Questioning Religion

[s13drifting]

right now i am question my faith. i feel like christianity was shoved down my throught and i was never really taught that its o.k to question my faith, but my parents taught me to think about the meaning and lesons in the bible. right now i am looking into different religeons and right now i am thinking of becoming budist or a satanist. i am going to the library and pick up some books and do some reserch on the 2 religeons. but im worried trying to explain to my die hard christion family why i have a book on satanism. tell me if you have ever questioned your faith.

 

[Jimmy Enslashay]

I've never been religious. I was baptised by the Church of England, but I'm a non-believer. I don't believe in religion, nor do I believe in anything. I basically don't care what anyone else believes either, it's their choice. This doesn't mean I'm Athiest, either, as that's kind of a religion in itself.

And I've never questioned this.

 

[toyomatt84]

I don't question as much as I used to, now I'm into the doubting position. That's why I'm an Atheist.

 

[Jugend]

Born and raised christian by very religious parents. Was myself a truly dedicated and practising follower until I got into the 20's. All in all the process to question and later leave my previous beliefs took about 3-4 years. Today I have no religion at all but spirituality has never left me, only grown from my previously (as I see it today) narrow approach to life.

The struggle of leaving christianity became for a period quite a fight between me and my parents but today we have learned to accept each others different beliefs.

Hope you find some way to get acceptance from your parents, S13, but it's not the easiest thing you are trying to do, introducing that eventually you'll get into satanism. It will likely be VERY offending and disturbing to them.

Good luck anyway.

 

[a6m5]

I started to believe in Christianity when my mom became an Christian. I believe in what Bible says now, but I have doubted it couple of times in the past. Unfortunately, I don't belong to any churches. 👎

s13: My stance on religion is kinda like Jimmy's in the way. I'd talk to people about religion if they want to talk about it, but I really don't care what religion people believe in. My friends comes from many religious backgrounds, and we get along great. However, I do advise against worshipping Satan. No good will come from it IMO.

Good luck with your parents and remember that they are doing what they are doing, because they care for you. Even if you guys disagree on religion, at least you have parents that care. Not everybody's that lucky.

 

[Anderton Prime]

I was Baptised as a baby, but my family was never religious. My grandmother was the only reason we ever went to church. However, in the last few years I have turned to God and my faith has given me strength. I feel it is much stronger because I was allowed to choose what to believe in. God and the belief in Him was always present in my life since I was born, but never was it forced on me.

 

[Famine]

Can we have some more options on the poll please?

I've never questioned "my religion", because I don't have one to question. None of the options apply to me.

Secondly, you should always have a "Don't Care" option on any poll.

 

[donbenni]

While you're at the library grab a copy of "The Dictionary". It's good.

I selected yes. I am Christian but it seems my believe is getting thinner day by day. Eventually i'll accept i have no need for religion and will probably be happy.

 

[Duke]

There's a forum for this. I'll move it there and add an option to the poll.

For the record, I was never particularly religious, but I decided I definitely never would follow a faith when I was about 7 years old. That's when I was taught that Adam and Eve were cast out of Eden for the original sin of eating the Fruit of Knowledge from the Tree of Life.

In other words, "Don't dare question what we tell you - just believe it." Sorry, I'll never ever do that.

 

[sn00pie]

I never really got where Cain's wife came from. They screwed it up for me around that page.

 

[Anderton Prime]

I think there is a way to believe in God and not take the Bible too literally. I don't think I've ever been instructed by a minister or priest to not question my religion. On the contrary, we have a question and answer period at the end of the sermon where people are invited and even encouraged to both ask for clarification regarding things they don't understand and voice their opinions and dissatisfaction with anything they want. Maybe it's your particular branch of Christianity neon, or your church in particular.

 

[Famine]

Actually, now I've had a chance to run that lot through a Babel fish, I've just realised what s13drifting actually said...

right now i am question my faith.

[...]

i feel like christianity was shoved down my throught

[...]

right now i am thinking of becoming budist or a satanist.

That's an interesting mix.

So, you don't believe in God and have decided, instead, to move into Satanism. Which is another monotheistic religion with a tacit implication that God exists.

Or move into Buddhism which is a nontheistic religion, based on the tenets that "nothing is fixed or permanent; actions have consequences; change is possible" and "characterised by non-violence, lack of dogma, tolerance of differences, and, usually, by the practice of meditation".

Actions have consequences? Non-violence? Tolerance of differences?

You reckon you are capable of those things?

If you are, go ahead. However, you're considering Satanism as an alternative...


One further question for you. Why do you NEED a religion at all? Why do you need to have people telling you what to believe, undoubtedly from some book that they've read that's told THEM what to believe? If you're sick of having crap forced down your throat telling you what's what and telling you not to bother thinking for yourself, why move sideways into another discipline doing the exact same thing?

i am going to the library and pick up some books and do some reserch on the 2 religeons. but im worried trying to explain to my die hard christion family why i have a book on satanism.

"Know thine enemy" perhaps?

Hell, if they were going to kick you out for getting a tattoo, imagine what they'll do to you for reading about things.

 

[Gil]

AS far as "religion" I have had questions thru my adult life. I grew up in the "Church of Christ".
I discovered the Assembly of God while in college, worshipped with the Baptists for a time, and am now back in the Assembly of God.

I don't so much have a "religion" as a "faith". Believe me, there is a difference. I choose to worship with like-minded believers.

I have run in to much conflict with my parents over my choices. My father, a C of C minister, went to his grave believing that my leaving the C of C would send me and my kids to Hell. I'd like to think that he knows better now.
My mother, bless her heart, is trying to "re-convert" me to the C of C. My sanity is saved by the fact that she is living just over 1,000 miles away, and we talk about every couple of weeks.
Mercifully, we don't dwell too much on "religion".

As far as a belief in God: I feel that at the "cosmic roulette wheel" I really don't lose anything by believing in God, Jesus, and the Holy Spirit. I don't really lose anything by being the kind of person the Bible says I should strive to be. I worship with folks that believe as I do, and we have good fellowship time together. If I'm wrong, when I die, my belief that a "better place" awaits me upon my death will enable me to let go of this world with little regret, and will enable my family and friends to let me go a little bit easier. To me that's pretty much a "win/win" scenario.

 

[CAMAROBOY69]

I've never been religious. I was baptised by the Church of England, but I'm a non-believer. I don't believe in religion, nor do I believe in anything. I basically don't care what anyone else believes either, it's their choice. This doesn't mean I'm Athiest, either, as that's kind of a religion in itself.
And I've never questioned this.

My thoughts exactly. I never have and never will believe in any of the religions. Ive been around just about ever religion that can be seen in the US (ranging from Satanists to Jehova Whitness') and everyone has a different opinion on everything. Thus I grew up not believing a single thing anyone has to say about religion. This is my last reply in this thread too.
Yes we needed a "dont care" option. Thats the one I would have applied to.

 

[skip0110]

I've noticed that a lot of people, as they grow up and gain a greater world perspective, will lose the religious habits they formed (were taught) when they were young.

However, when they get married and have kids, many people fall back to religion, as they feel it instills something important in their children.

My parents were not religions people, I never went to church and was not baptised, so I don't think I would feel a need to instill religion in my children if/when I have them.

Is my perspective here generally correct? Why do people think religion is important when they have children, while they rejected it earlier?

 

[Pupik]

I most certainly did question my religion. I wasn't raised very religious until I was about 9 or so. At that point, my parents wanted my brother and I to go to Hebrew school, and get bar-mitzvahed, etc...mainly because my parents did the same sort of rite of passage. In any case, less and less things made sence to me about the tales I'd learned in the Torah. To me, a lot of it seemed like fairy tales. Even the teachers didn't mnd if you criticized or questioned what God had said to His People.

But my the time I was 13, I was questioning everything around me. There were som many absurd and silly rules about Judaism that it didn't seem to fit mankind's basic needs anymore. My parents never made a big deal out of either one of us avoiding temple anymore. In any case, I didn't feel like I was missing out on anything by not being religious; not worrying about whether God exists, existed, doesn't exist, or ever existed.

Later on, when I was about 19, I became interested comparative faiths and religion, learning about different cultures as I became exposed to them. I re-read the Bible, both New and Old Testament, the Koran, verses from the Bagavad-Gita, and Buddhist texts. I also read about Confucian virtures and the words of Master K'ung, and Taoism. I also read works from Freud and Jung, and philosophers like Arisotoel, Plato, Kant, and a few others.

Looking back over the past couple of years, I find I've been most impacted by the teachings of Buddha rather than anyone else. Interstingly, nobody even told me much about Buddhist teachings; On day, about eight years ago, I just picked up a book out of my own interest. I don't ever attempt "missionize" anyone. If anything, Buddhism in it's simplest form, is a philsophy, rather than a religion.

People will instinctively find what's best for them.

 

[s13drifting]

like right now i beleive in god. but i dont really in jesus. im thinking this was all just a really elaborate hoax.and i did research on satanism today and thats not for me.

and famine what if i get tatoos how would that get in my way of becoming a budist. my freind anh is budist and his back is covered with a dragon. and i feel religeon is a good thing to have because it can guide you in life. and for some people makes them more happy gives them a reason for living. and famine stop posting negative things on peoples thread. its really getting anoying and i find your insecure about yourself so you feel like you have to pick on a teenager..... grow up.

 

[Famine]

What ARE you waffling on about now? Psychoanalysis really isn't your strong point.


Still, nice to see those Buddhist values of "tolerance of differences" you so clearly ascribe to.

 

[ROAD_DOGG33J]

and i feel religeon is a good thing to have because it can guide you in life. and for some people makes them more happy gives them a reason for living. and famine stop posting negative things on peoples thread.

1. Common sense can also guide you in life. Like the Ten Commandments, they teach you not to kill and whatever else there is.

2. They are happy, because they are lead to believe there is an after-life. This way they realize that they have to suffer, but after they die, life will be brilliant. Atheists and other non-believers insist that life is life and everyone will die in the end (and there is no after-life).

 

[Anderton Prime]

Your post claims that non-believers "know" there is no afterlife. First of all, they don't "know" anything; they can only speculate. NO ONE KNOWS IF THERE IS OR IS NOT LIFE AFTER DEATH.

You should have said "Non-believers BELIEVE life is life and everyone will die in the end (and they also BELIEVE there is no afterlife.)"

Watch how you word things, as you are treading close to insulting believers and propping up non-believers. You won't catch me saying "We believers know there is life after death but only for those who believe, and you non-believers are in for a little surprise called Hell after you die."

Also, please don't say that people who believe in God have been mislead. That's you trying to tout your own beliefs (or lack thereof) and dismiss others'.

And Famine, you make it sound like the only way to have faith is to get it from someone else or from a holy book. This is not true and you know it. No one shoved anything down my throat, no one forces me to believe one thing over another, and no one tells me what to do. I go to church when and if I feel like it.

The trick with faith is to find your own. "Organized Religion" is the worst thing to happen to Jesus Christ since that whole business with the cross.

 

[PS]

like right now i beleive in god. but i dont really in jesus. im thinking this was all just a really elaborate hoax.and i did research on satanism today and thats not for me.

and famine what if i get tatoos how would that get in my way of becoming a budist. my freind anh is budist and his back is covered with a dragon. and i feel religeon is a good thing to have because it can guide you in life. and for some people makes them more happy gives them a reason for living. and famine stop posting negative things on peoples thread. its really getting anoying and i find your insecure about yourself so you feel like you have to pick on a teenager..... grow up.

Christianity? Satanism? Budhism? You're aware you go to a Catholic school aren't you? And why would Satanism have even popped into your head? Taking MM a little too literally, are we?

I think people should and can believe whatever they want, but try not to be ignorant or intolerant about things, especially religion and politics (which btw do not mix very well...at all).

 

[blargonator]

to me religion does not play a huge part. i have friends who go to church every sunday and every holy of obligation or whatever. i rarely go to church yet i am willing to admit i am not as horrible as they are. sounds bad but sometimes religion brings out the worst in people. there is no point in going to church if you don't understand why you are going. i have the basic concepts of right and wrong but the i don't like the church's (is that even right?) teaching on quite a few things.

S13drifting, look into transcendentalism (spelling). its a very basic idea of right and wrong with the freedom you are most likely looking into.

 

[Famine]

And Famine, you make it sound like the only way to have faith is to get it from someone else or from a holy book. This is not true and you know it. No one shoved anything down my throat, no one forces me to believe one thing over another, and no one tells me what to do. I go to church when and if I feel like it.

Indeed.

However, what is it you DO at church?

All the church services I've been to involve singing hymns - generally written by 1600s or 1980s evangelists - and listening to readings from the Bible - generally written by 40AD evangelists.

There is no option given - they tell you that you must believe God created Heaven and Earth (although these days they hedge their bets and include the line "through the auspices of the Big Bang"), and man, and that Jesus was His son, sent to Earth, died and rose again. If you don't beleive that then you aren't a "Believer" and you're not going to Heaven come Judgement Day.


Nevertheless, many, otherwise logical, people are happy to believe this, including some of our forum greats (Gil, I'm looking at you).

 

[Ten]

I'm a little frustrated about all this. I wonder how we got here (see Famine's points in the Creationism vs. Evolution thread), but I know that I have no absolute answer. Everything is speculation beyond what science can prove, and I don't care to really have someone tell me that they do know.

Bullhonkely.

Unless you're some odd bajillion years old, you don't know jack, except what some guy wrote in a book. I have friends who have a loose faith in a god or a messiah, but I don't profess my beliefs around them, nor they around I.

I was raised in a very strong catholic household. For a good 14 years I was hooked on the word of Jesus, my saviour. When I realized that reality was going downhill for me, and my life was getting harder and harder. I turned to Jesus.

Where was my saviour? I prayed and prayed - begged and begged to be saved from my torment. What did I get?

Nada.

It was then that I actually decided to take a step back from my "faith" (at this point ragged and torn) and look at how many times it's actually held me back, or clashed with my own beliefs or feelings.

1: I accept people for who they are, and for how they approach me. If they aren't christian, oh well. They're still people. According to my faith, however, heathen non-believers who will burn in hell for being seduced by Satan.

2: My grandparents would look at me and smirk. I wore chains, spikes, lots of black (I'm catholic, remember) and listened to all sorts of music that was deemed anti-christian because it had a guitar in it, or the lead singer had long hair. Creed comes to mind. I love Creed, but somehow, as christian as their roots are, they're anti-christian. Now, I believed in God and Jesus - I read the bible and followed it's teachings - surely my appearance and taste in music didn't bar me from the Lord's accepting arms, did they? Apparently, yes. Doesn't God love all his children?

3: I could rape, kill, beat, whatever anyone I choose. Then, I could waltz into a confessional and beg the lord for forgiveness. Whoops! Instant pass to heaven! Looks like I'll just go home and kill myself, and I'll have a clean conscience as the victim's families see me get off scott-free and taking the easy way out, having been absiolved of all sin. Sorry, no.

4: I'm gay. Apparently, no matter how devout I was, this instantly negates all my faith, and I've been seduced by Satan into leading a life of homosexuality, dooming the oh-so-endangered human race to extinction by refusing to procreate. My bad.

I don't subscribe to any faith, I suppose. But as I've said in the past, I give them all the benefit of the doubt. And by that, I mean that if some grand creator were discovered, I'd give them a thumbs-up and say, "Good guess!" 👍

 

[PS]

I would like to then present this question then: who brought forth god, or what/where did he come from? Especially since every religion seems to think there is only one...

[edit]

_____Well put, Ten. It seems as though God himself, or whoever created this hypocritical a-mighty higher power, had some seriously biased opinions. Wouldn't it be more logical to sya now that being gay is better, economically? I mean, it would certainly slow down the rate at which materials and food are consumed, and it would certainly cut short the population explosion that the earth has been experiencing since the 1940's.
_____And when/if "judgement day" does come, who's to say we can't take it on? I mean surely, god couldn't have expected us to have built bunkers to sheild us from meteor attacks. And even if we did, would NASA not see them comming, and promptly evacuate the 2 million richest people in the world? And by then, if it actually happens, which could also start tomorrow, would we not be colonized on Mars as well? So are these demons (which are genetically comprised of what btw?) supposed to travel through space, land on Mars, and open the gates of hell there too? Or do they just pop up out of nowhere, and terrorize the hell out of Earth, for people being sinners?
____And is it not true that the devil is looking for souls to build his "army"? If so, would he not be trying to gain souls, instead of scaring them away from Satanism/atheism/non-believing? Because, if he did that, then well, there wouldn't be very many souls to steal. And if God is so forgiving, why doesn't he forgive you for not believing or being homosexual? Sounds a little sadistic to me. It's like the sick freak who beats/rapes/violates women, and then convinces them it was their fault that they left their window open, or looked at someone on the street. I'm not going into this anymore, religion is too contradictory to be taken seriously.

 

[blargonator]

many religions are just imitiations. jesus was not christian, he was jewish <8- P from judaism (spelling) came christianity, from christianity too many too many to list. there are so many religions its probably close to impossible to actually go all the way back to figure out who came up with the basic idea.

many religions are monotheistic (sorry for any spelling errors, im kind of in a rush) and they are usually just the same basic idea. one of the few "original" religions i can think of are the mormons hahaha...sorry if i offend anyone about that but what is with the crazy story?
its kind of wierd for me to think about just dying and becoming null/void.

 

[PS]

What? You've never seen a CAA membership before?

 

[blargonator]

explain? i have no idea. i guess i will try and google it but i have work to do <8- ( so i will have to rush.

edit~i don't have the time right now 👎 but the first thing google came up with was "Civil Aviation Authority" and im guessing that is not what you are talking about

 

[PS]

null/void...get it?

[edit] CAA = Canadian Auto Association

 

[blargonator]

sorry i was too busy watching something zoom over my head