Why Are You Into Religion?

[CurtSibling]

ENEMY ACE™ is curious about religion of late…

Out of complete curiosity I would like to know how any of you got into religion?

Did your parents teach you?
Or did you come to this point in life yourself?
Or was it something totally different?

Now this is a serious fact-finder, and I want to see no flames or trolling!
Or arguments about any relative merits of opposing faiths.

I am totally neutral on religion…but I wont tolerate fighting over it.

Discuss!

 

[FearlessLeader2]

Originally? I went with my parents as a child. When I went to college, I stopped going, and started living my own life, and doing my own thinking, and looking around me at the world.

What I saw was a lot of lawlessness, self-gratification at the expense of others, and people who just did not care about right and wrong. And I realised something.

My parents' religion, and the people who follow it, are just plain better than the average person. They are kind to each other and everyone else, they tend not to smoke, they seldom if ever drink, almost none use drugs, and pre-marital sex is unheard of. Those within the organization who do these things are counselled, and if they continue to do them in spite of knowing that it is bad to do, they are asked to quit associating with decent folk, and to leave. And if they decide to try to return, the opportunity is always there, if they can tear themselves away from what is wrong. And there is always support to do so. These are really decent, really nice people, and I wish I could be one of them again. Unfortunately, I'm too full of rage and other negativity, and I can't seem to let go of it. So I'm stuck between worlds. I know what is right, but all I can do is stand by the window and look in longingly.

I've come to the conclusion that any religion that can support and nurture a sub-culture that decent in this stinking swamp of a civilization, has got to be on to something. Witnesses are just plain decent folk, and their only goal in life is to ask everyone else to be the same way, and once everyone's been asked, to wait and see what God will do.

So I hope that answers some of your questions.

 

[CurtSibling]

Thank you, FL2. Good post.

I am genuinely interested in the the people I post with.

PS
I too am a non-smoker, never use drugs and deplore alchohol.

Although I don't think marraige is essential...

I too think people should take better control of thier sex lives, and lives in general, there's too many uncared-for kids...

Even though I am not religious, I think we have some things in common, decency to other humans...

And I think that's what counts.

 

[floppa21]

People were all a happy hodge podge religiously UNTIL Christianity. THAT was when people started killing each other over religion. BUT, the fact that it is TODAY one of the largest and most widely followed says something for it.

I personally started going to church when I was 13 or 14 on my own, neither of my parents were all that religious. I quickly bacame discouraged and disgusted by what I saw there, and stopped going. It was a Christian Methodist church. Now I am a non-believer but I am still looking. When I was going, it seemed a lot of it was wishful thinking. Maybe my imagination is not good enough... ? Either way, I have a cynical view of religion, christianity in particular. That's me.

 

[Flatlander Fox]

I believe in God.

Easy statement to make, but a hard one to elaborate on when your next statement is:

I don't believe in religion. ANY OF THEM.

All religion is there for is to control people. Need to quell lawlessness? Tell your people they'll spend their afterlives roasting in hell for "bad deeds".

Need an army? Tell the people that their religion is superior, and that your state is under duress from the infidels. Oh yeah, if you die it's for God.

Need people to obey your rules? Tell them to "Be like a weed or something, and bend for the wind".

Need to redistibute wealth? Alms for the poor!

I was raised a Lutheran, did some time as a Catholic and left both feeling a bit disenchanted.

But yet I believe in God???

There is SOMETHING out there. A greater being. Whether he's God or Spock or Luke Skywalker, I don't know.

There is no proof of God... Except all of us right?

I have a hard time swallowing that we are all just here because of mutation and such. I have seen enough good and evil to believe that there is a greater purpose, just nobody has got around to telling us.

And here we are again, back to religion. Without religion, there would be no Civilization (Not the game dummy). We would still be killing each other at will. With little or no reprecussions.

But are there penalties for sin? Looking at monsters such as Pot, Stalin, Hitler and the like, I certainly hope so.

But WE DON"T KNOW. And likely never will.

I admire those with the faith to believe in God through a specific religion.
I only can live a good life, with kindness toward my fellow man and beast, and hope that is enough to get me where ever "heaven" is supposed to be.

It is a roll of the dice, but I will not go thru the motions to "hedge my bets"

 

[King of England]

Technically speaking, I'm supposed to be Catholic.

However, I rarely if ever go to Mass, and some prayers I had to learn for my first communion I forgot.

My parents didn't really "encourage" religion as a younger child, so my belief in organized religion isn't very firm.

All I believe is yes, there is a God.

Yes, there are three forms He can take (or something like that, I dunno) and they are all God.

God has some sort of presence in the world but it isn't usually physical.

I do believe in Purgatory (thank God for that! hey, most of us ain't perfect, hopefully I get a deathbed confession to absolve me of any of those little sins) and all the other states of spiritual being...

Basically, I have realized that the world can be a cruel place, however the only hope is the goodness and decency in most people to somehow endure...

Oh God I'm way in over my head here...

I'll probably realize some things along the way, God really isn't gonna tell all, just take what you can...

By the way, I voted marginally into it, as that seems to describe me best. :crazyeyes

 

[PinkyGen]

Very non-religious Jew, as religion never seems to answer any of my questions

Originally posted by floppa21
People were all a happy hodge podge religiously UNTIL Christianity. THAT was when people started killing each other over religion. BUT, the fact that it is TODAY one of the largest and most widely followed says something for it.

To be fair to Christiniaty, people were killing others due to religion long before it came around, though most of these examples have just been lost to history. (However, Israelite's slaughtering Canaanites still stands it in my mind).

 

[amadeus]

Religion doesn't bother me until Arab fanatics hijack commercial airliners and crash them into buildings :midfinger

 

[Thuloid]

Religious by way of upbringing, but have given it more study than most, I think.

Never really tempted to become non-religious, as my parents are religious but not particularly dogmatic or inclined to anything resembling preachiness. That is, as my religious upbringing was far more welcoming than strict, I found little to rebel against.

It seems to me that among my friends and acquaintances, the most common type of abuse occurring during childhood and adolescence was spiritual. Religiously abusive families, and communities, are quite common, a fact I find especially sad given the number of them that profess a similar faith to mine. Spiritual abuse generally occurs when an image of God is presented that tells us God wants bad things to happen to some people. Many people persist in believing this, and a great many of those (and their family members) become very angry at God, parents, religious authorities, etc. I think virtually every problem and evil resulting from religion comes from this.

 

[Six]

As a Secular Humanist, I believe that man should focus on himself and the world he lives in now, rather than looking for friendshp in a higher being of uncertain existence. I believe that intelligence is the closest thing to divinity, and we should cherish that and all those who harbor it (i.e. humans).

But that's just my opinion, others are entitled to their's.

 

[stormerne]

I am a religious person, probably by most people's definition a very religious person. It is my way of life. I guess I would fit in at the top level of your poll but I haven't voted since I would never apply the word "devout" to myself. To me being devout would imply either that I was pious, which I am not, or that I was devoted to my religion to the exclusion of other things, which I am not. I am instead devoted to my life, and my life is inseparable from my religion.

I don't feel as though I have faith. To me faith is what you have when you don't have knowledge. Since I have indisputable personal experience - indisputable to me that is - I don't need faith. I do believe in gods, plural, but only the ones that I've met, the ones I have seen and talked with. That includes the god that most people call God/Allah/Yahweh but I choose for that god not to be my god.

I got into religion because a god (one, in fact, of a large family of gods) made contact with me. You may have heard of him: it was Thor, after whom we name today, Thursday. We started working together and later he introduced me to other gods, and goddesses, of that family - Odin, Freya, and many others. I guess that's what is truly meant when a religion is described as being a "calling".

 

[CurtSibling]

I am honoured, stormerne.

It is encouraging to see some-one who has not forgotten Odin, the old northern war god. Good post.

 

[jacques]

Actually, wether there is a god or not, I don't care att all.
I just don't understand why people need to believe in a god. I don't need any god telling me "thou shalt not kill" because I wouldn't do it anyway.

I am just trying to live my life without hurting people. I don't any god for that. I live according to my own beliefs. I may be considered as religious, but then I am the only member of my own sect and I won't tolerate any other member in my sect...

I once had a talk with a protestant girl who told me that she believed in god just because she couldn't imagine a world without a god. No further comments.


I think that the question actually is "why do people believe in a god?"

 

[floppa21]

"why do people believe in a god?"

People have always believed in some form of god or gods. Why? Many possible answers. Ancestors and heritage and tradition. Hope and weakness and faith. Desire and necessity.

I like what Stormerne said, "faith is what you have when you don't have knowledge." That is too true at least in my life and experiences.

 

[october]

Religion is of utmost importance to me. I am a Christian, and only by the grace of God. I went to church for as long as I can remember because my parents ENCOURAGED me to do so. They did not force me, but did get upset if I did not go. Accepted Christ in 1989 and from then on my life has seen steady improvement. I really started to grow in the Lord in college years (1995-1998) and got rid of a lot of my sinful behaviors and learned a lot about theology and Jesus. It is only by his grace that I am saved and the Christian I am today. Going to church does not make you saved.

I have seen comments that people have killed eachother in the name of Christianity. Yes, this is true. There are radical extremists in every group that try to accomplish their goals by killing. But these people are the minority in the group they claim to represent, so please do not judge all Christians by the killers. It is the same way today with muslims and Al Qaeda. These terrorists are a minority group of extremists that are giving millions of peaceful, quiet muslims a bad name. So by far the vast majority of Christians are peaceful, quiet people that don't cause a ruckus and don't try to forcefully convert people. The proper and Biblical way to "convert" people is simply to offer them the choice. You calmly tell them about Christ, often telling them about what he did in your life, give them the choice, then God works in their heart later if he chooses. Therefore, if they say no, you walk away no more questions asked. You did your part, you told them and offered them salvation. You can't do any more even by gunpoint.

Hope this helps...

-october -

 

[Blackadder]

I go to a Catholic school but I'm not really a Christian. I am more closer to a Confucist, but I do believe in one aspect of God, the Holy Spirit, or in my opinion, the Life-force.

A teacher once told me I should be an Omni-christian...........


Religion is often an excuse for war and destruction and acts of violence. When the crusades began, the true main aspect was the ability to gain new land. They certainatly didn't help the Byzantines much.
The main problem for Christians is their intolerance of polytheism. They often had religious festivals when other religions (e.g. Mythraism had Christmas as their major religious date)had their festivals (and as I found in Rome, often built over other religious places.).
However people must remember that organised religion is not a bad thing, nor are Christianity or Islam the only ones who have used it wrongly. Rome's patron God was Mars, god of war. It is interesting as they mainly went to conquer while the Greeks mainly worshipped as patrons Apollo and Athene, god of Intelligence and wisdom(+ war) respectively, and ended up with all the great thinkers.

Why does mankind keep religion if God is only around so long as we believe in him some of you say. Well how do you explain everything that hasn't been explained yet?

 

[Sixchan]

You don't.

You say:

"I don't know, let's try to find out."

Explaining something wrongly may mean you never find the truth.

 

[Blackadder]

But what about the old saying, 'Ignorance is bliss'

Perhaps some things are better left to the imagination than to be explained.

 

[CurtSibling]

October, you give the best impression of that faith I have seen on the forum!

If everyone could talk about their beliefs in this courteous and
Levelheaded way without attacking others, we could all get along so well!

As a strictly non-religious man, I must say I am happy that everyone Here,
despite their vastly different creeds and views,
have Refrained from any bickering or fighting...very encouraging!

Anyone else out there wish to share some cosmic stuff with us?

 

[Apollo]

I have had several different religious views attempted to be forced upon me. When I was little, every Sunday I would go to church with my grandparents. I enjoyed it, and viewed it much as a second school, where I would be with other kids and get taught stuff. It was a Protestant church, I think Nazerine(?). Anyway after a while my parents decided that I didn't need to go to church any more and stopped my grandparents from coming every Sunday morning. As a little kid I was fine with this since it meant more play time.

Over the next set of years living with my parents there were frequently not-so-subtle hints dropped that my grandparents were morons and blind fanatics, and that there was no afterlife or higher power and we came to be simply through evolution.

When I was in middle school (grades 6-8, age 12-14) I met a friend who was very religious. I joined up with a protestant-based youth group that he was in and participated in sporadic meetings and events over the next several years. Then he got involved with drugs and some bad people and his family sent him away to bording school and I never saw him again. I stopped going to the meetings and went about my life.

In high school I started wondering about what my beliefs were and how people had come to being. Now that I am in college and away from family influences here is what I have come to believe: there is a higher power, we did not come to being simply through evolution, and all churches that I know about (through Extensive online research) have all sorts of rituals and beliefs tacked on to them that turn me off from wanting to join. Basically I live my life trying to be a good person, I don't drink alcohol, smoke, or do drugs, and I know there is some sort of a structure to this existance beyond what my physics professor can tell me.