Religion:
1. Belief in and reverence for a supernatural power or powers regarded as creator and governor of the universe.
2. A personal or institutionalized system grounded in such belief and worship.
3. The life or condition of a person in a religious order.
4. A set of beliefs, values, and practices based on the teachings of a spiritual leader.
5. A cause, principle, or activity pursued with zeal or conscientious devotion.
No where is there the distinction made between God reaching to mankind/mankind reading to God. That's a "trademark" of Chrstianity, if you will, it was the first religion of it's time to go away from the humans trying to reach God or the divine. Christianity, to me, is without a doubt a religion. Buddhism, on the other hand...I would classify as more of a philosophy moreso than a religion just because there is no "god" in a sense. Sure, Buddha is seen as the founder of Buddhism and others model their lives after his by following the 8-Fold Path and the 4 Right Truths, but the end goal is to reach enlightenment, a state of all-knowing and once you do that, you become a Buddha yourself. Buddhism teaches more self-discipline I think.
Kabbalah...I've done a little bit of reading on it, and from what I gather, as some have already said here, it's not a religion. It's PART of a religion, yes, but by itself it's not. Here's some good sites if you're interested in reading about it:
http://www.kabbalah.com/kabbalah/ http://www.kabbalah.info/ Quote:
Originally posted by Starshine
Whether it be Kabbalah, Christianity, Catholisim, Muslum (I apologise if I spelled any of those incorrectly.), |
Muslim = one who submits to Allah, or someone who practices Islam. The religion is called Islam and those who follow it are called Muslims
