Religion

I don't think that there are too many groups out there, religious or not, that have not killed people. That's not just a religious thing, that is a human thing. Here's the way that I look at it: There are a lot of Christians that have come on too strong for some of us, or that have come off as hypocritical to some of us, or just plain annoy or confuse us. And there have been a lot of preachers who have delivered false messages, or were bad examples, and who let a lot of people down. That's because no one is perfect, no one has ever been perfect, except for One. Yes, I agree, it is hard to wrap your mind around the fact that there could be one God, one plan, one eternity...and even beyond that, it's hard to grasp the fact that this God could (or would) become flesh and dwell among us. That is some hard stuff to understand. But we don't have to spend our lives trying to understand it...we never will. I have given up trying to understand divinity with this little human brain of mine, and I have just learned to accept what I believe to be the truth. And to me, the truth is that there is one God of this universe, and He is now as He has always been and always will be. He sent his "son" Jesus Christ to this world to bring salvation to us, to pay the price that none of us could. And the thing that really keeps me going is knowing that even if I (or you, for that matter) had been the only person on this earth, Jesus still would have gone to that cross. It is very comforting and awe-inspiring to know that Someone out there loves me that much. I don't think it matters whether you praise him by yourself in the wilderness, or with a large group of people in a church, or in a tent, or on a street corner, or in the privacy of your own home. I think that the only thing that matters is that you love Him, and that you believe in Him. Religion does not matter. Love and faith are what matters.

VERY RARELY WILL ANYONE DIE FOR A RIGHTEOUS MAN, THOUGH FOR A GOOD MAN SOMEONE MIGHT POSSIBELY DARE TO DIE. BUT GOD DEMONSTRATES HIS OWN LOVE FOR US IN THIS: WHILE WE WERE STILL SINNERS CHRIST DIED FOR US. -ROMANS 5:7-8

 

wow! i'm impressed on how much faith you have ... peace!

 

Indeed!
And very beautifully put!

 

I have alot of respect for people that have strong religious convictions because I feel that they got the message that I never received. My parents brought me up in the Methodist church. I had to go to Sunday school and church until I was 18 every Sunday unless I was sick or out of town. Once I turned 18, I declared that I was adult enough to make my own decisions and quit attending church. I guess that I am agnostic because I have had situations in my life where I did feel God's presence...I'm just not sure which God. It seems like the more education I got in college, the harder the concept of Chrisitianity became for me. Looking at concepts literally...like creation in the old testament became hard to digest.

 

I was born into an Episcopalian family, which is a kind of cousin of Catholicism, but when I was fourteen my entire family became Jehovah's Witnesses. I denounced the family religion when I was nineteen, and none of them has ever really forgiven me for forsaking it.

I went to loads of different churches to find a place where I fit in, but found terrible hypocrisy and contradictions of belief in every one until, like someone back around page three, I wandered into a Pentecostal church one morning.
I attended their joyous services faithfully until I moved away from there to a town with only Catholic, Baptist, and Methodist churches...none of these suited me, so I now worship on my own.
I am a Christian, and my belief system is simple; I try to live my life following, as closely as an imperfect human creature can, the example set by Jesus. When faced with a hard decision, I actually DO ask myself what Jesus would do, and then behave accordingly.
It has always astonished me that there once lived a man who cared for others so deeply that he was willing to give his life in exchange for the salvation of generations of people yet to be born. I am and always have been in awe of that simple carpenter who traveled from town to town, telling people about God and his love for humankind, thinking of everyone but himself.
Most modern religion has little to do with God, but I believe firmly in the Bible and its teachings and in Jesus, his message, and the good example he set for us to follow. One of the last lessons he taught his followers was that the Ten Commandments were obsolete, for they had been summed up in just two, which he referred to as the New Covenant:
1) We are to love God with our whole heart, mind, and soul, and
2)We are to love our fellow man as we love ourselves.
Just two rules, easy to remember, not always easy to do, but if we do our best, that is all he asks. He knows we're not perfect and he doesn't expect us to be. He just expects us to try, and that's not too much to ask, in my opinion, so that's what I do.
I don't know what else to say...that's all there is to it, really.

 

I live a moral and spiritual life, but I do not follow any religion. I'm raising my kids the same way, to love unconditionally, be tolerant and accepting of others, be empathetic and compassionate, protect the earth and all living things.....

I turned away from religion only within the last few years, because of 9/11, fundamentalists, terrorists, politicians, and watching our world ripped apart in the name of religion. I cry alot when I see people kill in the name of God. It hurts my soul to the core.

I like what Old Hippie said, and I'm believing this way more and more. Seems the more I learn through science, the cosmos, astronomy and the stars, the more I believe in one God who created everything. Some kind of divine plan. God doesn't care what religion you follow, doesn't make you prescribe to any doctrine or dieties. Only man requires that. Our true test as human beings, is to get along with each other on this earth without destroying ourselves and the beauty around us, in the process. Our true test is to love each other, unconditionally.

 

I was forced into the catholic religion, but left at 12.
My veiws on religion these day are as follows:

I don't deny that god exsists, after all the universe is infinite. I will just never worship or serve anything or anyone. I don't think there is an afterlife or that humans have souls. We have brains .

 

Wow, very beautifully put, Angel.

 

I went to a catholic church last night... and I listenend really well to what father had to say... he said alot about how "we tell children not to talk to strangers yet, Jesus was a stranger. Really, in the opposite world that would make sense." I did understand it I just couldn't get what point exactly he was trying to make.

 

I try to stay away from topics that deal with religion and politics.

 

Religion (only Roman Catholicism as all other religions pale in comparison) is one of four things.



1) Well meaning idiocy

2) Pure lunacy

3) The greatest hoax ever created

or

4) Completely true



To those who believe it is one of two things.



1) A constant struggle

2) The only saving grace and salvation in this world



To most who do not believe it is one thing.



1) a joke



You need not look further than our own religion and philosophy forum to know that. Unfortunately most of the atheists haven’t the faintest idea how much knowledge lies behind the Catholic Faith. Most of the greatest thinkers, a great percentage of the smartest brains that the human race has produced have spent their lives trying to decide, and eventually proving, the single premise that most Catholic conclusions are based; that God exists.



No one, no one, can disregard the amount of reason that has gone into proving that there is a God. Not a single one of us atheists. Atheists talk big but not a single one has read Chesterton’s ‘Orthodoxy’. Those who have are humbled by the experience of the greatest apology of the Christian Faith ever written. They don’t understand it and they couldn’t begin to refute it. They don’t need to because they already know. They know better than two thousand years of thought. They are all full of shit. They are as much of a joke to me as the religious devout.



Most of the world is full of shit. The two lists listed after the first are full of arrogant fucks who are ignorant to the world of thought.



What has not been mentioned once on this site, what has been overlooked is the evolutionary advantage of believing in God or a god. Whether it be God, or the environment, or Krishna, the human brain is programmed to believe in something. If you are really interested and before you write a response please research the fact I have just written. Don’t be an ass and tell me it isn’t true before you find out. A fact of the human race is that the brain is predisposed to a belief in higher power. Don’t even bother questioning the evolutionary advantage knowing what community means.

 

Wow OSF, glad to see you're in such a positive mood tonight. **skips off to smell the roses and watch the beautiful sunset**

 

You sure have a lot of catholics here!
I myself was born and raised as a Jehovah's Witness.
I never got baptized and i left "The Truth" when I was 19 years old.
I do not think it is a bad religion to be involved with mind you it kept me out of a lot of trouble growing up with such strong morals.
However my mind was not allowed to think outside there box so i left. Now i am practicing my own faith as I see fit and am quite happy.
Religion is used as a weapon or a reason for killing it makes me sad, but don't blame God he did'nt do it. It was Satan and his Demons that make humans fight over it Der! Oh yeah Satan is'nt real! w/e