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| How did you choose your religion?
Posted: 4/2/2007 12:42:55 PM | I was wondering how you decided which religion to follow.... Have you just gone along with what you parents raised you on? If not, how did you branch out? What kind of research did you do prior to starting with a new church/religion? Did you try church-hopping? How do the regular patrons react to newbies? Are people you know offended if you don't go back?
So many question..... 
I grew up in a very athiest household... my brothers and father are actually still very much athiest. Since starting to work in hospitals, these last 10 years, I've seen far too much to beleive that *nothing* exists out there, and now consider myself agnostic.... but I have been wanting something much more structured for a few years now, I just don't know how to go about it!
What are your experiences and suggestions? | |
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| How did you choose your religion?
Posted: 4/2/2007 1:33:02 PM | Stick with your family and what you can explain. Health care workers, like scientists must hold the highest standards of reason and rationale in their work. This has nothing to say about their compassion and concern for the suffering of others. Read some literature on the morality and ethics of Atheists and other non-believers, you'll find that they are reasons for doing good that are far more grounded in reality then those of religious folk.
And as for
I've seen far too much to beleive that *nothing* exists out there
I guess that depends on:
1. how willing you are to believe
2. how intellectually/rationally/inquisitively/scientifically lazy you are
3. coming to the wrong conclusions when faced with inexplicable events in relation to the use of rationale and logic
I've seen far too much to believe that *an omnipotent* being controls the universe. I've know enough to understand that religion is a result of intellectual laziness, ignorance and socialization. I know enough that when I feel I need structure, I read a book, see a lecture, or watch a hockey game, I do not pull the stupidity blanket of church or mosque or temple up over my head when I'm feeling unsure about the world. | |
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| How did you choose your religion?
Posted: 4/2/2007 1:38:24 PM | I was raised without religion. I studied it when I became curious about it, but have never wanted to take up any one religion. I looked at the subject of religion, all of them side by side, noticed the purpose and commonalities, and decided that I would do better bypassing any one style of instruction, heading straight for the enlightenment each offered in its own way. To me that meant a lot of thinking about things, and so I was very pragmatic and philosophical for a while. The eclectic approach worked for me, taking this or that from each example of religion, collecting the parts I liked. Eventually I came to regard the great outdoors as church and the grocery store as my weekly social communion, a sort of water's edge equality place.
If you're shopping for a religion, check out a comparison of them in Joseph Campbell's work. He did a fine job collecting and explaining world religions. In Houston there is the Rothko Chapel, which is a kind of all-and-none religion sanctuary for meditation. I think eventually all religions as well as all faiths and all lives empty as rivers into one sea. As such, a religion is like a school and the point is to learn, graduate and then put it to use in life. If I was looking for a religion I would check out what kinds of hats they have. It's all about the hats.
That "something more" is there no matter whether it is named or left ineffable. At the end of the day, religion can only be a gateway to the awe and wonder of the miracle of life, and that you can enter any time simply by noticing, no special instruction required, as one look at any excited child will prove. | |
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| How did you choose your religion?
Posted: 4/2/2007 4:23:50 PM | Now, now, Pen_devil.... I didn't ask you which religion you think I should be. I have my own belief system, and you have yours. My questions relate to the process of deciding which religion is appropriate for someone.
Jumbo_mumbo... thanks for the reference to Joseph Campbell, I will certainly look him up. I have tried reading a variety of books, but find most a little difficult to get through. They either talk to you like you are 5, or as though you have a lifelong knowledge-base of that particular religion. | |
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| How did you choose your religion?
Posted: 4/2/2007 5:00:11 PM | Advice?
1) follow your heart. You have one for a reason.
2) Be skeptical, but not cynical. Find a path you can understand and makes intellectual sense to you as well as feels right.
3) Avoid any path that says "believe or else". Fear is not religion but a trap. God loves us all no matter what we believe. Find a path that loves all, as that is how God loves.
4) Until you find your path be a good person. Whatever religious or spiritual path you find will require that anyways,.
5) Be sincere and open minded. The biggest flaw in alot of religions is the belief that there are no more miracles and since God has already appeared to such-n-such all you can do is read about it in dusty old stories. The age of miracles NEVER ended and you can know God in a real a way if you seek that. So be open minded cus he/she is not like any religion says, but more so. Your experience will be unique to you and may only make sense to you.
good luck on your journey. | |
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| How did you choose your religion?
Posted: 4/3/2007 2:16:08 AM | heya java , personally i wouldnt ssettle on any religion
as far as ive figured out after yrs of serching for some sort of honesty n non bs in religion ive found they are all based on lies and manipulation, they cant even follow the very book they attest to believe n teach out of.
what i opted for myself was to merely have faith and to read said book and not waste my time trying to blend into some menagerie of false doctrine n pretend preachers puffed up in theyre own little world .
for a long time when i was younger i opted for satanic stuff because at least that was all about one thing and was to me at that time an outlet,
but one scripture i remember from when i was young kept gettin into my head and still to this day keeps pounding around inside there, it was ' keep on seeking the truth "
and if it takes a whole lifetime i think finding thruth is worth the effort
my realization is this, all religions on the earth have a grain of truth in them but all religions on this earth are based in lies n pagan falsities
u have to siphon out the truth and sift thru it all to make sure u get what u needed, the truth could b a google search away | |
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| How did you choose your religion?
Posted: 4/3/2007 10:58:04 AM | My experience - I was born into my religion
probably like most people - I had no choice - LOL!!
I would not change - but thats how I came about it-
You want something much more for yourself - more structured-
I would think that maybe wherever you live attend different churches
and see what feels right to you - only you can decide where you feel
comfortable - different religions - a synagogue whatever you want -
and then go from there-
And someone said it here - try be open minded and not skeptical - but
keep your eyes open - good luck - I hope you find what you are looking for-
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| How did you choose your religion?
Posted: 4/3/2007 1:42:55 PM | I didn't choose a religion.
God lead me to the church that His son founded. God chose my religion for me. It really is that simple. | |
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| How did you choose your religion?
Posted: 4/3/2007 6:24:21 PM | | Hmmm, how did I decide my religion? Very good question. First, I noticed that I'd stopped believing in the religion with which I was raised. After that, since I felt I could still use the understanding and ritual that a given spirituality provides, I started checking out all the ones around me. Learned as much as I could, and eventually figured out that humans create religion. Yeah, kinda embarassed to admit it took me that long. However, from there, I realised it was up to me to determine in what I had faith, and to construct my own worldview around it. Talked to plenty of gods, investigated spirituality further, and eventually found what works for me. Good stuff, man. | |
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| How did you choose your religion?
Posted: 4/3/2007 9:30:45 PM | Personally, I shopped around......and found the one that I felt at home with......which works for me. However, it's not the one I was raised in......but I still go to my parent's church from time to time.......as Family is important in the Norse Way. Oh....yeah.....how did I get here?? Well......started UCC(United Church of Christ), then went to all the local other Christian churchs......became a Catholic when I got married...........and was really Heathen at the time.......just didn't know it quite yet. Went to college.....realised that the Norse Way was NOT a "dead" religion(Meaning nobody still follows it), and been on this path for over a decade........and plan to stay. It's the path of my ancestors......and if that's ok for Native Americans, it darn well should be ok for a guy who is a Euro-American!
Cheers!  | |
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| How did you choose your religion?
Posted: 4/3/2007 11:53:25 PM | | I was raised as a Christian and remained one for almost 25 years. Then I read the Bible, history books, biology books, got degrees in physics and mathematics, and realized that the god theory has no supporting evidence and didn't make any sense. I chose to become an Atheist because to believe in any god would be believing in something far less likely than the Tooth Fairy. | |
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| How did you choose your religion?
Posted: 4/5/2007 7:52:23 AM | Forget about which "religion" to follow. The Bible says that God is more concerned with your level of obedience than your traditions or rules. Start with the Bible. I suggest the New KJV. It's easy to understand, without all the thee's and thou's.
Then, if you still want to find a church, which is only advisable after reading the Bible ALL THE WAY THROUGH, from START to FINISH, find one that follows the teachings of the Bible.
That's it, in a nutshell. | |
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| How did you choose your religion?
Posted: 4/5/2007 7:58:31 AM | | You are so misinformed. If religion is a result of intellectual laziness, then tell me, how WAS the universe created? | |
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| How did you choose your religion?
Posted: 4/5/2007 8:07:52 AM | How can you explain the existence of the universe? There is only one thing that God requires of man. And with that one thing, everything else falls into place: FAITH. Faith is the substance of things yet hoped for, and the evidence of things unseen. And, seek ye first the Kingdom of God and His Righteousness, and all these things shall be added unto you.
I, unlike you, have seen far too much NOT to believe there is a God. My God has helped me out of situations NO MAN can dare even try to explain, and science has no answers for.
Wisdom begins with God. Professing themselves to be wise, they became fools. The only explanation, in MY opinion, for UNbelief is intellectual laziness. | |
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| How did you choose your religion?
Posted: 4/5/2007 8:36:33 AM | It's insulting and ignorant to discount people who do not believe in god as lazy fools. You have to be wholly ignorant of philosophy to think that way, which is typical of people who rely on faith, who assume they have the truth and so look no further for it than one book.
In the case of a so-called believer, the questions end with an easy answer. For someone who looks past the easy answer, the real work of understanding begins. It takes no mind at all to imagine there was a god and god created things and god is behind everything. You have a test of life and for every question theirs is the same answer: god did it.
For someone who seeks answers but looks to the entire universe for clues, you have endless intellectual adventure. Discoveries are not made by people who do not look.
If the goal in choosing a religion is to avoid troubling questions, to find a comforting mantra to drown out disquieting thoughts, then any religion will do. But if the goal is to undertake a spiritual journey, some religions are better than others because they actually have you go places and learn things.
Christianity has been denouncing intellectual curiosity, fighting progress and punishing great thinkers for its entire history. But in its favor, the thumb it provides for sucking fits perfectly in any willing mouth. | |
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| How did you choose your religion?
Posted: 4/5/2007 9:53:48 AM | I'm pretty much all over the board in the religions that interest me, and I don't plan on choosing just one anytime soon.
I refuse to characterize someone as intellectually lazy just because he/she happens to be religious or not, and I certainly won't think less of someone just because he/she happens to be Christian or atheist. I don't equate having faith with being stupid, unreasonable or gullible, nor do I equate not having faith with being misguided, apathetic or immoral. The blanket generalizations made about religious groups on these forums astound me. In my opinion it's just as moronic as making generalizations about any other group... insurance salesmen are boring, cheerleaders are easy, jocks are stupid. Personally, I'd much rather form my opinions of people through personal experience and on an individual basis.
*goes off to suck her thumb and read more Dante, Herbert, Milton, Blake, Eliot, Lewis, Tolkien and other great thinkers of the Christian tradition* | |
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| How did you choose your religion?
Posted: 4/5/2007 10:28:47 AM | I didn't choose my religion. I don't beleive anyone should. I think it's wiser to find out what your religion is by incident. You beleive something or a certain way... Then your religion is the tag to best describe what you beleive. Otherwise, you're not attached to said religion throughout.
Here's an analogy using political beleifs....
Would you rather someone decide that they are against abortion because they are republican, or figure out they are republican because they are against abortion?
Oh, and I'm Unitarian Universalist. ;) | |
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| How did you choose your religion?
Posted: 4/5/2007 10:45:17 AM |
Forget about which "religion" to follow. The Bible says that God is more concerned with your level of obedience than your traditions or rules. Start with the Bible. I suggest the New KJV. It's easy to understand, without all the thee's and thou's. I agree, as far as not worrying regarding "religion" or labels. Few enough gods truly care what their followers call themselves. As for the Bible, I suggest you learn Ancient Hebrew, Aramaic, and Greek, then read the Bible through (although beginning to end isn't necessary, since the Books aren't in chronological order, anyway, and Numbers is kinda tedious at times and really doesn't push the message so much as legitimise lineages). I would suggest that if you're going to read the KJV, new or old, you take it with a pillar of salt ( ), since it's as much a political re-translation as it is a furtherance of the "original". Ironically, the original partakes of some hardcore politics, too, but whattaya gonna do?
You are so misinformed. If religion is a result of intellectual laziness, then tell me, how WAS the universe created? Who says it has to have been "created"?
How can you explain the existence of the universe? What is, is. How and why are under investigation. Baseless assertions to the contrary, we don't actually know its origin, or if it had or needs to have had one.
There is only one thing that God requires of man. And with that one thing, everything else falls into place: FAITH. Depends on the god, actually. If we're talking the Christian God, Jehovah, He requires a bit more than faith. (ie, worship, obedience, recognition of supremacy...)
Faith is the substance of things yet hoped for, and the evidence of things unseen. Would this qualify as solipsism or sophistry? Either way, it truly answers nothing. To say I have faith in something being true means I can believe it, but I can't substantively convince another to do so.
And, seek ye first the Kingdom of God and His Righteousness, and all these things shall be added unto you. The carrot, as opposed to the stick. Groovy "argument".
I, unlike you, have seen far too much NOT to believe there is a God. My God has helped me out of situations NO MAN can dare even try to explain, and science has no answers for. Won't try to speak for anyone else, but such things are questionable from an objective point of view, logically anyway. For my part, I do agree with your perspective. I too have had multiple experiences wherein the gods have proved themselves to me, so I choose to believe. Choice: it's the "right" choice! 
Wisdom begins with God. Professing themselves to be wise, they became fools. The only explanation, in MY opinion, for UNbelief is intellectual laziness. In my understanding, wisdom comes from observation and experience. Professing oneself to be "wise" does indeed show one to be foolish. I see the argument for "UNbelief" to be more one from a required rigour in intellectual reasoning; hence, laziness would probably be the furthest from this.
It's insulting and ignorant to discount people who do not believe in god as lazy fools. You have to be wholly ignorant of philosophy to think that way Which all just turns into a massive, crazy, yet entertaining, game of scriptural/rational ping-pong. Game on!
In the case of a so-called believer, the questions end with an easy answer. ...You have a test of life and for every question theirs is the same answer: god did it. I don't necessarily agree. Sure, yes, the "god" answer does take care of the initial question: Why? It's like Descartes, you delve as deep as you can, and eventually, you've gotta just base the initial premise on something, yes? From there, though, the questions can and do get tougher: So, what do we do? How do we deal? Etc.
But if the goal is to undertake a spiritual journey, some religions are better than others because they actually have you go places and learn things. Differing, yet arguably equally effective answers to those further questions, says I.
Christianity has been denouncing intellectual curiosity, fighting progress and punishing great thinkers for its entire history. Kinda sad when you think about it, but I'm sure I've mentioned the "politics" angle, so it makes sense.
The blanket generalizations made about religious groups on these forums astound me. You and me both, sister.
Personally, I'd much rather form my opinions of people through personal experience and on an individual basis.   | |
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| How did you choose your religion?
Posted: 4/5/2007 11:16:33 AM | | it wouldnt spiritually matter what religious sect you chose because they're all to do with social order and rightousness - not spirituality. however, i would choose a religion that didn't preach or expect tithing - who wants to pay to hear their crap. your mainly their to flaunt your auroma and appearance to others of attraction. another thought would be choose a religion that conducts a weekly soup kitchen - here you can get free meals and possibly good used clothing from idiot worshipers like yourself. | |
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| How did you choose your religion?
Posted: 4/5/2007 2:54:23 PM | I tip my hat to messages # 3 & 5 and to this from message #16:
Discoveries are not made by people who do not look.
In a similar vein I composed the following maxim for myself:
A map will only lead you to where others have already been.
If indeed there is a God and He She or It created us in His Her or Its image, then surely He She or It did not use a cookie cutter but endowed us with a similiar degree of free will and inventiveness. | |
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| How did you choose your religion?
Posted: 4/5/2007 4:17:19 PM | | I was an atheist for most of my life. I viewed christianty as a myth that needed to die and fade away; like so many other religions had... But about 7 years ago I was working for my brother, a brick mason. He and his wife finally had a child after years of trying. He became a christian after that, further realizing that he wasn't before like he thought he was. He would preach to me at work for a long time... But the bizzarre thing that was pivotal in my salvation was the Ricki Lake show, Lol! I would watch it after work everyday, and all of the sudden it changed, even the re-runs. All of the sudden I noticed that there is something terribly wrong with people. Not just some people, but all people... I finally started to go to church with my brother and heard the preacher say why there is something wrong with mankind; and I got it! I went on to trust Jesus to be my Lord and savior... | |
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| How did you choose your religion?
Posted: 4/5/2007 10:45:39 PM | Most people are born into a religion. They will follow it because their parents did and theirs before them did. Few really question their religion. Few ever really stop to think or even wonder if they truly believe in what they were raised as.
My parents were both raised in the United Church. I was baptized in the United Church. However, I am not a member of the United Church and I never will be. I started asking question. I did not like most of the answers I got. I, like a lot of people have friends of different nationalities and different religions. As we get to know these people, we learn a little of their beliefs and philosophies. Some of it interested me. Some of it didn't. I did learn something through all of this though. My religion found me. It is right for me. It gives me what I need to stay grounded and free of spirit. It is a philosophy more so than a religion. It is a way of treating others with respect and my surroundings.
I would never tell someone what religion or belief system to choose. It is a personal choice that can only be suited to you. No one religion is flawless. They all have their good points and their bad points. Just be true to you. Go with what you feel in your heart is right for you. | |
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| How did you choose your religion?
Posted: 4/10/2007 12:02:15 AM | | I did it the logical way. I looked at the tenets of very many of the world's religions and chose my path - atheism. | |
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| How did you choose your religion?
Posted: 4/10/2007 2:40:27 AM | It chose me.
Back in '86, my parents made the attempt to "properly" educate me by forcing me to go to Sunday School in my home town's Roman Catholic Church. They chose this church because my grandmother on my mom's side was RC, though my parents were largely indifferent on religion. One Sunday, I decided that "The Transformers" cartoon was more important than Sunday school, and I stopped going. After I stopped going, a thought came into my head. "Everytthing is God."
It wasn't until I got to 1st year university ('93) that I learned what that statement actually meant. In Philosophy class I was introduced to the concept of Pantheism. From there, it was only a matter of research and time before I fell into Wiccan literature. It was closest to the model of the universe that I believed in.
To add some depth, I became interested in All Things Asian and discovered that Taoism was the strongest model of the universe that spoke to me on a personal level.
So, my "religion" is largely Taoism with a Wiccan backdrop, though I don't celebrate the Sabbats/Esbats or do any ritual work. I do call out to the God/dess for help now and then for guidance, or just to acknowledge thanks for the good things in my life. | |
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