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Post by Yoshimi on Oct 8, 2016 16:12:22 GMT -5
I'm curious as to how everyone here looks on religion. My apologies if I assume incorrectly or am wrong about an aspect of a certain religion, I've not invested much time into studying them and have nothing but good intentions with this. Just correct me and move about your life. This thread may be a mess.
Before I start talking about it I'm going to explain my personal views:
I was raised christian but I consider myself agnostic now, when I was I didn't follow everything the religion says or does:
- I believe the Bible is not without error and the whole words of God. It was written by humans. Same thing goes for any religious text or teachings.
- Predestination is false. End of Story.
- Humans are inherently evil and no religion is going to change that.
- Trying to further religion is fine, but don't shove it down people's throats. It's just wrong.
- Exposing a young child to a single religion is also wrong. They will be automatically mentally conditioned to believe the religion and will not be able to follow their own path.
- God's capabilities cannot be explained because he exists outside the confines of human understanding and is not subject to the logical limitations that we are and the universe is. \
= I believe in the Gap Theory, the Earth is far older than what most Christians think.
Now, on to the actual post.
Religion itself is a blessing and a curse. For a whole, religions have morals attached to them and can be a positive addition to someone's life. My youth group in my church is full of wonderful people who care about one another and are there no matter what happens to the person. Many other religions are peaceful and calm, and focus on improving your spiritual life and overall self.
However, everything has a dark side. Religion has caused war. A lot of it. The crusades are a perfect example. The current war against terrorism has some root within religion.
Every religion has good and bad examples, as well.
Christians can sometimes be caring and loving people to anyone, even if they disagree with their views. My youth group leaders are all very caring people and have studied other religions and atheism for the express purpose of understanding others. Many Christians are like this.
However, the idiots at Westboro Baptist are straight pathetic. Apparently burning down and harassing funeral homes for having a homosexual's funeral in it. Literally hiring an exorcist to 'drive the gay out of people'. Having a website by the name of "godhatesfags.com". Exquisite. These people contradict their own religion and they seem completely oblivious. What happened to "love thy neighbor as thyself"?
Paganism is commonly misunderstood as well. I know a couple, and they're honestly just regular people with polytheistic and sometimes odd beliefs (by regular standards, though the thought that a man in the sky told people not to eat from a tree is far fetched as well). They're just normal people.
Paganism has bad eggs too. Varg Vikernes (also known as the Black Metal band Buruzm, and by Count Grishnack) is a man I'm completely certain has gone mad. He's burned churches, killed, and basically lives in the wilderness making ambient music and random inane nonsense on his youtube channel, Theulean Perspective.
Hinduism had Gandhi, one of the most respected and peaceful humans to ever live. I've spoken with Hindus that are equally as hateful towards other religions as they can be (though the religion contradicts that too.)
Without going on, religion is a positive and negative thing to exist.
Atheism is different, obviously. You have the 14 year olds with Cannibal Corpse t-shirts that just didn't like getting up early for church and automatically hate religion. You have the regular people who just simply don't believe it, and you have the scientists with far more scientific and logical knowledge than many of us hope to have.
Atheism isn't a religion, more just the lack of a belief in a deity of any kind. The universe was created by a natural occurrence without any creation from anyone.
The existence of a god cannot be proved or scientifically explained. As I said before, God exists outside the bounds of human logic. Everything to do with us, the universe, whatever can all be quantified into 1's and zeroes. Numbers. Math equations. Atheists sometimes use that as an argument, and it's not without merit. I can see the want for everything to be able to be explained. If everything known for sure to exist can be made into numbers, why should there be something that cannot?
I'll continue explaining myself later, but I just want to know what everyone thinks on the topic.
Keep it civil and post away. Please correct me if I am wrong, this is partially for my own understanding.
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#add8e6
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*Ravenpaw*
Warrior Fanatic
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Post by *Ravenpaw* on Oct 8, 2016 16:38:13 GMT -5
-I like religion if it is nice to me. I was a Catholic before (I still like the wisdom and Jesus' teachings), and now I have my own religion. (And yes, I believe the world is more than 6000 years old. It's billions of years old. The Bible does not say how old the Earth is, and it doesn't say that the world is flat, either.) -I like studying different religions and coming to my own conclusions on them. I firmly believe some religions are false, and that their the gods/goddesses do not exist. (No I will not name which I think are false.) -I don't approve of forcing religion on others, as I would not like that done to me. Sharing and talking about them are pretty much fine. -Humans tend to use religion for evil. It's usually not the religion that makes someone evil. It's the person's own choices. Religion is used like a tool. -The Bible is mostly history of people from long ago, which explains why Christians do not stone others to death. Those laws are not followed anymore because of Jesus. Only the moral laws (including the 10 Commandments) are to be followed (by Christians/Catholics). (There's tons of metaphors and things that actually mean something else.) -I firmly believe that you must experience and study religion for yourself. -God is not a "man in the sky." Never has been. He's a spirit. We actually don't know what he looks like. (Some people just look at pictures of God and then randomly think that's him, but that's not right.) There's what I think about religion. I'd say it's a blessing misused by some people. I do agree that there are some bad people in every religion. They tend to give their faith a bad name.
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Post by Deleted on Oct 8, 2016 16:39:01 GMT -5
I am an agnostic atheist. I was raised in a family of atheists, but we never talked about religion. At all. I always just assumed that they did hold some religious beliefs, like most people in America. I only found out that they were atheists as well when I "came out". My family had decided that I should get to choose what I believed. That was the best thing they ever did for me. Because so many of my peers went to church and were Christian or Catholic, I tried to believe too. It didn't work for me. It just didn't seem logical. After my parents got divorced, my father remarried. His new wife was a devout Christian, who forced me to go to church. I'd been skeptical and trying to figure out if I believed in a god or not at the time. Attending church was ultimately what made me realize that I didn't have the mindset for religion, and church was not the place for me. It was then that I made up my mind. I tried to tell my stepmom that I didn't want to go to church anymore. After that, from then on, for 5 years, she insulted me, forced me to go to church, constantly trying to get me to convert, telling me that I was ugly, a terrible person and that I was going to hell. She made sure that I was never in the same room as her son, to make sure that I didn't "corrupt him". whenever I got sick, I was automatically faking it. It turns out that I had a chronic illness, and I very nearly died. My father agreed with everything that she said. They hurt me. I never want to see them again. My dad finally divorced her last year, but the damage was done. It'll never be the same.
The way I see it is, if "gods people" can be such horrible, homophobic, racist people, then why bother. Most wars are started in the name of religion. Religion does some good things, and some bad things. I have experienced a lot of the bad. I tend to stay away from it. I go have Christian friends, the ones who respect me and my decision.
What I'm trying to say is that I don't like religion. I'm ok with it, I'm not going to hurt you if you are religious, but I'm not a fan. If God does exist, then he is very cruel. If the bible is true, then he is holding a grudge. The people alive today have nothing to do with what people did thousands of years ago in the stories of the bible. I refuse to worship something like that. And if you need a book to tell you not to kill people, there is something wrong with you.
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Post by Deleted on Oct 8, 2016 16:41:36 GMT -5
im an athiest, but i would like to hope that theres something after death. im fine with everyone's religion, as long as they dont use it as an excuse to be a rude person. i think its kinda funny bc my dad tried to raise me as a christian and sent me to a christian preschool, but the only thing i remember from preschool was playing with dinosaur toys. yep. thanks dad.
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Post by Deleted on Oct 8, 2016 16:42:36 GMT -5
Not sure what this is supposed to be. A place to share religious views or for opinions on religion in general? Both? In any case, as a Christian, I feel inclined to respond to your points (based upon what I ((and Christians in general)) believe)... - The Bible was written by humans... inspired by the Holy Spirit. So, yes, the Bible is without error. - Explain how? - Concurred. - Concurred. - Strongly disagree. I was raised in a Christian home and have attended church since I was an infant. My parents never once tried to force me to believe anything - they let me ask questions, they encouraged me to think for myself, they never once forced me to go to church if I truly didn't want to. As a result of this, I did, in fact, go my own way, and ended up following Christ of my own volition. Christians are instructed to raise their children in the way of the Lord, but there is a very clear distinction between forcing your children to adhere to what they don't believe in and teaching them in the way of your beliefs. - Agreed, to a certain extent. - That's a debatable issue; personally, I also believe the Earth is older than 10,000 years. On religion itself... my views vary depending on how you define 'religion'. Strictly speaking as a Christian, most of the more renowned institutions are legalistic and heretical in their teaching. WBC aren't Christian. Christians are told to be ready to give reason for what they believe; to do this, we must research the history of our faith as well as the cultural and grammatical contexts of passages. I'd encourage any and all Christians to study other religions as well and to understand what separates Christianity from the teachings of other faiths. Furthermore, I don't believe the world needs religion. I believe it needs Christ. All is accomplished through Him and it is by Him we have all hope and salvation. τετέλεσται. Lastly, you said "God exists outside the bounds of human logic"... I would argue that the basics of human logic consistently argue for the existence of God. But that's just me.
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Post by Deleted on Oct 8, 2016 17:29:16 GMT -5
- idk if i believe in God or not. im stuck in the middle. half of me thinks: ''how can it be actually possible that someone like that exists it's completely impossible'' but the other half of me thinks: ''there's so much we don't know and it could be true idk'' so i honestly do not know if i believe in God or not - id like to believe there's some sort of afterlife, and i sort of believe it - but i also think there could be nothingness. - calling the whole of the human species ''evil'' is going a bit far. not everyone is evil. yes, humans are the most destructive but many of us are against that and want to rebuild the planet. - i agree. you can't force religion on someone. let people believe what they want to believe. - that's not neccasarily wrong. you can introduce your child to your religion, but you should never force them to believe in it. just encourage it. - idk there's a lot of things humans don't know about. we don't know everything about the universe. - Religion isn't exactly the main thing that causes war. Isis don't go out and kill people because they are faithful to their God. Islam is an extremely peaceful religion, and Islamic people are taught to never kill anyone. those terrorist groups don't do it for their religion - religion is just an excuse to kill people for no reason. - there are so many things humans don't know about. the human species doesn't know every little detail about the universe, and of what comes after life. not until they die, anyway. it's like saying aliens don't exist, and how do we know that? we can only travel very short distances in the whole of the universe, so who can say many other planets don't hold life? anyway enough about aliens there is many things we can't explain, and many things scientists don't know. afterlife is one of the few mysteries of the world we won't be able to ever solve in our lives - you don't know until your time comes.
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Post by 𝕡𝕖𝕡𝕡𝕖𝕣𝕞𝕚𝕟𝕥 on Oct 8, 2016 17:45:22 GMT -5
Think of it this way: If man's existence and impact was erased, and given a second chance, new religions would be developed, ones that have nothing to do with our current religions. Scientific discoveries, on the other hand, would stay exactly the same. That's because science is factual, evident, and consistent, while religon isn't; it's based entirely on faith. Science contradicts religion, and vise versa. The Bible even contradicts itself. (Love thy neighbor. . . unless they're lgbt, women, or otherwise different.) It tells us that God is loving and that Satan is evil. Meanwhile, God murdered (presumably) millions of people, while Satan only killed ten. I could go on all day about how flawed the Bible, and religion in general is, but I don't want to sound ranty. Which I already do. . . oops.
I was raised in a very mixed environment. My mother is an atheist, her parents are catholics, and extremely right-wing, and my dad and his family are Jewish. I'm atheistic.
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Post by Deleted on Oct 8, 2016 17:48:40 GMT -5
I do believe in God. I do believe in an afterlife, but I don't believe in divine creation... or not in the way most people believe it...
Basically, what I believe is that God used science to create humans. SO I compromised between science and religion. You can give me a peace prize later. *sarcasm*
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Bisexual
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🎃❅❖.Şp໐໐kฯຟiຖ໓.❖❅🎃
THIS IS THE THRILLLLLLLLLLERRRRRRR, THRILLLERRRRR NIIIIIGHHHHTTTT 🎃
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Post by 🎃❅❖.Şp໐໐kฯຟiຖ໓.❖❅🎃 on Oct 8, 2016 17:49:31 GMT -5
I am fine with religion so long as those who practice don't try and force me into their ways, or think that I am lesser than them because I don't follow the same things they do. I also don't think it's cool to condition kids into believing the same things their parents do, but at the same time I'm not their legal guardian.
I personally don't practice anything, or believe in any God of any type.
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Post by Deleted on Oct 8, 2016 17:52:19 GMT -5
Think of it this way: If man's existence and impact was erased, and given a second chance, new religions would be developed, ones that have nothing to do with our current religions. Scientific discoveries, on the other hand, would stay exactly the same. That's because science is factual, evident, and consistent, while religon isn't; it's based entirely on faith. Science contradicts religion, and vise versa. The Bible even contradicts itself. (Love thy neighbor. . . unless they're lgbt, women, or otherwise different.) It tells us that God is loving and that Satan is evil. Meanwhile, God murdered (presumably) millions of people, while Satan only killed ten. I could go on all day about how flawed the Bible, and religion in general is, but I don't want to sound ranty. Which I already do. . . oops.I was raised in a very mixed environment. My mother is an atheist, her parents are catholics, and extremely right-wing, and my dad and his family are Jewish. I'm atheistic. Well, I personally believe the Bible was mistranslated because God used humans and they messed up... so the LBGTQ thing could have been a mistake... sorry please don't hate me.
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Post by 𝕡𝕖𝕡𝕡𝕖𝕣𝕞𝕚𝕟𝕥 on Oct 8, 2016 17:54:01 GMT -5
Think of it this way: If man's existence and impact was erased, and given a second chance, new religions would be developed, ones that have nothing to do with our current religions. Scientific discoveries, on the other hand, would stay exactly the same. That's because science is factual, evident, and consistent, while religon isn't; it's based entirely on faith. Science contradicts religion, and vise versa. The Bible even contradicts itself. (Love thy neighbor. . . unless they're lgbt, women, or otherwise different.) It tells us that God is loving and that Satan is evil. Meanwhile, God murdered (presumably) millions of people, while Satan only killed ten. I could go on all day about how flawed the Bible, and religion in general is, but I don't want to sound ranty. Which I already do. . . oops.I was raised in a very mixed environment. My mother is an atheist, her parents are catholics, and extremely right-wing, and my dad and his family are Jewish. I'm atheistic. Well, I personally believe the Bible was mistranslated because God used humans and they messed up... so the LBGTQ thing could have been a mistake... sorry please don't hate me.That's an interesting theory. Each to their own, I guess.
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Post by Deleted on Oct 8, 2016 17:54:55 GMT -5
As long as you arent using your religion to defend bigotry and hatred if others than its perfectly ok. IM kinda iffy on where i stand regilion wise but im open to anything and think theres always a possibility with anything, including athiesm. But i personally have a belief in past lives/reincarnation as well as more spiritual stuff
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Post by Sanders on Oct 8, 2016 18:18:54 GMT -5
Tbh I'm not really a fan of organized religions in general for myself. I'm not very religious and tend not to dwell on what is and isn't out there.
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#add8e6
Name Colour
*Ravenpaw*
Warrior Fanatic
*reads books in a corner*
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Post by *Ravenpaw* on Oct 8, 2016 18:24:56 GMT -5
Think of it this way: If man's existence and impact was erased, and given a second chance, new religions would be developed, ones that have nothing to do with our current religions. Scientific discoveries, on the other hand, would stay exactly the same. That's because science is factual, evident, and consistent, while religon isn't; it's based entirely on faith. Science contradicts religion, and vise versa. The Bible even contradicts itself. (Love thy neighbor. . . unless they're lgbt, women, or otherwise different.) It tells us that God is loving and that Satan is evil. Meanwhile, God murdered (presumably) millions of people, while Satan only killed ten. I could go on all day about how flawed the Bible, and religion in general is, but I don't want to sound ranty. Which I already do. . . oops.I was raised in a very mixed environment. My mother is an atheist, her parents are catholics, and extremely right-wing, and my dad and his family are Jewish. I'm atheistic. Can you tell me the Bible verse that says love everyone except for what you mentioned? Also, it does not contradict itself. I've read it before.
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Post by sand dollar on Oct 8, 2016 18:27:44 GMT -5
i consider myself agnostic i guess??
when my dad was little his family was Lutheran so he went to church and stuff. but he's an atheist now my mom didn't practice any religion as a kid, and hence, since both of my parents aren't rlly into religion i've never gone to church or anything. they encourage my sister and i to believe in whatever we want.
i certainly don't buy into God or anything, like i consider the Bible mythology. at the same time, i like to believe there's some higher power watching over me. honestly who even is God?? i mean it could be anything, or anyone. i just like to think there's something out there keeping me safe but i don't really dwell on what it is because there's no way to prove any of it.
but if you do believe something else, that's great!! u do u. whatever works. as long as you respect other people's beliefs and don't use your religion to defend bigotry + hatred of others like Verbatim said.
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Post by Alpha on Oct 8, 2016 18:35:52 GMT -5
Ñay
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Post by Noctis on Oct 8, 2016 18:41:35 GMT -5
I like it. Nothing instills a greater sense of camaraderie in a society.
Unfortunately the holy books, particularly the Bible, are misconstrued to hell and back due to a lack of context. Having actually read the thing, I can't really take people who try to point out supposed contradictions seriously.
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Post by Yoshimi on Oct 8, 2016 18:54:22 GMT -5
You're comment is funny because Scourge is a canon athiest.
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Post by Splintercat on Oct 8, 2016 19:08:36 GMT -5
So like, I don't consider Christianity a religion in the sense that other religions are. It's definitely a religion, and the Bible even calls it such, but the difference is this: the other religions of the world are all about people trying to be good enough to climb up the "ladder" to heaven by themselves. Christianity is about God coming down the ladder to get us and carry us up Himself. That's the gist of the Gospel.
Anyway, that said, I'll exclude Christianity from the category of "religion" for this post, purely for the purpose of clarity. I feel that religion is not necessarily a bad thing- after all, it often makes people do good things. However, doing good things is not enough to get people to heaven- no matter how much good of a person you are, the bad is still there. It's like if your dog poops on the carpet, and instead of cleaning it up, you spray perfume on it to mask the smell, and just keep doing that whenever the stench gets too bad. That's the only thing you're capable of doing- for whatever reason (just roll with it for the sake of the analogy), you're not able to just clean it up. You have to ask Jesus, the friendly cleaning guy who lives next door, to do it for you. (He's a nice guy, so he'll do it for free if you just ask him politely. In fact, he'll do it for free and without complaint every time your dog poops after that- but obviously you wanna try and stop your dog from pooping in the house so much, since you really like this Jesus guy and would hate to take advantage of him.)
Anyway yeah. Religion can either make people better or worse. Someone who is zealous for a religion that promotes violence and hate- like the extreme version of Islam followed by ISIS and co.- well, that pretty much always turns out very bad. But someone who is zealous for a religion that promotes peace and love- like Mormonism, for example- can do very good things and become better because of their religion. However, please note that the "goodness" or "badness" of a religion has no bearing on whether it's true or not. If ISIS' version of Islam is true (it's not), then it's true. It's not false just because of how terrible it is. Truth is not determined by "goodness" or "badness". And as I explained, no amount of becoming a better person or doing good things can get you to heaven- only "asking Jesus to clean your rug" can.
So those are my thoughts on religion. Now I want to talk about what you said in your OP, because it intrigued me.
-I also believe that the Bible is not 100% without error (please note that this is a fairly unpopular view among Christians). I believe that God has preserved the important truths, along with most of the Bible (and the historical record proves that it has not changed significantly over the years, I might add), but it was still written by humans. If Paul miscounted how many people were present at a church meeting or something, ¯\_(ツ)_/¯. Humans screw up on details a lot, but they don't tend to forget the big-picture important things like a guy walking on water or rising from the dead.
-What I believe, and what the Bible seems to teach, is that predestination is true- however, so is the choice that people make as to whether they reject or accept God. In a great mystery that goes all the way back to the question of why God allowed Adam and Eve to sin, it seems that God does choose certain people to be saved, but that this does not conflict with their absolute free will to either choose or reject Him. God chooses, but we also choose, and that somehow works out. Free will is obviously very important to God, seeing as He allowed Adam and Eve to sin in the first place, but it cannot be denied that the Bible also teaches predestination. It's just one of those divine mysteries, like the Trinity or the question of why humans love their danged digital watches so much.
-I'm kinda ehh on the question of whether humans are inherently good or evil. God declared that humanity was good, so we are inherently good, but our natural inclination, from birth, is to rebel against the ultimate Source of all goodness, so we're also inherently evil. It's a mixture, I'd say.
-I agree that religion shouldn't be shoved down people's throats. I mean, I'm always going to share my faith with people no matter what anyone says, since I'd really prefer that they not spend eternity apart from the Source of all goodness and joy. However, if you are obviously resisting the Gospel and it's clear that I'm wasting my time, I'm gonna shake the dust from my feet and walk off. I'll keep praying for you, but I'm not going to waste my time on someone who really doesn't want Jesus when there are people out there who are desperately longing for the Gospel and just haven't heard it yet. Continuing to bug people about the Gospel after they've made it clear that they don't want it is what I'd call "shoving your religion down someone's throat".
-I do think it's fine, natural, and even healthy to raise your child in your own religion. However, you definitely need to expose them to other ideas and let them know that yours is not the only religion out there. One thing I particularly hate is when young-earth creationist parents refuse to let their children go near anything that has Evilution™ in it. I'm fine with YEC, but, like any other idea, I'm not fine with it when you don't allow your child to learn that there are other views out there.
-On God's capabilities: Kinda agree. He's revealed a whole lot about Himself to us in the Bible, but we will never fully comprehend everything about His nature: for example, the Trinity.
-Agree that the universe is much older than 6,000 years, although I fully respect other opinions. Just curious though: How do you believe in the Gap Theory if you're not a Christian?
-I agree that the WBC is no bueno. They need Jesus, big-time.
-I know a lot of awesome atheists- since "atheist" just means "person who doesn't believe in God", they obviously come in all different shapes and sizes. It's sad that "atheist" has now come to mean "neckbeard who's angry that his mom made him get up for church on Sundays and now spends his days playing Call of Duty, eating Doritos, and raging against religion on /r/atheism".
-Agreed that God can't be scientifically proven. For the most part, anyway- the things we observe in our universe can certainly point to Him via science, but I know what you mean.
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Post by tiger beetle on Oct 8, 2016 19:17:49 GMT -5
I'm an atheist, but I have no problem with religion
as long as you're not using your religion as an excuse for something bad or insisting that people who don't believe the same thing as you are doomed and terrible people, but that should go without saying, you know?
edit: grew up Methodist Christian and a pretty big chunk of my family is Jewish
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Post by Basement Cat on Oct 8, 2016 19:36:57 GMT -5
I was raised in a Southern Baptist home, and for a while, my Christian private school was insanely conservative, and pushed - more like brainwashed - students to follow awful beliefs. It wasn't until I was 18 I got away from it, as I started having extreme doubts about homosexuality. I saw the evidence that it could not be controlled, and I thought to myself, that I was condemning people with things outside their control. I no longer want to be affiliated with the Baptist Church. As such, I:
* Am a non-demoninational Christian. * The Earth evolved from the Big Bang. What set the world in motion was God, and then over the course of billions of years, evolution took place. * God does not control our lives. He watches over us, but does little interference with the Earth. * I believe Jesus was real, and I believe He and God are the same. Jesus is the cool Son who communicates to His Dad and teaches humans to not be terrible. * I believe such truths as transgenderism and sexuality to not be sinful. It is more like, the humans writing the Bible were fallible, and it is their own opinion written down.
And that is all I am willing to share.
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Post by Yoshimi on Oct 8, 2016 19:39:13 GMT -5
Splintercat "How do you believe in the Gap Theory if you're not a Christian?" When I was a christain. I understand that you got confused. I should put more emphasis on my past tense. I'll just leave this out here also: Atheists can be just as dogmatic as the religious. (Look up church burnings in norway) Im glad we also see eye to eye in some things. religion should help guide a person, and give you something to aspire to, or to help make yourself a better person. Even if you don't care for religion I think we can all agree that the values is teaches are good values to have. Perhaps you might not like some of them, but overall it's lesson is about trying to make the world a better place, and helping to teach a moral compass.
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Post by ✲ριкαƒυєу✲ on Oct 8, 2016 19:41:21 GMT -5
I was raised by a very Christian family, but I became an atheist when I was in high school. I don't mind others believing in what they want, but it boils my blood when people force it on others and use it for political agendas. I also feel a bit negative towards religion, but to avoid any disrespect I will not go further into that.
I just can't bring myself to believe in what religion tells you. To me it just seems like fairy tales, but I know that to others it's very real and provides hope. I do believe our souls go somewhere when we pass however, but I wouldn't say I think it's heaven or hell.
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Post by Deleted on Oct 8, 2016 20:04:33 GMT -5
Okay, so like, I think I have a reputation here when it comes to bickering with Christians, and I feel like there are a lot of... misconceptions there? I'm no longer Christian, true, but that has more to do with me than it does any actual aspect of Christianity. My entire family is mostly Christian, and they're mostly good people. Many of my friends are Christian on some level. Like, I volunteer at a church-run food pantry for NHS, okay? And the people running it are old and grumpy and also amazing, and they have nothing but acceptance and love for the people around them despite the generation they were raised in. I have no problem with caring, accepting Christians who use their faith as motivation to do the right thing. My only problem is with Christians who use their faith to be hateful and judgmental, because I was raised to believe that God doesn't want anything to do with that kind of faith. Like, I'm not a beacon of faith these days, obviously, but any God out there that would take a bigot over a LGBT person or a person of another religion or whatever isn't worth anything to me.
So okay, that aside, I was raised Lutheran. I went through the motions for fifteen years before I realized that that was all I was doing - going through the motions. I believed in God because I felt comforted by the idea of someone looking out for me, and I believed in heaven to cope with my fear of death, but I eventually figured out that I didn't even believe those things. I believed them sometimes, but only vaguely. I didn't feel right calling myself a Christian under those circumstances, because I think a lot of Christians do believe full-time, and I just... do not know how to believe in anything without proof. And that makes Christianity the wrong fit for me, at least until I get there again.
So yeah, I'm agnostic. I still have this like, fluctuating image of a deity or an afterlife. Sometimes, I'm comfortable thinking about it in a "maybe" way. Sometimes, I'm like, "Yeah, that stuff is fake. We're all gonna die cold and alone. Cool." A lot of my ideas about a god are just cool exploration or comfort, and I like the low pressure, low expectation vibe there. I'd like there to be an afterlife, since I'm not gonna be ready to quit eighty years from now, and I'd like there to be a god, although I'm gonna have Words for them when I get upstairs, but those are just thoughts. I can be a maybe person. I'm down with that.
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Post by Cheyenne on Oct 8, 2016 20:07:13 GMT -5
I don't know what I believe. All I know is that I hate it when people argue about religion. Does it really matter? Right now I'm extremely confused about religion, almost to the point where I eventually might fall into a depression. A few weeks ago, since half my friends are Christians and the other half are atheist, they were both arguing about religion. It seriously made me wanna cry when that happened, but if I tell them that they're arguing is complete torture for me, they might say that I just want attention. In reality, I can't handle religious arguments.
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Post by Numquam on Oct 8, 2016 20:16:18 GMT -5
Grew up Roman Catholic but now I"m Agnostic Theist (I think that's what it's called?). I don't know what to believe. I don't claim God(s) exist, but I don't claim they don't either. People can believe whatever they want in terms of like, gods and an afterlife. Although I can be iffy on religion as a whole. I like the morals that a lot of religions teach, a lot of them are peaceful and accepting, but it's too bad a lot of religious people don't even follow 'em. Unfortunately it's because of this that I get really weary around people that claim to be really religious. Too many bad experiences.
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Post by Deleted on Oct 8, 2016 20:22:02 GMT -5
I'm an athiest, raised in a semi-atheist-semi-religious household. My belief in God is far behind me, and has been for several years after many years before that of constant questioning and stressing. I just personally don't believe in the whole "God" or "higher power" ordeal. With lack of proof and evidence of any sort of higher power, I sadly cannot see what others see. Especially when the Bible or any of the sort comes into the picture. However, I have no room to talk obviously.
My stance on religion is iffy for both very personal reasons and also for very statistical reasons. No matter what religion you have, all religions as a whole have done terrible things. As it is, I've come across plenty of religious people that have shoved their faith down my throat. The amount of aggressive religious people that I've witnessed and come in contact with is uncountable, so I suppose that makes me slightly biased. I'm certain that there are actually good people (I've seen plenty of you folks on the forums) but I've been rather unlucky in actually finding one outside of the internet. Unfortunately.
But, so long as you aren't the aggressive type and respect the beliefs (or lack there of) of others, I respect you. Especially if you respect others in general (LGBTA+, race, other religions, etc).
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Post by Deleted on Oct 8, 2016 20:34:59 GMT -5
I'm an atheist, and was raised as an atheist. In my view, religion has caused more harm than good (think of all the wars, terrorist attacks, etc.), and some of it really just doesn't make sense to me. I have no problems with religion unless you're using it as an excuse for hating and discriminating against any group of people, or yelling at anybody who disagrees with you (one time I had a so-called friend threaten to destroy my reputation by framing me as a cheater simply because I think evolution is real). I actually find a sort of comfort in my atheism, in a way. I usually don't talk much about my lack of religion simply to keep peace and avoid starting huge arguements.
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