Does or has your religion ever prevented you from something you wanted?

I have learnt something about Judaism today and I thank you for this information. I have heard about Sabbath, but I never knew or understood what it stood for till today. As you have rightly mentioned we all break some rules which are written in our holy books. These books were written thousands of years ago, when the times as well as cultures were different, so it is not possible to follow the same in the present days. Let it be Gita (which is our holy book), Bible or Koran.

Hello Ram, I am glad that you enjoyed my comments and found them informative. I also thank you for yours. Hello Mommy, I cannot clean on the Sabbath except to do things like wash the dishes that I use for meals. It is fine to read or study though as long as you remember not to take notes. I usually leave the CD player on with no CDs in it so that I can listen to music without turning it on on the Sabbath. You really are not supposed to turn on electric stuff, but most Jews do. You can play non electric musical instruments too. I have always played percussion. Why would G'd wonder at our following these commandments? They are His. They were His idea. We are not berated if we do not follow them. No one knows except us. It is a mitzvah, a good thing, to follow them. We do not consider it a sin to not follow them. It may be a human failing, but then we are human aren't we. We save the worry of sin for the big stuff like gossip which is partial murder~the stealing of part of a person's identity or soul. Full murder, rape, incest, theft of property or identity. These are sins. Not slipping up on the Sabbath rules. Shalom

Thank you for the beautiful overview! I didn't know all of this - I did know that there were more than just the 10 commandments and I did know that you are not allowed to do certain things on the Sabbath but I didn't realize it was Saturday and not Sunday. I guess you really are not able to do anything... can you watch tv or read? Are you allowed to clean or is that considered 'working'? I clean in a maintenance way, meaning most of the time I take care of whatever mess happened right away. If I didn't do this, then it would be that much harder LATER, plus I'd have to look at the mess and it would drive me nuts. I do have a few questions for you though. Why are these all still practiced today? Don't you think God would wonder too? I doubt I could ever go even part of an hour without 'creating something', I have kids, I could never 'not carry money', although there are times when I obviously do not spend money lol. I suppose if you love something enough and it is important to you, then it would be just a small irritation. I don't think I would survive one week lol. I don't even like being berated for things in normal circumstances, in other words I do not stack the deck against me or start behind the pack in terms of anything if I can help it. The less chances I have to make mistakes the better, otherwise what a terrible example I'd make of myself to the kids.

You're right... but perhaps it's because your religion hasn't forced you to make a choice between a rock and a hard place. That's good, with all the stuff I've been reading about islam lately, and knowing how some people in slightly less strict religions are still chafing at the restraints, it's nice to know that some people aren't having to live that way.

Also, "the truth shall make you free"

Worse than Catholic where I was not permitted to partake of the communion service because I was not... I was a Mennonite GOD forbid, any organized religion to cause such harm as I have suffered because the man that created my suffering the lying detective was also a member of the Mennonite community... Now how does that happen? Brother against Brother Mathew 18:15 Consider what I would have sown in heaven and also removed from Earth...

Good thing you used the idea of stealing from a bank and competitively a loaf of bread instead of millions of dollars contributed into a fund for savings encouraged to be participated in by the Federal Government where we get a tax differed benefit that permits other people to abscond with our hard earned savings that we can no longer direct as per our own wishes. The idea of investing in the stock market was to allow businesses to develop and mature, instead we all are losing out unless we are of the elite group that is permitted to get away with criminal activities. Which is worse? The Bank Robber who robs the bank or the White Collar thief that steals the wealth of every investor?

I am with you in more ways than one... In fact there are certainly more people that should be doing time...

I love, love pizza so it is hard but not too hard.There is no difference between a Jew who was born jewish and Jews who new Jews who converted. As long as you obey the laws, the commandments and keep up at least some of the traditions , you are Jewish. like Christianity, there are different detonations,. There is Orthodox, Conservative and Reform. Orthodox, obey the rules to the letter.To them I may not be All Jewish. Conservatives are not as strict. And Reform , which I am are the most liberal when it comes to the rules. But we all are Jewish.

Ah! When you choose to do something like that because it means something or matters to you - and 9 days out of a whole year doesn't seem too bad to me - it's really a personal choice. I think there's nothing wrong with that unless you are actually SUFFERING without pizza and someone is forcing you to adhere to that against your will lol. I don't blame you for just picking and choosing that one period of time that matters. I am not Jewish, I do know that some people can convert but aren't there still differences from people who are born Jewish and those who convert?

So you are Hindu but open to other religions or ways of thinking? Too bad everybody isn't that open. You are a rare user, nice to see someone who is accepting.

yes, I am kinda open to it but I can only make friendship with them. When it comes to marriage, I don't think I will choose other than my religion's girl.

I feel for you, but this was the wrong reason to leave the church. You should have insisted and told them that a woman was taken out of the man's rib, not from his head to rule over him, and not from his foot that she should be his slave, but she be an equality partner and companion. Did your Church not talk to your husband? Or send him to a psychatrist? It's not normal for a man to be abusive in such an intimate relationship. But, the most important thing is to rejoin your church. Why should people take you away from God. You have a personal relation with Him, which should give NOBODY the power to drive you away from. Relgion is not flawed, people are.

jhayat - how can a reason a person has for a decision they make possibly be wrong? I agree with you completely that men and women are equal and that we should not be stomped on or dominated. I also agree that people are flawed - but RELIGION was created as a man-made entity. Therefore religion IS flawed - people have made the rules of it. PEOPLE try to enforce those rules. As such it has become a major mess. Nobody can tell me any of those peoples' opinions or views matters MORE than mine for MY life lol. They might say theirs does because they are a pastor or minister or the POPE, but that doesn't make it matter more nor make it true. I also do not think that PEOPLE should drive anybody away from a personal relationship with God, but that to me has nothing to do with religion, and it has nothing to do with belonging to a church, following any rules, or anything of that nature.

Yep, I don't like the fear concept either. I absolutely LOVE how religious people try to instill fear in me. I'm not afraid of anything they could try to toss at me, and most of all, I am not afraid of THEM either. They are simply humans, just like me. What I can do is choose to walk away from them and never see them again if they don't shut up. What makes sense about being in fear of something that may or may not exist? Without proof, there is no reasonable need to fear, worry, or even be the tiniest bit concerned.

So the benefit to you of being Jewish outweighs the consequences and losing out on things you want to do? I know I could not fathom that nor live my life that way but if you are happy, that's how it should be. I'm sure there are many practicing Jews like you, there seems to be a lot of pride in Jewish heritage and culture. I do know that some take it more seriously than others, but I believe most people are born into it, correct? I think some people can convert but that isn't the norm, is it?

Yep, I was raised that way too which should explain why I lean so far the other way now. I don't think that brainwashing is fair, and it's one reason why I fail to understand people who 'find religion' or people who baptize their kids even if they aren't religious or people who 'go to church' for the social reasons. I don't think anybody should be baptized unless THEY want to be (which brings into account age of consent or at least age of knowledge) and as far as social reasons, I can think of much more FUN things than church lol. I'm not an evil person either. I simply know what I'll put up with and what I won't, and there's no two ways about that.

That is why I am not religious too - I believe that if someone wants to have a personal relationship with God - whomever 'God' is to you - that is a good thing. I guess I might compare it to a relationship with a spouse perhaps, where you both try to do things in the best interest of the other, encourage each other's dreams and goals, support each other even if you don't necessarily LIKE everything the other person is into. I can certainly tell you though, I don't go about telling everybody - hey, my relationship is the coolest and you should get involved in it too lol. That's why someone's relationship with God is personal and should remain that way. I feel the church has misinterpreted many things as well as held onto old things that have no place in today's world. Again, this is of course my OPINION, I don't claim it to be right, just as I see things.

LOL! See, I figure if God is really that hate mongering rule spewing judgemental 'person' that so many religious fanatics subscribe to, then he will pop out of nowhere and split me in two with an axe and therefore take me from this earth before I am ready to leave! As you can see, I'm making a joke so I really think there is a .000000002 percent chance of anything of that nature happening. To me or anybody. Hypocrisy is truly the biggest issue, isn't it? That whole 'I am right and since your view is different, it MUST mean you're wrong'. That's pretty rampant here at mylot too, regardless of the topic.

Actually having been Christian at a point in my life, I didn't see much 'freedom' to it at all. I saw many hypocrites and people acting in ways I would not act, even if I were PAID. I also have this issue against keeping company like that, so that spelled the end of my involvement. I know that sounds a little like throwing the baby out with the bathwater but you know what.... I just don't like the idea of religion. I don't like the idea of having to show outward signs to OTHER PEOPLE that you can or do follow a list of rules, especially when the majority of them didn't make any sense whatsoever to me. Why should any of us care what any other people think anyway? LOL! I don't need to be accepted nor approved of by other people, just myself. Sometimes everybody around me accepts or approves of me, which is cool, it just makes my life easier, but it doesn't mean anything special, it doesn't change anything integral about me. It doesn't make me more right or more wrong in that moment just because. I do believe in personal responsibility and everything that goes along with it - if you're going to say something, back it up, if you start something, follow through, if you make a promise, honor it, learn how to take care of yourself and then do it, make your own decisions, don't let others influence or make them for you - especially not people who might not know you or people who might try to take advantage of you etc etc.

Agree with you, there are a lot of hypocrites in many of those restrictive religious organisations. I have seen my fair shares of it. Some are so "holy" on service days, condemn everything and everyone, the only power they lack is the power to call down fire from heaven. After that, they buy lottery tickets. If anyone asks about that, they give excuse saying they will donate to the religious organisations or help the poor or whatever nonsense. Anyway, no more churches or organised religious groups for me. Enough time wasted listening to all the "holy" talks (of different groups) and witnessing all the "weaknesses of men".

I wouldn't hit anybody on the head. However I don't claim to corner the market on the 'truth' either like so many fanatic religious people do, especially here at mylot! This place is teeming with them, they never forego an opportunity to tell everybody 'what I believe is the truth and what you believe is a bunch of crap if it differs the slightest bit from from what I believe' lol. I don't think other beliefs are a load of crap. I don't think they apply to MY life but that doesn't mean I think they shouldn't exist. Let me tell you, I do resent some of the 'rules' we have imposed on ourselves. I have no issues with the ones that make sense but some of them don't. I actually take liberties with things that don't make sense, and I'm no worse for wear, nor am I worried that I'm going to be thrown in a jail cell for using my own interpretation of something in order to make a decision. You can't toss EVERYBODY in jail nor punish EVERYBODY for something that may or may not be a blanket violation. So.... from my point of view, this is not solely about religion. The reason I used religion as a point in this discussion is because I see MUCH MORE deprivation inherent in religious based rules vs the natural world. I certainly do not mean there is NO deprivation in the natural world, but there is ADDITIONAL in religions and I wanted to know what people did as a result - whether they loved their religion more and didn't care, whether they just disregarded those parts of religious rules they did not agree with, or whether they just left the religion. Obviously my choice of foregoing it ALL is not the choice of everybody, and I expected that. I simply wanted to get a better grasp of why people choose the way they do, and maybe what factors influence how and what they choose, now and in the future. As far as parenthood, of course a good parent is charged with taking care of their child. You do know of course there are many people who are HORRIBLE parents. They do NOT take care of their children. They do not provide for them, clothe them, love them, teach them, feed them. Sometimes other people step in and do this. Sometimes those kids are removed from their homes or wandering alone on the streets. To be honest, there really is no 'have to' inherent in anything. It comes down to whether you want to or not. I simply want to understand why some people are scared or shamed into doing things they don't ACTUALLY WANT TO. Yes, I do make certain guidelines for my children but they make sense and they are realistic. They do not pertain to things thousands of years ago and some of them are also specifically tailored to a specific child and their personality. For instance I know my son is a big procrastinator. Sometimes I have to enforce extra consequences if he does not do something within a certain timeframe in order to get him to do it before we have to LEAVE. My older daughter was not like that, so I rarely had to enforce extra 'threats' in order to get her to do something. If following God makes you happy, so be it. I just want to put it out there that something like that is a personal thing, it is not applicable to everybody even if someone believes it is or should be. Even when I WAS religious, I did not necessarily agree with what many people said - that WE were right and everybody else was WRONG. I believe that even LESS now.

Well, the reason I posted this question is because I am looking for various points of view on the matter. Obviously something that is a deprivation to ME may not be to another person, and my point in asking this is to find out WHY they consider it isn't. Or perhaps they agree with me and find it to be a deprivation and a restriction and they WISH it weren't that way. I simply raise the idea - why would someone choose to be deprived and restricted if they had a choice not to be? I think that people who aren't in favor of it should definitely choose another religion or at least explore other options. Maybe something else - or nothing - would be a better fit. In the most basic of terms, I am asking people to question and determine whether they are happy. If you are happy, then the way you are living your life is perfectly right for you. If you're not.... well then I think life is supposed to be that journey on which you discover where your happiness is. It might involve making others in your life unhappy but if that's a chance that brings you closer, I say do it.

Hi there! So hinduism does not restrict its followers nor judge people who are not within your religion? I admit I don't know much about hinduism, where did it originate? I am American so I am not very familiar since I don't know any practicing hindus.