Religion keeps coming up as a topic in the politics/news threads, so I'm starting a new thread for religious discussion.
Basic rules:
1.) Don't hate on/slur an entire religious group.
2.) Be polite and respectful.
Talk Religion And Be Nice About It
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This can't possibly end badly.
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The religious discussion in other threads was basically the wild west, so a more carefully regulated (and positive) discussion couldn't hurt.
It worked well enough for the LGBT thread.
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I'm sure it will fare much better than the previous religion threads that were all closed.
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I'm sure it will fare much better than the previous religion threads that were all closed.
I thought there was just one other one than this one? (Like 2007 or something?) -curious about how many threads there were before-
Anyways, regarding religion, I considered myself as a Pagan/Witch. I chose this religion because I like the idea of celebrating the different seasons of the year, and the fact that it is nature-based. Though I have been lazy in actually practicing it >.<
I also see religion as more of a "fanclub", and I don't think children should be taught religion, but they should choose themselves on what they want to follow when they get older.
Besides that, I do like learning more about other people's religions as well. The only religion, I seem to have an issue with subconsciously is Christianity. I think it is because of the fact a lot of people I knew were Christians, but they were not of the good kind. I do wish I could try to focus on the good ones, but at times it is hard for me to do so. (Also, the media did not help with this either >.<)
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So are we getting a race/ethnicity thread in a couple weeks?
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I was raised Christian and experimented with Atheism and Agnosticism for a while before settling on my own unique beliefs.
Currently I believe that life itself is God, effectively.
All life continually creates and designs/redesigns itself, with one common goal: the creation/storage/interpretation of information.In essence, learning is our core reason for living and method of survival.
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Well might as well take a dive into the pool.
When I was a lad, I did go to religion school or whatever it was (CCD?) and we did go to church on Sundays, but that ended after a few years, and I have never had a desire to go back. I wouldn't call myself an "atheist" per se, but….is there a term where you acknowledge some kind of higher power out there, but not necessarily a "god"?
Anyways it doesn't stop me from finding aspects of religion fascinating. Whatever you believe in, go for it.
EDIT: Roman-Catholic context here.
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Well might as well take a dive into the pool.
When I was a lad, I did go to religion school or whatever it was (CCD?) and we did go to church on Sundays, but that ended after a few years, and I have never had a desire to go back. I wouldn't call myself an "atheist" per se, but….is there a term where you acknowledge some kind of higher power out there, but not necessarily a "god"?
I think that would be deist. You have belief in a god or higher power but don't subscribe to any particular religion.
If you get dunked on in the dream, you get dunked on in real life
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So are we getting a race/ethnicity thread in a couple weeks?
There was a racism thread somewhere. I don't think it got closed.
A separate religion thread could be beneficial. The LGBT thread seems to be doing okay.
I remember whem I was going to a Jesuit high school that I was trying to find religion in some way. I was angry with Christian schools because of some hypocrites. And jesuit wasnt quite for me either. I don't have a mind for it. But I found I am pretty supertitious about weird stuff..
Long story short I never felt comfortable in religious settings or welcome in any circles where religion was the focus.
Our school library had a wide assortment of books on religion and even some on witchcraft. Which.I'm the not sure was placed there by faculty or not. It was kind of an interesting read but there was a lot of rituals that involved bodily fluids. Yargh.
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The thread title change is a good one, so I guess I might as well participate.
I've always been fascinated by religion. I remember reading the Torah, Bible, and the Quran as a child without anyone prompting me, and being incredibly interested in knowing who God was. I have memories of annoying my mom about something I read in the Bible, or being shocked that my name was the name of a chapter in the Quran. So it's always been a personal interest for me, even though we were a non-practicing muslim household.
My parents have quite a background in religion since they were both converts to Islam, so perhaps that interest passed on to me. My dad was born and raised Catholic, my mom was born into a practicing Hindu household, but then in high school she decided to convert to Christianity, I think it was Catholicism at the time. She then switched between a few sects of Christianity, and then she was Bahai for a bit, finally she decided on Islam in the end.
My immediate family is the only Muslim family I have, so I was raised to practice great respect for all my extended family's religions. When I was in my late teens I decided to study Islam on a deeper level and I fell in love with it, and I grew to desire to practice more, until today where I would consider myself a practicing muslim. I read a lot of islamic literature and listen to and attend a lot of lectures and such, but I still have a great respect for all followers of faith, and even non-faith of course. I have atheist family, too.
That's about it, I guess.
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It was kind of an interesting read but there was a lot of rituals that involved bodily fluids. Yargh.
I eat quite a lot of animals (and plants), so the concept of animal sacrifice never really bothered me all that much.
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I think that would be deist. You have belief in a god or higher power but don't subscribe to any particular religion.
I thought that was agnostic? Am I wrong?
Anyway, I could go into whole spiel about my experiences of my parents shoving Christianity down my throat my whole life and me getting disillusioned with it and many other religions in general and my somewhat unpopular feelings a few others beliefs, but I feel like this quote sums out how I feel without going into it.
I'm treading carefully on this one. Touchy subject.
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I eat quite a lot of animals (and plants), so the concept of animal sacrifice never really bothered me all that much.
Animals is one thing but this was a human's bodily fluids. Like menstral blood.
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Animals is one thing but this was a human's bodily fluids. Like menstral blood.
I've never heard of human blood being used in modern pagan rituals. Even animal sacrifice seems pretty rare.
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I've never heard of human blood being used in modern pagan rituals. Even animal sacrifice seems pretty rare.
Well it was a book on witccan and witchcraft in a school library. Not sure how legit it really was overall. There's so many different practices. I just happened upon one book that was particularly graphic. It stuck with me haha.
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I'm not sure what to call myself? I believe in the existence of God/some divine being(s) but not necessarily the God in any religion, more like I think that God is something that humans could never really understand. But I can be quite superstitious sometimes and I do believe in some form of life after death.
My dad is a Buddhist and my mum is a Christian. Though I won't call myself a Christian, I do enjoy going to the church (despite heavily disagreeing with certain teachings sometimes). I actually find myself admiring people with unwavering faith towards their religion (in a non-radical way, of course) for some reason. Its like… they have a guide in life? Or devotion towards a teaching and divine being whose existence is not understandable. I find religion beautiful but I can't find myself truly committing towards any of it.
↑Biological Weaopn of Doom and Destruction
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@le:
My dad is a Buddhist and my mum is a Christian. Though I won't call myself a Christian, I do enjoy going to the church (despite heavily disagreeing with certain teachings sometimes). I actually find myself admiring people with unwavering faith towards their religion (in a non-radical way, of course) for some reason. Its like… they have a guide in life? Or devotion towards a teaching and divine being whose existence is not understandable. I find religion beautiful but I can't find myself truly committing towards any of it.
My largest unrequited love was that of a person who was a devout Christian. She was a pillar of her community at age 16. It felt like she was light itself, she just brightened the room wherever she went and all the people in it. If she ever frowned, I'm sure it was deeply private. (She did flirt with me a bit, but I felt unworthy of her, and indeed was). So anyway. What I'm saying is if people extract the good from religion, and gloss over the more unsavory things, they can become really amazing people. You can, of course, become amazing without it. But yeah, it does seem to be a helpful guide. A guide I wish I had often-times. I've just never really followed a religion.
Croc or Enel would never.Wanna see the "ancient civilization destroyed" thing done really well? FFXIV did a great take on it. The bar's high for One Piece to beat.
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I am a Christian minority in a pretty secular country. Tracking back my ancestry I believe my ancestors converted to Christianity around 4 generations back. The street where I was brought up and have lived my entire life has a church, a temple and a Mosque all within a 200 meter radius. As a result of my constant interactions with the said religions around me I put myself somewhere between having an agnostic-theist ideology leaning more towards an agnostic.
Talking about "pagan" practices, the max I have seen is a live execution of a goat in my church :ninja: I believe "pagan" practices are present in all the cultures even if they go by the same religion name. Majority of the religions have sucked in various core local practices into their hold so that the converts have an easier transition towards their new religion. Few might have got corroded over the years but few stick around. Plenty of examples even in our version of Catholicism here
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This thread is fascinating already :D
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I thought that was agnostic? Am I wrong?
Anyway, I could go into whole spiel about my experiences of my parents shoving Christianity down my throat my whole life and me getting disillusioned with it and many other religions in general and my somewhat unpopular feelings a few others beliefs, but I feel like this quote sums out how I feel without going into it.
I'm treading carefully on this one. Touchy subject.
Not quite. Agnosticism is based on uncertainty, in that you're uncertain whether or not a god exists but you're pretty sure you can't prove it either way. Deism is where you're pretty sure that some sort of god exists but don't believe in any specific religion.
Compare those to being non-denominational, where you accept the broad tenets of some religion (for Christianity, you'd believe Jesus Christ is the son of God, died for your sins, etc.) but don't follow any particular school of teaching within it (Catholic, Protestant, Calvinist, etc.).
You can keep breaking down your specific beliefs with further modifiers that I don't remember right now in the same way that some people get extremely specific in the same way that some people get extremely specific about their gender and sexual orientation.
If you get dunked on in the dream, you get dunked on in real life
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I grew up in a christian household, but I became serious with it in high school because of a pretty influential person in our town (population of about 2,000). Looking back, it was not… great.
The guy (we'll call him Jack) was in his 40s and quite active in my church, and he really wanted to help out in some way, so he created his own "youth group study". The biggest demographic was high school teens, but parents and other adults went along occasionally. So Jack would spend an hour each Wednesday talking about whatever subject he felt like talking about, with a Christian application to it. He did it with the authority of an ordained minister, and that was one of the bigger problems. He wasn't ordained. And a lot of the youth and people around him took his teachings like they were the end-all-be-all to christian teaching, which was pretty bad because he had some anti-gay, anti-vegan, hardcore Conservative messages. And we were teens, so we hardly knew better at the time. Some of the teachings were awful. And I'm even disgusted and deeply embarrassed to admit it, but we once thought this term was clever and valid: "if a woman dresses like a piece of meat, she shouldn't be surprised if she gets treated like one".
Ugh. Makes my blood boil to even type that. (In case there's still any doubt: I DO NOT believe in that train of thought anymore, nor any other kind of slut shaming. Heck, I work at a domestic violence shelter now, and it's been the best job I've ever had)
It wasn't until I went to college (along with making a dumb post in a religion topic) that I learned that I was taught things that I was ultimately not okay with. I cleaned up my views after some long bouts of critical thinking and soul searching. I still identify as a Christian, I'm just a lot more liberal about it and not living in the stone ages with my rationality.
After my "turning point", I went around a few churches to try and find a good one I could call home. I Hated the college campus ministry. They were way too pushy about making everyone go out and convert people, which disturbed me to the point it drove me away. That, and the fact that they prioritized the performance over the message. (Perform worship music for half an hour, have a speaker give the message for 15 minutes, then 15 minutes of more music. And I don't sing, so…) Also, this sums up my feelings on the majority of christian rock:
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[/hide]And with that ministry, there was a small bible study that I wanted to try out. The guy leading it was misogynistic (aggressive tone "None of you believe women should preach or be ahead of the househould, right?"), and it gave me some serious deja vu, it felt like the "Jack theology hour" all over again. Left that group too, but not before leaving a note for the main guy telling him he was being harmful in his teachings.
And then there was a non-denominational church that I went to for a few weeks. I stopped going once they brought in a guy to talk about lycanthropy.
Nowadays, I'm a methodist, and I plan to stay that way particularly since it's the denomination I'm most comfortable with, and because it's becoming more accepting of the LGBT communities. Plus, on a small note, the pastor use to be an Elvis impersonator (and it really shows when he sings hymns, the guy's a dead ringer!), but I'm in an awkward age gap for the bible studies. I'm in my mid-20s, so I'm in the adult group, but all the other members are married and/or have kids, while I'm a recent college grad with a long distance serious relationship haha, so it hard for me to relate with the group.
…Wow, didn't expect to write that much, and I apologize if that felt rambly. I guess I haven't really talked about it much to a lot of people, so it was nice to get that out.
So are we getting a race/ethnicity thread in a couple weeks?
Only if you're f*king nice about it.
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I am a christian, that is, I follow the ideals of Jesus and believe in God, that is it. if this translates to being a christian, I am.
My family never taught me about religion, so I only had some small ideas about christianity, only knowing about Jesus and some minor passages in the bible.
I always had trouble with the act of praying, I regarded it as "asking for help to someone who will not help you," but these days, even not knowing how to pray, I pray because I know what it really means.
I never understood the differences between the ramifications of christianity, for me, these just makes things harder to understand the main religion, sure, people can interpret the bible as they want, but since you believe in Jesus, why make things more complex ?
Anyway, I remember one day I was in a church in Rio de Janeiro, it was the day of Saint Francis of Assisi (patron saint of animals), and on this day, it is normal for people to bring their pets to the church to be blessed, I looked around the church and most people brought their dogs and cats, when suddenly, a woman apeared with a snake, I thought the priest would not bless the snake because of the association with the garden of eden, but the priest blessed the animal.
When AP used to be good:
NEVER FORGET !!
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I'm not totally sure what my mother's stance on Christianity has always been, but when I was young she did try to steer me towards in a few ways, I guess. Mainly in that I went to a Christian school for Kindergarten. Beyond that, though, there wasn't much. We never went to church or anything. My grandmother, though, has always been a devout Christian and I would go to church with her when I went to visit. I guess early in my life, I always sort of identified as a Christian, but it was never a huge part of my life.
But then when I was in middle school, my Mom pretty much went total Christian and we started going to church every week. I think I tried to get into it early on, but ultimately that was around the time I decided, "No, Christianity just isn't for me." I still went to church throughout high school though, and I still do sometimes to please my mom and grandmother.
I guess if I'm anything, I would be agnostic. I don't deny the possibility that some universe-creating-or-monitoring entity exists, but I think we probably haven't found it yet. Or at least we haven't interpreted it correctly. This universe is impossibly vast and there's so much we still don't understand about it. So me, I'm just pleading ignorance on any god-like entities.
From a moral standpoint, I just try to be a good guy. I do what feels right, and it's enough that we're all in this together and we should try to help each other out.
And I don't have anything against people practicing religion. If it works for you and it fulfills your life, more power to ya. But, yeah, when you start using your religion as a pretext to hurt people and infringe on the rights of others, that's where I have a problem.
As for what's waiting for us on the other side (death) I have no idea. I'm guessing it'll probably be nothing, as in you die and that's it. Just nothing. Personally and ideally, though, I'm actually fond of the idea of reincarnation. Your consciousness lives on in a new body, a new personality, a new identity, and no memory of your previous life. So yeah, it'd be nice if that happened, but realistically I think it's just going to be nothing.
And yeah, that's definitely a scary thought, your consciousness just ending and going into dark nothingness. But, of course, the alternative is that your consciousness goes on forever. I mean, that's it. Those are the only two possibilities and, frankly, both are scary to me. But the strange part is I think the idea of eternity is scarier.
Well, que sera sera as they say.
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Grew up in a very non-religious environment, like, the most interaction I've with religion is Jehovas Witness coming by every once in a while to try and convert me. :) Most of the are nice guys but I remain an unbeliever.
More than that I guess. I believe, if that's the word, that nothing supernatural exists. -
The family i grew up in if you count 0 as not religous and 10 as religous mine was 6 to 7
There are few sunni shie things i saw one of them when i was kid and went to hajj with my family
I believe in god but sometimes i ask my self why did god creat humans -
I never understood the differences between the ramification of christianity, for me, these just makes things harder to understand the main religion, sure, people can interpret the bible as they want, but since you belive in Jesus, why make things more complex ?
I think all religions go through this. Complexities in religions are created by people when there is some sort of a threat, either imaginary or concrete, that threatens a community's existence. The complexity is based on the perception of people rather than the religion in almost all of the cases which forces the people themselves to push the religion to change as the era demands. Almost all the current major religions have survived that way with people questioning ambiguities or mending it in a way to customize it to their needs. None of the religions which have survived till date are the original versions of it. Why do people do that? The need for maintaining the unity of a community or the need to just accumulate power causes people to make religions broad enough to play with its ambiguities for their own benefit.
“When you’re accustomed to privilege, equality feels like oppression."
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Lately I have come to realize something about a chunk of the Christian population here in the states (this may apply to other religions in areas but I'm going by my personal experience). I think for a while even though I still consider myself a Christian I had my own way of doing things. I go to church but I only pray here and there and I keep my thoughts to myself unless I find someone who is interested in talking about spirituality. The problem I see with a number of Christians is how rigid they are in their beliefs, and what you are supposed to do. There was this bible study I went to that never really interested me, but what really struck me was some of the things that were being taught, which also applied to actual services.
There is this idea that you have to be a certain way in your life to be an actual Christian. If you aren't praying every day a certain way, spreading the word, or doing other things they make it seem like you are doing it wrong. What's worse is how discussion and looking at scripture in a different viewpoint is shot down immediately. In this forum people have different view points, and it allows for different interpretations which can be interesting to consider. In my experience with Christianity, there is a single view to take, and the person teaching doesn't allow for the others to come to their own conclusion. This is made more apparent with people voting based on their religious belief for not so good things, because instead of interpreting things themselves or considering other things they vote based on what certain people tell them.
Over the last few years, I have come to my own conclusion about religion and spirituality. God made all of us and decided to let things move on their own, whether good or bad. God does not care what you believe in as far as religion goes, because everyone has different experiences and see's things in a different light. Whether they believe and are very devout, or don't believe the important thing is for each person to live their life to the fullest, learn and do good. I could go into more detail but I just want to go into the general feeling I have.
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@Mr.:
I grew up in a christian household, but I became serious with it in high school because of a pretty influential person in our town (population of about 2,000). Looking back, it was not… great.
The guy (we'll call him Jack) was in his 40s and quite active in my church, and he really wanted to help out in some way, so he created his own "youth group study". The biggest demographic was high school teens, but parents and other adults went along occasionally. So Jack would spend an hour each Wednesday talking about whatever subject he felt like talking about, with a Christian application to it. He did it with the authority of an ordained minister, and that was one of the bigger problems. He wasn't ordained. And a lot of the youth and people around him took his teachings like they were the end-all-be-all to christian teaching, which was pretty bad because he had some anti-gay, anti-vegan, hardcore Conservative messages. And we were teens, so we hardly knew better at the time. Some of the teachings were awful. And I'm even disgusted and deeply embarrassed to admit it, but we once thought this term was clever and valid: "if a woman dresses like a piece of meat, she shouldn't be surprised if she gets treated like one".
Ugh. Makes my blood boil to even type that. (In case there's still any doubt: I DO NOT believe in that train of thought anymore, nor any other kind of slut shaming. Heck, I work at a domestic violence shelter now, and it's been the best job I've ever had).
Your post was a great read. I kind of had the same experience that you had at one point with the non-ordained guy, but unfortunately from my father (luckily I've never lived with him, though). He's always had this weird distrust of religious scholars and values his own ideas and opinions over theirs, so for years I believed that a lot of what he told me was true, until I started to study on my own and realized he made it all up.
It was a relieving feeling. It was also great to feel like I no longer needed to depend on him for direction in Islam, I could find it on my own.
I have a question. You mentioned attending different churches trying to find one you can call home. I'm curious about that. As a Muslim we might have a mosque that we attend regularly because it's nearby or because you know people there, but otherwise we go to any mosque any time, all that matters is going to complete Friday prayers, no matter where it is.
Is it similar in Christianity? Or once you've found the church you're comfortable with, do you only go to that one church?
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My mom's pretty damn christian, always reading, praying, singing or going to/starting church events. But she will thwack you if you call her religious. So yeah i grew up in the pentecostal church, lots of that christ will empower you, there is nothing you can't do with the love of god type of thing. The sermons were pretty dull as a kid, but i loved the summer camps. Was ambivalent about the confirmination process and thought my pentecostal christian school was pretty chill. Lots and lots of music, music that i found supremely annoying at the time due to overexposure (enough with the Andrae Crouch and Steven Curtis Chapman already), but i now get so damn nostalgic about. So i am if nothing else culturally christian, and i know plenty of people in the church scene who i still hang with, but i'm not really practicing in anyway beyond singing gospel while i do the dishes.
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My mom's pretty damn christian, always reading, praying, singing or going to/starting church events. But she will thwack you if you call her religious. So yeah i grew up in the pentecostal church, lots of that christ will empower you, there is nothing you can't do with the love of god type of thing. The sermons were pretty dull as a kid, but i loved the summer camps. Was ambivalent about the confirmination process and thought my pentecostal christian school was pretty chill. Lots and lots of music, music that i found supremely annoying at the time due to overexposure (enough with the Andrae Crouch and Steven Curtis Chapman already), but i now get so damn nostalgic about. So i am if nothing else culturally christian, and i know plenty of people in the church scene who i still hang with, but i'm not really practicing in anyway beyond singing gospel while i do the dishes.
That is so you, Wolfy XD. And yes, singing while doing the dishes is lots of fun! I usually do Disney, though.
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That is so you, Wolfy XD. And yes, singing while doing the dishes is lots of fun! I usually do Disney, though.
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[/hide]If you are looking for terrible renditions of good songs look no further than my kitchen.
My girlfriend usually does the disney though. A little Belle while folding the laundry.
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I would currently be considered a mix between Agnostic and atheist.i don't think labels do any justice to religious beliefs though,and i don't know if i can be categorised as properly one of them.
To elucidate,i would say that we can't really know if there is a god or not,like agnosticism.but more importantly i also think i don't really care if there is a God or not.If there is a God-like figure/s,why should we care?them creating us could very well be a part of their nefarious designs,or to simply be worshipped by us,or to just enjoy our suffering,or maybe they just need us.
either way,just the fact i could be created by a higher figure,doesn't mean i'd bow down and accept to whatever my supposed creator wants.you could also say,if there is a God,he/she must be evil.though i don't mean that literally
there may be a higher power or spirit that's akin to God,that seems more likely to me.that power,call it fate,life,spirit,anything.it would run through every living thing and would be what drives us.maybe it's just Carbon,something that is the basis of life?
anyway,i was born in a practising hindu household.religion was never really a big part of my life,aside from events and festivals and stuff.when i was very young,i didn't really care about or understand religion.after getting somewhat older and basically becoming a teen,i began to wonder about religion and for a long time religion was a bane which did nothing but harm.my views on religion have softened,and now have some amount of respect and curiosity to Hinduism,especially the epics like Mahabarata and Ramayana,and to the general myths and lore of hinduism.i still don't agree with many of it preaches or depicts though,and really don't think at all that anything in it is what is the actual truth regarding history or the world.
in the end though,i still think religion is a social construct,and it must change or dissolve at some point of time.It can be both good and bad,and people matter more than some deities -
Can anyone explain what bahai is in my country it was explained in very negetive way
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Can anyone explain what bahai is in my country it was explained in very negetive way
Seems to be a Persian religion that embraces the thought that all religions are derived from the same god, and that each way of worship is equally valid as god is too great to truly comprehend and that all humans have their own way of understanding god. And that all messengers like Jesus, Mohammed, Buddha etc are all delivering parts of a message that strives to unite and harmonize the people of the world and evolve humanity for the better.
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Not quite. Agnosticism is based on uncertainty, in that you're uncertain whether or not a god exists but you're pretty sure you can't prove it either way. Deism is where you're pretty sure that some sort of god exists but don't believe in any specific religion.
Well I can't prove it, and it's not so much a god as….a nonspecific "force". I guess agnositicism fits the bill, or maybe I gravitate between the two? shrug
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Seems to be a Persian religion that embraces the thought that all religions are derived from the same god, and that each way of worship is equally valid as god is too great to truly comprehend and that all humans have their own way of understanding god. And that all messengers like Jesus, Mohammed, Buddha etc are all delivering parts of a message that strives to unite and harmonize the people of the world and evolve humanity for the better.
The thing is in iran it is
Fake Religon that was created by baha faking himself as prophet -
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[/hide]If you are looking for terrible renditions of good songs look no further than my kitchen.
My girlfriend usually does the disney though. A little Belle while folding the laundry.
I'm more like
picks up a fork
Look at this stuff, isn't it neat? Wouldn't you say my collection's complete?..That sounds so uplifting and so soulful! :) Do you mind if I ask another question? From my brief skimmings of the Bible I've understood that music and singing of gospel music is a method of worship in Christianity, am I right? Is that a common belief in all denominations?
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I'm more like
picks up a fork
Look at this stuff, isn't it neat? Wouldn't you say my collection's complete?..That sounds so uplifting and so soulful! :) Do you mind if I ask another question? From my brief skimmings of the Bible I've understood that music and singing of gospel music is a method of worship in Christianity, am I right? Is that a common belief in all denominations?
I think they all sing, but depending on what brand of christian you are i think the song stylings vary. Where i went to church it was either stuff like that, or those thundering, massive group songs like our god is an awesome god that almost sound like some superhero music.
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[/hide]I dunno how accurate it is, but i have the perception that Catholics, for instance, tend sing more traditional church choir stuff. Y'know hymns and latin and stuff. Maybe that's an outdated perception though. Better ask Zeph or some other new world catholic. The orthodox i have no clue what they are up to, other than stylish beards.
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So far, my religious journey has been a turbulent one. I was raised Roman Catholic, and until I was 13, I remained just that. One day, a Sunday after church to be exact, my parents got the bright idea to take me to the Creation Museum in Kentucky. I was always skeptical of the origin story and what not, and that said, this escapade did not get my parents the result they wanted. After leaving the Creation Museum, I became ardently obsessed with convincing my parents that the tenets of history proposed by that pathetic excuse for a museum were asinine.
Eventually, I came across militant atheist videos on the internet; after viewing a plethora of these, I began struggling with my faith. First, I abandoned Christianity altogether, and became a deist, not wanting to completely abandon the idea that a higher power existed. Then, I dumped that and became an atheist. During this time, I was very at odds with my parents; just like they wanted me to believe in a higher power (Christianity specifically), I wanted them to also abandon their long held beliefs. I continued to attempt to convince them that Christianity was false, but that only furthered the schism between us. They did likewise, pressuring me to read Evangelical Christian literature (which I did) and punishing me for my refusal to participate in prayer.
Eventually, I'm became tired of this standoff. I began to realize that actively fighting against my parents beliefs as a militant atheist was simply not worth it. In order to end, or more accurately, subdue this tension (it still exists at a minute level), I first began participating in prayer again, not because I was a Christian again, by any means, but because I wanted the fighting to stop. This, at the very least, proved worthwhile: much of the religious infighting I had with my parent ceased.
As time went by, as I thought more about it, I, personally, came to the conclusion that completely denying that a higher power could exist, was contrary to my own views. I figured that denying the possibility of something we humans don't know about exists, at the very least, required a level of faith. That said, ultimately, wanting to steer away from the notion of faith completely, I arrived at my current conclusion: that of an agnostic atheist. While I don't believe in a higher power, I also don't deny the possibility that said higher power exists. That said, I also don't deny the possibility of a flying spaghetti monster to be honest. With this current view point, I have no faith, and this idea is ideal for me, as of now.
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I was raised Roman Catholic, and until I was 13, I remained just that
Hey look at that, someone familiar with the Catholic church.
Maybe you could tell us about how much, if any, and what kind of singing went on at your church
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Hey look at that, someone familiar with the Catholic church.
Maybe you could tell us about how much, if any, and what kind of singing went on at your church
A lot. Depending on the church, it was either some choral and hymnal stuff (I've always been fine with this; it sounds nice) or some Christian Rock bile (you have no idea how much I detest this garbage). Regardless, every hour of church, even when I was a believer, was horribly boring for me, and the music didn't help.
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I'm more like
picks up a fork
Look at this stuff, isn't it neat? Wouldn't you say my collection's complete?..That sounds so uplifting and so soulful! :) Do you mind if I ask another question? From my brief skimmings of the Bible I've understood that music and singing of gospel music is a method of worship in Christianity, am I right? Is that a common belief in all denominations?
To throw the question right back at ya Femme.
How much does your mosque rock and/or roll on a friday night?
A lot. Depending on the church, it was either some choral and hymnal stuff (I've always been fine with this; it sounds nice) or some Christian Rock bile (you have no idea how much I detest this garbage). Regardless, every hour of church, even when I was a believer, was horribly boring for me, and the music didn't help.
Well y'know if you want to reach out to these kids who have been seduced by dat mtv and satan you need to rock and/or roll with good uplifting christian lyrics. But yeah, i guess i haven't escaped christian rock either.
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I was raised a Catholic but lost faith in it around my early teens or so.
I suppose I'd describe myself as an Agnostic now.
I subscribe to the idea that religion is obsolete and gives society way more problems than solutions, but that's just my two cents.
_"_Now! This is it! Now is the time to choose! Die and be free of pain or live and fight your sorrow! Now is the time to shape your stories! Your fate is in your hands!" - Auron
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@The:
There is this idea that you have to be a certain way in your life to be an actual Christian. If you aren't praying every day a certain way, spreading the word, or doing other things they make it seem like you are doing it wrong. What's worse is how discussion and looking at scripture in a different viewpoint is shot down immediately. In this forum people have different view points, and it allows for different interpretations which can be interesting to consider. In my experience with Christianity, there is a single view to take, and the person teaching doesn't allow for the others to come to their own conclusion. This is made more apparent with people voting based on their religious belief for not so good things, because instead of interpreting things themselves or considering other things they vote based on what certain people tell them.
This kind of idea always irked me, for multiple reasons.
1.)Going out and converting people made me uncomfortable, and I didn't understand why for the longest time, until I realized because it felt like I wasn't giving them any choice. And to me, it's super important to let people be a Christian as long as they themselves made the decision, and not because they were talked into it.
2.)I'm not a fan of the bible being taken as the absolute end of the discussion of what Christianity means, as think personal experiences (or "personal encounters with Christ" is a more common way to express it I think?) play a heavy role in it, too.
The voting issue is certainly interesting, I know a few people who made facebook posts saying that "You can't call yourself catholic if you vote Hillary", and their reasoning was because they were equating a vote for her with sin. Which I don't agree with.
Reminds me of the time the campus ministry was telling me that driving over the speed limit was a sin, too. They had a logic to it, buuuuut to me that's really stretching it.I have a question. You mentioned attending different churches trying to find one you can call home. I'm curious about that. As a Muslim we might have a mosque that we attend regularly because it's nearby or because you know people there, but otherwise we go to any mosque any time, all that matters is going to complete Friday prayers, no matter where it is.
Is it similar in Christianity? Or once you've found the church you're comfortable with, do you only go to that one church?
I always was under the impression that it wasn't required to go weekly, but encouraged. If I missed a week because of vacation or something like that, I never got a stern look or anything like that.
And yeah, if I find a church I feel completely at "home" with, than I go to that same church every week when I can. If I'm away from my local area on that Sunday, I rarely go out of my way to visit a nearby church unless I'm fully aware of what their style and stances are. I've always come to understand that the church is the people, and not so much the building and the established denomination of it, and I really enjoy the community I'm currently in, even though I'm in an awkward age range.
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What is diffrence in christan sects is it mostly historical like shia and sunni in islam ?
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@xan:
I think all religions go through this. Complexities in religions are created by people when there is some sort of a threat, either imaginary or concrete, that threatens a community's existence. The complexity is based on the perception of people rather than the religion in almost all of the cases which forces the people themselves to push the religion to change as the era demands. Almost all the current major religions have survived that way with people questioning ambiguities or mending it in a way to customize it to their needs. None of the religions which have survived till date are the original versions of it. Why do people do that? The need for maintaining the unity of a community or the need to just accumulate power causes people to make religions broad enough to play with its ambiguities for their own benefit.
Well, it can be because of selfishness of a group of people or, it can be because of different interpretations of the holy book. Religion can be subjective.
As much as I follow the preachings of Jesus, the fact that he was a martyr bothers me, even more, the symbol used in the churches (crucified Jesus) makes me uncomfortable, I believe he was a great man, now, to praise Jesus' suffering? It just gives me a dramatic image of the religion.I remember one day, I was in a church, and in it, instead of the sculpture of Jesus being crucified, they had the sculpture of Jesus coming out of the cross and going to heaven, this sculpture gave me a message of comfort because I know he suffered and died for us, but now I know that the his suffering was not the end.
When AP used to be good:
NEVER FORGET !!
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What is diffrence in christan sects is it mostly historical like shia and sunni in islam ?
Kinda, except the amount of sects is absurd, and the various tenets of each branch vary on a lot levels. In the end though, in my opinion, the primary differences are petty and they were made simply because people are well…. people.
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Thought I'd share some data.
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I'm planning on reading the Bible and the Quran whenever I'll find time to do so.
