I am feeling affection for the traditions
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Peace
sometimes I want to go back to Orthodoxy! and want it very much!
I think what will also be tormenting is holding onto traditions you do not believe in. Does the cross mean to you what it means to other Christians? Not all Christians have quite the same theories anyway. The cross to me is a symbol of the sacrificed king to bring blessings on his people for his sacrifice to God, or the gods.
It does not seem that you want to go back to an orthodoxy in which you don't accept tenents such as praying to saints, and the holy trinity.
Joe
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Salams Katya
I can sympathise with how you feel about your tradition. I was baptised and chrismated a Russian Orthodox as a baby and like you, I don't believe in the trinity or the hierarchy, but there are many things that I love about Russian Orthodoxy. I actually like some of the Bible interpretations that some Russian Orthodox scholars present on the internet - better than some of the protestant versions of being 'saved'. Actually, even the understanding of the crucifixtion in Russian Orthodoxy is better from my perspective than the penal atonement of Catholicism and Protestantism. But, in the end, Islam is the only belief system in its teachings as a whole. I may be a heretic, but I don't find anything wrong in going along to a Russian Orthodox service now and again (very rarely because I don't live near any ROCs). I love that Prophet Mohammed says that God made all the different groups so we could get to know one another and compete in good works. So I don't see anything wrong with associating with Orthodox even though I am a Muslim.
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Hi Tamara
I love that Prophet Mohammed says that God made all the different groups so we could get to know one another and compete in good works.
God himself said this, not Muhammad.
O people, We created you from a male and female, and We made you into nations and tribes, that you may know one another. Surely, the most honorable among you in the sight of God is the most righteous. God is Knowledgeable, Expert.
4913 -
I love that Prophet Mohammed says that God made all the different groups so we could get to know one another and compete in good works.
God himself said this, not Muhammad. Wink
Yes you are right Leyna. Slip of the tongue, but glad you corrected it. It makes it much more authoritative than just coming from a human being!
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Salam all
First time I have read this thread and liked cavemanDoctors advice very much.
i am from a Christian background and I miss the 'traditional' Christmas!
I was talking the other day with another convert here, she was asking me what I do for Eid. I said nothing special as since being in Egypt during 3 previous Ramadans I feel nothing, I do not 'feel' what everyone else seems to 'feel' and this year is planned to be seclusion for Ramadan for me. But last December I did SO miss the Christmas 'feel' that there is in UK. Its the tradition I miss, I know that, and my kids and grand-monsters. ;D
Doesnt mean I resent being muslim because that is what I chose to be and I see it as an 'evolution' rather than a rejecting the Christianity. Never believed in the trinity traditional view anyway, but Christmas day I always gave a little prayer in relation to the birth of a great prophet of God. I see no wrong in that.
I just wish I could have the 'feeling' that Muslims here have during Ramadan which to them is the same as I 'feel' in UK at Christmas I imagine, and that is only because for them this is their tradition and for me that was mine. i dont think it really anything to do with the actual belief itself, just the tradition.
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I was talking the other day with another convert here, she was asking me what I do for Eid.
The best thing to do on that day is to lock yourself inside, draw the curtains close and put in earplugs.
I HATE that day, it's so cruel, sad, and sickening. Always makes me feel deeply depressed. '(
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Peace to all!
I do not know why I'm writing this here, but I need support!
I converted to Islam three years ago, but this was Sunni Islam ...
I then realized that much right in this religion, but some things I was embarrassed ...
such as the headscarf, for example)
Then I began to learn more, read ...
thank God, found sites like this!but that's the main problem ..
from time to time, I started very tormenting conscience begin laceration ...
I feel like a traitor to my people, a traitor to my traditional faith - Orthodox Christianity ...
I feel drawn to it, my culture, because I love it!
for me it is the most familiar and dear ...but at the same time I understand that I could never believe in the Trinity, the saints, pray to them, believe to all priests ...
sometimes I want to go back to Orthodoxy! and want it very much!
even begin to think I do not believe, but I'll be loyal to the people and traditional religion, and will wear a cross, as all my ancestors!just want to ask you ... do you feel like sometimes? .. confused
Absolutely. There are things that I will not let go of or change because that is who I am. I was born in Australia but of a different descent. There's a saying, "You can take a boy out of the country but you can't take the country out of a boy.
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Salam all
First time I have read this thread and liked cavemanDoctors advice very much.
i am from a Christian background and I miss the 'traditional' Christmas!
I was talking the other day with another convert here, she was asking me what I do for Eid. I said nothing special as since being in Egypt during 3 previous Ramadans I feel nothing, I do not 'feel' what everyone else seems to 'feel' and this year is planned to be seclusion for Ramadan for me. But last December I did SO miss the Christmas 'feel' that there is in UK. Its the tradition I miss, I know that, and my kids and grand-monsters. ;D
Doesnt mean I resent being muslim because that is what I chose to be and I see it as an 'evolution' rather than a rejecting the Christianity. Never believed in the trinity traditional view anyway, but Christmas day I always gave a little prayer in relation to the birth of a great prophet of God. I see no wrong in that.
I just wish I could have the 'feeling' that Muslims here have during Ramadan which to them is the same as I 'feel' in UK at Christmas I imagine, and that is only because for them this is their tradition and for me that was mine. i dont think it really anything to do with the actual belief itself, just the tradition.
I am the same I don't get that 'feeling' either. And it probably is just the tradition.
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In each tradition, God seems to inspire people to come to an understanding similar to the core concepts of Islam - Worship God alone and serve one's fellow man. In the Russian Orthodox Tradition, Tolstoy is a giant. His book, "The Kingdom of God is within, is available online free - just google Tolstoy and Kingdom of God within. Tolstoy was excommunicated from the Russian Orthodox Church and his books banned. Isn't that the way for most people who recognise the power and control of religion and break away to 'God alone".
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If you want traditions, join my circle. Raised in Polish National Catholic Church. HEAVY Christian trads at Christmas season and Easter, even more so than the RCC. And I left it all. But miss it at times, but I held firm.
Peace,
Respect.Glory be to our God.
Keep up the firmness, may God give you even more Strength, God willing.
Keep up.Peace.
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Salam all
Just going to correct what may have been taken wrongly.
Although I have always thought of Christmas as Jesus' birthday its not that part that I miss, not the religious part, its the feeling of the people which must be the same feeling the people here are feeling during Ramadan that I dont feel during Ramadan, I wish I could. I suppose its all to do with how and where I was raised.
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Salam to Katya and all.
Maybe we can share this website below (just for further reading - some related to anything in Mecca, rituals etc.).
- http//www.aididsafar.com
- http//www.aididsafar.com/shaivite.html
- http//religionresearchinstitute.org/mecca/construction.htm
- http//www.aididsafar.com/shegod.html
- Can download the book "Mental Bondage in the name of Islam".
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Thank you Message114 for sharing the website above. I have downloaded the books and will read them shortly. Just the superficial reading of the website confirms my own intuition that religious organisations serve their best purpose when they allow for heretics to be produced. The heretics help us seek truth even though, the search for truth is a never ending project and so someone else will inevitably come along and disprove some aspects of those messages too. But that is good news for seekers of truth. It stops us getting to the stage where we think we know it all, and there is nothing more to learn. What often happens is that some people come to a new understanding (paradigm) and it makes sense, so then the adherents codify and add rules and regulations to protect it, and then we have an oppressive organisation all over again. New heretics have to be created to break out of the mould that has become old and codified.
I hope others will also read the books on the website and will discuss some of the concepts. But, let's be thankful that organisations exist, otherwise how could heretics be produced. If you have nothing to challenge, there is no chance for intellectual growth. That's the problem with relativism - no truth therefore no heretics and all we get is stagnation and apathy. But, organisations that claim absolute truth also exact a high price - persecution, martyrdom etc. Yet, they also promote truth through their heretics. So it seems there is no easy road to truth and those who are willing to stand against the crowd have to be prepared for ostracism and even more severe penalties.
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Peace be with you as well,
maybe you're experiencing the "herd sheep mentality" "following the steps of parents etc"
This would be apparent in the Quran, as people following the footsteps of their parents.
Pray to God Almighty for help and guidance -
Peace all,
It is natural to feel like you are turning your back on your old religion because you have been raised like that since you were a child. I felt the same way when I came from Sunni Islam. It is a very strong feeling, but it will go away after a while, God willing.
I pray that God makes it easy for Katya.
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Peace to you as well
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I feel that all these saints, traditions and rituals - is part of our history and culture..
For example, the icons for me is the age-old art,
Old Church Slavonic language which they use in the church,
most of the saints - are national heroes)
Orthodox Christian spirit!
it is hard to describe, but in my country, all drenched in religion ...Join a unitarian church like the one reverand John Bostock who used to post here belongs to.
http//www.islandminister.com/
He is also part of this unitarian association
http//www.christianuniversalist.org/community.html
Its really the same religion but a different community. As Koranist we do not have yet a religious community outside of the internet. But you can always frequent here and keep us posted as how things are progressing.