#m

Ben laughed. "You think all religions are scams, don't you?" "Yes, I suppose I do," Epstein said. "But the religions are mostly scamming themselves. That they scam others is usually a side-effect. ↗

— James L. Halperin

#scam #scammers #religion

[L]anguage is not the sign of the idea actually existing in the mind of the speaker—but of that which (s)he desires to convey to the hearer. ↗

— Philip Beauchamp

#nature

وليس التوحيد مجرد إقرار العبد بإنه لا خالق إلًا الله وان الله رب كل شئ ومليكه, كما كان عبًاد الأصنام مقرين بذلك وهم مشركون, بل التوحيد يتضمن من محبة الله والخضوع له والذل له, وكمان الإنقياد لطاعته وإخلاص العبادة له وإرادة وجهه الاعلى بجميع الأقوال والأعمال والمنع والعطاء والحب والبغض, وهو واحد سبحانه في ألوهيته. فلا يستحق العبادة إلًا هو ولا يجوز التوجه بخوف أو رجاء إلا إليه, لا خشية إلا منه, ولا ذل إلا إليه, ولا طمع إلا في رحمته, ولا اعتماد إلا عليه ولا انقياد إلا لحكمه. ↗

— د محمد علي الصلابي

#religion

Reading is accumulating knowledge. But not only that. Reading offers us every day what religion promises us for a posthumous and improbable future: the possibility of living beyond what our lifetime allows us to. ↗

— Camilo Gomes Jr.

#meaning #reading #religion #religion

A man and woman in search of something are always blown apart, but it's the same wind that blows them. ↗

— Frank O'Connor

#religion #schism #religion

For by a kind of mutual bond the Lord has joined together the certainty of his Word and of his Spirit so that the perfect religion of the Word may abide in our minds when the Spirit, who causes us to contemplate God's face, shines. ↗

— John Calvin

#pneumatology #religion

It's impossible to be anything but a Cafeteria Mormon. If everything taught by Church leaders - and scripture - were laid out like a buffet, your plate would be full of mixed messages and contradictions. If there is "opposition in all things," you'll certainly find it in the statements of Church leaders and scripture. Cherry-picking is not an option; it's the only game in town. It's just that some groups pick a little more of this while other groups pick a little more of that. I say, if you're going to cherry-pick, at least be guided by a sense of humanity. ↗

— Bill

#mormonism #religion #religion

Modern politics is a chapter in the history of religion. ↗

— John Gray not the self help idiot

#religion

How can one explain this trend towards a more colorless and shallow life? Well, the work was easier, if less healthy, and it brought in more money, more leisure, and perhaps more entertainment. A day in the country is long and hard. And yet the fruits of their present life were worthless compared to a single coin of their former life: a rest in the evening and a rural festivity. That they no longer knew the old kind of happiness was obvious from the discontentment which spread over their features. Soon dissatisfaction, prevailing over all their other moods, became their religion. ↗

— Ernst Jünger

#happiness #satisfaction #work #money

Micah 1:8 -- Therefore I will wail and howl, I will go stripped and naked: I will make a wailing like the dragons, and mourning as the owls. ↗

— Anonymous

#lament #old-testament #religion #religion