Are you religious, spiritual, or do you belong to a religion, having a faith or interfaith

Many people today feel they have stepped away from religion, and found a way to feed their spirituality without a religion or faith practice.

Religion and its contribution to culture of peace (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

Many practice 'out of religion' activities and are convinced they have nothing to do with 'a religion'. But....If they have certain things they believe in, If they use these concepts to better themselves and others, and If their concepts lead them closer to "the source"... is it not a religion or faith practice for them?  You can also ask if spirituality is connected with only religious exercise.

All created in the image of God do have received intelligence and some instinct also knowing good and bad.  Throughout history people looked for ways to form their minds. They created different systems to form the soul (spirit/pneuma/psyche/mind). In this way they also created rites or returning actions which were recognised by others and as such got them labelled under religious and spiritual groups. In their truest deepest form religion and spirituality may belong together.

Faith - is the demonstration of our spiritual beliefs even if it is a combination of various spiritualities
interfaith is the sharing of one's faith with others to gain an understanding of one's beliefs.  When we look at "Interfaith" we may find a situation were the people present a willingness to overlook the borders of the different faithgroups. Those who consider themselves belonging to an interfaith are persons of goodwill who want to reconcile the various opinions, beliefs, faiths and sometimes invention of the wide variety of religions which have developed as a result of the lack of understanding of the true facts of our spirituality.

His Religion and Hers (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

We do not need a religion to question ourselves , the reason why we are here or what we do have to do. When we do use our brains we shall come to an understanding that have in our soul (nephesh) the flesh and the inner soul (pneuma/psyche) our way of thinking which is the one which give more importance to the soul (ruach/breath/wind), the life-breath which keeps us alive. This knowledge having to give importance to psychological and spiritual development gives way to the liberty to look across the many borders set up by religious, non-religous and atheist people.

As explained in the several articles on Spirituality and Religosity on Stepping Toes, "Spirituality" requires no belief or faith, because it has the knowledge of its abilities and experience. Our mind can think and guide our body. Without a healthy mind we shall not be able to get a healthy body.

Today we see that some sort of cross-fertilisation is occurring within and between religions at this juncture of history.

As we are caught up with it and feel the energies of the process positively so we find ourselves sustained by what we are calling "spirituality", and exhilarating tone of life that is a vibrant reality for many - whether our lives are full of suffering and tragedy or just plain humdrum, or remarkably privileged amonst the gross inequalities of our lives. So our old religious homes are actually benefitting from this renewal rather than fading away and dying. There remains however the problems of fanaticism and desperation and exclusivism in religions. Can our spiritualities overcome our new fanaticisms and the continuing oppressive inequalities of our ancient political economies which seem to revive old types of wars of religion?

writes George Armstrong.
according to Rev. Stephen Albert:

WP Religion (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

"Interfaith" is not a religion. It does not have a set of rules that require an adherent to act or perform one way or another. Those who call or involve themselves with Interfaith, may celebrate one or more religious traditions and they honor the many people who believe differently than they. The beauty of interfaith is that once you take the time to investigate the deeper beliefs of a religious group of people, the more they begin sounding just like you. Abigail and I just returned from the NAIN (North American Interfaith Network) conference in Detroit Michigan where 150 or so people from a variety of faiths celebrated the similarities and the differences of the many religions. They were not afraid to ask the "hard questions" and to more deeply interact with new friends and colleagues. For the last two years I have mentioned this yearly conference to this group and, besides us, only Laura Zinn has attended. By the way, her workshops were great and she is a great organizer and presenter. Mark your calendars now to attend the NAIN Connect from July 19-22, 2015 in Regina Saskatchewan Canada. Bring your interfaith friends or even those who believe their way is the only way (They won't come anyway). The events are fun, they feed us great and you will come away with a great respect for whatever you believe. Blessings.

++

Additional literature:

1. Religions and Mainliners
2. What is faith and is it the only thing required
3. Faith
4. Soul
5. Do not forget the important sign of belief
6. Living in faith
7. Science, belief, denial and visibility 1
8. Science, belief, denial and visibility 2
9. Ian Barbour connecting science and religion
10. Religion and spirituality
11. Looking for True Spirituality 1 Intro
12. Looking for True Spirituality 2 Not restricted to an elite
13. Looking for True Spirituality 3 Mind of Christ
14. Looking for True Spirituality 4 Getting to Know the Mind of Christ
15. Looking for True Spirituality 5 Fruitage of the Spirit
16. Looking for True Spirituality 6 Spirituality and Prayer
17. Looking for True Spirituality 7 Preaching of the Good News
18. Looking for True Spirituality 8 Measuring Up
19. Self-development, self-control, meditation, beliefs and spirituality
20. Experiencing God
21. The Supreme Being God of gods
22. Cosmos creator and human destiny
23. Only One God
24. God is One
25. Our relationship with God, Jesus and eachother
26. Patriarch Abraham, Muslims, Christians and the son of God
27. Preparedness to change
28. Being Religious and Spiritual 1 Immateriality and Spiritual experience
29. Being Religious and Spiritual 2 Religiosity and spiritual life
30. Being Religious and Spiritual 3 Philosophers, Avicennism and the spiritual
31. Being Religious and Spiritual 5 Gnostic influences
32. Being Religious and Spiritual 4 Philosophical, religious and spiritual people
33. Fruits of the spirit will prevent you from being either inactive or unfruit
34. American atheists most religiously literate Americans

+++

Related articles

• Bklyn Boro Pres Adams Leads Interfaith Rally Against Hate Attacks On Religious Communities (jpupdates.com)
  “When any one group is assailed by the fabric of our society, then it’s torn to pieces,” said Ibrahim Kurtiuis of the United American Muslim Faith Mosque. “Hatred in any type of form will not be tolerated at all by our community or any community in the greatest city in the world.”
• Minnesota Interfaith Group Changes Its Name to Become More Inclusive of Atheists (patheos.com)
  When you mention the word “Interfaith” around atheists, you often hear a lot of pushback against the word itself. Even if an interfaith dialogue is supposed to represent a conversation between people of all different beliefs, I’ve heard atheists say something like, Atheism isn’t a faith, so “interfaith” excludes us by definition.
  Well, a group in Minnesota has finally taken a positive step toward becoming more inclusive.
  The St. Paul Interfaith Network in Minnesota hosts a monthly meeting called the “Interfaith Conversation Cafe” (ICC) where different groups come together to talk about whatever that month’s theme is.
  
• How Spiritual Can You Be Without Religion? (patheos.com)
  New Age thinkers usually enter the ditch on the other side of the road: They idealize altered states of consciousness and draw specious connections between subjective experience and the spookier theories at the frontiers of physics. Here we are told that the Buddha and other contemplatives anticipated modern cosmology or quantum mechanics and that by transcending the sense of self, a person can realize his identity with the One Mind that gave birth to the cosmos.
  In the end, we are left to choose between pseudo-spirituality and pseudo-science.
  
• Understanding the multi-faith initiative (elonpendulum.com)
  One of the developmental goals of young adulthood is to clarify what our “religions” will be, what our deepest convictions are, and what we will do about any of them. So our priority is to help you discover, explore, more deeply understand, and take ownership of your faith.  Whatever your tradition we aim to encourage your knowledge and practice.  We won’t make you something you’re not.  We want you to be a rooted and good at who you are and choose to be.
  
• Religion and devotion, prayer and meditation (lifesharerjuneluna.wordpress.com)
  Spirituality is religion put into real form and applied practically. The Bible is a scared scripture. When we read it, its essence must be put into our hearts and minds, not our armpits.
• HumanistLife : A Humanism without the word 'spirituality' (humanistlife.org.uk)
  Can humanists be spiritual and/or use the term spiritual? Should humanists use the term? Is spirituality ‘the best word’ to describe our sense of deepest meaning? I will focus on the question of why I do not use the word, but I also want to state up front that humanists can use the term spirituality if they find it appropriate. I do not use it for two reasons. First, using other words helps me clearly communicate my humanism to non-humanists. Second, I find other words more moving.
• Is Humanism a Religion? (appliedsentience.com)
  Religion may be impossible to define, whether we ask ourselves what the word means or what specific things count as “religious.”  In his classic text The Sociology of Religion, the famous sociologist Max Weber argued that “Definition can be attempted, if at all, only at the conclusion of the study” of religion.  However, as Nicholas Wade points out, and does in his own book, The Faith Instinct, Weber never defines religion – even at the end!
  +
  Just as the definition of “religion” varies greatly, there is a lot of variety in the content and form of Humanism.  Humanism focuses mostly on a method, namely naturalism and reasoned experience, instead of a set of dogmas from holy books or prophets.  So, given the fact that we all have different personal experiences and capacities to reason, the conclusions we come to can be expected to vary.
  This has two effects. First, different groups use different definitions of religion.  Second, different groups often have widely divergent Humanist worldviews.  So even on inclusive definitions many Humanist groups simply are not religious.  Historically, different Humanist groups have self-identified as religious and non-religious.
  
  
• Religion vs Spirituality (spreadmyvision.wordpress.com)
  Man made religions are nothing but a group of cunning crafty peoples’ way of holding the reigns to others’ faith and hence their fates. No wonder loss of faith in religions is getting increasingly common among the youth today.
• How do you define religion? (thoughtofvg.wordpress.com)
  If one attempts to describe it in terms of belief in God, Buddhism wouldn’t be considered a religion and comparatively, Any organisation or collective group would be labelled a religion if the definition of  “a group in which all members have  similar moral beliefs and goals” were used.  A more accurate definition would perhaps be found by comparing the world religions and by discussing what common concepts they share.
  +
  Conclusively, we can see that what most religions have in common is spiritual awareness and goals, be there a God or not. Abrahamic fiaths have spiritual goals to become closer with God, Buddhism focusses on the journey to spiritual enlightenment and Hinduism acknowledges a spiritual link and awareness between all things in existence. It is therefore not belief in God that separates moral organisations from religions, but spirituality is what makes an organisation a religion.

Is there an Immortal soul

In the 2001 Translation – An American English Bible we did find:

The Immortal Soul Problem

One of the reasons why there can be no Hell of eternal torture is because a person would need an 'immortal soul' to be sent there. In other words, a portion of his or her personality would have to be incapable of dying. And although this doctrine is taught by almost all religions, it simply can't be found in the Bible. In fact, one of the things that differentiates the Bible from most (if not all) pagan religions and their sacred writings (such as the Koran), is that the Bible alone teaches that a dead person can be resurrected (brought back to life)… but only if God wills it. So nothing inside us is incapable of dying (immortal).

Why, if you go to Genesis the Third Chapter, you'll find that it was the Opposer (Satan) who first taught that men wouldn't die, for we read at Genesis 3:5, 'Then the snake told the woman, You won't stop living and die. But, God knows that on whatever day you eat from it your eyes will be opened and you will be gods who know good and evil.'

We find this first lie directly contradicted what God had just said at Genesis 2:16, 17, 'You are free to eat from all the trees of paradise, but you must not eat from the tree of the knowledge of Good and Bad. Because, on whatever day you eat from it, your life will end and you will die (Gr. thanato apothaneisthe, or, death from dying).'

Obviously souls can die, for notice what a soul is. Genesis 2:7 tells us this: 'Then God formed man from the dust of the ground, breathed the breath of life against his face, and he became a living creature (Gr. psychen zosan, or, person/soul living).'

Now, the words we translated as living creature here were psyche in Greek and Nephesh in Hebrew, and both words are the same ones that are translated as soul in other Bibles. So the Bible's own definition of a soul, is that it's something made from the dust of the ground and has the breath of life… thus, it is a whole living person or animal, not something that lives inside. In fact, throughout the Bible animals are referred to as souls also. So psyche really means (as we have often translated it) a living creature.

Actually, the best true Bible definition of the Greek word psyche is what the word implies in modern psychology, 'the inner person,' not, 'the immortal person.' With this understanding, we can see how God could refer to 'My Soul.' He wasn't speaking of the individual we all believe that we know, but of the person He is on the inside.

As history shows, the pagan Egyptians believed that they had immortal souls, but righteous Hebrews made no mention of such a belief anywhere in the Sacred Scriptures of Israel (OT). It was only in the latter part of the millennium proceeding the time of Jesus that we first see this doctrine starting to creep into Jewish teachings.

Then, did Jesus and his Apostles teach that we have an immortal soul? No, for those two words (immortal soul) don't appear together anywhere in the Bible. In fact, the words immortal and immortality (Gr. athanasia or undying) can only be found in three places in the Bible, and let's see how the word is used in each of these cases:

• 1 Timothy 6:15, 16 – 'He will show himself at his own set time… the blest and only ruler, the King of those who rule as kings and Lord of those who rule as lords; the only one who has immortality and who lives in unapproachable light; he who no man has seen or can see.
• 1 Corinthians 15:53, 54 – 'Then that which is decaying will put on cleanliness, and that which is dying will put on immortality. But, when that which is dying puts on immortality, the words that were written are fulfilled, Death is swallowed in victory.'

So in the first case, we can see that Jesus is immortal, and in the second case we can see that immortality is offered as a reward to the righteous… so, it is not a possession of the wicked… thus they have no immortal soul that can be sent to burn in Hell.

Dying or not

Are there people who have no death in them? According to Scriptures nobody is going to escape death. Since what happened in Eden we all have to face pain, ageing, deterioration, dying. Immortality is not given to us worldly people.

We are all going to die, which means that we are going to cease to exist until resurrected.  In death, the grave, there is no knowledge, no remembrance, no praise. There is no extra element of us, an extraordinary being or sort ghost which is going to live on. Man is dust and to dust he returns (see Genesis 3:19; Job 10:9; Psalm 90:3).
A separate soul was not joined to a prepared body when we came into existence on this earth. We were born by receiving the breath of life.  Man became a living soul (being RSV) when the breath of the spirit of life was breathed into his nostrils. "And the Lord God formed man of the dust of the ground, and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life; and man became a living soul." (Genesis 2:7, KJV).

All our live we may have chosen to follow God, but this even lets us not live on after our death. Once we come to that point we also shall not be able to feel or do anything anymore. Even not praising God.
"For in death there is no remembrance of thee; in Sheol who can give you praise?" (Psalm 6:5)
"What profit will thee be in my blood when I go down to the pit?  Shall the dust praise thee?  Shall it declare thy truth?" (Psalm 30:9) "The dead praise not the Lord, neither any that go down into silence" (Psalm 115:17). We shall not be able to do anything, even not praise God. Because we would be like in a deep sleep. And we have to wait until we got woken up by Jesus like he called Lazarus (John 11:11). In "the last days", when God will show His power once more on the earth, at "a time of trouble such as never was "Many of them that sleep in the dust of the earth shall awake, some to everlasting life, and some to shame and everlasting contempt" (Daniel 12:1-2). Some people will be raised from the dead when Jesus comes and others will sleep forever in the dust of the ground.

We die and return to the earth. If we have died "in Christ" we have that marvellous hope that we will rise again to eternal life. But that is not going to happen straight ahead after our death. That's why believers who have died in the new testament are said to be "asleep" while those who "understand not" as the Psalmist puts it have been destroyed.
Subjectively the dead have no sense of time between the moment of death and that of the resurrection. Objectively, thousands of years may have passed before they shall get resurrected.

“If (God) should set his heart on it, if he should gather to himself his spirit and his breath, All flesh would perish together, and man would return to dust” (Job 34:14,15) and stay dust, but He has given His promises and by those we do find life.

Whilst it is easy to focus on the mention of dust, and to think of the bodily corruption that occurs when anybody dies, think instead about what is being told us about life.
Life is a gift from God. He energised Adam in the Garden of Eden and made it possible for mankind to come into existence and He has perpetuated the race that Adam and Eve fathered.
Someone once said about God: “He gives to all life, breath, and all things” (Acts 17:25), and that generosity is evident all around us, all the time.  Life is the most marvellous thing we
possess: it is God’s free gift to all of us.

He gives and we receive. He is the source of life and we are creatures dependent upon Him. When our breath leaves the body, try as we might, we cannot get it back. Nobody can bring a dead body back to life: when it is dead it is dead. So here is a stark reminder of the difference
between God and mankind: He is immortal and we are not. The Bible often makes that  distinction and that is hard for some people to accept, but see for yourself.

It is our Almighty God who has given immortality to His angels and to only one man. Namely Jesus who at his return to earth will manifest in his own time.  It is this Jesus who shall appear "our Lord Yahshua the Messiah: Which in his times he shall show, who is the blessed and only Potentate, the King of kings, and Lord of lords; Who only has immortality, dwelling in the light which no man can approach unto; whom no man has seen, nor can see: to whom be honor and power everlasting.  Amen." (1 Timothy 6:14-16 KJBPNV)

If we want it or not, we are the lesser one. We are always given up to death. “For we who live are always delivered to death for Jesus’ sake, that the life of Jesus also may be manifested in our mortal flesh” (2 Corinthians 4:11); “Here mortal men receive tithes…” (Hebrews 7:8).

God alone has inherent immortality. He is the only one who is eternal. Though certain Christian denominations proclaim that we become eternal, this shall always be impossible because we always had somewhere a beginning. And a person who had a beginning can not be eternal because that is one of the implications of eternity, having no beginning and no end.

We are mortal – dying creatures. But God, who first gave mankind the breath of life, can also give us life that lasts forever. The Bible calls this “eternal life” or “immortality” but there you have to be careful how you want to understand that immortality. Please do have before your eyes that you have two forms of immortality: 1. having no way to die or 2. the one (how I would put it and believe in) were we have the possibility in us to die but are give (by grace) the possibility to stay for ever, which is to stay a life in eternity. Here’s one of God’s promises about that wonderful
prospect: “The wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord” (Romans 6:23). It is that life for eternal what we can get, because Jesus brought his Ransom Offer. "I would not have you ignorant, brethren, concernmg them which are asleep (he means in death), that ye sorrow not, even as the rest who have no hope .... For the Lord himself shall descend from heaven ... with the voice of the archangel and the trump of God, and the dead in Christ shall rise . . ." (1 Thessalonians 4:13,16) Christ personally (note "himself") will descend from heaven; and the faithful dead will rise-from the grave of course. Here are basic teachings which are found throughout the New Testament. They are foundation truths of the Gospel. ". . . The hour is coming, in which all that are in the tombs shall hear his (Jesus') voice, and shall come forth; they that have done good unto the resurrection of life; and they that have done evil unto the resurrection of condemnation" (John 5:28-29).

The bad news is that we could earn death; the good news is that there is an alternative. We could be given eternal life: the chance to live forever in a perfect world. What a choice and
what an opportunity!

The reward of the righteous does not consist of some "spirit existence" somewhere; it will be the granting of an incorruptible body, one that will not waste away and perish as our present one does, but will no longer be subject to death.

Not having to endure pain or to be frightened to hurt ourselves or to die we shall be able to enter the "paradise" of the new Kingdom of peace and joy which Christ will establish when he returns to the earth.

Those who have listened to what God has to say, have taken the time to understand it, and who have made those promises their life’s aim, they shall, when they have repented and chosen to keep God's Commandments, be able to trust the Lord and shall receive the opportunity to live for eternal in God's Kingdom as true members of the family of God .

The Bible explains that we must be baptised if we want to enter the Kingdom of God and start to live with Him, here and now. It was the Lord himself who said: “unless one is born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God” (John 3:3) and he went on to explain that this means that we must be born again “of water and the Spirit” (3:5). do not postpone it, because you never what tomorrow brings.

Dutch version / Nederlandstalige versie: Al of niet onsterfelijkheid