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 A religious statue in a tsunami-devastated area in Natori city, along the coast.
March 14th, 2011
04:43 PM ET
How Japan's religions confront tragedyBy Dan Gilgoff, CNN.com Religion Editor Proud of their secular society, most Japanese aren't religious in the way Americans are: They tend not to identify with a single tradition nor study religious texts. "The average Japanese person doesn’t consciously turn to Buddhism until there’s a funeral,” says Brian Bocking, an expert in Japanese religions at Ireland’s University College Cork. When there is a funeral, though, Japanese religious engagement tends to be pretty intense. “A very large number of Japanese people believe that what they do for their ancestors after death matters, which might not be what we expect from a secular society,” says Bocking. “There’s widespread belief in the presence of ancestors’ spirits.” In the days and weeks ahead, huge numbers of Japanese will be turning to their country’s religious traditions as they mourn the thousands of dead and try to muster the strength and resources to rebuild amid the massive destruction wrought by last Friday's 9.0 magnitude earthquake and resulting tsunami. For most Japanese, religion is more complex than adhering to the country’s ancient Buddhist tradition. They blend Buddhist beliefs and customs with the country’s ancient Shinto tradition, which was formalized around the 15th century. “Japanese are not religious in the way that people in North America are religious,” says John Nelson, chair of theology and religious studies at the University of San Francisco. “They’ll move back and forth between two or more religious traditions, seeing them as tools that are appropriate for certain situations.” “For things connected to life-affirming events, they’ll turn to Shinto-style rituals or understandings,” Nelson says. “But in connection to tragedy or suffering, it’s Buddhism.” There are many schools of Japanese Buddhism, each with its own teachings about suffering and what happens after death. “There are many Buddhist explanations of why calamities happen: from collective karma to seeing calamities as signs of apocalypse,” says Jimmy Yu, an assistant professor of Buddhism and Chinese religions at Florida State University. “And perhaps all of them are irrelevant to what needs to be done.” Indeed, where Christianity, Judaism or Islam are often preoccupied with causes of disaster - the questions of why God would allow an earthquake, for example - Eastern traditions like Buddhism and Shinto focus on behavior in reaction to tragedy. “It’s very important in Japanese life to react in a positive way, to be persistent and to clean up in the face of adversity, and their religions would emphasize that,” says University College Cork’s Bocking. “They’ll say we have to develop a powerful, even joyful attitude in the face of adversity.” Japan’s major religious groups are still developing responses to the disaster, but experts say the impulse toward maintaining a positive outlook will likely translate into calls for Japanese to help friends and neighbors clean up and rebuild. At the same time, Japan’s Buddhist priests will be preoccupied with rituals surrounding death and burial. Japanese Buddhism is often called funeral Buddhism because of its concern with such rituals. Despite the Japanese penchant for blending their religious traditions - even with Western traditions like Catholicism - the overwhelming majority are buried according to Buddhist custom: cremation and interment in a family plot. With many bodies swept away in the tsunami, many Japanese will have to come to terms with having to forego that ritual. After burial, Japanese typically continue to practice rituals around caring for the spirits of the deceased. Most Japanese keep Buddhist altars in their homes, Nelson says, using them to pay tribute to dead ancestors. “In the days ahead, you’ll see people praying, with hands folded, for the spirits of those killed,” he says. “It goes back to a really early understanding of human spirits and rituals designed to control those spirits, which can take 49 days or, depending on the type of Buddhism, could go on for up to seven years.” One popular school of Japanese Buddhism, called Amida - or Pure Land - believes in a paradise that spirits of the dead can enter with help from living relatives. Despite what is likely to be a mass embrace of Buddhist rituals after the earthquake, there may also be some grievances expressed over those traditions. Many young Japanese have left Buddhism, accusing priests of profiting from grief because of their paid roles in burials. Critics say the priests spend money from funerals on temples without playing a broader role in society. “The earthquake is an opportunity for Buddhist priests to step up and show they are still relevant,” says Nelson. “Young people just aren’t buying it anymore.”
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The CNN Belief Blog covers the faith angles of the day's biggest stories, from breaking news to politics to entertainment, fostering a global conversation about the role of religion and belief in readers' lives. It's edited by CNN's Daniel Burke with contributions from Eric Marrapodi and CNN's worldwide news gathering team.  |
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Are we living in the final events of bible prophecy? My opinion yes we are. We can all quickly look around the globe that the events and signs are happing in these days. For examples earthquakes bazaar weather storms tornados fires floods wars econmy down and on and on and on and there getting worse and it will get worse for the bible said it would happen before the end of times would come. God bless you all.
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Religion is a means to satisfy questions that you can't get answers to so you then rely on a fictional character, in which all "religoins" have altered for their own personal gain. The truth is be kind to those around you, have a heart for everyone and everything. Quite being selfish.
Allah has sent, since the beginning of man, a messenger, with a message, from the time of profit Adam till Profit Mohamed Peace be upon them, just like Jesus did, peace be upon him. It was only done, so that we mankind should acknowledge his existence and that he created us and the worlds and that he has no partners.
“There are many Buddhist explanations of why calamities happen: from collective karma to seeing calamities as signs of apocalypse,” says Jimmy Yu, an assistant professor of Buddhism and Chinese religions at Florida State University. “And perhaps all of them are irrelevant to what needs to be done.”
Very misleading, incomplete – let's hope he's misquoted, or he'll never make full professor.
screw religion
Hello, Judgment Day is May 21, 2011. http://www.ebiblefellowship.com/may21 http://www.familyradio.com
How did you come to that date? Mark 13:32 and Matthew 24:36 both say "Concerning that day or the hour nobody knows, neither the angels in heaven nor the Son, but the Father."
Anyone who thinks that their God gives a crap about what they wear on their heads needs to get said head examined.
do you know the history of the dead sea and why ii is called that,long story short the town/city was not following GOD laws and they disobey so the land and sea was cursed and destroyed,go and excavate the dead sea and the remnats of the people that lived there and find out what were their sins.
That's a story, not history. Big difference.
Signs of end of time on earth...
By John Miller
According to the teachings of Prophet Muhammad, may Peace Be Upon Him, there are minor and major signs in the comings of judgment day. The minor signs are as follows:
The disappearance of knowledge and the appearance of ignorance (Bukhari, Muslim, Ibn Majah, & Ahmad)
Books/writing will be widespread and (religious) knowledge will be low (Ahmad)
Adultery and fornication will be prevalent (The Prophet, peace be upon him, said that this has never happened without new diseases befalling the people, which their ancestors had not known.) (Bukhari, Muslim, Ibn Majah, & Al-Haythami)
When fornication becomes widespread among your leaders (The Prophet, peace be upon him, said that this will happen when the people stop forbidding evil) (Ibn Majah)
Adultery and fornication will be performed in the open
The consumption of intoxicants will be widespread (Bukhari & Muslim)
Women will outnumber men......eventually 50:1 (Bukhari, Muslim, & Ahmad)
Killing, killing, killing (Bukhari, Muslim, Ibn Majah, & Ahmad)
The nations of the earth will gather against the Muslims like hungry people going to sit down to a table full of food. This will occur when the Muslims are large in number, but "like the foam of the sea".
People will beat others with whips like the tails of oxen (Muslim) ?The Slave Trade
The children will be filled with rage (at-Tabarani, al-Hakim)
Children will be foul (at-Tabarani, al-Hakim)
Women will conspire (at-Tabarani, al-Hakim)
Rain will be acidic or burning (at-Tabarani, al-Hakim)
Children of fornication will become widespread or prevalent (at-Tabarani, al-Hakim)
When a trust becomes a means of making a profit (at-Tirmidhi, Al-Haythami)
Gains will be shared out only among the rich, with no benefit to the poor (at-Tirmidhi)
Paying zakat becomes a burden and miserliness becomes widespread; charity is given reluctantly (at-Tirmidhi & Al-Haythami)
Miserliness will be thrown into the hearts of people (Bukhari)
Episodes of sudden death will become widespread (Ahmad)
There will be people who will be brethren in public but enemies in secret (He was asked how that would come about and replied, "Because they will have ulterior motives in their mutual dealings and at the same time will fear one another.") (at-Tirmidhi)
When a man obeys his wife and disobeys his mother; and treats his friend kindly while shunning his father (at-Tirmidhi)
When voices are raised in the mosques (at-Tirmidhi)
People will walk in the marketplace with their thighs exposed
Great distances will be traversed in short spans of time
The people of Iraq will recieve no food and no money due to oppression by the Romans (Europeans) (Muslim)
People will hop between the clouds and the earth
A tribulation will enter everyone�s home (Ahmad)
The leader of a people will be the worst of them (at-Tirmidhi)
Leaders of people will be oppressors (Al-Haythami)
People will treat a man with respect out of fear for some evil he might do (at-Tirmidhi)
Men will begin to wear silk (at-Tirmidhi)
Female singers and musical instruments will become popular (at-Tirmidhi)
When singers become common (Al-Haythami)
People will dance late into the night
When the last ones of the Ummah begin to curse the first ones (at-Tirmidhi)
People will claim to follow the Qur'an but will reject hadith & sunnah (Abu Dawood)
People will believe in the stars (Al-Haythami)
People will reject al-Qadr (the Divine Decree of Destiny) (Al-Haythami)
Time will pass rapidly (Bukhari, Muslim, & Ahmad)
Good deeds will decrease (Bukhari)
Smog will appear over cities because of the evil that they are doing
People will be carrying on with their trade, but their will only be a few trustworthy persons
Wealth will increase so much so that if a man were given 10,000, he would not be content with it (Ahmad & Bukhari)
A man will pass by a grave and wish that he was in their place (Bukhari)
Earthquakes will increase (Bukhari & Muslim)
There will be attempts to make the deserts green
The appearance of false messengers (30 dajjals) (Bukhari)
Women will be naked in spite of being dressed, these women will be led astray & will lead others astray (Muslim)
The conquest of Constantinople by the Muslims (Ahmad)
The conquest of India by the Muslims, just prior to the return of Jesus, son of Mary (peace be upon both of them)(Ahmad, an-Nisa'i, at-Tabarani, al-Hakim)
When people begin to compete with others in the construction of taller buildings (Bukhari)
There will be a special greeting for the people of distinction (Ahmad)
The Euphrates will disclose a treasure (The Prophet, peace be upon him, said that whoever is present should not take anything from it) (Bukhari & Muslim)
Two large groups, adhering to the same religious teaching will fight each other with large numbers of casualties (Bukhari & Muslim)
Wild animals will be able to talk to humans (Ahmad)
A man will leave his home and his thigh or hip will tell him what is happening back at his home (Ahmad)
Years of deceit in which the truthful person will not be believed and the liar will be believed (Ahmad)
Bearing false witness will become widespread (Al-Haythami & Ahmad)
When men lie with men and women lie with women (Al-Haythami)
Trade will become so widespread that a woman will be forced to help her husband in business (Ahmad)
A woman will enter the workforce out of love for this world (Ahmad)
Arrogance will increase in the earth (at-Tabarani, al-Hakim)
Family ties will be cut (Ahmad)
There will be many women of child-bearing age who will no longer give birth.
There will be an abundance of food, much of which has no blessing in it.
People will refuse when offerred food.
Men will begin to look like women and women will begin to look like men
The Major Signs:
Although they appear here in no particular order, it is important to point out that the Prophet (peace be upon him) said that these last, major signs will follow each other like pearls falling off of a necklace...
Masih ad-Dajjal (The AntiChrist)
The Mahdi
The appearance of Masih al-�Isa (Jesus Christ), the son of Mary (peace be upon him)
Ya�juj and Ma�juj (Gog and Magog)
The destruction of the Ka�bah and the recovery of its treasure
Emergence of the Beast
The smoke
Three major landslides (one in the East, one in the West, and one on the Arabian peninsula)
The wind will take the souls of the believers
The rising of the sun from the west
The fire will drive the people to their final gathering place
Three blasts of the trumpet (fear & terror, death, resurrection)
March 31, 2011 at 3:24 pm | Report abuse | Reply
The Earthquakes (part-1)
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/Seekers-Of-Islam/message/89
The Earthquakes (part-2)
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/Seekers-Of-Islam/message/90
Al-Istighfaar (Seeking Forgiveness)
'O my 'ilãh You are my Lord, there is no 'ilãh but You. You created me, and I am your bondservant, and I will stick to my covenant and promise [of faith and sincere obedience] to You, as to my ability. I seek refuge in You from the evil of what I have done, I acknowledge, to You, your bounties upon me, and I acknowledge, to You, my sin. Thus forgive me, for none forgives sins except You.
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/Seekers-Of-Islam/message/88
http://dogdays-phoenix.blogspot.com/
Here is Jesus' facebook page
I am a christian, and while I have not read the whole bible I will say, from every thing I read Jesus Christ taught us to love one another as we love ourselves, so what do you have against our living god preaching this. He also teaches not to be prideful, we are to preach with a humble and fearful heart. We are not to look down on people for their beliefs, I will not lie as a christian I believe that only through Christ are we saved, but I am not going to hate the atheist for not believeing, or the agonistic for wanting proof. I will tell them of Gods love, and if they don't accepted from, then that between him and god. I also don't understand why debates about God should be angry with both sides insulting eachother, I think that cheapens God's love, which is unending. If you have anything bad to say about what I have or show me in the bible where I am wrong I will apolgize and make my next case, and if you ignore me I shall wash my hands of this.
AMEN!
hi brother Rico, you have said that by just believing in Christ we are saved. That is not the assurance of salvation, it is just a process of salvation. after you believe in Jesus Christ theres a lot of things you to follow, one of those things found in ACTS 13:39, ROMANS 2:13, JOHN 14:15, JOHN 14:23 AND ETC. theres a lot of law we should follow to be saved not just by believing only, because sinners can also say they believe. here is the proof to be save. 1 CORINTHIANS 15:1-2 , MATTHEW 24:13. CONTINUE READING THE BIBLE BEFORE YOU READ HOPE YOUR HEART ARE PURE SO THAT YOU WILL UNDERSTAND THE MISTERY OF WHAT YOU READ. THANK BE TO GOD. GOD BLESS YOU.
To Mr.DockVestibule :-Whether some Christian sects believe that the earth is 4.5billion years old or 1000billion years old has no bearing on this religion. This amount of 6000years is arrived at by these people from adding up the number of generations from Adam up to the time of the birth of Jesus recorded in the bible. That and the age of the earth have no connection what so ever. As per bible records man was created after the completion of the creation of earth and the solar system. So if at all possible one could only guess that the period of the present man’s existence on this earth is only about plus or minus 6000 years according to the bible.
Faith makes it's mark...even tho it's not always the same.
By reading the explanations of the 99 names of God (Allah) you would know who you are dealing with and how to understand him clearly.
99 Names of Allah
AN EXPLANATION OF THE PERFECT NAMES AND ATTRIBUTES OF GOD
It is not possible to perfectly translate the 99 names of Allah from their original Arabic into English. However, here are some fairly close explanations.
"He is Allah (God), the Creator, the Originator, The Fashioner, to Him belong the most beautiful names: whatever is in the heavens and on earth, do declare His praises and Glory. And He is the Exalted in Might, The Wise. (Quran 59:24)
"The most beautiful names belong to Allah (God): so call on Him by them;..." (Quran 7:180)
http://www.faizani.com/articles/names.html
I have read the 99 names of Allah, yet I see the one missing word from this list, Love. No error of translation accounts for this. That said, your comment was caring and I can appreciate that. How one shows both truth and love toward family, neighbor, fellow human or even foe is important.
Muneef = FAIL
my b1tsh, "allah" = FAIL
the whole world knows this... give it up Muneef your not fooling anyone... 99 names of Satan is more like it
John..you will regret what u just said about God. Allah is not only God of muslims. he is the God of all creatures.
Why the crescent moon? I heard Allah was one of many pagan gods in Mecca, he was the one to worship the moon. It would be interesting to open up the Kaaba and see what every Muslim has been bowing to.
http://mycatbirdseat.com/2011/02/william-cook-“we-the-forgotten-people-of-the-united-states…”/