Religion?

[Hershey]

I think that the OP should make a poll for what religion you believe in, just to see the percentage cleanly layed out. I would put things like: atheism...

Atheism isn't a religion though.

 

[Slowpoke22]

Up until I was about five or six years old, I believed Santa existed. That's the closest I've ever come to believing in a god. I've never viewed any religion to be remotely credible, and for me it is beyond illogical to begin buying into any particular religion. Buddhism is the closest I could conceivably manage, and that's only because I think of it more as philosophy than religion. Apart from attending weddings and funerals, I've never had to go to church. I'm very thankful that my parents, who are both non-religious, didn't try to brainwash me.:tu

Does anyone here believe in a religion that is different from their parents? To what extent do you think your religion is what it is simply by virtue of where you were raised?

 

[collinbxyz]

Up until I was about five or six years old, I believed Santa existed. That's the closest I've ever come to believing in a god. I've never viewed any religion to be remotely credible, and for me it is beyond illogical to begin buying into any particular religion. Buddhism is the closest I could conceivably manage, and that's only because I think of it more as philosophy than religion. Apart from attending weddings and funerals, I've never had to go to church. I'm very thankful that my parents, who are both non-religious, didn't try to brainwash me.:tu

I half-believed that a god existed as I said in an earlier post because everyone I knew but my family believed so. I agree that Buddhism is also more of a philosophy. In fact, my (atheist) dad sometimes listens to audio books about Buddhist teachings. He loves the idea of "the now", and not thinking about the past or the future.

I think that saying that parents are "brainwashing" is going a bit far, but I do know what you mean. I can just see others getting angry with you for that line.

Does anyone here believe in a religion that is different from their parents? To what extent do you think your religion is what it is simply by virtue of where you were raised?

Not me specifically, but my dad was raised Catholic, but became atheist. His parents (my grandparents) are still very much Christian. I am not sure what made him atheist though.

 

[insane569]

i find religion to be ********
the majority of my family is church of god 7th day and i was too until about a year ago when i started to question faith and religion. the main reason i questioned it was because of one question
Who Created Us. Who Created The Universe. i questioned my god and according to some church friends you cant believe in god if you question him
so i became atheist and continued to question religions. although im very interested in other religions mostly to find connections between them and see if there is actually a god i cant seem to find any solid answers. all are made up gods that cant be proven to exist so i stuck with the thought of
we are the children of evolution

 

[RNewms27]

Atheism isn't a religion though.

It's my perspective of religion.

 

[5BLD]

Atheism isn't a religion though.

Define religion.
Atheism is a way of thinking, just like any other religion; a point of view....

Also questioning science is interesting- can we really trust science if it's all inductive reasoning? There's the problem...

 

[CubeLTD]

Atheism isn't a religion though.

You're point? It'll just act as a none of the above option.

 

[Muesli]

Define religion.
Atheism is a way of thinking, just like any other religion; a point of view....

Also questioning science is interesting- can we really trust science if it's all inductive reasoning? There's the problem...

The scientific method is extremely thorough at weeding out the false things. If every observation matches up with every other observation then it's relatively safe to assume that said observation is true.

 

[Julian]

Here's another side to this debate:

 

[Cheese11]

It's a really long story, so I'll try to give the short version.
Gold Coast Christian Camp was a camp I attended almost every summer. It was great, and I always felt like I was getting closer to Jesus and building a personal relationship with him when I was there. Not to mention, the people were really cool and I made a lot of friends. The counselors were great too. But let me back up a bit. From time to time, while I was a Christian, I was taught to 'question my faith', to test it, to ask God to show himself to me, to let me know that he really is there and really does care about me. And I did, and I felt like he was talking to me or like I felt his presence at least. Anyway, I think the real turning point was after I read Dante's Inferno and some of Dante's Purgatorio. Epic poems, but mythology. Around the same time, I decided I was going to start reading my Bible (because I felt like I didn't do that often enough). And I just flipped to a random book, which turned out to be Ezekiel. And I started reading it. And what I was reading sounded like mythology, like something I would read in The Odyssey or The Vedas, or some other Epic poem or mythology story. That's when it first hit me. 'maybe the Bible isn't meant to be taken completely literally. Maybe just some stuff is historical and some is just supposed to be metaphor, like the mythology parts are metaphorical. After this, I got to thinking more about it. I started watching atheist deconversion stories on YouTube (I don't remember why I did this in the first place), and I found them extremely interesting. It was like what they were saying was so new to me, these ideas were so different. So I started questioning my faith even more. I started to ask God to show me that he exists, to give me a sign to let me know that he was with me. And he never did. This is when I first thought 'Maybe god doesn't exist'. And for about...6 months, I think, I changed my views to strictly agnostic. I didn't know if there was a god or not, and I didn't think it was fair to myself to claim there was one when I really wasn't sure anymore. During this time I started to study flaws and contradictions in the Bible, and one concept I remember thinking about was 'God doesn't follow his own rules' (I'm not gonna elaborate). This got me kind of thinking about things like 'is God a sinner, then?' and stuff like that. Just critically thinking about ideas and principles of my faith. That year, at camp my counselor was a guy named Steven, who was also the pastors son at my friends church. And he was seriously the coolest counselor I ever had. I told my cabin mates that I was agnostic, and my counselor was just incredibly supportive. He told me he knew what I was going through and that I had to like figure things out for myself and stuff. Not long after camp I started thinking more and more. And I don't remember when it happened exactly, but I spoke out loud "I am an atheist". And it made sense. It was weird, and it felt extremely awkward, but it was the truth, and I realized it at that moment. I was an atheist, and there was nothing I could do about it. It was simply what made sense at that time.

I should clarify, I was never taught that the Bible was 100% literal, but I was taught that it was 100% true. I knew that some story's were only meant as parables, but I never thought of it as mythology before that point.

That's the short version, I probably could have written pages on everything that happened.

That is really an awesome testimony.

I did sort of go through the same thing you did, I too in church was tought to test my faith. I tried and tried but never really heard Gods voice. For a while I questioned my faith, and questioned if god was really real. Then in grade 8 I moved my guitar lessons to a different date and started going to youth more often. The messages the director gave really moved me, and I can hear him speaking to me.

Before this thread is locked...

I'm an atheist. I don't believe in god. prophets, saints, heaven, anything. To go a step further. I don't even believe YOU really believe in god and heaven. You just really hope. Every human over 16 has, in his/her life at least once had the chance to die, whether it's jumping away from a moving vehicle. Being careful not to fall of the roof or a cliff, hell. even putting on your seat belts. If you really believe, no. If you KNOW there is a heaven, and it's better then the world you live now. Why take safety precautions? Why do you go to the doctor when you're sick? Why even try to protect yourself. Why try to protect others? If a crazy murderer kills someone you know, why want him/her to be brought to justice? Thanks them!
The only people who really believe in heaven, who really believe in god, life after death, are those "crazy" fanatics who strap bombs on their bodies, those who hijacked those airplanes on 9/11. They're willing to die for their faith, because they know they'll be rewarded in the afterlife.

(better explanations are on youtube in videos by darkmatter, grappling ignorance and probably many others. I'm not the only one who believes, or actually disbelieves this.)

As I stated earlyer I am a Christian.

The reason that we don't just, kill ourselves, is because god's purpose for us is that we can spread the word of the gospel. Also, not everyone goes to heaven, those that go to heaven are those that gave their lives to christ. Plus, the people that "strap bombs onto themselves" claim that they do it for faith, when really, the bible says that suicide and murder is a sin. Their going to hell.

At my church, we have had the debate, "Why don't we all just kill ourselves? and go to heaven?", well because God put us here for a reason, if he wanted us in heaven, he would have just put us there in the first place.

We have also discussed, do Islams and Christians worship the same god? I would like to use that as another "question" to discuss.

 

[d4m4s74]

Since the koran is an expansion of the bible, which is an expansion of the torah. it's safe to assume it's the same god.

 

[Weston]

Sorry... Why?

Because they're close-minded.

 

[Cheese11]

Since the koran is an expansion of the bible, which is an expansion of the torah. it's safe to assume it's the same god.

I personally think they do, but many people think they don't.

 

[Chapuunka]

Christian God of the Bible: Trinitarian (Father, Spirit, Son [Jesus])
Islamic God of the Koran: Does not include Jesus (just a prophet)

Not the same God.

 

[Escher]

It gave me some time to think clearly and be honest with myself.

And smoke a bunch of green xD

I guess I can identify with 'atheist-agnostic'. My dad is the same, and my mum regularly goes to Catholic church and would identify as a Catholic, though she's happy to oppose some of the sermons and many of the church's public policies on ethical issues. We all used to go to Quaker meetings regularly, and I went to a Catholic secondary school for 5 years. Although I'm skeptical of a Judeo-Christian being, it's hard to be an out-and-out atheist when my mum is better informed on the debate than me, despite doing undergrad Philosophy...

I don't believe that religion is valueless - I just think many people take a bad approach towards it, and it results both in many so-called scientists mistaking correlation (religious fundamentalists) with causation (religion makes you stupid), and religious people taking a far too narrow approach that creates many holes in their belief structure.

Like some others here, I think the mythology is fascinating.

 

[ianography]

I personally am an Atheist. Up until a few months to my thirteenth birthday, I had been Christian all my life. I soon became agnostic, and about two months ago, became Atheist. I personally believe that the universe was created due to:

1) Science
2) Dumb luck

flying spaghetti monster

that is all

:tu

My opinion on religion: it's ****ing retarded.

:tu

Was that when you started heavily using the Internet? I have notice that once you start going to any chat rooms, forums, or any thing like that, your faith is destroyed because you learn things that your parents shelter from.

I've noticed that too, although I don't believe that it is necessarily from experiences that parents try to keep their children unexposed to. But, the majority of my friends that use the Internet on a regular basis do happen to be Atheist.

I will jump in and provide my view. I am a member of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints, or as some know it as Mormon, or LDS. I am 24, this is certainly a choice I have put a lot of effort into and a decision that I have made myself. It is interesting to see others view of God, or lack thereof. My view of God is that he is much more loving and caring than most view, and that most everyone that lives will return to him after this life. I have felt in a very personal way the influence of God, and its really not something that can be explained or put into words.

What makes your belief more correct than others?

I don't believe that he's saying that his beliefs are better, but that according to them, God is more loving than most others view him to be.

Atheism isn't a religion though.

Also, if you want to read a paper about religion from a voice-cracking 14-year-old, here it is (which coincidentally I handed in today):

Spoiler

Religion; the building block of civilization. It can inspire, and destroy. It is this powerful force that has enhanced the capabilities and motivation of man. Religion brings us together, yet also divides us on many levels. Since its beginning, it has driven us to meet our goals through both fear and inspiration. Religious zealotry has been the start of many wars, as well as individual persecution for those with other beliefs. Nowadays, we could get along without it, but, without religion, we, as a whole, would be nothing.

Life before religion was very uncivilized and disorderly. Besides nomadic groups, there were no big assemblies or organizations. Many people didn’t help others, and it truly was survival of the fittest. The concept of religion, and the belief of a deity(s), turned this around and shaped the human race. Strict religious beliefs have somewhat decreased as more and more people form their own opinions. But, it also increases as more people take religion too seriously and get the wrong ideas and beliefs (i.e. Westboro Baptist Church and their hate-filled message). These trends indicate that religions’ popularity increase and decrease over time. This is proven a lot of the time in the media, with both religious and anti-religious bands and songs only being an example.

There is no known creator of religion. It could have been one sole individual’s idea, or an entire group’s vision. All that we know is that 11,600 years ago, at a small, cleared out site in Southern Turkey, the fist religious monument Göbekli Tepe was thrust into the world, and religion was born. Göbekli Tepe is a large tower covered in hieroglyphics and is made of tons and tons of stone. As most humans were nomadic peoples during this time, belonging to separate, small groups, the fact that this creation was started, or even finished for that matter, was a remarkable and mind-boggling feat amongst the human race. As for why Göbekli Tepe was constructed, we will never really know. Excavators and researchers all over the world believe that an earth-shattering event, such as the Ice Age ending, was a key factor for religion’s creation. The people that built Göbekli Tepe possibly believed that a deity, or deities, took pity on them and spared their lives, and for that, they must worship the deity(s) until the end of time. Personally, however, I believe that one saw a creature or object of some sorts, and had mistaken it for a god.

If I were to improve religion, I would make most of it more similar to that of Buddhism, for I believe in their general feeling of “if you are kind to me, I shall be kind to you”, and that more of us should live by this. With this, there would hopefully be less discrimination and hate that religions have brought, such as sexism and homophobia. Two quotes from the Bible that are large originators of hate are “men are worth more than women” and “you shall not lie with a male as you would with a woman. It is an abomination”. These, of course, don’t even make up half of the reason for this pointless hate. If the properties of Buddhism were to be implemented, though, a good portion of hate would be gone.

Of course, no religion is perfect. It can be very oppressive and can divide others (dividing, mainly, of different religious groups). Imagine there are two different religions. Religion A believes that they are the best religion out of the two, and because Religion B doesn’t have the same beliefs, Religion A thinks they are better, despite Religion B wanting to be friends or good acquaintances. It is much like that of bullying on the playground. This could be due to ignorance, selfishness, being conceited (or all of the options). Also, misconceptions and horrible mistakes can lead to disastrous events, such as 9/11. While the terrorists were crazy and delusional, what drove them to attack America was religion and their erroneous visions of a wonderful world in the afterlife (let it be known that I am not insulting any individual belonging to the Muslim religion).

As you can see, religion, just like everything else in the world, has its pros and cons. Nothing can be perfect, and nor can religion. It has created our world as we know it (from an unknown source and for an unknown reason), and has potentially kept us from making peace with others. If not for the birth of religion at a small site in Southern Turkey, we would either remain to be a savage species or be extinct. Nowadays, without religion, we could easily survive and still be relatively the same. We could even be a little less discriminatory. Therefore, you should believe what you want and not let anybody tell you otherwise. Just remember: “if you are kind to me, I shall be kind to you.”

 

[n00bcub3r]

I was a "christian" until about since school started this year, then i became a believer in Christ Jesus. The reason I say "christian" is because on every sunday, before school started this year, my mom would have to drag me out of bed to go to church, and even in church, i never payed attention, i just goofed off. All that changed when I was introduced to youth group. Youth group is basically like teachings of the bible from young adults to young adults(even though im only twelve). I at first just thought of it as a place just to goof off with some friends. Then, on my first youth group, we split off into groups based on grade and sex. My instructor was a guy named Alex Kim. He was the person that really inspired me to finally become a better christian. After that first week, every Sunday, I would be happy to go to church and I would pack my bible and a notebook and pen(I finally started taking notes). I also now actually read my bible and pray daily. Because of Alex Kim, I now really believe in God, the Bible, Jesus, and the Holy Spirit. Wow, just realized that was the longest thing that I had ever typed on this forum..

 

[DavidEBowyerJr]

Awesome answer noob. I am an associate pastor and always tell my students that religion is bad, but a relationship with Jesus is what is needed. I feel very bad for those who once believed but have since fallen away. I am praying for you brother and the other Christians and believers out there. I love Jesus period. If anyone else wants to know about him send me a message and I will talk to you about him.

 

[Shortey]

 

[ZamHalen]

I'm Christian (I'll specify if anyone wants me to).
I honestly find respectful conversation interesting but in all honesty we all realize that cannot exist on the internet.Lets take lolben ******baggery, that's what is truthfully what makes the internet non-conducive to any real conversation. I have a really weird belief system that I'll only explain if anyone is actually interested. But other than that I won't say anything.