hey girls and guys!

[Dante]

yeah well i am the new one in TwilightProject (Atlantica)

many of you might know me there as Enrica.

i am from germany...god i hate this place. want to live here? i will surely switch places with you anytime!

my first ever mmo was City of Heroes http://www.cityofheroes.com/
after that i played Lineage2 for a long time http://www.lineage2.com/

played Atlantica in the CB but got some graphic problems that couldnt be solved so i quit it for a long time and came back as the german CB was running and switched back to the US version after it.

i tried lots of other mmos but in the end its not the games that keep me going on playing...its the people in there.

besides that i often play pen&paper rp with friends.
i am buddhist but still evangelic on paper...so yeah *shrugs*
the church still needs my money right?^^

thats all for now and will fill out my profile a bit more later on.

thanks for the invite (thanks to james) and i hope we all will have a blast together!

[BloodBullet]

-licks enrica- welcome to the guild :p
its good to have a better lover than yuri every now and then :o

[LadyJallyn]

Welcome aboard hun and its nice to have you on the site.

[Maxx]

Hello and welcome.

Forgive me if I'm coming across as being ignorant but what does an evangelical Buddhist believe?

[Dante]

hehe well...its more that the buddhist religion i founf comes close to my own belief. you could say i have my own religion...and i never follow what i am being told to....i follow what my heart believes is right.

i could have left the church ofc...but a few reason kept me in there. one is i still help other people with it through giving a little of my cash to the church, the other one is...if my future to be wife wants a white wedding i dont have to reenter the church. maybe its stupid...i just dont know^^

the first time i ever went to a buddhist meeting and was chanting it felt good and warm...i was smiling all over after it...at that point i knew this is the right path to chose...cause praying never did that to me. nor i am convinced about the hell thing. in my opinion its wrong to pass out a fearful image of christianity if you do something wrong. isnt it written that god forgives everything? so why worry about going to hell? i just dont like this impression christianity leaves on a few people that god might be something to fear.

thats why priests tell us so...an humans might be wrong with interpreting the bible.

at my buddhist religion you only have a master...you can discuss things with her/him but there is no rule that says she/he is always right.
so its more about a teacher/pupil relationship...not like what the priest says is always correct.
in ZEN buddhism this isnt the same...my buddhism was founded by Nichiren Daishonin and he had other views about it. so after a few hundreds of years we discarded the priest cast. but well there would be too much to tell and i am not here to convince anyone to follow other beliefs.

follow your heart...and you cant go wrong ;)

[The True Ginger Ninja]

You don't have to worry about what other people think here. I have similar views on hell, but I follow Pagan traditions. As long as we're all respectful, we'll get along great.

[Maxx]

Even if Moonkatie is totally wrong with her cosmology.  (Just kidding Kate.  If it works for you, it works.  Have you tried telling your sister that you're Pagan?  Maybe she'll disown you....)

I have to agree as well on the concept of Hell.  Oddly enough my view was partially shaped by a book written by Sci-Fi author Larry Niven called Inferno, which was a modernization of Dante's Inferno.  It put forward the premise that Hell was God's last ditch attempt to get through to those who hadn't gotten it on Earth....

[Trellin]

An excellent novel by the way.
My personal take on the existence of a Christian Hell is as follows. If I've got a violent dog, even if the dog kills a child, I don't torture it as hard and as long as I can, I just put it down. If I can show that much mercy to a child killing dog, surely a deity thats defined by love has better ways to spend their time than torturing me for eternity. Thats just my opinion, I could be wrong.

[The True Ginger Ninja]

Poop on you, Bri. I did tell her and she said,  :bootyshake: "No, you're not." You know how she is. Talks out of her ass. Suprisingly, my mother was more understanding. She even took me to Salem, Massachusetts twice. She raised us to make our own decisions on religion, or should I say neglected us so we made.

[Maxx]

It was a little easier to understand and relate to that the original.  But then the original is 400 years old so I can see how that would be hard to keep current.

There was a point where Dante's Inferno was the newest book I'd read.  Faust. Art of War.  The Prince.  I was beginning to feel like I should be reading handwritten manuscripts....

How was Salem?  I'm not sure if I'd expect them to exploit their history or be ashamed of it.  Or, in that odd American way, do both.

[The True Ginger Ninja]

There are parts that are really touristy, but I talked to a girl in a wicca shop and she sent us a few blocks away, where we found the spot where Giles Cory was pressed to death. That's not on the tour. The whole place is like a strange mix of vintage and modern. Like a Victorian house with beautiful stained glass windows with a Denny's next door.

[Dante]

hmm Pagan...interesting.

a couple i met a while ago from seattle became close friends of mine and they follow the beliefs of pagan too. she said i have lots of energy to use but i never went and read a lot about it. some things happened you could call coincidence or magic which were quite funny.

a few would call it just a coincidence...other would say that magic. its up to the person what she/he wants to believe. for my part i am sure there are a few things out there where you cant say its just by chance...or its definitely magic. maybe its something in between.

as long as no one has ill intentions with any magic he/she practices i could care less.

anyone should be glad if she/he has something to believe in...something that gives the person strength and can comfort her/him in sad times.

there were many things in my life where i asked myself...wait...just a coincidence and by chance? no way!
especially in dreams...so many things happen in there and some dreams might be a small window that let you catch a glimpse of the future, or a possible one.

back when i was a kid i could even control my dreams...i had power over them and i was aware in dreams that i was dreaming and could wake up by sheer will. i lost it...all that is left that i can often remember many aspects and details of my dreams or sometimes they surprise me with a small vision that might happen in the near future.

but i am not sure...can i call that magic...fate...coincidence? who knows...

all i know is...that i love discussions like that^^

[Maxx]

I have also experienced things that are just too difficult to explain away as coincidence.  I'm cursed with an artistic soul but an analytical mind.  I just can't make that leap of faith that allows me to say 'yes, I believe'.  It's like the old saying goes....


A man believes in God and has faith in that.

An athiest believes there is no God and has faith in that.

The man who isn't sure one way or the other has nothing.


I figure I'll find out one way or the other eventually and hopefully it won't be too late.

[Dante]

hmm well...

maybe you dont need a religion itself...like me...ofc i joined the buddhist side but i am not following their "rules". its more like my own views and beliefs did match nicely with it but in the end i follow my own beliefs. like i practise buddhism but the same time i do believe in some sort of magic like the pagan one.

mix the things you feel right and take a look if there is some belief where it comes close. sure there is still no need to join any religion...i could have refrained from joining them but i felt its ok with me. its kind of nice to have people around you who at least share similar beliefs and views of the world, even if they surely wouldnt agree with me on other aspects of my own world views.

like you can be a good christian even if you dont go to church each sunday...but ofc other christians might not feel this way. each one has to decide what is right or wrong and not let other decide what to do.
but sure this would raise a point...are you a worse christian if you dont attend the church each week? are you bad if you dont pray each day? would god love you less and think badly of you?

and thats where i think if it makes you feel good and if you dont feel guilty (not cause others tell you so) all should be fine. whether its islam, christianity, buddhism, pagan aso.

i shape the world around me how i see fit and as long as i have a clear conscience its fine with me.

a long time i was a logic thinking person and more science based with no belief at all. the day a friend introduced me to them (god bless his soul cause he died this month) i found myself feeling at home....so many things were matching with my own views but still i could keep my other views about magic, gods, science and anything else without anyone telling me "you are wrong!".
no one put pressure on me and even if i stay away a long time...they welcome you back with open arms anytime, not blaming you for staying away...rather being glad you once joined their ranks.

thats what made me feel welcome, without any worries i felt at home and at peace.

trust me...i was surprised myself that i found belief in me...even if i still have this doubts from thinking logically. but hey...even a priest sometimes thinks god has forsaken him and has doubts. so all is fine ;)

or at last...you just need time and fate, coincidence or whatever will let you find what you are looking for somewhere in the future.

P.S.: i am sick of digging snow...my back hurts

[LadyJallyn]

I hear ya Dante I'm Plain sick of Winter.

[Dante]

same over here...the last years all we had was short very cold days and only 1-3 days of snow. this year we see more snow than ever as in the last 20 years. this weekend they announced 20-40cm new snow (1 feet or more) and temperatures around -10C. the good and bad part of it...friends stay at home and dont gather at my place so i might have more time to play lol