Do You Have a Religion, and Why?

MAW1082

Senior member
Jun 17, 2003
510
7
81
Do You Have a Religion, and Why? Why being the major question.

Just a simple question . . . to help me better understand some of the viewpoints on this forum.
 

TheBDB

Diamond Member
Jan 26, 2002
3,176
0
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No I do not have a religion. As to the why, I don't think you need a reason NOT to believe something.
 

maddogchen

Diamond Member
Feb 17, 2004
8,903
2
76
No religion.

But I'm Buddhist. But I don't think its a religion since no god or gods we worship, i think its more like a way of life you live by, a path you take if you will. Its a way to live as a better person, to understand one's emotions, why we think the way we do, why we react the way we do, to understand it and to deal with it in ways that it won't hurt others and leads to peace of mind.

Buddhism is a journey to understand yourself better, to enlighten yourself, so that maybe one day you'll understand your purpose in this world.

I also like to add, that you can be a buddhist and a christian or other religion at the same time. As long as the religion helps you become a better person, its a good guide to help you live by.



 

BurnItDwn

Lifer
Oct 10, 1999
26,352
1,861
126
Negative.

I have never come across any logical reason to believe any religion.
 

magomago

Lifer
Sep 28, 2002
10,973
14
76
ya....why? well born into it~

and i think that no matter what...science can't explain everything. I think we should strive to solve things even if we don't understand them, but for ever quandry we solve...it begets 50 more new things that don't understand ;)

That and i've never really noticed and "clash" between religion and science....

then again I don't think the world is 6,000 years old and that it is my job to make sure I force down my beleifs upon you ;)
 

HombrePequeno

Diamond Member
Mar 7, 2001
4,657
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Originally posted by: DealMonkey
Isn't religion just a crutch for lazy thinkers, er, conservatives? ;)

Yeah, cuz you know there are no religious liberals out there. None whatsoever.



As for me, I have no religion; I'm an atheist.
 
May 10, 2001
2,669
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Originally posted by: MAW1082
Do You Have a Religion, and Why? Why being the major question.

Just a simple question . . . to help me better understand some of the viewpoints on this forum.

religion not sure... but like mad dog i've sure got spirituality.

Why does my spirituality focus on Jesus?
1.) Joy, from outside of all things this human has ever existed, that comes from humble submission to God.
2.) Functionality. As BurnItDown observed their was time that i didn't see any logical reason, but after acepting Christ i now see how every aspect of my few years on this earth are better.
3.) I'm lame. As deal monky pointed out, God is a crtuch.. or i prefer to think helper.. of all who are lame, in pain, have an emptyness that can't be filled.
4.) I was born w/ an unckle who lived a Christian life. By seeing how much happyer he was than the rest of his brothers, who did not run the race I could see directly how much better it can be fore peole of simaler circomstanes to folow after Jesus.
5.) I don't see any contradictions. Like mago i don't see an inherant conflict between acepting Jesus as lord of my life, and acepting as science what we know.
6.) Freedom. From humbly asking Jesus into my heart and allowing the rest of what I tried to fill it with to die, Buddhist world call the 'heart' the center of self, but after removing all that is outside of 'self' allowing God to fill that center with love and joy is indescribable.

Many people think they have to stop looking at porn, or drinking, or screwing around, to become a Christian. For many people this is true, because they personaly can't come to Christ, by humbly submitting to him, without it. But Jesus came for those of us who are not perfect, so that we can be made perfect through him. By this no matter how screwed up i've ever been God's alwase been understanding of who i am and why i am and was alwase willing to accept me just the way i am.

If you want to follow Jesus just humbly say as much and God will know the intent of your heart.

This is the verse in Romans 10 that explains this principle:
That if thou shalt confess with thy mouth the Lord Jesus,
and shalt believe in thine heart that God hath raised him
from the dead, thou shalt be Saved. For with the heart man
believeth unto righteousness; and with the mouth confession
is made unto Salvation. For whosoever shall call upon the
name of the Lord shall be Saved.

Here is a standard sinner?s prayer that many recently use to express this:

I come to you in prayer asking for the forgiveness of my Sins. I confess with my mouth and believe with my
heart that Jesus is your Son, And that he died on the Cross that I might be forgiven and have Eternal Life in the Kingdom of Heaven. Father, I believe that Jesus rose from the dead and I ask you right now to come in to my life and be my personal Lord and Savior. I repent of my Sins and will Worship you all the day's of my Life!. I confess with my mouth that I am Born Again and Cleansed by the Blood of Jesus | In Jesus Name, Amen.

Online Bible
 

Red Dawn

Elite Member
Jun 4, 2001
57,529
3
0
No religion because all the religions I've encountered seem far fetched and unbelievable.
 

rbV5

Lifer
Dec 10, 2000
12,632
0
0
Not religious, I try to minimize my hypocracy. I'm big on the golden rule however;)
 

Klixxer

Diamond Member
Apr 7, 2004
6,149
0
0
Born and raised a protestant christian, but as i grew up i stopped believing in fairy tales.
 

Bowmaster

Senior member
Mar 11, 2002
523
0
0
No religion - I grew up and stopped believing in things like Santa Claus and that there is someone up in the sky who watches everything I do and who needs money (paraphrased from Carlin).
 

conjur

No Lifer
Jun 7, 2001
58,686
3
0
I was born and raised Catholic but now see organized religion as a total crock and that there is no supernatural being; that God is just the manifestation of human fear and ignorance.
 

ThePresence

Elite Member
Nov 19, 2001
27,727
16
81
I am an Orthodox Jew.

I was born into it, but I've studied most major religions (some more in depth than others) and it's still the one that makes the most sense to me. I see no reason to try and convince others that I'm correct or that they're wrong. I'm comfortable with my beliefs and I respect the beliefs (or lack of belief) of others.
 

Moonbeam

Elite Member
Nov 24, 1999
74,736
6,759
126
I believe that the story of the Garden of Eden is the story of the individual. Every human is born with immense and unlimited potential especially the ability to experience animal bliss and joy. Human potential is destroyed in infancy by evil. Evil is the ability humans have, owing to the abstraction of language, to create the notion of good and bad, concepts that have no meaning in reality at all, and to apply these abstractions to each other in the form of put-downs and pain. The result is that we are thrown from the garden of even by the feeling that we are sinful, bad and evil, just as our God Parents said and had us to believe by withdrawing their love when we persisted in joy. We all chose emotional death in order to physically survive and that was our original sin, one that we could not avoid.

The result, therefore, is that each human is separated from his or her true self in the sense that that self was never able to develop. What develops instead is the ego, the defense and excuse for oneself, the thing that maintains the discipline of living as a lie, the thing that provides false satisfactions to replace what was lost. The result is that we live in various degrees of amnesia with occasional bouts of doubt.

The degree of sleep and the pressures of doubt vary from person to person and sometimes somebody happens along that is so intensely dissatisfied with the illusion as to become a real seeker. And occasionally too, some of these seekers find what it is they were looking for. How they experience first contact with the real depends on the language they speak. A Buddhist will experience enlightenment and a Christian God. Rarely somebody will wake up on the psychiatrist's couch and experience himself.

But all of these things are the why and wherefore of religion. Religion is a bridge and God is a state of being. Religion is nothing more than a path and attitude given by those who became real to help you to become real too. But because of our disease, we make our religion a disease also in the form of mechanicality. There is nothing but attachment to the bridge and little in the way of crossing. It has become such a circus act that many have turned away.

But God is real and He's not going to go away. It's just that how you go about finding Him may have to change. Religion can be a religion, but it can also be a science. One can actively engage in the process of remembering when we bought into the lie. When that happens, the fact that it is a lie will be internally clear and we can know we're OK with absolute certainty out to 99.999%.
 

Strk

Lifer
Nov 23, 2003
10,197
4
76
Well, I'm Jewish, but I like to practice in a way that is said in the New Testament from the King James Bible.

"But thou, when thou prayest, enter into thy closet(remember, this isn't prose, don't take it literally), and when thou hast shut thy door, pray to thy Father which is in secret; and thy Father which seeth in secret shall reward thee openly"

If only everyone else would do the same :roll:
 

MAW1082

Senior member
Jun 17, 2003
510
7
81
Interesting. I am definitely surprised how many aethiests there are here, pleasantly surprised. The few that I was hoping to hear from, however, have not yet replied . . .
 

Klixxer

Diamond Member
Apr 7, 2004
6,149
0
0
Originally posted by: Moonbeam
I believe that the story of the Garden of Eden is the story of the individual. Every human is born with immense and unlimited potential especially the ability to experience animal bliss and joy. Human potential is destroyed in infancy by evil. Evil is the ability humans have, owing to the abstraction of language, to create the notion of good and bad, concepts that have no meaning in reality at all, and to apply these abstractions to each other in the form of put-downs and pain. The result is that we are thrown from the garden of even by the feeling that we are sinful, bad and evil, just as our God Parents said and had us to believe by withdrawing their love when we persisted in joy. We all chose emotional death in order to physically survive and that was our original sin, one that we could not avoid.

The result, therefore, is that each human is separated from his or her true self in the sense that that self was never able to develop. What develops instead is the ego, the defense and excuse for oneself, the thing that maintains the discipline of living as a lie, the thing that provides false satisfactions to replace what was lost. The result is that we live in various degrees of amnesia with occasional bouts of doubt.

The degree of sleep and the pressures of doubt vary from person to person and sometimes somebody happens along that is so intensely dissatisfied with the illusion as to become a real seeker. And occasionally too, some of these seekers find what it is they were looking for. How they experience first contact with the real depends on the language they speak. A Buddhist will experience enlightenment and a Christian God. Rarely somebody will wake up on the psychiatrist's couch and experience himself.

But all of these things are the why and wherefore of religion. Religion is a bridge and God is a state of being. Religion is nothing more than a path and attitude given by those who became real to help you to become real too. But because of our disease, we make our religion a disease also in the form of mechanicality. There is nothing but attachment to the bridge and little in the way of crossing. It has become such a circus act that many have turned away.

But God is real and He's not going to go away. It's just that how you go about finding Him may have to change. Religion can be a religion, but it can also be a science. One can actively engage in the process of remembering when we bought into the lie. When that happens, the fact that it is a lie will be internally clear and we can know we're OK with absolute certainty out to 99.999%.

An insightful answer about your beliefs, but i wonder one thing, please do not take it as critizism because it is not meant to be, it would be far from me to critizise others beliefs, but when you say that religion can be a science, i wonder how you have come to that conclusion.

IMO, the more we learn (through science), the more we know that the beliefs taught by scripture (aka religions) are false, or am i misinterpreting what you are saying?
 

wkabel23

Platinum Member
Dec 7, 2003
2,505
0
0
No, a lot of reasons why, but among the top reasons is the fact Christianity is hypocritical.