Predestination

[OddTrader]

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Compassion

Christianity

Compassion in action: an 18th-century Italian depiction of the Parable of the Good Samaritan

The Christian Bible's Second Epistle to the Corinthians is but one place where God is spoken of as the "Father of compassion" and the "God of all comfort." It reads as follows: 2 Corinthians 1:3-7 "Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of compassion and the God of all comfort, who comforts us in all our troubles, so that we can comfort those in any trouble with the comfort we ourselves received from God. For just as the sufferings of Christ flow over into our lives, so also through Christ our comfort overflows. If we are distressed, it is for your comfort and salvation; if we are comforted, it is for your comfort, which produces in you patient endurance of the same sufferings we suffer. And our hope for you is firm, because we know that just as you share in our sufferings, so also you share in our comfort." Jesus embodies for Christians, the very essence of compassion and relational care. Christ challenges Christians to forsake their own desires and to act compassionately towards others, particularly those in need or distress.[74] Jesus assures his listeners in the Sermon on the Mount that, "Blessed are the merciful, for they shall obtain mercy." In the Parable of the Good Samaritan he holds up to his followers the ideal of compassionate conduct. True Christian compassion, say the Gospels, should extend to all, even to the extent of loving one's enemies.

Isaiah 54:10 Though the mountains be shaken and the hills be removed, yet my unfailing love for you will not be shaken nor my covenant of peace be removed," says the Lord, who has compassion on you. This is a good example of the kind of compassion the Lord has for us. The physical world can be moved, yet the love will not be moved.

The two Great Commandments exemplify the Christian Gospel as being founded on love and compassion, as being the most important teachings in the Law and the Prophets.

 

[OddTrader]

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Compassion

Buddhism

Main article: Karuṇā
Kannon, incarnation of the Bodhisattva of Compassion, 16th century image from Japan

The first of what in English are called the Four Noble Truths is the truth of suffering or dukkha (unsatisfactoriness or stress). Dukkha is identified as one of the three distinguishing characteristics of all conditioned existence. It arises as a consequence of the failure to adapt to change or anicca (the second characteristic) and the insubstantiality, lack of fixed identity, the horrendous lack of certainty of anatta (the third characteristic) to which all this constant change in turn gives rise. Compassion made possible by observation and accurate perception is the appropriate practical response. The ultimate and earnest wish, manifest in the Buddha, both as archetype and as historical entity, is to relieve the suffering of all living beings everywhere.[71]

Avalokiteśvara looking out over the sea of suffering. China, Liao Dynasty.

The Dalai Lama has said, "If you want others to be happy, practice compassion. If you want to be happy, practice compassion."[72] The American monk Bhikkhu Bodhi states that compassion "supplies the complement to loving-kindness: whereas loving-kindness has the characteristic of wishing for the happiness and welfare of others, compassion has the characteristic of wishing that others be free from suffering, a wish to be extended without limits to all living beings. Like metta, compassion arises by entering into the subjectivity of others, by sharing their interiority in a deep and total way. It springs up by considering that all beings, like ourselves, wish to be free from suffering, yet despite their wishes continue to be harassed by pain, fear, sorrow, and other forms of dukkha."[73]

At the same time, it is emphasised that to manifest effective compassion for others it is first of all necessary to be able to experience and fully appreciate one's own suffering and to have, as a consequence, compassion for oneself. The Buddha is reported to have said, "It is possible to travel the whole world in search of one who is more worthy of compassion than oneself. No such person can be found."[citation needed]

Compassion is the antidote to the self-chosen poison of anger.[citation needed]

 

[OddTrader]

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Agape

Agape has been expounded on by many Christian writers in a specifically Christian context. C. S. Lewis, in his book The Four Loves, used agape to describe what he believed was the highest level of love known to humanity – a selfless love, a love that was passionately committed to the well-being of the other.[10]

 

[stu]

There may be "super time" or over time, or inside out time, or emit or anything else outside of the time in our universe...

that is non sequitor. we definitely don't know if there is time outside of our universe.

so why suggest there is
"We" do know without time there is no time for things to happen.

 

[stu]

Compassion!

The Compassion of Christ
Luke 12
"The servant who knows the master’s will and does not get ready or does not do what the master wants will be beaten with many blows. But the one who does not know and does things deserving punishment will be beaten with few blows."

"Children raised without dictatorship type rules and threats of eternal punishment just seem to turn out nicer."
http://www.sciencemag.org/news/2015/11/nonreligious-children-are-more-generous

Compassion needs religion like a fish needs a bicycle.

 

[OddTrader]

What I meant is when a religion operates without focusing their collective efforts chiefly in their compassion business, either to their own members internally or to their related communities externally, the religion would possibly become irrelevant and diminishing, sooner or later!

Salvation Army and Quakers, imo, are good examples of true religion, running their compassion business progressively.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Salvation_Army

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Quakers

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Religion

Theories of religion


Origins and development

The origin of religion is uncertain. There are a number of theories regarding the subsequent origins of religious practices.

According to anthropologists John Monaghan and Peter Just, "Many of the great world religions appear to have begun as revitalization movements of some sort, as the vision of a charismatic prophet fires the imaginations of people seeking a more comprehensive answer to their problems than they feel is provided by everyday beliefs. Charismatic individuals have emerged at many times and places in the world. It seems that the key to long-term success – and many movements come and go with little long-term effect – has relatively little to do with the prophets, who appear with surprising regularity, but more to do with the development of a group of supporters who are able to institutionalize the movement."[87]

The development of religion has taken different forms in different cultures. Some religions place an emphasis on belief, while others emphasize practice. Some religions focus on the subjective experience of the religious individual, while others consider the activities of the religious community to be most important. Some religions claim to be universal, believing their laws and cosmology to be binding for everyone, while others are intended to be practiced only by a closely defined or localized group. In many places religion has been associated with public institutions such as education, hospitals, the family, government, and political hierarchies.[88]

Anthropologists John Monoghan and Peter Just state that, "it seems apparent that one thing religion or belief helps us do is deal with problems of human life that are significant, persistent, and intolerable. One important way in which religious beliefs accomplish this is by providing a set of ideas about how and why the world is put together that allows people to accommodate anxieties and deal with misfortune."[88]


Cultural system

While religion is difficult to define, one standard model of religion, used in religious studies courses, was proposed by Clifford Geertz, who simply called it a "cultural system".[89] A critique of Geertz's model by Talal Asad categorized religion as "an anthropological category".[90] Richard Niebuhr's (1894-1962) five-fold classification of the relationship between Christ and culture, however, indicates that religion and culture can be seen as two separate systems, though not without some interplay.[91]


Social constructionism

One modern academic theory of religion, social constructionism, says that religion is a modern concept that suggests all spiritual practice and worship follows a model similar to the Abrahamic religions as an orientation system that helps to interpret reality and define human beings.[92] Among the main proponents of this theory of religion are Daniel Dubuisson, Timothy Fitzgerald, Talal Asad, and Jason Ānanda Josephson. The social constructionists argue that religion is a modern concept that developed from Christianity and was then applied inappropriately to non-Western cultures.


Law

The study of law and religion is a relatively new field, with several thousand scholars involved in law schools, and academic departments including political science, religion, and history since 1980.[93] Scholars in the field are not only focused on strictly legal issues about religious freedom or non-establishment, but also study religions as they are qualified through judicial discourses or legal understanding of religious phenomena. Exponents look at canon law, natural law, and state law, often in a comparative perspective.[94][95] Specialists have explored themes in western history regarding Christianity and justice and mercy, rule and equity, and discipline and love.[96] Common topics of interest include marriage and the family[97] and human rights.[98] Outside of Christianity, scholars have looked at law and religion links in the Muslim Middle East[99] and pagan Rome.[100]

Studies have focused on secularization.[101][102] In particular the issue of wearing religious symbols in public, such as headscarves that are banned in French schools, have received scholarly attention in the context of human rights and feminism.[103]

 

[fordewind]

Are our entire lives predestined?

Predestination (as a doctrine in Christian theology) the divine foreordaining of all that will happen, especially with regard to the salvation of some and not others. It has been particularly associated with the teachings of St. Augustine of Hippo and of Calvin.

Of course.It`s your baggage that you`ve gathered over the billion lives.You`ve been here done that trillions times before,yet there`s something left of interest for you.And it`s all been driven by your interests only.You won`t do/haven`t done anything without interest.You are a package of senses and interests,hence,everything is predestined for you by the interests you have got and the sesnses you`ve gathered.

The salvation part comes into the picture when you are no longer interested in anything.

 

[jem]

even in this simply discussion you misrepresent the argument.
you are such a troll.

you were the one who incorrectly bullshitted about science.
I will show the quotes next... so you don't try some more out of context crap.

so why suggest there is
"We" do know without time there is no time for things to happen.

 

[jem]

I see the smiley face... but we really don't know.
There may be "super time" or over time, or inside out time, or emit or anything else outside of the time in our universe...

 

[jem]

"We" really do know. It would essentially still be............time.