Rabbi's in Stamford Hill north London mince about in their prayer robes outside their churches...they are not allowed to do it I'm told,yet all still do it...:(
It depends. I know priests who always, and I mean always, wear a collar no matter what else they have on. For nuns it depends on the order. In my denomination the minister always wears a robe during worship services. Some of them wear collars for other official things but not with casual attire. My daughter is an ordained minister and wears robes but never a collar. Like I said, it depends.
Q "Do priests and other religious figures wear their robes or garbs all the time, even off the clock? I tried imaging a priest in jeans, but for the life of me can't.
Do they even wear those robes to bed (they do look comfortable)." =======================================================================================
Below are some images of Imam Suhaib Webb who according to Wikipedia "was born William Webb in 1972 in Oklahoma to a Christian family, including a grandfather who served as a preacher. At age 14, he lost interest in religion, going through a self-described spiritual crisis. He also began engaging in delinquency by joining a local gang and became a local Hip-Hop DJ and producer, making records with various artists. After converting to Islam in 1992, Webb left his career as a DJ and studied at the University of Central Oklahoma, where he graduated with a bachelor's degree in Education. He also studied privately under a Senegalese Sheikh, learning enough Islam and Arabic to become a community leader in Oklahoma City."
It's sad, but I know how desperate people can become when seeking to fulfill spiritually and sometimes they fall into traps designed to take advantage of that very fact.
One of the ways human beings are distinguished from other animals is through spirituality. Burying that is burying part of one's humanness and in many cases it's futile. When embarking on a journey in search of spirituality, as long as one keeps one's wits about and doesn't let go of healthy scepticism one can find a set of beliefs that will fulfill one's spiritual needs and make one feel a complete well rounded spiritual and rational human being. One is then at peace with oneself. Nothing wrong with that, is there?
When embarking on a journey in search of spirituality, as long as one keeps one's wits about and doesn't let go of healthy skepticism one can find a set of beliefs that will fulfill one's spiritual needs and make one feel a complete well rounded spiritual and rational human being.
Didn't Anton Lavey do exactly that?
(the founder of the Church of Satan, the first organized church in modern times promulgating a religious philosophy championing Satan as the symbol of personal freedom and individualism.)
Al Elah, derived from the Aramaic Eloi as is the Hebrew El. In the Coptic Christian Bible, God is referred to as Allah - it's no more than "God" in the Arabic language, not a specifically Islamic term.
I can tell you that I have actually heard of that. But other adherents do not refer their Gods as Allah. There was an issue made by Muslims claiming the word 'Allah' too.
1. Every language has its equivalent of the English word "God" and Arabic is no different. Arabic's equivalent of God [capital G] is Allah. Just like the English word God is not confined to any religion and is freely used in English translations of the Qur'an similarly the Arabic word Allah is not confined to any religion and is freely used in Arabic copies of the Christian Bible.
2. Incidentally Arabic has its equivalent of the English god [small g] - it is ilah or elah
3. "God-loving people are not the most peaceful of peoples." is a very sweeping claim but yes you're right one needs to "Thread carefully" or even tread carefully and certainly be sceptical and have one's wits about one when dealing with anything to do with religions
"Thanks for the correction" >>> you're welcome. Typos sometimes help to lighten the heaviest of subjects.
"I have been meaning to do some sewing." >>> good for you, but be sure to thread carefully. Them needles can be a little tricky and deceptive, as cautioned by Jesus, in Mark 10:25, "It is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for someone who is rich to ....." [pass a thin thread through it?]
I have repeated that line to my folks. It cautions against the love or drive for wealth. Would you believe if I tell you I used to read the entirety of the bible? Quite the bible thumper actually.
I am glad to have been able to see reality given time and experience even after indoctrination from the time of birth. It is sad that some people are killed when they achieve the same thing (apostasy in Islam for instance).
1. I too am glad that you "have been able to see "reality" given time and experience even after indoctrination from the time of birth." Islam criticises those who hold beliefs purely because their fathers held them. For example in HQ 2:170 it asks, "What, even if their fathers did not understand anything [that the children now understand] and were not guided [by better knowledge]?"
2.1 It's quite possible that D&D doesn't stand for it, but just like we're conditioned to associate B&B with bed and breakfast, I must be conditioned by what is prevalent in the mass media and popular talk, to almost instinctively associate D&D with death and destruction. It doesn't surprise me therefore when people unavoidably associate apostasy from Islam with death, and I wouldn't be surprised if the image conjured is death by beheading. Once formed these associations are almost impossible to break.
2.2 The truth is that whereas the Bible at Deuteronomy 13:6-11 leaves no doubt about what you must do to any member of your family or friends for the mere suggestion of apostasy "You must certainly put him to death. Your hand must be the first in putting him to death, and then the hands of all the people. Stone him to death, because he tried to turn you away from the Lord your God" the Qur'an prescribes no action at either HQ 5:54 which says "O ye who believe! if any from among you turn back from his Faith ...." nor at HQ 4:137 which talks about repeated apostasy of "Those who believe, then reject faith, then believe (again) and (again) reject faith, and go on increasing in unbelief..."
2.3 If the HQ had prescribed any punitive action against an apostate then it would have contradicted its own position, spread all over the HQ, that there must be no compulsion in religion, that Islam is an innate belief, and that it's a natural conclusion of rational enquiry through meditation and contemplation about nature and life and man's position in the cosmos.
2.4 Furthermore, people continue to convert to Islam despite the prevalence of popular and very strongly negative associations with the faith. Surely no one would do so if it meant there really was a risk to their life. I doubt if Dr Timothy Winters of the prestigious UK Cambridge University would have done so either. Here he is as the well respected Islamic scholar Sheikh Abdal Hakim Murad talking for less than 3 min on the related topic of "Salman Rushdie, Apostasy and Khomeini's Fatwah"
3. "Would you believe if I tell you I used to read the entirety of the bible?" >>>> those claims are difficult to believe, especially if they include the "Old" Testament and its penchant for details of begats and cubits of dimensions. Moreover, reading the entirety of the Bible most certainly sheds light on many passages almost never mentioned in popular discussions. The guy in the 10 min video below from a strict US Methodist family started to read the whole Bible and see where he eventually ended up after his long spiritual journey - paradoxically, back into the fold of the Abrahamic faiths.
This post was edited by CLURT at October 11, 2018 6:41 AM MDT
That's nice of you to try to convinve me that Islam is not all that evil. But I myself only have too much first hand experience with this religion. And as we speak, people are still killed leaving Islam all in the name of religious authorities. It tends to be a problem where Islam is the main religion.
You can take any example you want but religion don't exactly inspire rational thought threrefore a white man converting to Islam don't prove much. No good God would have a slavery-owning, child-raping polygamous war-hungry 'prophet' such as Muhammad. Islam's problem is how its tenets cannot even be questioned, and the following of the mostly Old Testamant which means violence and all sorts of atrocities.
Hi Death & Destruction? [questioning, not stating :):)]
1. Religion must not be above criticism. The more challenging the criticism the better. For criticism to be challenging it has to be well researched and backed up by evidence from the main source of the religion itself.
2. Let's begin with, "That's nice of you to try to convinve me that Islam is not all that evil." >>> That implies that you view Islam as very evil. You didn't give any evidence of that apart from saying that you "have too much first hand experience with this religion." This is a bit like most Christian evangelist whose evidence for why their beliefs represent the truth is their "first hand [meaning personal] experience with this religion."
3. "as we speak, people are still killed leaving Islam" >>> I have no evidence of people getting killed leaving Islam, but just because I have no evidence does not mean that it does not happen. However, I think by wording it the way you have, you have painted a picture of it happening continuously, and by doing so, without presenting any evidence, you're undermining your claim. You could be just expressing an exaggerated popular perception.
4. "It tends to be a problem where Islam is the main religion." >>>> Again, I'd advise we research claims before we make them, or at least exercise a little scepticism and use common sense. Islam is the main religion in Indonesia, which is in fact considered the largest Muslim country, and it is the main religion in Malaysia and Egypt to name just a few. I'm not aware of reports of apostates being killed in those countries.
5. "religion don't exactly inspire rational thought" and "Islam's problem ...(a) its tenets cannot even be questioned, and (b) ...the following of the ... Old Testamant which means violence and all sorts of atrocities" >>> well, the verses I quoted to you are from religions, Abrahamic religions. I didn't see anything blatantly irrational in any of the verses. In fact one of the verses urges questioning and the use of the latest thinking and knowledge when evaluating religious beliefs [that's an answer to your problem (a)]. Okay, the penalty specified in the Bible verse I quoted may be extreme but it is not irrational. Although that penalty is specified in what Christians call the "Old" Testament Islam has not adopted it. That is an answer to your problem (b)
6. "a white man converting to Islam don't prove much" >>> That's a strawman and seeing racism where none was intended. What was intended is a presentation of the positive values of Islam which include the use of knowledge and reason, the exhortation of what is good and beneficial and the discouraging of what is bad and harmful. Racism and oppression are harmful and Islam is against them. Here's a black convert to Islam who became a respected scholar, giving a tribute to another Black convert to Islam who became a civil rights activist who openly criticised both White as well as Black racism.
7. "No good God would have a slavery-owning, child-raping polygamous war-hungry 'prophet' such as Muhammad." >>> If this discussion was about Mohammed we could explore to see if Mohammed was what the statement alleges. Two things are obvious though and therefore do not need exploring. One is that the accusations are very serious and the other is that the accusations are a window into the thinking and mindset of the accuser.
This post was edited by CLURT at October 11, 2018 9:22 PM MDT
Nice Jugs 