Please help - what religion do you follow?

An oral presentation. He says he has to be fair because the surgery is still a while away. Well, not anymore, but it was when he assigned it. I can finish the project this weekend and proceed to hell on tuesday.

And I already shared my views below
http://mgftw.com/showthread.php/8018-Please-help-what-religion-do-you-follow?p=78026#post78026

Just people tend to ignore me whenever I go...

 

I missed it sorry I think I scrolled too fast past the pictures.

 

Raised Southern Baptist (US), now have my own understanding. Details unimportant, but certainly NOT any man-made religion.
Good luck with your study, by the way!

 

Raised Christian (US) currently: Agnostic
hope your surgery goes well

 

I know that nudity, sex and/or violence isn't allowed. Also games that are against religion or depict Allah/God in some kind of way. Some examples are God of War, Dante's Inferno, Saints Row 3, CoD 4 and GTA.

 

I'm so confused. Can you guys summarize the core aspects (not mythology) of your religions? Just for the purpose of general knowledge.

Please be sensitive to other people's beliefs.

In catholicism, we say the following:

- God is basically three things collectively known as the Holy Trinity

- the Father (aka god), the Son, and the Holy Spirit

- Jesus Christ was God incarnate

- we have 4 main Gospels that talk about the new covenant

 

Talk about hypocrisy... From what I hear in the news, that is the only stuff that goes on in the middle east:
http://edition.cnn.com/video/#/video/international/2013/01/02/inside-middle-east-egypt-landmines.cnn

The western world doesn't hear any of that shit. Instead, we got different shit of our own, almost just as bad, but nothing to do with bombs.


(This post was not aimed at ya Ari )


This is why I want to learn about other people's religions. What the heck is the difference between Christianity, Islam, Hinduism, Judaism, or whatever?

 

I can tell you for sure that you won't get the information here as we are not scholars or expertise on this topic although we have a player name PastorWilliam aka bilbo.. lol..

I would recommend that you get the relevant data you need from this thread asap and close it before this thread turns into something else

to our forum users, like Marie said, stay on topic.. religion is a sensitive topic to discuss in forum.

 

CAN I JUST MAKE SOMETHING CLEAR TO EVERYONE... I AM NOT TRYING TO OFFEND ANYONE BY ANY MEANS AND IF ANYONE DOES FEEL OFFENDED THEN I APOLOGIZE BEFOREHAND..

CNN has a hard on for the Arabs and media's job is to provide stories to keep their own jobs and sell papers but what is happening in middle east doesn't help the cause either. Like Littlebrother said, we aren't scholars so you won't get the accurate data from a forum I believe. I don't also watch news very often because it's the same crap everyday with different people dying but from what I've heard and gathered is that most of the issues in middle east or other countries in Asia like Afghanistan, Iraq and Pakistan are mostly due to political problems and poverty.

The reason we don't see these situations in Europe or USA is because we aren't in crisis as those people are in terms of poverty. Yeah we are also hit with recession and peoples have lost jobs but in UK, people get support from the government with benefits which somewhat keep people sane but who knows what would happen in west if we had political issues and poverty as bad as middle east because poverty changes people. I've heard so many cases in Pakistan where the parents have killed their own kids because they were unable to provide food for them which I've never came across in UK anyway.

As Angel stated that Islam does not allow violence but as far as I can remember, people's views and opinions changed of Islam after 9/11 attacks but is there any proof that those attacks were actually ordered by Bin Laden? I personally don't care about him and if he was involved in any way then good that he's dead but is there any actual proof of Muslims being behind that attack? I just did a quick google search to see whether Bin Laden had any involvement behind the attacks and all i found was a video tape of him confessing which was announced fake.

I feel sorry as much as the next guy for those innocent people who lost their lives in those attacks and i have watched many theory videos where people say it was a inside job but i don't believe in theories alone because otherwise 2pac would come back alive as would Michael Jackson, therefore i prefer to believe in facts. Is there any fact of any Muslim being involved in those attacks which i am not aware of or are we just going to assume that some beardy Arab from Afghanistan and bunch of other Arabs who "hijacked" the plane were behind these attacks?

I mean it's not difficult for corrupt politicians to get some Jewish (using Jews as an example as we seem to not have any Jews therefore less chances of offending someone) people, get their passports, kill them whilst hiring some people to hijack a plane and hit the Jumeirah Beach hotel in Dubai and say those Jewish people were responsible for those attacks as they would be already dead or do a plastic surgery on some guys to make them look like them or whatever. Also people are saying that Bin Laden died in 2002 and US didn't show Bin Ladens clear photo after they killed him in Pakistan so do I believe that they killed in 2011 or 2012, No because there was not enough evidence for me to believe that it was really Bin Laden. Anyways, Would I feel surprised if Pakistani corrupt president did all that? No I wouldn't because the whole nation calls him a dog and knows that he is putting all the money in his bank account while bankrupting the country but if anyone dare to say a word, he will get them killed.

I'm not saying that there aren't bad Muslims around the world because there are billions of Muslims so surely there will be some fags who give the other Muslims a bad name but to generalize Muslims as terrorists is a dumb statement. Jewish people in Israel are killing innocent Muslims in Palestine with the aid of America but I don't see people calling them terrorists. We have all seen American and British troops kill innocent people in Afghanistan and Iraq but I don't hear people call them terrorists. I can say the same about Sikh's and Hindu's when two Sikh bodyguards of India's Prime minister killed her because she invaded Sikh's most religious place The Golden Temple with Guns and Tanks and then many innocent Hindu and Sikh people were killed because of other people's actions and yet no one said either of them were act of terrorism.

I'm not saying Christians, Hindus, Jewish or Sikh people are terrorists, I'm just trying to convey a message that to generalize a religion of being full of terrorist due to some people's action is complete bollocks. The reason we hear about Muslims killing innocent people often is due to politics and poverty as I have already mentioned and media makes us believe that those countries are unsafe to go to as it makes us think that there is a bomb exploding every 5 minutes but I had the chance of visiting Pakistan last year and not for one moment did I feel unsafe about bombs, I felt more unsafe about some thief trying to rob me to be honest.

And if someone still can't understand what I am trying to say then can I just ask them a question. What would you do if your prime minister or president was a complete cunt who was bankrupting the country or misusing his power and you had no job/money or a job with very little money in which you could not afford to provide food to your family with no benefits at all and if you dared protesting or even opening your mouth, you would get a bullet and you were left with very few options:
1) Watch your family starve to death
2) Murder your own kids because you can't watch them dying
3) Become a thief and shoot people to survive OR
4) Become a terrorist where you are told that your family will be given a lot of money after your mission (death) if you blew yourself up in a crowded place

Again, I am not trying to offend anyone and it is completely off topic but I just wanted to clear this out. Luke, you won't get the best idea of religion on this forum because I'm sure most of us aren't very religious or lack the knowledge anyway.

 

Yeah it's sick. But sad to say, Muslims in the u.s. get a really bad rep, even if they are innocent. The government released a report about the last 40 terrorist attempts, and 37 out of the 40 were Islamic. The religion means good for the people, but some dicks in the middle east are giving it a bad rep. If the Islamic community can get together to eliminate the fanatic individuals, then this wouldn't happen. However, according to u.s. news sources, Iraq and Pakistan and Iran or whatever support these groups because they are (secretly) happy that the terrorists are "taking action" on the unbelievers. It's sick... But yeah, you guys can fix it, because I think people are good.

 

Yeah Muslims have a bad rep in US and for that reason I would not think about moving there because end of the day, we all care about our families safety so you never know when another dumbass Muslim attacks US which could screw Muslims living in the US.
Since Saudi Arabia is the most strict in terms of obeying the Islamic rules, I don't see them taking any action anywhere out of Saudi Arabia as long as they keep their pockets full of oil money. I am not sure about Iraq or Iran but I do know that high officials/politicians in Pakistan allow terrorists to come in the country from Afghanistan border who then buy poor Pakistani residents to commit these acts of terrorism within the country and to be honest, I don't see any changes being made any time soon or ever. The things that are happening now in the world have been already stated in Quran as the signs of nearing judgement day and following on from those things mentioned in Quran, things will only get worse.

 

Well yes, even in our books, the world will one day annihilate itself. I think all the religions of the world say the same stuff. And all the religions agree that we are in that last stage.

 

Except in our books, that day is still pretty far off

 

I'm not much religious but from visiting mosque on most Fridays (like you go to church on Sundays), what i've heard from our priest is that the prophet Muhammed is aware of the judgement day date, when he went to meet God on the night of 'Miraj' where he saw both Paradise + Hell and the punishment of people who did different wrong doings but he just told the signs of judgement day to his companions so even we're not sure when the actual judgement day is but what he did say was that before judgement day, there will be some guy or devil (can't remember exact) with 1 eye who will lead people to do wrong things and then prophet Isa (Jesus, who we take as our second last prophet and Moosa (Moses, who Jewish people take as their last prophet is our third last prophet) will come back to earth to stop people from doing wrong things and show them the right path as a last chance before judgement day, and those who believe in him and follow him to the right will InshAllah (With God's will) will go to paradise and those who still don't choose the right path will burn in hell.

I'm not sure how Bible states the murder of Jesus when they crucified him, i mean i read a bit in school but i can't remember if Bible states that they managed to kill Jesus or not but in Quran, it says and i quote "and their saying: "We killed the Messiah, 'Isa (Jesus) son of Maryam (Mary), Messenger of Allah." They did not kill him and they did not crucify him, but it was made to seem so to them. Those who argue about him are in doubt about it. They have no real knowledge of it, just conjecture. But they certainly did not kill him."

We believe that it was not Jesus who they crucified, it was some other man who was given a similar appearance as Jesus who they murdered, yet the real Jesus rose up to the heaven and still to this day is in Heaven and will return towards the end of the world. Another thing which both Christianity and Islam differs on is that, Christians believe that Jesus is the son of God but Muslims believe that God is superior to everyone, he has no parents, son, daughter, wife.

Islam also says that there were 1024 prophets but only 25 of their names are mentioned in the Quran and here is the list of them.

http://www.iqra.net/articles/muslims/prophets.php

I'm surprised that Prophet Moses is mentioned 169 times where as Prophet Muhammed is mentioned only 4 times but Muslims believe that After God, Prophet Muhammed is the next thing towards leading us to the right path and our saviour but we still believe in all our other prophets from Prophet Adam to Prophet Isa (Jesus). In Quran, God calls Prophet Muhammed 'Wama Arsalnaaka Illa Rehmatallil A’alameen” which means AND WE HAVE SENT YOU NONE EXCEPT AS MERCY FOR THE WORLDS. It doesn't mean that just our world, it means ALL worlds starting from Prophet Adam to the day of judgement day. Another thing I would like to bring up is that we don't believe that any of our prophets are dead in their grave, they are still alive and are still worshipping to God in their grave. If someone has died then how can they be merciful or help other people as they seek help from other people like giving their dead body a bath, changing their clothes, putting their body in a coffin and burying them etc. which is why we say, none of our Prophets are dead.

Another thing Muslims believe is that although Prophet Adam is the first man created by God and sent to the world, Prophet Muhammed was crated by God way before he had created Adam or the worlds with his own Light hence why we are told by Prophet Muhammed's companions that Prophet Muhammed was really beautiful and had no shadow so no can could even step on his shadow. I would love to elaborate on this point if I had more knowledge because this part may seem confusing to some people and might think, if Prophet Muhammed was created first then how come we still say Prophet Adam was created first. I'm not sure but it could mean that because he wasn't sent to earth before Prophet Adam which is why he wasn't the first person?

Can i ask, Christians sometimes bury people and sometimes they electrocute them, why do they electrocute them and is it an optional thing? Muslims don't burn or electrocute dead bodies because we believe that we should leave this world in the state of how we came to this world with our flesh and organs etc. which is why we're not even allowed to kill anyone as we believe that only God has the right to take someone's life away but people see all this violence in the news and think Islam allows Violence and it is a bad religion. I think Hindu's burn the body and throw the left over the body like nails etc in the river Ganga to purify the soul, i'm not sure so maybe Daddy can explain this and Daddy, what happens if someone lives in the US or Europe, can they throw the leftovers in any river as the river Ganga is in India?

 

It's the other way around in the Middle East, Western people (americans in particular) have a bad reputation over there. Some people ask why it is like that, but I think it's pretty easy to see why. We're taking their resources, engaging in wars and sending troops to "Holy Grounds" and much, much more. That only makes us look greedy and arrogant.

 

Yes, Sikhs, Jains, Buddhist, Hindus etc all burn their deads. According to hindu Mythology the body is composed of 5 elements of nature. PRITVI(soil), VAYU(air), THEYU(energy), JAL(water), AAKASH(sky). Hindu belief is that all the 5 macro elements of the body should be dissolved in the very same nature as soon as possible. The quickest way is to burn the body unlike burying someone (the process of decomposition is relatively very slow & the remains of the body are left in this world). Just like a Cemetery Hindus have Cremation grounds. The remains like nails etc.. that don't get burned neither can be buried nor its advisable to preserve, so to purify the deceased person's soul, they are with all due respect, handed over to river Ganges. I guess most of that gets eaten by the fishes. This ritual is done by the surviving people preferable the son in case of parents. In case if a person dies in India whose son or daughter is in US they cremate the dead but wait for their son/daughter to arrive & flow their remains in Ganges. If a person dies else where its advisable to flow their ashes in Ganges or else in any other river that's considered sacred.


Anyways Hinduism teaches about several gods but believes in Just 1 supreme power. I call it Bhagwan, some call it Allah or Jesus or Moses. They are all one in the end, I was raised to go to temples, mosques, churches, gurudwaras since childhood. I just believe in 1 entity that's above everyone else.

 

We don't believe that Adam and Eve were the first people. The first "people" were molten rocks and carbonated water All that stuff is part of the Old Testament. In the New Testament, we say that whatever God's old covenant was has expired; the new covenant is established by Jesus' suffering, death, and resurrection on Earth. It seems kind of silly, but I think all of it is part of an evolution of religion. I mean, Abrahamic religions like Christianity and Islam simply branched out of Judaism to "fill the gaps," so to speak.

The moment you shine the light of science, there is not a religion in the world that doesn't break down:


1. (Old testament) God created "man in his image?" Is that why the first organisms were bacteria, and man evolved from apes?

2. (Christianity) Virgin Mary? There isn't a baby born on this earth without the mother having sex at some point. Thinking logically, this was during the time of the Roman Empire, and quite easily Mary could have been raped by a Roman at some point, leading to Jesus. Thus, if Jesus was indeed a human who died on the cross, he should have been born in the traditional human way. God does not interact directly with the human world, so Virgin Mary is not a virgin--at all. Also, original sin is completely stupid. What would be a "sin" is if humans didn't reproduce at all and became extinct. There are many more stuff that can be said, but the point has already been made.

3. (Islam-- in reference to Jihad) Calling the eternal "God" vs. "Allah" or whatever and then fighting over who's right? Completely stupid, as the words are nothing but longitudinal air vibrations, and thus part of this world, and thus cannot describe the eternal. Bombing the "unbelievers" is retarded and warrants a landing in Hell-- not heaven. There are more, but I am not Islamic so I don't know.

4. (Hinduism) Why are there so many gods and rituals? From what a Hindu told me at my college, priests in India are misusing their power because they mandate specific guidelines and rituals that must be followed. If I remember right, there is only a specific direction you can walk in a temple or something?

5. (All religions) God? There's a God? Where? I can believe all I want, but one day I am going to die. Good people will suffer. How can there be a God?

Anyway, I was NOT being offensive. I was simply showing how a little science can break down any religion of the world. No religion can withhold the burning gaze of scientific scrutiny. Criticism of religions help religions grow, evolve, and give way to new prophets

I am really interested in learning about different religions without any of the bias. Talking about religion in a forum where most people are potentially atheists is exactly what must be done.


@Who's Ya Daddy: Isn't hinduism polytheistic?

 

Yeah the whole universe was built before Adam and Eve but rocks and water can't be classified as people. I was raised as a Muslim with islamic teachings so i personally don't believe in all these scientific theories or big bang theory and choose to ignore that stuff. Like i said, we believe we had 1024 prophets and they all tried to convey a similar message across to people and Quran isn't the only Islamic holy book, there were three other books; Zabur (Revealed to David, he was a king, not a prophet), Tawrat (Revealed to Moses) and Injil (Revealed to Jesus) but Muslims believe that all those three books were distorted and the context has been changed and not original.

I don't know what has been changed in those books and i have no knowledge what so ever about Judaism. Living in the UK which has mostly Christians, i can see three main differences between Christianity and Islam, Islam forbids people from drinking as they have no control over their actions which could lead them to doing wrong things and another thing is adultery, meaning you can't have any sort of sexual relationships with another person until you are married and the last one is the dress code, where Islam forbids girls/guys to wear clothes which cover their entire body, so only your hands, feet and face are visible which is why you see those arabs wear these clothes;



But saying that, i see many Muslims drinking, having many GFs/BFs and wearing mini skirts or clothes which Islam forbids. This also applies to women and their appropriate dress code is this..



But then you see some Muslim women also covering their face with Nikaab/Burqa which is completely optional;



Other religion people think that this is strict on both men and women to cover themselves up all the time but the thing is, end of the day, if you are religious and want to follow the guidelines then you do it and if your not THAT religious or not religious at all then you don't. I admit, it does feel strict when Islamic priests say that you will go to hell if you don't follow these guidelines but Islam also believes that we are being tested in this world and this life is really short compared to the life we choose to live (Paradise or Hell). So if someone has money, they are being tested to see how do they utilize that money, whether they help less fortunate people out and if someone is poor, they are being tested to see if they remember God in tough times and if they still have faith in him etc. Anyways, my sister's don't cover their heads but still wear decent clothes and I don't wear those clothes which those sheikhs are wearing, i prefer t-shirts/tops and I don't cover my head with that hat, i prefer caps/hats (not for religious reasons).

All those 5 issues you raised can be answered by the scholars with appropriate explanation, I'm not very religious and it's been like a decade since i even touched our holy book so

1) I don't actually believe in the men evolution of us being apes first and regarding God creating man in his image, (did a quick Google search and i'll just paste what one Islamic scholars said to make my life easier

That the word “image” here refers to “attributes”, such as hearing, seeing, knowledge, and so forth. Thus, Adam (Allah bless him) was created possessing attributes that Allah has also described Himself with, although the attributes of the former, as is evident, are contingent and relative while the attributes of Allah are eternal and absolute.

2) Yeah no baby is born without the mum having sex with a man but since Jesus isn't an ordinary man and is one of our prophet and Christians believe as God's son so if he is God's son then surely God did interact with the world? We Muslims believe that the Angel Gabriel came to Mary in the form of a man and told her that he is here to provide her with a gift of a righteous son and she said, how can i have a son when i am not married and no man has ever touched me? Long story short, he said that God can do whatever he wills and just like Adam and Eve were born without any parents etc. You can read about it here in more detail

http://abdurrahman.org/qurantafseer/ibnkathir/ibnkathir_web/19.31097.html

3) Jihad doesn't mean to fight over who is right on it's own, it has few meanings, to struggle and to fight for your religion but it doesn't mean to kill innocent people without any reason. Example of a REAL jihad could be, if some non-Muslim attacked our holy place Makka, then the Muslims will fight against that person/people. Jihad also has another meaning which is not related to the religion, when any Muslim army soldiers dies, we call them 'Mujahid' as he was fighting to protect his country. And yes killing innocent non-believers will send you to hell as it has been mentioned before, Islam does not like violence.

4) I'm not going to say much on Hinduism because it could be taken in the wrong context by Daddy and may offend him so to simply put it, Muslims don't believe in worshipping statues and Hinduism hasn't lead from any of our prophets like Judaism and Christianity have, in which all three religions, we all believe in one God. Regarding rituals, every religion has them, Christianity has Baptising the child, celebrating Christmas, Easter etc, Hinduism has Holi, Diwali etc and Islam has two Eid's etc and then we also have other things which we call 'Sunnat or Sunnah' which are not compulsory and are optional to what our prophet Muhammed used to do, e.g. growing a Beard isn't compulsory to be a good Muslim or to be a Muslim, it is sunnah as our prophet had it. I am sure each religion has few wrong priests who misuse their powers like any other normal people who have some sort of powers, like managers being douche bags to their employees.

5) I can't answer this as i don't have the knowledge but i believe there is a God and he is our creator. When Muslims stand together to pray and fold their arms with their heads tilted down, we stand like that because we are supposed to believe that we are standing infront of our God, our creator. If we were slaves, we would pay respect to our king and not stand with our hands in our pocket or speak to him as we would with other slaves. I just did a quick google search and found this....

What Muslims believe about God is clear-cut and simple. They do not believe that God is everywhere; they believe that God is above the heavens. The human need to turn our faces towards the sky in times of trouble and strife is an inherent answer to the question, where is God? God tells us in the Quran that He is the Most High (Quran 2:255) and that He is above all His Creation.
“He it is Who created the heavens and the earth in six Days and then rose over the Throne (in a manner that suits His Majesty). He knows what goes into the earth and what comes forth from it, what descends from the heaven and what ascends thereto. And He is with you (by His Knowledge) wheresoever you may be. And God is the All-Seer of what you do.” (Quran 57:4)

Against a knowledgeable scholar, i don't think science will have any valid points but people will always have doubts about somethings which are not clear. If i wasn't raised with islamic teachings, i would also think who is God and if he is real then where is he but i have learnt to believe that there are certain things in life which you just have to believe and have faith in. To me, big bang theory doesn't make sense to how the whole world can take a shape upon an explosion and how can Adam and Eve come to life and how did our organs in our body take shape but i am sure, science will have some sort of answers for those questions and that's fine because i'm not one of those Muslims who says one religion is right and the other one isn't. Islam tells us to not say anything bad about anyone else religion because they might say wrong things about your religion so let people believe in whatever path they choose to believe.

 

I understand you are asking/searching for what differences all religions have; and to that, I must say there ARE none. All religions are man-made and therefore imperfect. All religions are based on controlling through fear. All religions encourage their peoples to marry and reproduce, then have scads of books, all written by men (or women, but very few of those, and none in the New Testament of the Bible), which tell how unholy it is to have sex or otherwise enjoy oneself. Religion is typically used -- or abused, most likely -- by politicians, specifically conforming themselves to whatever piousness the prevailing country's religious leaders are fomenting. Most importantly, religious books have to be written in such a nebulous fashion no one man can translate, which is why there can be one First Church of the Nazarene across the street from another First Church of the Nazarene: People follow a man (which every holy book I have ever read says NOT to do) who they believe has a gift from God to tell His people what His book is about and is therefore a "higher" man than the rest of us heathens.

I do not wish to offend anyone's religious beliefs, we are all entitled to our own opinions. I have read the Qu'ran, studied Catholicism, was raised a Baptist -- I have studied many religions -- but never felt anything in a church, certainly not anything that made me burst out babbling in gibberish or flopping to the pews or mad enough to go kill someone just because his beliefs were not mine. Nowhere in any of these holy books does it tell anyone to murder wantonly to spread the good word, not in a single one of them. This is what happens whenever a great idea comes along: Lesser men pervert the idea into something never envisioned when it was written, just like the Bible with its multiple rewrites/additions/omissions throughout history. Think about it: why do most Christians follow the King James Version of the Bible? Why read an edited version, some long-dead king's opinion of what it should be, when there are better, truer versions?

Well, the reasons are endless, and you could talk about religions all day... but it all boils down to:
The extremely rich, the 1% which holds 99% of the world's wealth, do not have God in their lives. "God" is a concept which was invented by the rich to control the poor. It was invented as a way to get the downtrodden peasants to work harder by telling them, "Yes, this life is a real sh!thole, but if you are very good and do what you are told there is an Afterlife where you get (insert promises here)." Religion is like acne cream; since none of us can conclusively prove it works it is sold on the PROMISE it will, not on actual results. The bottom line is, people only want to feel safe and secure, and religion plays on those basic needs by adding constant fear to the equation, by saying, "This is the bad guy, and he wants to take your stuff and hurt your family, so give it all to us instead, who care so much about you (said as they drive around in their Cadillacs and Mercedes-Benzes)." No one wants to believe that when we die, that's it, we are just gone; it is a pretty horrible thought. I personally think we are bits of the same energy which pushed through the nothingness that was here already, and that this is just one of many universes, and this is the spark which keeps our hearts beating. I think this explanation to be simplest, and the facts more than support it. Where we came from is not the important question, however; where are we GOING? is.

Feel free to disagree with anything I have written -- most do. Peculiar, though, that if I were to say some of these BLASPHEMOUS things aloud in certain countries all the peaceful, turn-the-other-cheek, loving believers would have me killed.

 

Hinduism is the oldest Religion on earth. Much before any scientific evidences of any other religion or mythologies were discovered it was believed that universe was created by Lord Brahma & appointed the following:

1. Lord Brahma (The Creator)
2. Lord Vishnu (The preserver)
3. Lord Shiva (The destroyer)
Though there's only ONE GOD !!
Understanding god is beyond any human comprehension. You cant see him, so you cant prove him, if you cant prove him, he doesnt exist?
Hindus are divided in various sects & thus have their own languages, values, laws, beliefs, culture & rituals. In every language they mean the same lord but they address god with different names (this explains most of the polytheism). I know its a bit complicated but in every sect the same gods are known by a different name.

Then there's concept of naming every force or every form of energy & relating it with god
for example goddess of wisdom- Saraswati
goddess of wealth & prosperity- Lakshmi

But broadly they are all part of the same One eternal force as mentioned in the Bhagwad Geeta.

Some priests are actually minting money by spreading superstitions. Sadly its true

No, there are no guidelines as to which you must walk in a particular direction in a temple. It doesn't matter how you enter or exit a temple. The only prohibition is eating beef (sadly I don't qualify here) and entering a temple inebriated.