Thursday, December 8, 2011

Advice Letters From Abbot!

 Dear Abbot,
I have met a wonderful woman and I’d like to get married. I love her and she loves me, and we’d like to build a life together. But I have a high-powered job that demands 80-hour weeks that I find very fulfilling running a food-distribution charity that feeds thousands of people each week. I don’t think I can do both. Should I give up my job and make a life with the woman of my dreams? Or should I continue doing the good work that I love to do?
Signed Torn Between Choices.
Dear Torn Between Choices.
Soul-mates are a very important part of life on earth.  Talmud is the most significant collection of the Jewish oral tradition interpreting the Torah.  Torah is the name given by the Jewish people to the first five books of the bible.(1)  In the Talmud, Rav Yehuda taught that forty days before a male child is born, a voice from heaven announces whose daughter he is going to marry.  The Jewish say that this is literally a match made in heaven.  A perfect match is called a bashert, which means fate or destiny.(2)  This word bashert can also be used when you find other things that are perfect, for example maybe a house or a perfect job.  You said that you have met a wonderful woman that you would love to start a life with and if you believe this women is your bashert then I think you should marry her and stop working so much.  Refraining from getting married is not considered holy, as it is in other religions.  Refraining from marriage is considered un-natural because in the Talmud it says, “ an unmarried man is constantly thinking of sin.”  It is not good for a man to be alone.  Helping the charity that feeds thousands of people is a great thing, but if you have found your bashert marriage is the way to go.  
Dear Torn Between Choices,
It is great to hear that you have met a wonderful woman and the two of you would like to get married.  You seem to be seeking happiness, but do you know the difference between happiness and pleasure?  Many people are un-aware of what happiness really means, they sometimes are able to find happiness for their present life, but not happiness forever.  Unlike other religions Buddhism does not associate marriage with religious duties, which basically means that Buddhism is not considered holy or un-holy.  The Buddha once said, “If a man can find a suitable and understanding wife and a woman can find a suitable and understanding husband, both are fortunate indeed.”(1)  I also strongly advise you to make sure you are sharing the same kind of love.  Not selfish love or lust, but love that will last an eternity through the thick and thin.  Buddha has also said, “ men and woman cannot gain happiness this special from any other object.  When observed, among all the things which provide pleasure, there is no other object that can please all the five senses at the same time besides the male and female figures.”  Therefor if you two share the same kind of true love, then marriage is appropriate, if not then focus on your job which also makes you a very happy individual.

Dear Torn Between Choices,
Choosing between working to helping others survive or marrying to start a life with the one you love is a very hard decision to make.  As you may already know, Hindu’s view marriage as a life-long commitment between one man and one women forever.  Marriage is the only way for you to continue your family and pay your debt to your ancestors. (2) Was this woman chosen by your parents or elders and does she follow Hinduism?  These are all very important factors for the Hindu.  I also wonder, have your families met and do your families mesh together well.  If you choose to marry each other you must also be prepared to: live a healthy life style for each other, be concerned for each others welfare, live as friends, eat and drink with each other
 and be able to share special occasions together, desire children who you then must love and be responsible for, and adapt to the others traditions.  If this is the life style you are both ready for then great.  It doesn’t matter if you are helping hundreds of people or if you are simply being wonderful to a wife and children the good karma will stick with you.(1)
Works Cited Page
(1)Definition of Torah
(2)Quotes from Talmud
(1)Words of Buddha
(1)Karma  
(2)Marriage commitments
Dear Abbot,
         My friends and family are always on my case to get me to stop smoking. But I say it is my own body and I can do with it what I please. What do you think?
Signed Smokey

Dear Smokey,
I am glad you came to me about your problem.  I would love to remind you of the dangers of smoking.  You must consider not just your own body but everyone around you when you smoke as well.  Rabbis say it is forbidden to smoke, now that we are all aware of the consequences and dangers.(1) Rabbis point to the biblical concerns like, “take heed to thyself and take care of thy life.” (2)  You don’t want to destroy your own body, for your body is a temple and a bad habit can be broken.  Smoking cigarettes is also prohibited by the Torah.(3)  Also when you say it is your own body I feel you are confused.  In the Torah it states, “ We do not own our bodies, God does.”  It is stated so clear in these quotes from Torah that anyone that follows Judaism is not allowed to do anything to his or her body that is harmful to their own health.  I strongly want you to consider what I have told you and make a final decision to smoke or to overcome your habit.

Dear Smokey,
Smokey thank you for coming to me today.  We both know and understand that smoking cigarettes can be very calming and relaxing after a stressful situation.  I want to remind you there are better ways to reach a calm place.  For instance, you could practice meditation.  Meditation is key for calming ones mind, and striving to one day reach enlightenment.  Smoking cigarettes is a habit that you can overcome.  Many buddhist use meditation to heal themselves, and bring their body and mind to a healthy place.  It is not up to me to make you meditate or force you to change.  This is your own decision and if you want to heal yourself you will have to do it on your own.  To be reborn as a human is a honor, and I cannot stress enough how important it is to strive to be healthy.  A quote from the Dalai Lama is, To keep the body in good health is a duty, otherwise we shall not be able to keep our mind strong and clear.” (1)  Knowing this I hope I have helped you to answer your question and move forward in life.
Dear Smokey,
You are right it is your own body, but I feel you should treat your body good and  be as healthy as can be.  Us Hindu’s believe that all life on earth is sacred.  We should all love and respect nature, animals, ourselves, and others.  By smoking you are not just harming yourself, but you are harming everyone in your presence.  Habits like smoking tobacco is considered sinful in Hinduism.  Despite what your family thinks you must come to a conclusion on your own.  I wish you the best of luck.
                                                       

                                                             Works Cited Page


         (1)Responsa Be’er Moshe, Part 6 #160:9; F. Rosner, Modern Medicine and Jewish Ethics, 1986, pp.363ff.
        (2)Deuteronomy 4:9
  1. Prohibited by Torah
         Quote from the Dalai Lama



Wednesday, December 7, 2011

No God, No Problem!

I LOVE this image I found, and it's almost Christmas so it fits perfect!  Be good for goodness sake!  Secular Humanism is a fairly new religion.  I don’t understand why many people don’t think of it as a religion, but I do.  There are no set rules like most the religions we know and have studied.  Each individual weighs out what is wrong and right from what they know in their head and heart.  What better way to be a good person.  I think it is awesome that their are people out there who are good people all on their own without being preached to.  These people have a commitment to make the world a better place, and yes they do it a different way, but in my eyes I think this religion is absolutely wonderful.  Will-power!

Good vs. Evil

Learning about Secular Humanism has been very interesting.  It was one of my favorite chapters to read about.  What I love the most about Secular Humanism is that it leaves it up to each individual to decide how their life will be, and what actions to make, whether they are right or wrong, good or evil.

Thursday, November 17, 2011

Peace

Shintoism, Buddhism, Hinduism seem to all have such simular beliefs!  Karma is a huge factor in so many religions.  You would think the world would be a much more peaceful place when reading this text book, but I guess many people have a hard time following all of what they believe in.

Judism

When we were studing Judism there were some pretty strange things that I learned.  One was, I found that the Jewish have a fear of menstrual blood, they feel they will be contaminated by it.  Anyone who touches a women who is on her period will be considered unclean until night time, and they must wash themselves and wash their clothing.  I failed to find out why women are unclean longer if they have a girl rather than a boy, but I found this website which explains a lot more about everything.  http://www.womenpriests.org/traditio/unclean.asp

Wednesday, October 5, 2011

Cheyenne's Exploring Local Religions Expression , Oct. 5th

Exploring Local Religious Expression
After hours of searching online for a new, accepting, and friendly church to attend for my exploring local religions assignment I came across exactly what I was looking for,  The New Life Church.  I am currently living in an unfamiliar place, Colorado, so since I have never attended church and I am in a brand new town I was feeling hesitant and scared to go.  I read over The New Life Church website and felt like it would be easy to fit in, and there wouldn’t be too much pressure on me.  New Life church has a very casual atmosphere and they are dedicated to help people with their complications of life.  Since most of my friends and family are Christians, I thought it would be appropriate for me to attend a Christian church to help me have a better understanding and connection with their beliefs.  
Since I currently have a busy schedule I was very grateful that New Life Church offered services multiple days a week, night or day.  I attended the service on Friday, September 23 at 11:30 a.m.  I did not attend the service alone, I brought along my boyfriend who is also a Christian.  Men and women all attend the same service, and the building everyone met in was huge.  Online it says the services are in small groups, but it was the complete opposite.  Everyone sits in rows of chairs facing the front.  To me the main building reminded me of a stadium where a relatively small concert would be held.  Inside in the front of building there was a stage with steps surrounding it, and a huge screen up above.  It was a very modern church, and tons of people attend this church.  The outside kinda looks like a big dome, and the entrance was beautiful and elegant with pretty tile floors.
What I was expecting was a preacher to be standing up on the stage and preaching to everyone, but it turns out that the service we attended was a video teaching.  Although it was far from what I expected I feel it was just as effective and exactly what I wanted.  With a video teaching of a pre-recorded service I felt so comfortable knowing I wouldn’t be put on the spotlight or called on to read or state my opinion.  This allowed me to relax and listen to the message the preacher was conveying to us.  The preacher was a middle aged man named Matt.  Since the regular services are held on Sunday’s there was only about 35 other people that attended the Friday service, but to me that seemed like a lot of people.  Some of the people seemed as if they were really into what the preacher was saying, but most of the people just sat there quietly with blank looking stares on their faces.  There was no paper handed out to tell me what would happen next, so I was just along for the ride.  I have never attended a church service besides a funeral and a wedding, so of course the whole experience was a shocking surprise to me.  I was un-sure of what to expect.  
There was so much said, but a lot of the messages relayed to the crowd went right over my head.  Matt, the preacher, talked a lot about giving.  One thing that he said a few times that really stood out to me was, each man should give what he has decided in his heart to give.  When I got home I looked up where this phrase came from.  It came from 2 Corinthians 9:7.  Matt spoke about how it is better to give something than to receive something.  The goal of the day was to not be greedy, only take what you need.  This reminded me a lot of all the other religions we have studied so far.  Especially Hinduism, people all over the world are striving to become better people and realize the difference between want and need.  Some of the other passages he talked about was Luke.  I tried to look up the passages he was saying, but I couldn’t find or remember them.  After researching a while I did find one that I thought worked well with what he was preaching.  It is Luke 6:38 and says, “Give, and it will be given to you.”  The first thing I thought of when I saw this was Karma.  Buddhism, Jainism, and Hinduism were all firm believers in karma, and the message I got from Matt seemed to revolve around karma to.  There are so many similarities between different religions around the world.
After the video was done there was a real band.  Once again it was completely different from what I expected.  The band was like a rock band, everyone stood up and sang along.  Most of the people already knew the words to the songs but they had the words on the screen up above for people like me.  It was really fun to stand up and be involved.  Everyone seemed so happy and there was such a good vibe.
I really enjoyed my experience of exploring local religions.  To be totally honest, in my head I always thought that church was a waste of my time, and I didn’t understand why so many people went, but after attending a service I now understand and feel that all these people just want to make an understanding of their life, and make the world a better and more peaceful place.  I feel enlightened, like I have been put back into reality.      Often I loose sight of my goals, and caught up in all the challenges and complications of life.  Listening to Matt helped me slow down and see the big picture,  and remember how important it is to give back!  After the service was over I was informed that they also have a service specifically for people who have lost someone special and are grieving, so if I ever come back to Colorado, I would love to attend that session.  It would be so helpful to be surrounded by people who care and have gone through the same difficulties in their lives.  All in all I had a great experience and I am very glad I attended The New Life Church!

Cheyenne Johnson


http://bible.cc/2_corinthians/9-7.htm  Website where I found a passage from 2 Corinthians 9:7
This website helped me look up passages that the preacher was teaching about!
I also found a lot more interesting information here!

Thursday, September 29, 2011

Karma

I have always been a firm believer in Karma!  I was taught from a young age to strive to always do what is right.  If I didn't do what was right it would come back and bite me in the butt later in life.  In our minds we know what is right from wrong before we make an action.  I find it fascinating that Buddhism and other religions also believe in karma.  I grew up thinking I didn't have any religious beliefs, but as I study and learn more about each religion it turns out I have a little bit of each religion in my everyday traditions!  :)

Buddhism

We are finally learning about Buddhism!  Buddhism is the only religion I was looking forward to learning about when I started this class.  I was scared to take this class at first because I knew absolutly nothing at all about any religion except a little bit about Buddhism.  I have really enjoyed learning about the five different religions so far, I have found something that I loved about each religion.  Buddhism still remains my favorite so far.  I love the views they have and their goal to reach pure happiness and for the world to come together as one.

Wednesday, September 14, 2011

Interesting!

I thought that it was interesting that the Hindu's practice Yoga!  It made me wonder where Yoga originated.  India has the largest number of Hindu people, and the website I found said Yoga started in India!






 http://wiki.answers.com/Q/In_which_country_do_most_Hindus_live#ixzz1XxHb6Dxu