. The most important part, in my opinion, is the one that is most believable.  And that would be the Plane Hypothesis.

Everyone seems much nicer and accepting here.  Everyone at Gaming World has been ripping me apart.

~Guardian1239

 

[So fist]

1. It is my idea of what is practical.  As Jeff stated, I am trying to explain what we don't know yet.  I don't think most people find Adam and Eve very practical after we discovered evolution and it began to become accepted.

Ok so how did you come about to decide you needed to start one?  Why aren't any of the others practical?

Why do you find plane hypothesis more believable, than say Heaven, Hell, or Valhalla?

People at gaming world are dicks.  Its good to know where your real friends are.

 

[holloway]

THE END HAS NO END.
THE END HAS NO END.
THE END HAS NO END.
THE END HAS NO END.
THE END HAS NO END.
THE END HAS NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO
END.

 

[Stardust]

1. It is my idea of what is practical.  As Jeff stated, I am trying to explain what we don't know yet.  I don't think most people find Adam and Eve very practical after we discovered evolution and it began to become accepted.

Ok so how did you come about to decide you needed to start one?  Why aren't any of the others practical?

Why do you find plane hypothesis more believable, than say Heaven, Hell, or Valhalla?

People at gaming world are dicks.  Its good to know where your real friends are.

Well, the main thing that is wrong with them is that all the major religions have an omnipotent being.  This, in my opinion, cannot exist because that being would succumb to greed.

Actually, the Plane Hypothesis does include what are basically Heaven and Hell.  I use it to explain other things, too, like dreams, reincarnation, and ghosts, which other religions usually don't include.

~Guardian1239

 

[So fist]

So something that was all powerful and all knowing would be a slave to the desire to hoard stuff.  I've always felt the same way.  But why start one?  Why not just not have one?

 

[Jeff]

Well, the main thing that is wrong with them is that all the major religions have an omnipotent being.  This, in my opinion, cannot exist because that being would succumb to greed.

The being does succumb to greed. Islam, Christianity, and Judaism all embrace the Old Testament in which God randomly created the world, flooded it, killed everyone, burned down towns, and turned people into salt on a whim. How is that not succumbing to greed? (If the Bible is to be believed, anyway)

Also greed is a human concept, how can one pigeonhole the divine into human terms?

 

[So fist]

Also how did you suspect or discover you could use magic?

 

[holloway]

Was going to ask that too. Are you totally insane?

 

[So fist]

Holloway, just because you can't use magic, doesn't mean everyone else can't.  There are people who can't see or walk.  I guess what I'm trying to say is you're probably disabled or retarded and that is why magic seems such a farcical suggestion to you.

 

[Marcus]

I've started a religion too.  It's called Nonsensicalianity.  The basic tenants revolve around doing whatever you want to do and these cannot be refuted because I stole the nihilist doctrine and determined that truth is undetermined.

My religion is better than yours and you can't refute this based on my doctrine.