Do you believe there is 'religious knowledge'? What is "knowledge"?

1. 72

   lorlie6posted 12 years ago

   This is an 'offshoot' to a forum thread I've been somewhat active in: http://hubpages.com/forum/topic/96607#top
   
   I'd like to continue this with the question regarding true knowledge.  What do we 'know'? 
   That a dog barks?  A man works?  Cats meow?  Rocks sit there?
   
   Do we as a species, know anything at all?  Everything?  Do we think we know it all? 
   I think I do, that's for sure.
   
   Anyhow, I'd like to apply any concept of knowledge to religion here and try to come up with some answers.
   
   I, for one, don't believe I can KNOW anything at all, all may be illusion, including my own existence.  Is my life a reality, or am I dreaming a life?  Perhaps a butterfly is dreaming my life and I'm buying it.  Who knows?
   
   Do you?

   replyreport
   1. 60

      kessposted 12 years agoin reply to this

      All existence exist as knowledge.....
      
      So knowledge is existence.
      
      So each and every individual thing comes from knowledge and returns to it.
      
      Knowledge is divided into Truth and False, the false is equivalent to ignorance.
      
      So knowledge tainted with false hood ultimately is Ignorance.
      
      So knowing one individual thing is just as good as knowing nothing unless it is that one  special thing called Truth.....and by it all other things are known.

      replyreport
      1. 72

         lorlie6posted 12 years agoin reply to this

         Hi, kess:
         When you said
         
         I felt that you might want to substitute "Knowledge" with "Thought".  I feel knowledge can never be absolute, but we, as thinking beings, can indeed think.  We may think we 'Know', but we can never be certain.  "To Know" is to think something to be true. 
         
         That's just my opinion, kess, but I 'think' I 'know' it to be 'true'! 

         replyreport
         1. 72

            lorlie6posted 12 years agoin reply to this

            Sorry for doubling your quote up,
            but I'm pretty new to this quote business!!

            replyreport
         2. 60

            kessposted 12 years agoin reply to this

            when I speak of knowledge, I speak of it as singular, whole, full of itself and it need of no other thing...thus it is absolut, supreme.
            
            Now the thought is knowledge, but not the whole but individualise into thus containing the potential of falsehood...
            
            The thought of I am, is the singularity of all thought. The idea is not fully seen unless it is complete and it gives that one the understanding that he know that he knows...without a shadow of doubt.
            
            This man now sees himself as much more than a man.

            replyreport
   2. 0

      Chasukposted 12 years agoin reply to this

      This is approximately what I believe, although I accept many mundane things as "true" because it is pragmatic for me to do so.

      replyreport
   3. 59

      A Troubled Manposted 12 years agoin reply to this

      While those are simplistic and elementary concepts, the only true knowledge we have is what science has given us.
      
      
      
      We don't know everything, but we know a great deal and our knowledge increases exponentially each day, all as a result of science.
      
      
      
      Religions are entirely subjective and can't have knowledge applied to them in the context of getting answers because religions are set up to indoctrinate people and propagate myths.

      replyreport
2. 59

   janesixposted 12 years ago

   Religious knowlege, as in directly from god?

   replyreport
   1. 72

      lorlie6posted 12 years agoin reply to this

      Hi jane, yes, and to God.

      replyreport
3. 0

   Emile Rposted 12 years ago

   No. I think awareness is possible. But knowledge is not.
   
   Look at the best that can be gotten from any religious text. What we label enlightenment. It produces a feeling of being one with the spirit. The feeling doesn't result in miracle workers or prophets. Those who claim it does are eventually exposed as charlatans.
   
   I think that many people may have felt the connection, through various avenues and then, in their attempts to understand the how of it, have made assumptions and claimed those assumptions as knowledge. But no one has true knowledge. If they did, the world would know.

   replyreport
   1. 72

      lorlie6posted 12 years agoin reply to this

      Oh Emile-I do agree.  Awareness rather than true knowledge?  Perfectly stated. 
      You know what's said about the word 'assume', right?  Well, it's true, at least to me.
      Thanks for this reply!

      replyreport
4. 71

   aguasilverposted 12 years ago

   First, I have to believe that I exist in this dimension and am not just a figment of my imagination, but cannot prove that any more than anyone else can or cannot.
   
   But assuming I actually exist, and that everything else surrounding me also exists and is not my created mirage, then I can make some assumptions based upon that knowledge.
   
   Yes, knowledge, that which we decide we know.
   
   If we are a fantasy, self made or otherwise, it makes no difference.
   
   In our fantasy or reality we know things.
   
   We know gravity is very real, unless you have a device to allow you to defeat it like a balloon or air plane, and then gravity is still real, we just have manipulated it, we still stick to the floor, but the floor can be 35,000 ft above the earth.
   
   When it comes to faith, we can only go with our experiences.
   
   I have had that experience; that God is with me, I cannot deny it, though I can accept that if life is a fantasy, then so would the experience be.
   
   So the point becomes are we real or not?
   
   Personally I think we are, I think God has placed us here to work things out before we return home, and I think our doubts about reality is caused by the fact (IMO) that we are actually spirits with a temporary body, who have vague or strong recollections of what being a spirit was like, perhaps reinforced by experiences we have when we interact with the spiritual realm.
   
   Now I'm off to take the family to the park!
   
   That's real enough for me.

   replyreport
   1. 72

      lorlie6posted 12 years agoin reply to this

      aguasilver, have a ball at that park for me, okay?  That sounds heavenly-My hubby and I had our one grandson last night and we were ALL in heaven together.  Quinn, the 18 month old grandboy, is a dream...or is he??
      
      Anyway, I believe that I don't and won't ever KNOW anything.  At all.  But I do believe that I believe things, like I believe God exists, that cats in fact meow.  Other than that, I think I'll always be in the dark regarding knowledge.
      
      Jealous-of your trip to the park-in Bishop,
      Laurel
      

      replyreport
5. 0

   jomineposted 12 years ago

   knowl·edge/ˈnälij/
   Noun:   
   Information and skills acquired through experience or education; the theoretical or practical understanding of a subject.
   So what does that mean,
   Do you know what a chair is? If you know, what does that mean? It means you are able to identify the chair the next time you are shown a chair.
   So let us modify the definition so that it makes more meaning,
   Knowledge: the ability to predict the future based on past experience.
   How many times you have to predict to say you know what a chair is? Just one, you cannot incessantly till the end, if so then the definition will not be valid,
   So "knowledge is the ability to predict the outcome of a single future event based on past experience".

   replyreport
6. 69

   diogenesposted 12 years ago

   This is a very interesting question as to what really is knowledge; what do we really "know?"
   The answer is probably "nothing" in any absolute sense.  Some one mentioned a chair.  We say we see a chair; something to sit on made of a variety of materials.  That "knowledge" is enough for everyday usage.  But a chair is a vastly more complex item is we examine it through the eyes of the physicist.  Then, we find a chair is a pulsing group of particles that is guided into a shape convenient for humans to rest their own mass of particles upon.  And we still don't understand what these particles really are.
   As regards religious "knowledge," well, some have said they have heard voices (what is a voice) others say they have seen visions indicating a holy presence (what is the vision composed of).  The truth as far as most of us comprehend it is that scribes wrote down a story about Jesus and the disciples as well as a long story from the Old Testament.  So if any of this is true, in that the participants possessed more than just human form and were linked to a mysterious "God," then no one today "knows" that or can prove it.  If anyone knew these phenomenen took place and could prove it empirically, they had to have been witnesses at the time.  The rest of us just say we believe based on what we have read; no real proof of anything metaphysical exists anywhere.
   So we find "knowledge" is unsound when used to describe a "fact."  At best, like time, is is just a convenient way to conduct our lives in the present.  Next, we might ask what a "fact" is!!
   Diogenes

   replyreport
7. 59

   Jeramiposted 12 years ago

   My question ..  Is knowledge only what we preceive it to be (?) and with many different people doing it, producing different kinds of knowledge, BUT wisdom, being from an outside source, is the ability to see the connection between all of these different kinds of knowledge?
   
     It is written that King Solomon search the world over looking for wise men and found very few. I don't think he was talking about people with measures of knowledge?
   Just a thought  I thought applicable? Maybe not!

   replyreport
   1. 60

      kessposted 12 years agoin reply to this

      Wisdom is the diffrentiation and application of knowledge...
      
      It not from outside but from within, it sways according to the desires of the individual, so as the eyes of the man see, so he applies wisdom which makes  or breaks him.
      
      So the sight of the eyes is the issue and not wisdom in and of itself.

      replyreport
8. 82

   psycheskinnerposted 12 years ago

   Observation of states and causal links it part of awareness.  Being conscious of your own awareness is, in itself, knowledge.  So awareness+time=knowledge.

   replyreport
9. 61

   Druid Dudeposted 12 years ago

   Knowledge is locked inside of you. Know yourself, and you know God.

   replyreport
10. 61

    Dionildaposted 12 years ago

    Of course there is religious knowledge. Anything that has history and has a story to tell whether its a very short story or a long one is knowledgeable. Religion goes back many many years ago and religion in general has many different cultures, aspects,opinions, beliefs, and more.

    replyreport