New Religions

It is really interesting to me that there can be so many new religions created. I feel like there is a lot that can be lost in translation when religions are changed or modified. It seems like the main religions, Islam, Christianity, and Judaism. Have there own variations. There are also translations of there own bibles or holy books that are changed. 

It is hard for me to see where the line is drawn between man made creation and a true religion that was created by God. The line seems to be blurred. How many people are actually sent by God to spread a new word. 

Also I feel like religion is a strong and dangerous tool that people can use. There are many people that died in the name of religion because they had a charismatic leader that told them God sent them. It is scary to me that so many new people accept these religions. I feel like it shows that the human race can be easily changed or manipulated. 

Baha'u'llah

When founding a new religion there are a few main elements that must be present. The religion has to be fundamentally different from the others. Also it needs to solving a problem or filling in a gap that the other present religions can’t. It needs to be able to be a system of symbols that people can relate to and accept. People need to feel moved by it.
The process of creating a new religion is usually a long one. It can begin as a variation of a major religion and eventually it evolves different values or symbols so that it becomes fundamentally different. For example the Bahais took a while to come about. It was a long process. They began as a variation of Islam. The Bahais share some of the same beliefs as the Islamic faith, but, they are different. For example when Tihrani entered the tent without her veil on, it signaled a major change. This was a huge distinguishing factor between the Islamic faith and the new religion that was being created.
Having a founder for a religion is very important. It is actually fundamental. Without a founder the creation of a new religion is not the same. There needs to be at least one person in control or with the power. There needs to be that one divine person that gives direction and guidance from whatever entity that is being believed in. It was very important to the Bahais that Baha’u’llah be a founder, because he had a lot of power both financial and political. He assisted greatly in the creation and progression of the religion.

Babylon

After doing some reading on the Rastafari and their beliefs I came across something I found interesting. The Rastas believe that Jesus Christ was God himself and that he taught God’s teachings but that they were distorted by Babylon. I find it interesting that Jesus Christ teachings could be distorted by Babylon. I would say that Babylon is just human kind in general. I feel that all types of people have made many different interpretations of what they felt the meaning of the bible is or what some prominent figure in a religion was saying. I don’t feel that it is necessarily fair for the Rastafari to blame it all on Babylon since there are corrupt people everywhere and in every society. Western society is not the cause of all evil and corruption.
I also find it interesting that they agree with the majority of Christian teachings and the Christian bible, yet they believe that someone human is God. If they believe in the Christian bible and the accept Revelations, then how would it be possible for God to have come down to earth again without the apocalypse. Maybe there are logical questions to this but I haven’t read anything yet to answer the question and it’s just weird to me.

Rastafari

In the Rastafari video they had a series of symbols that they had. They had the turbans as well as the dreads that were prominent symbols. They also had various signs of good and evil and the R of righteousness over the X of wrong. I also noticed that the good is written in black and the evil in white. I don’t really know if this is a religious thing or if it’s maybe more of a political symbol. Also the color red seems to be present a lot in their surrounding, with their clothes and turbans.
Bob Marley’s presentation of Rastafarian life was one of a somewhat stress less care free lifestyle. But in his song “No Woman No cry”, he presents a life that seems to have some political stress in it, but there is still this idea that the person should not be stressed. One thing that I feel is not presented in Bob Marley’s music is how devote the Rastafari can be. In the video they spoke about the times that they get up to perform ceremonies. They also strictly observe the Sabbath day.

God ok with rape?

I was outraged when I read Kebra Negast. I couldn’t believe that a follower of the Lord, King Solomon, was allowed to commit a crime and a sin. He basically committed rape, but it was ok because God allowed it. In the origin story King Solomon believed that because Queen Sheba had come from afar and was so beautiful that this had to be God giving him the opportunity to impregnate her. He cheated his way into sleeping with her. If it was God’s will for him to get the Queen pregnant then why did he have to trick her? He deliberately fed her food that would make her thirsty, and he also placed the water in a location that she would see. She did not take the water by force, but he took her by force. Since when is rape ok with God? But, for some reason this story is ok with everyone. It definitely doesn’t make sense to me.

The Light

The story of Kebra Negast shows that God had a special purpose for the nation of Ethiopia. It seems as if things just fell right into place and as if things were destined to work out the way they did. The merchant saw King Solomon’s wisdom and the Queen just so happened to love wisdom and wanted to learn.  It seemed as if God had laid down a path for the Queen to follow.

Solomon was a great man. He was very wise and well respected. He was a follower of the lord and the Queen of Ethiopia also became a loyal follower of the God of Israel. The Queen had the child of this well renowned king. After reading about the dream that King Solomon had of the light shinning over the land of Ethiopia it was clear to me that the Lord claimed that land as his, and the child that the Queen was to bear was the light. It showed that Israel was now not the only kingdom with God’s blessing, and this gave Ethiopia special significance. 

Conceptual Blending

Conceptual blending is an interesting idea. It is not one that is known to be related to religion, but when you try to understand religion and faith by apply some of the information of conceptual blending it all makes sense. In conceptual blending there are two ideas that are put together to create a new blended idea. In religion there are many ideas that are taken such as human actions and God. These two concepts are brought together and they can help to create this idea of religion.
In religion conceptual blending is used a lot. The bible is a prime example of this. There are many examples in the bible of human actions being compared to odd things. At first glance they may not make sense. Augustine might argue that when the bible say odd things like killing babies that it is to be taken figuratively. This is a form of conceptual blending. You have your input or your ideas that are blended together to create a new reality or idea. This idea of killing babies doesn’t literally mean that we should do so, rather it means that we should kill all evil ideas. After the metaphor of killing the babies is taken away the new blended idea comes forward.
Conceptual blending is a tool that most religions use. It is key to faith and explanations of certain things such as the bible. This tool is important to the study of religion because it allows people to grain a lot of insight in to the world of religion.