Religious affiliation (4 Viewers)

[eviltama]

Originally posted by cko
well i feel sorry for u skeptics, if there's noting to believe in life, ehether it be true or madeup, don't u feel like u have no point to your life, that u just drift from a meaningless stage to another and then die, where your soul becomes a nothingness again and u have no concsiouseness or anything left?

just because a skeptic doesn't believe in one thing, doesnt mean he can't embrace the many ideas which float as flotsam around religious 'space'. Think of it as a way to mix and match ur religious choosings

 

[alby]

brought up catholic...dunno what i m now..believe there's something up there, just dunno what; currently just looking at all the arguments for each religion

read throught the whole thread (for my pip aswell as some light reading)...

Originally posted by Asquithian
5.Death. We die. We go into the gound. To think that we are any more special than an ant out in the garden typifies the approach of some christians. We as humans are only differentiated from the ant walking on the ground by a LARGER brain so we can dream up things to believe in. Things that make us think we are special so we dont all get depressed about dying. Face it we all live in fear of something. And we will all at one time feel some fear of death. However that a fact. No need to make everyone feel better simply becasue they cant hack the idea.

WE are not we are essentially an animal. When we die we decompose. In terms of spirit we live on in the memories of the people that we have touched. THAT is what is important. living on in the people that you have touched. Not the individual living on, being the most important thing, in this respect it makes the chritian individual sound very selfish.

2 really GREAT points squithy!

also never knew we had so many different faiths here..and so many strongly oppinionated people lol love the heated debates guys

 

[kaseita]

why should a larger brain lead us to be capable of dreaming up things to believe in?

granted, religion does focus on death, and after death, and what it says is fairly unbelievable or too weird, because its the great unknown.
but why believe something just for comfort sake? i believe, not just because of its answer to that question (of what happens after death), but of what other questions its able to answer - why am i here, where did everything come from, why is there suffering, etc.

people who truly believe here, believe because these questions are answered concisely, make sense, and ties in together. answered separately, they sound foolish.

i don't believe that its important to make an impression on others, because those people will also die, and their memories of you with it.
coming from your perspective, i can understand that that's probably the only important thing that life can bring. i don't see how it makes the christian individual look selfish (unless your saying that the christian is only concerned with saving themselves, which isn't true - otherwise christianity wouldn't be expansionist)

 

[steph@nie]

I'm raised a Catholic, but I don't go to church or anything. I don't practise my faith because I hate thinking that when I die, someone else gets to decide if I'm worthy enough to have some sort of after life. The fact that people sit there and say that if I don't embrace my faith and jesus or whatever, i'm doomed to eternal damnation is absolute crap. Also the whole, "everything happens for a reason", it's not the right thing to say and the fact that people believe that something or someone controls our future is scary. Id rather believe that I'm in control of my own destiny and live my life the best I can, and when I die, thats it.

 

[Kuya]

I am Christian. go to church yes. im a religious person in many respects.. except the part abt no other religion is going to heaven etc. i believe everyone will go to heaven christian or not. sound weird as it may but that is what i believe.

 

[Vampire]

im buddhist - because its the one religion that truly makes sense to me. I agree with the idea taught in buddhism that there is not an all powerful god. Really buddhism is more a philosophy than a religion.

 

[twiddla]

I'm a christian who attends chruch every sunday. My denomination is Church of Christ (no we are not mormans) a very Bible based church.
we've been debating religion on our school forum for ages now and there are a number things I'd like to address which have come up.

Proof of Jesus - Yes jesus did exist - there are roman historians, jewish historians and it is accepted by two religions that jesus has something to do with God. however it seems ridiculous to me to believe the claim by islamic scholars that Jesus was saved from the cross and someone else died in his place. To me it seems unlikely.

We all agree that Jesus had good moral teachings. In my opinion that if we take Jesus word as saying what he meant - do you honestly think a crazy guy who claims he is the son of God would be that socially ept. Therefore Jesus must have been as he claimed he must be the son of God.

The Resurrection -yes it did happen - Jesus reappeared to over 200 people in spirit form - he even displayed his wounds to them

The Evolution Q - The Bible is not meant to answer this question, the beginning of the Bible basically says - God made the animals plants and then humans- it never says how exactly he got to human beings apart from the fact they came from dust (one must assume as a metaphor). The day referred to is simply a period of time

 

[budj]

Im a buddhist to, brought up one from birth but recently taken a very strong interest in the subject. I too beleive tht there is no one almighy god, rather, we are the architects of our own self and what ever we do has its conseqenced - the cycle of karma.
Also there is much scientific verification and evidence, particularly pertaining neurology, upon the buddhist philosophy.
It is also the most peaceful religion on this earth.
(I cannot accept th fact that god created man to dominate the seas, land etc etc). Nobody has the right to take another's life.

 

[nessie_lee]

I'm a christian.... and have been for 2 and a half years, not been brought up with it or anything. Why am i a christian.. well, coz Jesus makes such changes in our lives, and i was sick of doing this on my own.. why do it when there is such an awesome person in Jesus that can help us along the way, who loves us unconditionally, and who will be there, even when no one else is... it's awesome..
However, i don't like how there are hypocritical christians. i don't think they realise that people watch what they do, and act, and say. People look for Jesus in them, and they don't see it, and then think badly of christianity because of that person.
I hope no one is turned away from God, or church because of that.. because that's only one person. I hope people see Jesus in me, and through me...

 

[Ozz^E]

Originally posted by Nicho
..however it seems ridiculous to me to believe the claim by islamic scholars that Jesus was saved from the cross and someone else died in his place. To me it seems unlikely.

Can I ask why it seems unlikely or ridiculous?

To me, the suggestion that God disgraced His Son (or Himself, since Jesus is apparently the Son of God and God at the same time) at the hands of his disobedient creation in order to forgive their sins, seems much more unlikely. Why? Because:

1. It implies that God (or a part of Him) was dead for three days.
2. The idea of God appearing in human form is downright pagan. Since when does the All-Powerful, Self-Sufficient Lord eat, drink, go to the toilet, ride on donkeys and be mistaken about what season it is?
3. God can easily forgive whomsoever He wishes to forgive, without having to take an innocent life or do anything else for that matter.

We all agree that Jesus had good moral teachings. In my opinion that if we take Jesus word as saying what he meant - do you honestly think a crazy guy who claims he is the son of God would be that socially ept. Therefore Jesus must have been as he claimed he must be the son of God.

Your assuming the bible (in its present form) is the unadultered word of God. Without this assumption, your logic holds no water. Any book/message from the All-Knowing, All-Encompassing God should not be internally inconsisent nor contain contradictions. The Bible (esp the New Testament) fails this test in toto.

The Resurrection -yes it did happen - Jesus reappeared to over 200 people in spirit form - he even displayed his wounds to them

Where do you get this from?

 

[Silver Rose]

I'm Wiccan - it suits my personality and the way I look at things. And because it's very flexible, so you can personalise your spirituality lol!

 

[nessie_lee]

i don't think anyone will understand anyone else's religion until they experience it themselves.....and sort out what they believe is the truth! and for me that's God and the christian faith

 

[capsicum]

i dont consider myself to be religious at this point in time. the adults in my family are Buddhists but I'm iinterested in Christianity. I received a Bible and devotions as a gift from a friend just recently!

 

[Wilmo]

I am not religious... I am a Christian... but that doesnt make me religious. For me religion is a bunch of rules people made up to stop people from finding God. A lot of the time they thought they were doing good, but ended up harming people to come.

But i dont think that man can do anything to put a block in the way of God. God loves us, and would never allow his relationship with his creation to be ended.


Thats heaps cool capsicum Ill paraphrase a parable for ya. Its Luke 15:1-7 (always check if things come from the bible. If you dont know ask someone who does).

There were 100 sheep and one of them ran away. The shepard was worried that something might have happened cause he loves his sheep lots. So he leaves the 99 and goes looking the one thats gone. He searched high and low. It took a while, but he found it trapped in a thorn bush. So he picked it up and took it home to care for it.

He had a party because his sheep was ok. He was so relieved and so excited.

In the same way, God is looking for you. It may take a while, but he will hear you calling. And you can be sure that when he finds you, he's going to hold the biggest party in heaven for you. Its mind blowing to think that He went to so much fuss for us... But he did.

 

[aud]

Originally posted by Silver Rose
I'm Wiccan - it suits my personality and the way I look at things. And because it's very flexible, so you can personalise your spirituality lol!

Woot! Someone else (other than me, occasionally) on this forum understands me

 

[Zhang San Feng]

think i can clearly say i m the only taoist here

why am i taoist?...well i am actractted to the religion because i trully believe the need for balance in life (yin and yang) and that everything in this world exists in composites and that there is a natural "way" of things that should tried to be attained... and to clear things up...i m dao jia (taoist school of philosophy ) not dao jiao (taoist school of religion). i dont believe in all the gods that there are in dao jiao...just the philosophies of chuang zi and lao zi...

 

[jm1234567890]

Jedi!!!!!

 

[zerzillia]

i am non-religious.
the reason that i'm an atheist is because my parents are doctors who believe in science and thinks religion is evil. LOL. so yea, i'm brought up to be non-religious.

 

[zerzillia]

Originally posted by jm1234567890
Jedi!!!!!

you have the same religion as my friend.

 

[yulia]

I'm Buddhist. I believe in it because I was brought up with it surrounding me, I've always known it, and I've always believed that it was how I should be. I don't exactly train in the manner that I should, I think I could do more, but I try to be open-minded and compassionate to everyone, I try not to be ignorant, and I try to never cause pain to any other living creature. But when you come down to it, isn't that what all people are meant to be like, whether they're Buddhist, Christian, Muslim etc?

But just at the end of the day, I'm going to pray to Buddha, not god, to break the cycle of rebirth. And I cry everytime I see a monk beaten down for the Chinese, and I'm going to pray for a free Tibet.