Best religions and sacred texts books according to redditors

We found 320 Reddit comments discussing the best religions and sacred texts books. We ranked the 140 resulting products by number of redditors who mentioned them. Here are the top 20.

Next page

Subcategories:

Egyptian book of the dead
Theism religion books
Demonology & satanism books
Baha'i books
Freemason books
Books about mysticism
Scientology books
Tribal & ethnic religious books
Unitarian universalism books
Books about Eckankar
Religious cults books

Top Reddit comments about Other Religions, Practices & Sacred Texts:

u/jamiemccarthy · 113 pointsr/IAmA

Yes, copyright law forced us to delete the text of what was apparently OT III.

But we didn't leave the space blank. In its place, I wrote several pages describing Scientology, debunking E-Meters, detailing its alleged human-rights abuses, talking about Lisa McPherson, and reviewing A Piece of Blue Sky (which I'd recently read).

Oh, and I provided multiple links to webpages, hosted in countries that didn't acknowledge Scientology's copyright, which displayed the same OT III text that we were forced to delete.

u/OSUTechie · 26 pointsr/ITCareerQuestions

This book has been suggested a few times so I finally got around to reading it. I think it has some good information in it. I'm only about halfway through it, but I like it so far.

Time Management for System Administrators

Other books would be any of the social books like "How to influence people", "7 healthy habits..." Etc.

I haven't read this one yet, but It has been suggested to me if you plan to go more into management/leadership Start with Why

Other books that have I have ear marked due to being mentioned:

u/darthjenni · 20 pointsr/scientology

Welcome to the rabbit hole that is Scientology watching.

Yes all the stories are real. Many of them have been documented for years. I don't know what you mean by dramatized. It is people sitting on a couch telling their stories.

It helps when all of your members sue and stalk IRS agents.

It is against the rules for a Scientologist to contact the police about a crime that another Scientologist has committed. If you do you will be kicked out and declared a suppressive person.

L Ron Hubbard targeted celebrities and opinion makers in communities to enable the "rapid dissemination" of Scientology. Wiki page on "Project Celebrity". They self shelter so that they aren't exposed to entheta (upsetting stuff).

The LAPD and the Hollywood station have been "safe pointed" for years. So when something bad happens with Scientology, the cops are on the side of Scientology. They even sent an officer that is familiar with Scientology to check on her.

I can't talk about what people think when someone dies. What I can tell you is when someone dies there is no memorial service. And the church tries to rug sweep when someone dies as much as possible.

More Reading:

Your daily dose of Scientology Tony Ortega's The Underground Bunker

2 hour interview with actor Jason Beghe. His story of how he got in is very common for a generation of Scientologists.

Mark Headley's Blown For Good

Tony Ortega's The Unbreakable Miss Lovely If you want to see how off the rails Scientology can get, the story of Paulette Cooper is truly scary.

u/Iceman--- · 16 pointsr/freemasonry

Freemasons for Dummies

The author is also a regular here in this subreddit.

u/jamescountry · 9 pointsr/bahai

To be honest, if you're interested in learning about the Baha'i Faith in broad terms, the best way to begin would be with an introductory book. The classic of this genre is Esslemont's Baha'u'llah and the New Era; other good books include those by Smith, Momen, and Bowers (this last one is targeted specifically to a Christian audience).

Of the books you mentioned, The Hidden Words is probably the most accessible (and shortest!), and it's usually what I recommend to people who are interested in the Baha'i Faith. However, it's not always useful to look at the Baha'i Faith through the same lens as we may look at, say, Christianity or Islam, as having one or two "Holy books" that are central to all understanding. The Baha'i Faith is blessed with having many pieces of writing from the central figures of the Faith, and it's not possible to gain a full picture of the religion just by reading the four texts you mentioned.

Edit to add: The other excellent way to learn about the Baha'i Faith, which I heartily recommend, is to meet with some Baha'is from your area and talk with them. There are (relatively) a lot of Baha'is in Ontario (although I don't know where you are specifically), and there are usually ways to go about contacting them via the web.

u/ChuckEye · 9 pointsr/freemasonry

He's the author of Freemasonry for Dummies and other books. He is founder and editor emeritus of the Journal of the Masonic Society. He knows what he's talking about.

u/ilikecakeandpie2 · 8 pointsr/scientology

It's actually more complicated than that, but your instinct is correct!

At one point after the war, he was trying to get help for certain "ailments" (not the ones he claimed he suffered during the war - just ulcers, and generally feeling bad etc.) and was denied disability several times by the Veteran's Administration. Then at one point pre-Dianetics, he requested psychotherapy (which was a new field then), and wrote a detailed letter requesting it and telling his symptoms. It was also denied. My understanding is that he was trying to get more money out of the disability department, it seems.

Then, when he wrote Dianetics, and some fans set up Dianetics groups and he went out doing demonstrations and lectures, he tried to get the American Psychiatric Association to pay attention and give him credibility. He wrote them letters, talked about his groundbreaking "research", and had hoped to become the new Freud or Jung or the rockstar of psychiatry. They investigated and denied him and most of them sort of called what he did pseudoscience and quackery.

THEN, he started coming out with ever-increasing tirades in writing and lectures that basically said that the "psyches" (psychologists and psychiatrists) were evil and out to get them, etc. He went on to say that Dianetics cured so many illnesses that it was taking business and credibility away from them, so they were out to destroy him. His writing and lectures got increasingly anti-psyche over time, leading to the current incarnation.

However, pretty much everyone was out to destroy him, if you ask him.

Those days (around when Scientology was formed, post-Dianetics), he was also on about the communists. He ghost-wrote what he claimed was a communist brainwashing manual and held it up as proof that they were awful - as well as wrote a plethora of letters to the FBI accusing his enemies of being communists (remember McCarthyism and the Red Scare of the 50s/60s?). Many of those people had just wronged him in some way - it's obvious that he was trying to use the FBI and red scare to destroy people he didn't like.

Then the FBI didn't respond as he wanted (they called him something like "unstable" or "unhinged" in internal documents), so they became the enemy.

Of course, by that time, he'd had more accusations about money issues against him. He stole and ran away with and misappropriated money from people like Jack Parsons, some early donors/supporters, and the people running his Dianetics Foundation, among others. Some of those money issues became criminal-ish.

And he'd run afoul of the FDA (Food and Drug Administration) by making claims about what Dianetics and the e-meter could do health-wise (curing cancer, making the blind see, none of it true, of course). So when the FBI didn't listen to him and he was under scrutiny for a bunch of other stuff, the FBI and the government became the enemy. That was part of the advent of the religious cloaking (going from a pop-psychology thing and making it a religion), to decrease government scrutiny in many ways (and avoid taxes).

Basically, this was a man who didn't suffer narcissistic wounds lightly. When someone dismissed him, didn't listen to or believe him, or made him feel "less than", he used his followers as pawns to insult and hurt them (always making himself the persecuted savior).

The "psyches" were only one of his many "I want to be acknowledged by you and be seen as important by you" targets who didn't give him what he craved - admiration and attention.

Go googling around for some of his letters to the FBI and Veteran's Administration and stuff like that, there's lots of very interesting reading.

His hubris also really comes across when the government of Rhodesia was trying to form a new government post-colonialism, and he went and wrote one (some would say badly) and approached some officials (mind you, as an unknown entity, swaggering about with his secretive group and being cagy about who he was) and was like "here, I wrote the constitution for you, you can thank me later". He was incredibly depressed when they were like "who is this guy?" and dismissed him.

There's a great story about him getting two bottles of pink champagne and walking up unannounced to the door of one of the government officials there and rang the doorbell, expecting to sit and have champagne with this official's wife and thereby get his "in" into the government... of course he was turned away there too.

I mean, he approached everyone in that manner - like he expected to have his ring kissed and be granted medals and seen as important. And then when he wasn't, well, that person or entity became his next target.

It's interesting stuff. If you're interested, some of the stories are researched, documented, and told in books like A Piece of Blue Sky, Bare-Faced Messiah - which was recently re-released and is incredibly documented and researched, Going Clear, Inside Scientology. And others, but I think those are the works that are informative, with incredibly researched documentation of claims.

EDIT: Oh, I also forgot that he wrote to the US Government offering his incredible knowledge and research and said that it could solve all their problems, etc. Then, when he didn't get any response after trying mightily hard, he wrote again and threatened to defect to the Soviet Union. He said they'd offered him a sweet sweet deal, with some kind of research position and budget and teaching positions or something, and if the US Government didn't take him up on it he was going to go to the communists with it instead. Of course, that was an empty threat...

He also claimed later, in lectures and stuff, to have worked on the Manhattan Project with the leading scientists, to develop the Atom Bomb. Which was, of course, not true. And he claimed at various times to have worked undercover for the CIA.

u/jwheetree · 8 pointsr/freemasonry

The Mason's Words: The History and Evolution of the American Masonic Ritual is a good look at how things have evolved in the United States.

u/Gleanings · 8 pointsr/freemasonry

This dumb book will answer all of your normal questions.

u/DonBoByuti · 8 pointsr/Psychonaut

Absolutely, my friend. I'm sure most of these can be found online for free but I have listed the Amazon links for familiarity (I prefer books as opposed to online).

Books

Aldous Huxley: The Perennial Philosophy

Baha'u'llah: The Hidden Words

Baha'u'llah: The Seven and Four Valleys

The Kybalion

Lao Tzu: Tao Te Ching

Michael Singer: The Untethered Soul

Wisdom of the Buddha

The Bible

Two powerfully insightful Youtube Channels (many more are similar):

Monadic Media

Gary Lite

Film

Inner/Outer Worlds

In the end, all of these (and much, much more) seem to confirm the truths we find and experience in psychedelics. I hope they bring you comfort and happiness.

:)

-Don Bo Byuti

Nobody But I

G9D

u/[deleted] · 7 pointsr/collapse

For two podcasts in a row, KMO has had JMG on to talk about his new book, Not the Future We Ordered.

This sounds A LOT like Morris Berman's book Reenchantment of the World written in 1981. They even used the phrase "Reenchantment of the World in last week's podcast! (edit not sure who used this phrase, it was possibly James Howard Kunstler, who KMO says uses the phrase in this World Made By Hands* novels) They also talk about Gregory Bates's study, and how it relates to our culture (as did Morris Berman in his book!)

Morris Berman wrote this trilogy on human consciousness, and Reenchantment was the first book. The next two were Coming to Our Senses and Wandering God.

I wonder if JMG has read these books, and just doesn't give credit for taking the ideas and repacking them, with a bit of peak oil mixed in.

edit Morris Berman in his books cites influences extensively. I learned about many thinkers/writers just through Berman's books. Berman is reviewing all these past thinkers, and then adding his own original take on the situation. He isn't rewriting books from the past and claiming the ideas as his own.

u/dragfyre · 7 pointsr/bahai

Hey lampshade! Welcome, and thanks for the question.

A good place to start if you're looking for Baha'i books is the Baha'i Reference Library, which has a number of authoritative Baha'i texts. You can also find all of these for purchase at the Baha'i Bookstore online, and for free in e-book form.

The order you read them in kind of depends on your own background and what you're interested in, but a good place to start is with Bahá'u'lláh's Hidden Words, which is like a distillation of the spiritual teachings that lie at the core of all of the world's great religions.

If you have a strong mystical bent, you might want to follow that up with Bahá'u'lláh's Seven Valleys and Four Valleys, or Gems of Divine Mysteries. Both of these are essentially letters to individuals who had asked about certain spiritual truths, such as the path taken by a soul on its spiritual journey.

If you're really interested in Bahá'u'lláh's teachings on the evolution of religion throughout history, and His interpretation of past religious prophecies, you should definitely read the Book of Certitude, aka the Kitáb-i-Íqán. I've known a lot of people who've started learning about the Bahá'í Faith through this book; it really delivers some penetrating spiritual insights.

There are also more general introductory books about the Bahá'í Faith that are available. Two commonly recommended books for those interested in reading about the Bahá'í Faith are A Short History of the Bahá'í Faith by Peter Smith, and A Short Introduction to the Bahá'í Faith by Moojan Momen. If you want a very quick foretaste of both books, you can check out this combined review. Smith has also published a newer book, An Introduction to the Baha'i Faith, which you might want to consider as well.

u/orphan1256 · 7 pointsr/exjw

Bonnie Zeiman's books would be good to share with a therapist

https://www.amazon.com/Bonnie-Zieman/e/B00XROE7JG

Especially this one:

Cracking the Cult Code for Therapists: What Every Cult Victim Wants Their Therapist to Know

https://www.amazon.com/Cracking-Cult-Code-Therapists-Therapist/dp/1546894683/ref=asap_bc?ie=UTF8

u/Lord_Davo · 7 pointsr/freemasonry

https://www.amazon.com/Freemasons-Dummies-Christopher-Hodapp/dp/1118412087 is the best book about Freemasonry that I've ever read.

u/crua9 · 5 pointsr/freemasonry

> Freemasonry for Dummies

That

https://www.amazon.com/Freemasons-Dummies-Christopher-Hodapp/dp/1118412087/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1485737448&sr=8-1&keywords=Freemasonry+for+Dummies

I would also recommend that you check out some channels around this.


The Round Table

https://www.youtube.com/user/MasonicRoundtable

What is a mason

https://www.youtube.com/user/OneFreemason


There is a few others. But, I don't know any other active ones. I was going to make a channel on it, but not many people are looking for that type of content. So it's not profitable enough for the amount of time it would take to keep up a channel like that.

u/TheLurkerSpeaks · 5 pointsr/bahai

The Kitab-I-Aqdas means The Most Holy Book, but I don't think it's fair to equate it with being the Baha'i Bible or Qur'an. It is one of literally hundreds of books and tablets which comprise the Writings of Baha'u'llah, the Prophet-Founder of the Baha'i Faith, all of which are sacred, all of which are equivalent in importance to the Bible for Christians/Qur'an for Muslims. It's also not the best reading for someone completely new to the Faith, as it is speaking to a Baha'i audience who is asking for laws, some of which might not be understood out of context.

On top of that, the Baha'i Faith has the Writings of the Bab (the Prophet-Founder of the Bab'i Faith, Predecessor to the Baha'i Faith) and 'Abdu'l-Baha (son of Baha'u'llah, authorized interpreter of the Writings of Baha'u'llah) which are given nearly equivalent weight. That brings the total volume of sacred Writings of the Baha'is to several orders of magnitude greater than that of most any other world religion. It can be difficult to know where to start, and overwhelming when someone heaps book after book after book upon you. We're not even getting into Shoghi Effendi or the Universal House of Justice yet.

God Speaks Again by Kenneth Bowers is a great starting point for someone who knows nothing.

Baha'u'llah and the New Era by J.E.Esslemont was the starting point for decades before this.

The Hidden Words by Baha'u'llah is my choice for a first read of the Holy Writings.

The Kitab-I-Iqan/Book of Certitude by Baha'u'llah is much heavier reading, but is the core of Baha'i Theology, if you want to dive into the deep end.

Thief in the Night by William Sears is my starting point for people who are intimately familiar with Christianity and the Bible.

My advice is to start with only one book, then move to others. Have fun!

Edited for grammar

u/millennialfreemason · 5 pointsr/freemasonry

I would start by reading Freemasons for Dummies. It will give you some great background on the Fraternity. You can also check out The Complete Idiot's Guide to Freemasonry. Both have just been updated and in their second editions.

I have never personally experienced any derision for being a Mason but I know other Masons who have. At some point, it's impossible to debate those who have developed a Anti-Masonic stance.

u/gaunt79 · 3 pointsr/freemasonry

The Mason's Words: The History and Evolution of the American Masonic Ritual by Robert G. Davis is an excellent history. I really recommend not reading until after you're a Master Mason. A major part of the Degree experience is not knowing exactly what's going to happen next.

u/aggie1391 · 3 pointsr/Christianity

The way you write about this makes it seem like you haven't spent time around Torah Judaism and actually observant Jews. And its absolutely heartbreaking to see that a Jew is leaving our holy Torah for the lies that countless Jews have been slaughtered in the name of. I would highly encourage you to reach out to your local Chabad, and read up on the Jews for Judaism website. You should also check out Twenty Six Reasons Why Jews Don't Believe in Jesus. When you see true Torah Judaism, you will see far more in that than in the shallow lies of Christianity.

I grew up Christian, and thank G-d I found my way to Judaism. There are so many problems with Christian claims, and they don't in any way line up with what we learned from the prophets or from Torah. On its very face it says that G-d is a liar! G-d himself said in Torah that anyone who comes and does signs and wonders, and then tells Jews to leave abandon the observance of Torah is a false prophet. Was G-d lying when He gave us the Torah? If he wasn't, there's no way to say that Christianity is true, because Jesus is the exact definition of a false prophet.

Please, please, please, find someone to talk to about this. Connect to your Judaism and your Jewish ancestry, don't abandon thousands of years of tradition for a lie. Today is actually also Tisha b'Av, when we mourn for the lose of our Temples and other Jewish tragedies. The conversion of even one Jew is a tragedy and should be mourned today! In fact in many of our memorial prayers today, we mourn the conversion of Jews away from our Torah. Examine Torah Judaism, you will find it much different from the cultural Judaism that you know. It gives meaning and purpose to life.

u/hammiesink · 3 pointsr/DebateReligion

>As if character strings like "pure actuality" have an inherent meaning

That's why I've made a vow to stop using technical terminology, even clearly explained technical terminology. :)

>If that quote from Barker is all you got, then you've got hardly any evidence for your claim: He repeats the correct argument a few sentences later.

He claims that the original argument is that everything has a cause, and that philosophers have been busy trying to patch this up ever since. The opposite is true, in fact. The "everything has a cause" version is a modern distortion.

You don't have to look far to find plenty of examples like this. Here is another one. He thinks Aquinas is saying that the prime mover started the universe off in the past.

This level of distortion of an opposing viewpoint is a sign of ideology, not rational thought. The conclusion is already firmly in place, and now lets see whats wrong with the argument because we already know the conclusion is false. I put this into the box right along with the Disco 'Tute's distortions of evolution.

>Almost anyone seems vulnerable to misunderstanding

Sure. Craig makes all kinds of crap statements (defending genocide), which doesn't in the least affect his other arguments. In comparison, though, his discussions on cosmology are pretty accurate, and he even collaborated with the aforementioned Quentin Smith on a book on cosmology.. My point is not that infidels makes some mistakes here and there, but that much of their discussion of theistic arguments get the arguments wrong.







u/deirdresm · 3 pointsr/exmormon

Actually, I was thinking the first chapter of Marc Headley's Blown for Good where the Scn goons literally run him off the road. It's quite a first chapter.

u/OtisButtonwood · 3 pointsr/IAmA

You should check out the book Wandering God.
A nomadic lifestyle may lead to some sort of enlightenment.

u/fel21217 · 3 pointsr/satanism

https://www.amazon.com/Happy-Satanist-Finding-Self-Empowerment/dp/1501021737

this book might be helpful , the author was addicted to drug and she found her inner strength in satanism. i think you are going through some similar situation.

These are copied from her site: "When she met her future husband Uruk Black in 2010, she had given up on life after 15 years of addiction. She had tried for 9 years to get clean and sober in Narcotics Anonymous, but their God-based program actually made her use more, convincing her that she was powerless and that only God could step in and save her─except that she was an atheist with no belief in God.

No matter how many times she did the twelve steps, no matter how hard she tried to quit, the addiction returned, bringing more depression. She had finally resigned herself to a slow suicide with the drugs, hoping to withdraw far enough into isolation that she would minimize the damage to others.



But meeting Uruk changed everything. She fell passionately in love with him, and suddenly she had something to fight for. Starr picked up her husband’s Satanic Bible (by Anton LaVey), and found that the philosophy resonated strongly with her. It was this Satanic philosophy of self-reliance and self-empowerment that gave her the strength to eventually beat the drugs for good and build a new life with no room for addiction."

u/finnerpeace · 3 pointsr/religion

I would read SHORT but incisive texts from great religions or religious thinkers. Just one or two a day to start with.

I personally love The Hidden Words by Baha'u'llah, but there are many great interfaith collections as well. One nice one is God's Big Instruction Book, here used, which is actually many tiny delicious nuggets from different world Faiths.

I'd read one or two short interesting pieces, and meditate on them.

I think the spirit is quite easily reawakened and nourished! Also looking forward to seeing others' recommendations...

I also really like this prayer:

>O God! Refresh and gladden my spirit. Purify my heart. Illumine my powers. I lay all my affairs in Thy hand. Thou art my Guide and my Refuge. I will no longer be sorrowful and grieved; I will be a happy and joyful being. O God! I will no longer be full of anxiety, nor will I let trouble harass me. I will not dwell on the unpleasant things of life.

>O God! Thou art more friend to me than I am to myself. I dedicate myself to Thee, O Lord.

Here in musical form

There's also a really neat event called Soul Food that happens in several cities, with very uplifting and inspiring interfaith readings. Attending something like that might also be helpful: but really, I think short prayer, meditation, and reading are the best.

u/Gonegirl27 · 3 pointsr/exjw

Show your therapist the pdf on this website to help them understand what being in, and subsequently leaving, a high control religion does to people. Bonnie Zieman was once a pioneer who left the org and became a therapist and it's her site.

Oh... I see she has a brand new book specifically for therapists called Cracking the Cult Code. I'm giddy with excitement!

u/The_Devils_Concubine · 3 pointsr/satanism

Please read the sticky in this sub. Otherwise, many of the answers to the questions you're asking here can be found in books, so I'm going to recommend some:

  1. The Satanic Bible. If you're interested in Satanism, this is one of the best places to start. You'll probably find a lot of the answers you're seeking within its pages. It's a short read, might take you a day tops to get through it.

  2. The Invention of Satanism. This is an excellent academic text. It has no agenda outside of providing history on Satanism itself as a religion. It covers early origins of Satanism (aka devil worship), the romantic Satanists such as Milton and Blake, the beginnings of the Church of Satan and LaVey's origins, the Temple of Set, all the way on up to modern day with The Satanic Temple.

  3. Lords of the Left Hand Path This would be considered more advanced reading, as it delves into a general Left Hand Path philosophy rather than focusing just on Satanism. It's a dense book, but will go a long way to filling in the 'sacrifice, magic, evil' part of your post.
u/ConclusivePostscript · 3 pointsr/philosophy

I hope you’ll excuse me for thinking that I’m a better judge of my intended meanings (and the extent to which I manage to express them in language). After all, I have more experience of my own intentions, attempts at linguistic communication, and success and failures, than you do (having known myself for just a bit longer than you have). But nice try playing Freud or Skinner there.

If I’ve been getting the logic backwards, it’s because that’s how you presented it. You said, and I quote, that “religion is bogus [metaphysical claim] because it talks about things we have no experiential connection to (that’s an epistemological angle, not psychological).” At first you clearly based your metaphysical claim on your epistemological claim. But then you almost immediately went and reversed the logical priority, basing your epistemological claim on the very same metaphysical claim it was meant to support, saying that “no one will ever experience the elements, because they don’t exist.” Curiously, you added a parenthetical in which you expressed your original logical priority (metaphysical claim based on epistemological claim) negatively, saying, “there’s absolutely no reason to assume that something exists for which we have no epistemological connection to.” If you don’t want me to get the logic of your claims backwards, then don’t waffle back and forth so much, eh?

And no, I have not been speaking directly of religion/God, as that has not been my present interest (there you go again, Mr. Psychoanalyst). I’ve been speaking of the kind of prima facie warrant that religious experiences confer. These experiences do not give philosophers reason to assume theism. It gives them warrant to explore theism and debate theism. Examples of this can be found in volumes such as J.J.C. Smart and J.J. Haldane’s book, Atheism and Theism. We find a similar example in William Lane Craig and Quentin Smith’s exchange in Theism, Atheism, and Big Bang Cosmology.

See, the psychologist of religion asks, “What psychological mechanisms are involved in the production of religious belief?” Whereas the philosopher of religion asks, “What purported grounds are offered for religious belief? What is the logical status of these grounds?”

I would hardly call an interest in a philosopher an “obsession” (and there you go being dramatic again). I’m not interested exclusively in Kierkegaard, though he is a strong interest of mine. I’ve also read works by numerous thinkers spanning the history of philosophy: Thales, Xenophanes, Heraclitus, Parmenides, Democritus, Plato, Aristotle, Epictetus, Plotinus, Saadia, Augustine, Boethius, Avicenna, Anselm, al-Ghazali, Abelard, Averroës, Maimonides, Aquinas, Scotus, Ockham, the Conimbricenses, Poinsot, Hobbes, Descartes, Locke, Leibniz, Berkeley, Hume, Reid, Kant, Mill, Nietzsche, James, Peirce, Frege, Russell, Sartre, MacIntyre, Searle, Derrida, and many others. (If there are any you wish to seriously discuss, I’m more than happy.)

Yes, I can see outside the Kierkegaardian perspective (and if I couldn’t, I’d be a pretty poor Kierkegaardian, as his perspective requires serious engagement with numerous other perspectives, including Socratic, Hegelian, Kantian, and so on).

Please note that my use of Kierkegaard is not all positive. You should already know this, as I’ve mentioned before that I do not accept his negative attitude toward natural theology.

In any case, I’m sorry to see you feel that strong philosophical interests are a sign of sickness. Why are you even here, exactly?

u/skas182 · 3 pointsr/freemasonry

I seem to recall you being in the US somewhere. If so: https://www.amazon.com/Masons-Words-History-Evolution-American/dp/061585382X/

It's not that long of a read, and it can pretty easily be broken down.

u/Louis_Farizee · 2 pointsr/freemasonry

Freemasonry for Dummies was a huge help for me. Just skip the chapter on the degrees.

https://www.amazon.com/Freemasons-Dummies-Christopher-Hodapp/dp/1118412087

u/MedayekMan · 2 pointsr/DebateReligion

Nice work, however, you were beaten to the punch. https://www.amazon.com/Twenty-Six-Reasons-Jews-Believe-Jesus/dp/0977193705

u/Drexelhand · 2 pointsr/satanism

i remember offhand the happy satanist was mentioned in this sub before. haven't read it. know there are other tst members who've written stuff.

u/ryanrfrederick · 2 pointsr/freemasonry

I would take a look at Claudy's Entered Apprentice Manual after you're initiated and as you work on your proficiency. It gives a bit of a historical perspective on what you went through along with a bit of review of what's taught in the lectures.

I'd also recommend reading /u/chodapp 's book at your leisure along with the Idiot's Guide.

u/Spotted_Blewit · 2 pointsr/AskScienceDiscussion

>. Schrodinger didn’t think that a cat could be both alive and dead, he thought that the copanhagen interpretation was flawed.

Erwin Schroedinger was a mystic, who had a copy of The Upanishads in his bedside table, believed Atman is Brahman and wrote extensively on related subjects. He indeed thought the CI was flawed, but most people who point this out apparently have no idea what else he believed.

>The universe doesn’t give a fuck about your decisions

Schroedinger would not have agreed with you.

https://www.amazon.co.uk/Quantum-Questions-Mystical-Writings-Physicists/dp/1570627681

u/thehelsabot · 2 pointsr/Hypothyroidism

No need to appologize! We are all, ah, "a mess." It's the human condition. :) Also these mental health issues doctors love to slap on us are just clouds of symptoms they parcel out for treatment purposes. They are not what makes us, and they certainly aren't as separate from each other as we might think. Well let us look at the things you can change:

  • Exercise: You certainly need to move more. It will help your mental health and physical health. I also manage PTSD, depression, anxiety, and ADHD as well as hypothyroidism. Not working out makes everything ten times worse and makes me feel awful. It isn't a cure but it does help me center myself and can be a sort of active meditation. Without it, there is no outlet for my anxiety and my ADHD becomes so intense I cannot concentrate for the life of me. I have found getting a fitbit that reminds me to move every hour helps me get up and stretch during the work day. I have a desk job so I understand. If you are a college student, might your college have a rec center included with your tuition? I would look into it. If not, Planet Fitness is $10 a month, air conditioned, often open 24/7, and totally worth it. I go at night to avoid crowds and because my work schedule is pretty different than most. Even just walking for 30-45 minutes a day you will feel better.

  • Diet: Carbs are fine, they are just calorie dense. A weight loss diet is based on calories in vs calories out, and your body doesn't care too much where they are from. Getting an app that helps you count calories is great. For example, I am 5'2" and without activity my baseline calorie need is about 1400-1500 calories. To lose weight, I have to eat at a deficit and eat about 1100-1200 calories a day. When I work out I can add another 100-150 calories or so. Your doctor can help calculate what deficit you should be eating at. If your thyroid is under treated, it will take a higher deficit. The closer you get to your target weight the harder it will be. I am bout 10 lbs from my target so it's exceptionally hard for me to get there right now >_>.

  • Medication: this takes forever to get right. I am sorry to hear metaformin did this to you. I know a lot of women that it helped with their PCOS and when/if you ever want children it might help you overcome fertility issues and be worth the side effects. Certainly it is not for every day with you if it gives you digestive issues. Also, what is your current thyroid treatment getting your levels to? Are you sure you are in the right range for you?

  • Mindfulness: Just throwing this out here, but there is scientific, practice based evidence that mindfulness meditation helps people suffering from depression, anxiety, and ADHD manage their symptoms. Doing guided meditations may seem frustrating at first, but if you stick with it it could help you. It is certainly a good self care practice. Simply taking time for you and your needs every day is well worth it.

  • Therapy. A good course of CBT or DBT therapy administered by a professional can help you restructure your current thinking pattern into a more productive, less self defeating pattern. If you want to try a work book first, there are many on amazon. It is something you need to be consistent with, however, and decide you want to try. If you are reluctant at all to try therapy it will not work. I found myself in a bad place, and at a breaking point I made the decision to put my ego aside and get help. There is a stigma in this country/society that really should not exist. A lot of depression and anxiety can be managed better by therapy, but people would rather just turn to a pill. However, a pill does nothing to treat our self destructive thinking patterns and medicine is not advanced enough to really have the answers. Good treatment often requires you to do the work (but the drugs can help you while you do that work) and challenge yourself. A good therapist is worth their weight in gold.
u/jason_mitchell · 2 pointsr/freemasonry

> So different US jurisdictions wear aprons differently to identify what degree a mason is?

Yes. There's probably a very interesting historical point to be made on how variations in American Masonry were introduced into it by the arguments and antagonisms over Who Had Pure Webb Work...

...but...

I prefer to think we introduced the variations just to upset confound the English ;)

EDIT: Link, spelling, formatting.

u/smackababy · 2 pointsr/satanism

If you're more into LeVeyan Satanism, The Church of Satan and the Satanic Temple maintain suggested reading lists.

I personally have been reading The Devil's Party which approaches Satanism from an outside academic stance, and it's been rather interesting.

u/Dark_Knight7096 · 2 pointsr/freemasonry

Best place for you to look at would be the Lodge he was a member of. They'd likely be able to tell you a TON of information about him and there may be people there that were friends with him that could tell you tons of stories.

32nd degree means he was a member of the Scottish Rite and attained that degree within that body. Scottish Rite is an appendant body, you have to be a 3rd Degree Master Mason to join it. 3rd Degree is the highest degree, all the other degrees just "branch out" so to speak. I'd recommend hitting up a local Barnes & Noble or book store and check out this book Freemasonry for Dummies written by Bro Chris Hodapp, or if you want you can buy it. It's got a lot of great info, more than we could probably address here.

u/Thevents · 2 pointsr/atheism

That's weird - many of the greatest physicists somehow managed to somehow think about religion. Its almost like Dawkins is presenting an over-simplified perspective and some people are blindly following it without thinking about it.

http://www.amazon.com/Quantum-Questions-Mystical-Writings-Physicists/dp/1570627681/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1346332354&sr=8-1&keywords=physicists+mysticism

u/dksprocket · 2 pointsr/todayilearned

Heisenberg, Shrödinger, Einstein, de Brogli, Jeans, Planck, Pauli and Eddington all wrote about their thoughts on how science relates to religion and mysticism. ^source

u/Ridley200 · 2 pointsr/freemasonry

Any one of these books should ameliorate your fears.

Failing that, he really can tell you everything you want to know about what he's been through/doing apart from the secrets, which are just a couple of words and salutes.

u/tybaltknight · 2 pointsr/AMA

I wouldn't recommend that book. If you'd like a factual, well-researched look at the masonic significance of the District, I'd recommend Solomon's Builders by Chris Hodapp (who also wrote Freemasons for Dummies). I can't comment on the DVD, since the link was broken.

u/coldcraft · 1 pointr/freemasonry

The bit about having your partner's support says a bit more about the last question you had. The lodge wants to make sure that you joining isn't going to cause undue strain on your family. That includes the financial aspect of paying dues as well as being out of the house an evening or two a month (or much more if you choose to be more involved).

If you were joining without concerning your SO's opinion, I'd vote against you. We're interested in making good men better and a man who chooses not to care about the thoughts and feelings of those most close to him isn't ready for Masonry.

Don't let Freemasonry cause problems in your personal or professional life. I've told my lodge brothers that I can't take a chair in the lodge because I end up working after-hours too often and I'm at the point in my career where going the extra mile makes a big difference. I've also told them that I just want to spend some quality time with my fiance. Every single time, my brothers are very understanding.

Truth be told, little to nothing that we keep secret has remained a secret. There have been books published "exposing the masons" for about as long as we've been around. Should you choose to join, you'll better understand the 'secrecy' aspect of our order, but it's not like we've got the lotto numbers or Hoffa's body or something lol. Having said that, I'd encourage strongly that you don't seek out those 'secret teachings' if you do intend to join at some point in your life. The history of initiatic tradition deals so heavily with the aspect of shared experience that trying to get a head-start is nothing but detrimental.

I hope we haven't scared you away too much haha. If you want to take more time to dwell on it, Freemasons for Dummies by /u/chodapp is a fantastic book that answers the most common questions people have about us from the outside. Again, if you think you'll join someday, take the author's advice and skip sections as advised.

Please feel free to reach out if you have any more questions or if we can help!

u/bunker_man · 1 pointr/Christianity

I can actually. Here is a book full of all of the things the fathers of quantum mechanics or einstein said about religion. What he said is that it shows is a kind of universal order that is interconnected in the way we think of the inside of people as interconnected, and so you can consider this order like the soul of the world in the way people have one. And that plato seems to have won out over democritus, since the things within reality function more like abstractions, and since they have to make sense in terms of the system it makes sense to think of things in reality like the thoughts of god.

He was himself somewhat religious, but he admitted that what he means by god in this context isn't something that there's much reason to definitively see as the god "of religion." Just something that implies order within the universe in general.

u/justgohomealready · 1 pointr/Psychonaut

Quantum Questions is also a great book. It shows that all physicists involved in the discovery of quantum physics and relativity, including Albert Einstein, Werner Heisenberg, and Max Planck among others, were all deeply mystic and had a lot of doubts about life and consciousness.

u/yiedyie · 1 pointr/ranprieur

Ran said:
> It's a fun metaphor, but to buy into it I'd have to see examples of how the old myths had symbiotic interconnections like species in an ecology, and how the new myths don't.

I will try to expand more and make the parallels further, symbiosis makes sure that not only there will be organisms that will be better adapted for its niche but that they can approach tougher niches, this way different organism fill as much as possible of the living-space.
 
 

Compare that what the organism of a mono-crop becomes: a product, and a product means that his life purpose is to get the attention of the buyer and be consumed as fast as possible.
 
 

If we take a simpler definition that for organisms symbiosis is a mutual improvement in life. For an ecological Mythos(world of myth) we would have a kind of synergy(symbiosis) that improves in meaning for each other.
 
 

From my experience with folklore, Hindu and budhist myths, ortodox christian myths I have a gut feeling that myths improve each other inside these traditions and myths don't get obsolete but just enhanced. Even with that experience I don't have the erudition nor the space to expand this with examples and an exposition.
Keeping the ecological metaphor is harder to see how well was a place ecology until that place is destroyed.
Since is harder to show this synergy(symbiosis) with older myths I will try to appeal to your experience with the modern incarnations of myths: the meme and the mono-myth.
 
 

The meme has the same shelf-life like any product and it competes for immediate attention, it is a modern myth by many arguments and in even in theory and in practice they are found to be selfish and replicate at the detriment of other memes or the bigger picture.
 
 

More reading on mono-myth critique, an ecology of myths and integral(hollistic) "mythos":
 
 

Giambattista Vico (1668—1744)

Wandering God: Morris Berman

Communities of the Heart: The Rhetoric of Myth in the Fiction of Ursula K Le Guin
 
 

u/DaGanLan · 1 pointr/Christianity

Sounds like you may have a pretty severe case of depression. I notice someone else asked if you were seeing a therapist and you said you can't afford it. If you could figure out a way to do it I think it would really help. But if you can't then maybe you could get a book on "Cognitive Behavioral Therapy" (CBT). This book can help you retrain your negative thought patterns. I participated in a group CBT and it really helped me a lot. Then maybe as you go through the book you could discuss some of the things you've learned here on r/Christianity. OR... you would be welcome to PM me with your thoughts and questions!

u/FriarZero · 1 pointr/satanism

According to the 2016 book "The Invention of Satanism", Satanism is the only "new religion" that is more male than female. In fact the large majority of Satanists are said, by the same book, to be young males.

I can't speak to the racial makeup of the Satanist demographic but I do have my own pet theories.

u/akward_tension · 1 pointr/ParisComments



comment content: Ditto for the Hidden Words. One of the best books to get a brief, yet potent idea of the profound spiritual truths that underlie not only the Bahá'í Faith, but all of the divine religions. Gleanings is the next level up IMO; it's a collection of longer passages that dive much deeper into Bahá'u'lláh's Writings. As well, I find 'Abdu'l-Bahá's Paris Talks give a good introduction to a variety of key Bahá'í principles.

Regarding introductory books about the Bahá'í Faith, as opposed to Scripture: A few commonly recommended books are A Short History of the Bahá'í Faith by Peter Smith, A Short Introduction to the Bahá'í Faith by Moojan Momen, and The Bahá'í Faith: The Emerging Global Religion by Douglas Martin and William Hatcher. Smith also published a newer, updated book, An Introduction to the Baha'i Faith.

subreddit: bahai

submission title: Recommended book in Amazon?

redditor: dragfyre

comment permalink: https://www.reddit.com/r/bahai/comments/5vvad2/recommended_book_in_amazon/de62dud

u/ziddina · 1 pointr/exjw

Maybe at this thread: https://www.reddit.com/r/exjw/comments/97ylw8/jehovahs_witnesses_are_a_cult/

This link?

Darn it, the 'Bonnie Zieman' link didn't load. Let me try her website.

[edit] This might be it, but one has to buy the book to get all of the information:

https://www.amazon.com/Cracking-Cult-Code-Therapists-Therapist/dp/1546894683/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1498315702&sr=1-1&keywords=cracking+the+cult+code

Yeah, this has disappeared from Bonnie Zieman's website:

>If you prefer, you can still download my free two-page document which briefly outlines typical cult dynamics and after-effects. You can find it under the tab “For Therapists” on this website.

However here are the results of my Reddit search "therapist cult". Perhaps this will help:

https://www.reddit.com/r/exjw/search?q=therapist+cult&restrict_sr=on

u/ClydeFroggg · 1 pointr/religion

http://www.amazon.com/The-Hidden-Words-Bahaullah/dp/193184707X

And

http://www.amazon.com/The-Story-Bahaullah-Promised-Religions/dp/1931847134/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1414069042&sr=8-1&keywords=baha%27u%27llah

?

I'm very unfamiliar with Baha'i so that would be cool to read up on it. Will these texts be a harder read without any knowledge of Baha'i or should I start somewhere else?

u/Ibrey · 1 pointr/Catholicism

> I went to church for over 15 years. I know.

What, from infancy to age 15? I was mistaken, then. I'm sure you had life figured out at that point. No doubt you did have many illuminating conversations as a child with older church members about their personal doubts.

> Besides, that's anecdotal evidence which is just completely outweighed by statistical evidence. Statistically, the things I said are true.

No, statistical evidence that addresses the question directly backs me up against your self-serving guess. But you shouldn't need that evidence; there is no excuse for believing "Most [white evangelical Christians in the United States] just take what they were shown from birth and never truly question it" in the first place.

> Atheists are better educated as a group.

Who cares? You're pitting a minuscule group against almost the entire population. According to the Gallup Index of Leading Religious Indicators, 88% of those with postgraduate degrees believe in God or a universal spirit, and they are just as likely to attend church as people with less education. Since about 8% of adults have master's degrees, and only 1.6% of adults are atheists, there are more theists with master's degrees than there are atheists altogether.

> I'm sure they questioned it about as much as North Koreans questioned whether or not Kim Il Sung was actually a god or whether Kim Jong Il actually shot a round of 18 with 18 holes in one.

No doubt, they told you so themselves.

> That those people exist at all in any significant number.

How many did he say there are again?

> Again, that they exist at all. Science is a philosophy. It operates much the same way in terms of logical thinking. Why do you think it's called a "PhD?" The Ph stands for philosophy. And the fact that scientists and philosophers as a group tend to be atheist makes that statement pretty fucking ridiculous. He said it like perhaps if they had specific training in the field they'd have a different opinion. What nonsense. There's nothing about philosophy that makes one tend to be more theist, in fact it's the opposite.

Just because Stephen Hawking knows a lot about physics—which wouldn't normally be considered a branch of philosophy in modern times—doesn't mean he knows anything about metaphysics, which I think is closer to what /u/GeneralAsthar had in mind when he used the word. And even if professional philosophers agree with Hawking's conclusion about the existence of God, they can still agree that Hawking doesn't know anything about philosophy—it was the atheist philosopher Quentin Smith who, in his book chapter "The Wave Function of a Godless Universe", described a passage in A Brief History of Time as "the worst atheistic argument in the history of Western thought." (Granted, that was before The God Delusion came out.) Both philosophy and science are not just about rushing to correct conclusions, but about establishing that they are correct by sound methods.

> Moreover, what percentage of believers are philosophers or extensively studied philosophy?

Who cares? Most atheists are not experts in philosophy, history, comparative religion, cosmology, or biology, but that does not mean the opinions of those who are experts can be dismissed. If you don't want to engage with the most intelligent and informed proponents of theism, then don't say "theists" when what you mean is "theists who are not philosophers."

> Besides, disbelief is the natural reaction to have when faced with a concept with has absolutely no evidence for it. No one goes around believing in the 5000+ different gods that have existed throughout human history/pre-history. The default state is, or rather should be, to disbelieve. Why do you need philosophy training for that?

I don't see where anyone has said that anybody without training in philosophy is obliged to be a theist, but when and if this strawman does appear in the flesh, we can give a hearing to their argument.

u/kingsford54 · 1 pointr/Jewish

Twenty-Six Reasons Why Jews Don't Believe In Jesus https://www.amazon.com/dp/0977193705/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_tai_SFU9ybAX79S38

u/merikus · 1 pointr/freemasonry

I would like to suggest Kirk White's Operative Freemasonry. The book is "a manual on the art and practice of Freemasonry. By providing detailed information and advice often overlooked or forgotten on how Freemasonry 'works,' this book explores how the fraternity can actually 'make good men better' and keep them active in our lodges and chapters." (http://www.amazon.com/Operative-Freemasonry-Restoring-Vitality-Fraternity/dp/0615617158#)

Kirk is currently a District Deputy Grand Master in the Grand Lodge of Vermont, Past Most Excellent Grand High Priest of the Grand Chapter of Royal Arch Masons of Vermont, has served as Illustrious Grand Lecturer for the Grand Council of Royal and Select Masters of Vermont.

Full disclosure, he is a friend of mine. But I would suggest his book (and in person lectures) even without knowing him. He is incredibly well read and knows a great deal about the ritual and history of our fraternity.

u/captainpussybeard · 1 pointr/freemasonry

Also just read this while at work, and then proceeded to browse his website. I think he has a good insight into certain areas where the craft has lessons and his writing style may appeal to a generation that needs literature to be presented in a different fashion.

My brother and I started a book club at our Lodge (there were 3 of us including ourselves for a first meeting) to encourage some change. We just read Old Tyler Talks, and are working on Operative Freemasonry: A Manual for Restoring Light and Vitality to the Fraternity. I may have to suggest some of these articles as a way for some younger (I'm 29 and feel old) guys that are coming in to make them feel comfortable.

Thanks for the find!

u/not-moses · 1 pointr/cultsurvivors

Find a licensed, professional psychologist who knows...

  1. who Bonnie Zeiman, Madeleine Tobias and Janja Lalich are,

  2. what Complex PTSD is, and

  3. who most of the people are who are listed in the very first paragraph of this earlier post.

    Section seven of that earlier post will help you find the professional help you need.

    See also:

    Can People truly Recover from Cult Indoctrination and Manipulation?
    and

    Treating Cultism as an Addiction.
u/tinewashere · 1 pointr/GetStudying

i think discipline alone is a bad idea to add onto depression - you need to adresse the depressive thoughts in the first place, not just repress them so you can get work done. otherwise you risk burning yourself out. depression sucks the energy out of you - discipline will suck even more energy out of you, and you will be stuck in an endless loop of trying to be disciplined, failing because your depression takes over when you burn out and then trying again. you need to adress the depression head on. look into CBT self-help - this and this book have good reviews. by learning to restructure your negative thoughts, your behaviours will change. you will be able to control yourself more, and thus also study more, if that's what you want to. ultimately it takes work though.

u/sirbeast · 1 pointr/AskReddit

agreed...

part of what's interesting about it is, though, is that's it's been around for a few centuries... and from my own experience - not without reason.

BTW - if you (unlikely) can't find a Masonic Temple near you, check out Freemasons for DUMMIES at your local library

(always been a fan of all the FOR DUMMIES series, BTW, regardless of the topic)

u/notvonweinertonne · 1 pointr/satanism

Warning i have not read it but was suggested by another member here.

The Invention of Satanism https://www.amazon.com/dp/0195181107/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_apa_ErbGzbM363KZK

u/Dionysus_666 · 1 pointr/satanism

Regarding Stanisław Przybyszewski:

'Przybyszewski was indeed very close to exercising an lifestyle that could be symbolic of what some might see as religious. However, it was more so a worldview:
'In her doctoral dissertation, Justyna Drozdek (using Jan Cavanaugh for support) plainly states: 'Przybyszewski's interest in "Satanism" was not indicative of a religious doctrine' (Drozdek 2008:110).
'This is, however, an oversimplification based on a narrow definition of the term 'religion'. No he did not--to the best of our knowledge--celebrate black masses on Sundays or say prayers to the Devil before going to bed, nor did he found a satanic church. But he did have a fairly well-developed world view with metaphysical dimensions, where Satan was the most important symbolic figure.'
....
'Stanislaw Przybyszewski formulated what is likely the first attempt ever to construct a more or less sstematic Satanism. Unlike that of other literary praisers of Satan, his love for the fallen angel was sustained through many works. It was also explicit and open; he publicly declared himself a Satanist. Above all, and this needs to be stressed as it is a major difference in comparison with other literary Satanists, it was well-developed enough to be called a system. In the history of Satanism, Przybyszewski must therefore be considered a pioneer, and perhaps, in a strict sense, even 'the first' Satanist'.'
From: 'The Devil's Party: Satanism in Modernity (https://www.amazon.com/Devils-Party-Satanism-Modernity/dp/0199779244/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1480103092&sr=8-1&keywords=the+devil%27s+party)
-------------
So what we have here is a man whose literary focus on Satanism was so profound that he took it upon himself to openly identify with this worldview.
While this can be said of many others in their artistic and expressive fields that, as scholars have stated in the quotes above, can definitely qualify as a system, but to the certainty of it being considered a religion in and of itself would be unclear.
Certainly he could have very well acted religiously on it. However, doubt is present where he considered his open declaration as 'Satanist' one attached to a religion that was put in place; with the name 'Satanism' and its members calling themselves 'Satanists'.
In my research of him, I haven't found a single ritual or ceremony that he practiced or put into a doctrine for others to practice.

So, we still have to go with LaVey as the first person to establish a religion called Satanism and set up a system inclusive of all the elements of a religion (both philosophy and ceremony/dogma), since the evidence for him here is so explicitly compelling and reference-reinforced.

When you say that LaVey wasn't the first one to use the term Satanism or call himself a Satanist, you're right. But the argument here isn't about the existence of the word Satanism or Satanist, it's whether or not there was an actual, codified religion called Satanism. And history and research shows that LaVey was the first to set up a religion by that name.
But others were damn close.

Also, if you are to reference someone like Przybyszewski with the implication of scholarly research, don't say something like 'no matter what Gilmore-asskissing, groveling worms who would do anything for attention from their masters say'. That's not relevant to Przybyszewski's words nor his position and just makes you look petty and immature.

u/lie4karma · 1 pointr/casualiama

Sorry? I think you are mistaken sir. The only official secrets we have are our modes of recognition. Everything else more than fair to be shared. It makes me wonder if you are in fact a mason, and if you are, if you bothered to open up the copy of the constitution they handed you as soon as you finished your first degree.

Have you never wondered why lodges have entire WEBSITES set up explaining the things I am? How authors like these are still members:

http://www.amazon.ca/Freemasons-For-Dummies-Christopher-Hodapp/dp/1118412087

You should apologize to me for that comment. Or even better, how about we place a wager? We both put $1000.00 In an escrow account. When I get home tonight, Ill post my certificate(s) as well as the relevant passages in our constitution. If I check out your $1000.00 goes to a charity of my choice. If I don't, my money will go to you or your charity?


But before you take my bet I would advise you to take a look around:

http://www.askafreemason.org/topten/

Here is right from the grand lodge of Albertas website:

http://www.freemasons.ab.ca/primary/index.php?option=com_content&view=category&layout=blog&id=31&Itemid=290


Why is Freemasonry so “secretive”?

It really isn’t “secretive,” although it sometimes has that reputation. Freemasons certainly don’t make a secret of the fact that they are members of the fraternity. We wear rings, lapel pins and tie tacks with Masonic emblems like the Square and Compasses, the best known of Masonic signs which, logically, recalls the fraternity’s roots in stonemasonry. Masonic buildings are clearly marked, and are usually listed in the phone book. Lodge activities are not secret picnics and other events are even listed in the newspapers, especially in smaller towns. Many lodges have answering machines which give the upcoming lodge activities. But there are some Masonic secrets, and they fall into two categories.

The first are the ways in which a man can identify himself as a Mason — grips and passwords. We keep those private for obvious reasons. It is not at all unknown for unscrupulous people to try to pass themselves off as Masons in order to get assistance under false pretenses.

The second group is harder to describe, but they are the ones Masons usually mean if we talk about “Masonic secrets.” They are secrets because they literally can’t be talked about, can’t be put into words. They are the changes that happen to a man when he really accepts responsibility for his own life and, at the same time, truly decides that his real happiness is in helping others.

It’s a wonderful feeling, but it’s something you simply can’t explain to another person. That’s why we sometimes say that Masonic secrets cannot ( rather than “may not”) be told. Try telling someone exactly what you feel when you see a beautiful sunset, or when you hear music, like the national anthem, which suddenly stirs old memories, and you’ll understand what we mean.

“Secret societies” became very popular in North America in the late 1800s and early 1900s. There were literally hundreds of them, and most people belonged to two or three. Many of them were modeled on Masonry, and made a great point of having many “secrets.” And Freemasonry got ranked with them. But if Freemasonry is a secret society, it’s the worst-kept secret in town.

It is literally word for word what I said in my AMAA, ONLY OUR MODES OF RECOGNITION. You should be careful pretending to know about something you clearly dont. Every once and a while someone might show up and make you look foolish.

u/JKwingsfan · 1 pointr/neoliberal

> Life began because of a creator. That creator needs a creator

I'm not making that argument. I'm also purposely trying to limit the scope of the discussion for the sake of clarity/simplicity, but you seem determined to overcomplicate things.

I'm focused on two things:

(1) The concept of eternal/uncaused existence is not logically incoherent, however, we know (through evidence) that this is not the case for our universe.

(2) It's possible to formulate a rule whereby one things requires a cause/explanation, but the thing which causes or explains it does not (and in, fact may be a logical necessity).

Note that even taken together, this still falls well short of establishing the existence of god.

The rest goes beyond what I have any interest in proving or defending. If you want to explore this in greater depth, here's a book on it.

u/IgnatiousReilly · 1 pointr/reddit.com

On an up note, notice the Tags Customers Associate with This Product

"cult(463) fraud(430) junk science(369) avoid at all costs(348) evil(345) insane(334) crazy(327) snake oil(313) quackery(203) scientology(148) dangerous(104)"

u/deadlyFlan · 0 pointsr/satanism

Sounds like you're looking for The Happy Satanist by Lilith Starr.

u/xThistle · 0 pointsr/freemasonry

It really depends on what aspects interest you the most. Arturo de Hoyos has a good suggested reading list here or you might consider taking the Master Craftsman 3 course. It utilizes Albert Pike's Esoterika which was personally one of the most eye opening books on Craft Masonry I have read.

ETA: Hodapp's Freemasons For Dummies is a good read for new Brothers as well.

u/Spiritwalke · -1 pointsr/DebateReligion

Yup, QM is supernatural. You shouldn't be surprised, given the mystical writings of its founders. What an age to be alive! 😮

https://www.amazon.com/Quantum-Questions-Mystical-Writings-Physicists/dp/1570627681

By veridical I mean verified.

u/Alanzos_Blog · -1 pointsr/scientology

If you picture Jon Atack in priestly robes, standing at an altar, preaching with his arms waving in the air at a Big Tent Anti-Scientology Hootenanny, you will have an accurate picture of who he really is.

He is not a legitimate critic of Scientology because he is not capable of telling the truth about it.

What is the truth about Scientology?

BOTH the good and the bad.

Jon Atack can only preach the bad. He is not capable of presenting the good.

His book, where it sticks to the facts, is very valuable for a person just getting out of the Church. It gives you vital information that they withheld from you as a Scientologist.

But beyond that, his preaching about Scientology leads to a dead end if you never move beyond it and start thinking for yourself again.

Jon Atack's preaching on Tony Ortega's blog is not valuable for anyone seeking to live with the truth about Scientology.

Alanzo

u/Isilderp · -2 pointsr/pics
u/dougb · -2 pointsr/Libertarian

Lots more facts here son. Knock yourself out.