I feel a growing spiritual void in my life

have you tried eating psilocybin mushrooms?

it'll probably solve your problems.

I read a book about sufi mysticism and the author suggested that it might become the next 'trend' in the west as buddhism has sort of been exhausted, at least in the popularized sense. Then he pretty much attacked the idea of looking for mysticism elsewhere, that it's very essential it includes your immediate surroundings (socially, geographically, historically etc). Sort of makes sense to me. Well I'm lutheran and that's a very dry tradition. Paganism seems very distant as well. Guess I'm just trying to work on certain virtues that seem most natural to me then. If spirituality follows, great. If not, just have to deal with it. Intentional convertion just seems dishonest (and as such against a virtue).

/blog

Man was made for Joy & Woe
And when this we rightly know
Thro the World we safely go
Joy & Woe are woven fine
A Clothing for the soul divine

Religion needs a good balance between spirituality and dogma. Buddhism is shit.

Convert to Catholicism, heretic.

but I have orthodox churches closer to me.

Orthodox sacraments are recognized by the Church, so that's fine.

>But my actual belief in its rhetoric could be my first stumbling block
Hmmm, maybe you should start a secular church? Or seek other communities, cultures, cults, fraternities, clubs, volunteering, maybe you will meet someone you click with volunteering animal shelter or something soup kitchen?

There are also different types of churches, but yeah you should start a secular religion, or is there just a codefied, fraternity friend fellow club, the Religion of Atheism?

If you want community, you can create this outside of religion and if you're a thoughtful person who hates dogma the kind of community there will likely be unsatisfying.

If you want to tackle the big shit, go see an existential therapist. No joke.

Bump for similar problem.

>What is the generally Veeky Forums accepted version of the bible I should read?

King james but if you don't like the language you can always read the ESV

>reading
>protestant
>bible

>not being a gnostic in current year

ok then read a catholic one whatever

...

I converted to Christianity last year (Catholic, got baptized and confirmed at Easter) after a lot of reading and taking RCIA (Rite of Christian Initiation for Adults) classes at my parish. I was willing to accept a lot of shit (not specifically just Catholic beliefs, but some general Christian ones) because I felt like the end justified the means. The end, as I saw it at the time, was a meaningful spiritual connection that could be deepened as my faith grew. I didn't stick with it long enough for that to happen, though. I fell into a depression, stopped going to mass, didn't feel like going to confession in order to be rectified so I could take communion, and so on.

I don't think any one religion can offer you more than a glimpse or interpretation of an absolute truth. If the rituals or atmosphere of one compels you then go for it and hopefully you can stick with it as your faith grows.

Stage five seems to be schizophrenia

Eschatology is important and shouldn't be put with that meme shit nigga

I would like to add something. Make it a point when the weather permits to take a solo camping and/or hiking trip. Being in nature seems to ease some of the angst that comes with living in a non-spiritual world. Also, if you're up for some hardcore meditating I'd suggest finding a Vipassana retreat. It is very valuable for the seekers and wanderers. It might not satisfy your spiritual needs, but it's likely to point you toward a satisfying conclusion in that regard.

dhamma.org/en-US/locations/directory

Also, if you're interested in that meditation check out this documentary
youtube.com/watch?v=QR7CbbcIzLc

Read scriptures from all the religions (my favorite so far is the Baghavad Gita) and look for the common themes of all of them. You can find meaning in religion without converting to a specific one.

studying the end times will drive you mad. if it exists then you cannot know when it will take place as it's stated in the bible. you can study it, search for signs, and you'll never know. fuck that

Read the KJV, for God's sake. He inspired the translators, despite King James changing some doctrinal parts of it, and disregarding the councils that put it together.

As far as churches go, Catholics are a good choice. Methodists are pretty good. Avoid Presbyterian and Calvinists. Baptists are hit-and-miss. For some fringe religions, Mormons are okay (generally the most accepted of fringe religions), Seventh-Day Adventists are 50-50, Jehovah's Witnesses are a no-go.

As far as other, non-Christian religions, Islam is okay if you are a male, but there is no cultural Islam, so its commit or not. Judaism is okay if you don't believe in God, and there are cultural Jews, as well, who don't follow all the Tulmud, or do the Phylacterie shit.

>studying the end times will drive you mad. if it exists then you cannot know when it will take place as it's stated in the bible. you can study it, search for signs, and you'll never know. fuck that

It's not important when it takes place or whether it takes place in my lifetime. I don't need to search for signs or anything like that and I'm not going mad. Should still be studied.

Mystical traditions are really similar from one faith to another, which I find encouraging. They all seem to share this elevated idea of a Supreme Being that transcends comprehension, that has to be experienced directly. I think it's wonderful because at that point it doesn't seem to matter what religion you discover it in.

The question of when isn't really important.

To each his own. Other than a cursory study I couldn't get involved in eschatology unless I felt like the end was coming soon or at least within my lifetime. It's too speculative

Eschatology is transformation, bro. In the womb, there is no way to see beyond our birth.

You tried the easy way out and caught on that you were being a dick. Thank god your body knew better enough to give you depression.

>Read the KJV
Stop forcing this retarded meme. KJV is only valuable for English lit studies. For religious purposes most major new translations are undoubtedly better, even completely autistic ones like NRSV. I'd suggest NASB or ESV with Apocrypha.

>For religious purposes most major new translations are undoubtedly better

For "scholarly" purposes, absolutely. However, beauty and sublimity are important experiences for religion and faith, meaning the KJV is still an essential text for those reading for purposes of worship/spirituality.

The easy way out is giving up. Christianity is a lot of work. Maybe that's easier than nihilism I guess.

Here's the direction I went:
>raised Christian
>diverted to Buddhism in uni like so many people
>moved on to Taoism
>gave up on everything
>existential crisis and spiritual void around 30
>Now I only will concede to label myself an Epistemological Deist if pressed. That's the best expression of my personal beliefs.

>Christianity is a lot of work
Maybe being nice to people is. But the belief system is for the most part the default position of children. Facing existential questions without an external locus of control... That is hard work.

>implying all other translations lack beauty
>falling for 'antiquated forms are majestic' meme
Just stop. KJV is immensely important historically, but recommending it for religious introduction in current year is just dumb.

*tips*

Suck it up buttercuck.

Try reading. You might want to check out Yalom. His type of work supersedes religion now.

The void doesn't go away just by ignoring it man.

You gotta delve into the void, there's no other option.

>person with fedora-tier understanding of religion is advising others to read anything

You're embarrassing yourself.

Not just anything, I recommended an author for you specifically. Why do you assume my understanding of religion is bad just because I think another approach is now better? Religion used to be the best we had to tackle our existential situation, now it's not.

God works in mysterious ways OP.

The central figure of christianity was tortured and killed for saying what he said. His early followers were too for believing in him. It's not a pleasant belief system.

>KJV
I'm Protestant and even I find that disgusting
>ESV
REEEEEEEEEE

OP don't settle for any less than NET version.

>KJV
>disgusting
>I can't read above a fifth grade level

>I value muh archaic awesomeness more than I value translation accuracy

Do you believe for a fact that a historical person that was born by a woman that had never had sex and was murdered by an imperial vassal state actually came back to life and that this person is somehow actually god incarnated and that unless you do believe this then your soul is going to burn in hell forever with no possibility of apology?

If you can't accept even one aspect of that, then don't try. You're going to do yourself more harm than good faking it.

You know there is literally no reason to accept it, even the earliest Christians didn't think all this shit.

Starting from Atheism and going straight to Christianity is a hard one. I recommend you start with general pagan thought, then work your way through Platonism and neoplatonism. From there, Christianity is much more comprehensible.

what is spiritual to you?.

>his holiness the dalai lama
they talk plain clear about her own absurdity and the people still take the bait.

I don't disagree but
>hiking
>creative activity
What

meditation works - you didn't try hard enough, or your practice was ineffective/not the right one for you at this time.

integrateddaniel.info/book/

read this and try again. meditation is hard work but the most reliable path: contemplative technologies in religions outside the dharma are not well developed, will yield limited results haphazardly.

and don't get hung up on buddhist denominations too much either (zen is a bit of a meme in the West)

You are not Christ, and neither are you a follower back when the movement was a marginalised cult. These points are irrelevant.

I already conceded that WWJD could be difficult, but believing in God the father is a childish default concept, it's not difficult. Difficult is coming to terms with nobody being in control.