Going to Church

writersu · May 2008

Vedd Hedd wrote:

hehe, Im an athiest, so its all pretty much giggles to me.....

and, see that is YOUR right; although not my belief. What is fucked up is I asked the ladies in my Bible study if they thought Angelina and Brad were going to Heaven because I read of all these awesome things that they were doing for people and I thought that they should. Well, they said that they did not know if they were "saved"??????!!!!!!!!!!! I love those women in my study but I just thought, "shit......"

you know??

Sian-of-the-dead · May 2008

Growing up I was raised as a Methodist, my Mum's a local preacher so it seemed the natural thing to go to church every week. I went on bible camp and even took part in sermons for my Mum. When I turned 12, I attended a Catholic secondary school. My folks figured that it was better I had a religious education (and an extra GCSE due to theology study) than a normal, comprehensive one.
I enjoyed Catholic school, joined the choir and even discovered I have a real love for their imagery and dogma... unfortunately I didn't feel anything for their attitude towards faith.
When I reached my later teenage years I investigated the 'darker' side of religion. I read the Satanic Bible and The Satanic Rituals by Anton LaVey. I really did find parallels with my own life and found that I identified with the sacraments at the time. I found that the religion of Satanism isn't as dark as people would think and that actually it's quite a positive way to look at life, all be it ruthless. The Satanic philosophy got me through some hard times and I believe, even made me a stronger person, but I always felt there was something else...
From the age of about 16 to 22 I was very angry at God. Some revelations in my life and some difficulties I went through just added to that... I felt that God had given me those hard times for no reason. I felt God didn't love me in the way I expected to be loved, that's probably why I sought solice in Satanism. Although I no longer consider myself a Satanist, I still respect the religion. In the same way I respect Judaism, Sikhism, Buddism, Islam etc etc. I'm even considering a Theology degree.
Now i'm 24 and 'been round the block' a bit in life terms, I'm finally at peace with my faith. I know that God gave me those life choices to create the person I am now, God can't live your life for you or tell you the path to choose but God can present you with the decisions to make. I never stopped believing in God, I was just angry and very confused. Just like how teenagers don't listen to their parents and then realise, as they get older, that their parents were only strict for the teenager's wellbeing, I realised that God feels the same about me. I know that God loves me and listens. I'm not a church goer and probably never will be. As much as I love religious imagery and the concept of dogma, it's not for me. I love the world around me and appreciate it everyday... God and Myself have an understanding, I love God and God loves me... no church necessary.

writersu · May 2008

wow, Sian, I am speechless; which is rare.....

but I do so get what you mean about the way you feel about God and the way you felt before......

I have always had a hard time with what I call the God of the Old Testament, (the wrath filled vengeful God), the Santa Claus God,(sorry for the spin of title there; I truly thought of that before the Christmas single---but the God who can do anything for you; so why is HE NOT??) , the feel good God of the New Testament, (Jesus hippie love God

sorry Jesus but I think you were a cool hippie dude myself---aka Jesus Christ Superstar kind of God----the love all for all God) and the "I like the other people better than you God", (where everyone else is blessed and you are sitting there fucked over).

I once described it as like when I was a little Greek Orthodox kid who was sent to a Catholic school where little pent up sexually tense nuns went off on kids, that the Catholic kids were going to hell; so I didn't know where I was going to go----I wasn't even Catholic.......

right?

bee_boy · May 2008

reversedarwinism wrote:

Once my mind started exploring the subject and applying common sense, religion didn't stand a chance...

When it comes to religion, I just have faith and try not to overdo the whole "common sense" thingy. After all, if the God I'm believing in can be understood by plain, human common sense, then that God is a fake.

I have the strong conviction that no matter how hard we try, we won't be able to "understand" God. That being said, many people just give up on religion because they "don't get it" and can't come to terms with following or believing in something they don't understand.

Myself, on the other hand... I just believe.

writersu · May 2008

bee_boy wrote:

When it comes to religion, I just have faith and try not to overdo the whole "common sense" thingy. After all, if the God I'm believing in can be understood by plain, human common sense, then that God is a fake.

I have the strong conviction that no matter how hard we try, we won't be able to "understand" God. That being said, many people just give up on religion because they "don't get it" and can't come to terms with following or believing in something they don't understand.

Myself, on the other hand... I just believe.

yeah, and I kind of think it is WE who made up "religion" all God asks for is faith......

Snake · May 2008

writersu wrote:

yeah, and I kind of think it is WE who made up "religion" all God asks for is faith......

Thats the Truth :cool:

All that other stuff doesnt matter.

writersu · May 2008

Snake wrote:

Thats the Truth :cool:

All that other stuff doesnt matter.

yeah, and the "faith" I was thinking just now is like not only faith in Him but also faith in everything that we encounter that for some reason, Godly, cosmically, or whatever else we can attribute to it all, faith that it is all spinning as it should no matter if we grasp it or not.

cause a lot of times I cannot "grasp" it all, you know?

Snake · May 2008

writersu wrote:

yeah, and the "faith" I was thinking just now is like not only faith in Him but also faith in everything that we encounter that for some reason, Godly, cosmically, or whatever else we can attribute to it all, faith that it is all spinning as it should no matter if we grasp it or not.

cause a lot of times I cannot "grasp" it all, you know?

Yea man, thats it! You've got enough awareness that you realize that your not as aware as you thought. Thats the way I see it.

myhook · May 2008

I am jumping into this discussion a little late but never the less I was born and raised Catholic and made all the sacraments. I was even married in a Catholic church but only because my wife and her family are pretty religious. I just don't buy it. I can't see any way in believing in an invisible guy that lives in the sky. HA, There are so many reason why I am not a believer but one reason is this.

When my wife and I were engaged and had to go to the church to prepare for our Pre-Cana the priest was asking us various questions like have we been married before, do we have kids, are we related, that sort of stuff. So when he asked if we were related I asked him a question, I asked: If Adam and Eve were the first 2 people put on earth by god then in some crazy way isn't every single person on earth related in one way or another? And he took a minute to respond and said "God also created other visions that the bible doesn't talk about". I was so dumbfounded by his answer I didn't even reply.

I am sure this has been sent around in this message board before but just in case, here is a link to a great movie about Religion. It also goes into 9/11 and the USA but Part 1 about Religion is what pertains to this topic.

http://www.zeitgeistmovie.com/

roar · May 2008

myhook wrote:

here is a link to a great movie about Religion. It also goes into 9/11 and the USA but Part 1 about Religion is what pertains to this topic.

http://www.zeitgeistmovie.com/

it's great anti-christian propaganda.

Yefa · May 2008

Cosmo wrote:

I believe that all religions are the right religons... for the person who follows them. If you are a Catholic and find peace and comfort in their teachings... then, it is the right religion. The same goes for the Christian that finds salvation in his/her Church... or the Muslim that finds his peace in Islam. It also works for the Jew, the Buddhist, the Scientologist and the Atheist. If it works for you... then, it is the right religion.

Atheism is not a religion. I just thought (as I'm an atheist) I would point that out.

prljmngrl · May 2008

writersu wrote:

yeah, and I kind of think it is WE who made up "religion" all God asks for is faith......

not really, if you believe the bible it says "Faith without works is dead". So while you have to believe, you also have to act on that belief. James 2:26

prljmngrl · May 2008

Yefa wrote:

Atheism is not a religion. I just thought (as I'm an atheist) I would point that out.

sure it is. If you openly profess a specific belief system, that is following a religion. Especially when one is shared by others such as in atheism. If the thought were yours alone you could argue it wasn't a religion. You have faith in the absence of a god. That is your religion.

writersu · May 2008

prljmngrl wrote:

not really, if you believe the bible it says "Faith without works is dead". So while you have to believe, you also have to act on that belief. James 2:26

yeah, but when I think of religion I think of the seperation of different people who practice different things and believe different doctrines, etc.

When I think of the point you make, "faith without works is dead" I don't think of it as in regards to religion I think of it more as if to say that if we are Christians, following Christ, then our life should reflet that in our actions, doind whatever we can to help others, as He would have done.

Collin · May 2008

prljmngrl wrote:

sure it is. If you openly profess a specific belief system, that is following a religion. Especially when one is shared by others such as in atheism. If the thought were yours alone you could argue it wasn't a religion. You have faith in the absence of a god. That is your religion.

It's not. If it were we'd all be in millions of religions.

Snake · May 2008

Collin wrote:

It's not. If it were we'd all be in millions of religions.

Its basically the same thing. Its a belief system. The main difference being that its not established as religion.

Collin · May 2008

Snake wrote:

Its basically the same thing. Its a belief system. The main difference being that its not established as religion.

First of all, religion and belief system are not synonymous. And I completely disagree with you.

edit: It's a lack of belief. How can that be a religion? Or even a belief system?

Snake · May 2008

Collin wrote:

First of all, religion and belief system are not synonymous. And I completely disagree with you.

edit: It's a lack of belief. How can that be a religion? Or even a belief system?

well you believe that there is no God, or deity, or whatever right? And calling it lack of belief first acknowledges that theres something that you dont believe in. There are many religions that dont worship or even acknowledge a god. Its basically up to the individuals interpretation. I see it as the same concept. Though it may not be religion so to speak.

Collin · May 2008

Snake wrote:

well you believe that there is no God, or deity, or whatever right? And calling it lack of belief first acknowledges that theres something that you dont believe in. There are many religions that dont worship or even acknowledge a god. Its basically up to the individuals interpretation. I see it as the same concept. Though it may not be religion so to speak.

You've got it backwards, imo. To me there is nothing. And some people add something i.e. god or a deity. I don't deny something, there's nothing there.

I'm going to make a silly analogy.

Imagine someone telling you he believes there's a big blue and orange chicken-cow-fish-thing in the air that governs us and watches down on us. And he tells you he prays to this chicken-cow-fish-thing everyday and every Thursday he has to do a special funky chicken dance or the chicken-cow-fish-thing will get mad and send him to the evil cat-shrimp.

I don't believe this and I would be shocked if you did. But would you say our lack of belief in this is a religion?

What religion do you have? Well, I don't believe in the chicken-cow-fish-thing.

See how this doesn't work. It's the same with god or allah or whatever.

To me there is nothing. The only difference between the chicken-cow-fish-thing and god, allah... is that they are common. These religions are common and talked about a lot, so much that one would think that atheism is the denial of god (and in some cases this might be so). But to me atheism isn't the denial of god because there is no god, just like there's not chicken-cow-fish-thing.

Was helpful at all?

Cosmo · May 2008

My point was... you are given the freedom to choose which faith you wish to follow... including the choice not to believe. And just as we tire of Christians, Mormons and Jehovah's Witnesses trying us to convince us of their religions... we also don't need to be convinced that there is no God.
We all get to make that choice... I just think we do us all a service if we'd all stop trying to convince everyone else that our chouice is the right choice.

Going to Church

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