Glossary of religious and spiritual terms
(Starting with "O")
By
Ontario Consultants on Religious Tolerance,
Toronto, Canada
http://www.religioustolerance.org/glossary.htm
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Occult:
There is no generally accepted meaning for this
term. The term has been used to refer to such
unrelated topics as astrology, palm reading, the
Masonic Order, Satanism,
tarot card reading, New Age Spirituality and Wicca.
Some definitions include:
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A
group of mostly unrelated spiritual and/or
magical activities, the detailed knowledge
of which is kept secret from the general
public. |
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A
set of mostly unrelated divination and/or
spiritual practices or activities which
are not part of a person's faith or of any
large world religion. |
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An
activity which involves elements of divination,
evil sorcery, magic and/or supernaturally
gained concrete experiences or truths. |
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Conservative
usage: Satanism the core element of the
occult; most of the remaining occult groups
are either forms of Satanism or are recruiting
groups for Satanism. All Occultic groups
are anti-Christian. Rituals are based on
demonic powers and fakery. Heavy metal rock
music, fantasy role
games etc. are often considered occult pastimes.
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Olber's
Paradox: This is a puzzle proposed by Heinrich
Olbers, a German astronomer in 1823. He suggested
that if the universe is static, infinite in size
and uniform, then every line of sight from the
earth in any direction must end of the surface
of a star. Thus, the night sky should be bright.
But it is dark. There are two solutions to the
paradox: the age of the universe is finite, and/or
the universe is expanding. |
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Old
Catholic Church: This is a Christian denomination
which split from the Roman Catholic Church in
1723 because of the Vatican's condemnation of
Jansenism and its refusal to allow the democratic
selection of an archbishop. Other Roman Catholics
joined in 1870 in protest to the decree of papal
infallibility. They allow their priests to marry.
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Old
Testament: The name given by Christians to
the Hebrew Scriptures. To Roman Catholics, Greek
Orthodox and some Anglicans, this is the Jewish
Bible and the Apocrypha.
To most Protestants, it is only the Jewish Bible.
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Oleh:
A Jewish term referring to a Jew who is immigrating
into Israel. |
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Olim:
Plural form of "Oleh." |
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Omnibeneficience:
The concept that God is all-good. |
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Omnipotence:
The concept that God has infinite power; he is
able to do anything that he wishes that is consistent
with his own personality. |
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Omnipresence:
The concept that God is in all places at all times. |
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Omniscience:
The concept that god is in possession of all knowledge.
The theodicy paradox
addresses the apparent conflict involved in God
having the above four attributes simulataneously. |
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Oneness
Pentecostalism (a.k.a. Jesus Only): A movement
within Pentecostalism which rejects the historical
definition of the Trinity and adopts a belief
system similar to Monarchianism.
They belief that Jesus sequentially took three
forms. First, he was God; then he was the Son;
finally, he became the Holy Spirit. They reject
the concept of the Trinity as believed by almost
all other Christians. Synonym for "Oneness
theology." They believe that one must be
baptized in the name of Jesus only in order to
be saved. If one does not speak in tongues, then
they have not been saved. |
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Open
Theism (a.k.a. Neotheism or Open view of God):
A belief that God is not omniscient. In particular,
God does not know what will happen in the future
with precision. Supporters of this belief back
up their position with biblical quotations. |
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Opus
Dei: From a Latin phrase meaning "the
work of God." The informal name of The
Personal Prelature of the Holy Cross and Opus
Dei. It is a very conservative Roman Catholic
lay organization organized in 1928, whose members
have a strong dedication to the Vatican. |
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Original
Sin: "Fallen man's natural sinfulness,
the hereditary depravity and corruption of human
nature because of Adam's fall." 1
That is, Adam and Eve's transgression when they
ate of the forbidden fruit opened a gulf between
God and humanity. Pollution from that sin has
been inherited by all of Adam and Eve's descendents
to the present day. |
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Orthodox:
Greek term for "correct opinion or belief."
In a religious sense:
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When
written in lower case, it generally means
a traditional or historical belief. |
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When
written in upper case, it generally refers
to Eastern Orthodoxy. |
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Orthodox,
Eastern: One of the major divisions within
Christianity (the others being Roman Catholicism,
Anglicanism and Protestantism). It consists of
15 autocephalous churches. Each is headed by a
bishop; most are related to a specific country,
as in Serbian, Russian and Greek Orthodox. The
Orthodox and Roman Catholic churches had been
drifting apart in belief, practice and ritual
for centuries before they formally split in 1054
CE. Each now regards themselves
to be the only true Christian church. |
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Orthopraxy:
Greek term for "correct action."
It means to make the religiously appropriate activities. |
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OSAS:
This is an acronym for "Once Saved,
Always Saved." It is the belief, common
among many conservative Protestants, that once
a person repents of their sin and trusts Jesus
as Lord and Savior, then they are forever saved
and will attain heaven after death. They cannot
lose their salvation by changing their belief
or by engaging in an evil activity. |
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Ouija
Board: A game using a board which is marked
with letters, numbers and the words "yes"
and "no." A pointer on a raised platform
selects a character or word. One or two players
place their fingers on the platform, which moves
-- apparently by magic. Many conservative Christians
believe that this game is profoundly evil and
dangerous and that the pointer is moved by demonic
forces. Scientists who have studied the physics
of the board have generally concluded that the
pointer is unconsciously moved by the players. |
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Out-of-body
Experience: (acronym OBE): See Near-death
experience. |
References:
- Alan Cairns, "Dictionary of Theological Terms," Ambassador-Emerald
Int., (1998), Page 255-256.
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