what are your religious beliefs?

[EmperorNero]

1) what are your beliefs? if christians, what sect?
2) what are your views on your religion/church?
3) what's the status of your beliefs?

for me:
1) catholic
2) I think the catholic church takes too much stuff from the bible, which was written by man and are prone to bias. not to mention the discrepancies from being translated many times over
3) my beliefs are waivering. I still believe in god but not as much - I do keep an open mind to other possibilities. but I can see myself staying a christian till death, but not part of any organized religion.

 

[EmperorNero]

the search has yielded some irrelavent results. and most of the others doesn't answer all of my questions. I'm tired of ppl bitching at others for posting the same questions b/c they are not all of the same questions; there are new members while others have gone so what's the point of trying to learn about members who left 4 months ago? and not all search is dead accurate. my title was clear and to the point: I didn't force you to click on it - you knew what the question is about so you could have just moved your mouse up half an inch to read another thread.

 

[Duckers]

EmperorNero, you shouldn't argue with an elite member

 

[KarsinTheHutt]

I have no beliefs.

 

[Windogg]

I'm only religious before exams and during the words, "License and registration."

Windogg

 

[~zonker~]

1) what are your beliefs? if christians, what sect?

There is a God, and I'm not Him. Methodist

2) what are your views on your religion/church?

There is no perfect church. Churches are made of people. As organizations they typically, but not always serve God in many ways.

3) what's the status of your beliefs?

Read Psalms 27:4

 

[warlord]

another for none, but I think many people here know that

 

[PCAddict]

1) Catholic

2) I think no church will be perfect because it is run by human beings. Human beings make mistakes. The Catholic Church has made many of them. Most happened hundreds of years ago, and people keep bringing them up like it's going to change anything in the present day. I'm not saying that these things should be swept under the rug and forgotten, but people are bringing them up for the wrong reasons, IMHO.

3) I am a semi-active Catholic. Right now, my life is very busy. I don't make it to church as often as I would like. But, I try to live my life as a good person. I take time when I can to reflect on life, my beliefs, etc.

 

[dennilfloss]

What PCAddict said.

Crucify (Tori Amos)

 

[ltk007]

1. Chiristian- Protestant (probably closest to lutheren, but I have no idea what exactly I am).

2. My church does some interesting teaching about the bible, and that is where my beliefs come from. I think the bible is somewhat outdated and not everything applies for our time however. I don't take it all literally.

3. I'm a lazy chrisitian. My faith is there when I need it to be and I forget about it in every other situation. I should pay more attention to it, it might help stop my bad habits. Unfortunately I never think about it until its too late.

 

[stomp]

1) I'm a Christian, in the sense I believe Jesus Christ is the son of God (the material form of God) and will come again.

2) I have a severe distaste for church. I believe that religion and spirituality are two separate entities... and too many people dwell on religion before their understanding of spirituality. They are not one and the same. Also the notion of all people praying to the same God does not strike a chord with many religious people (note difference between spiritual and religious there!)

3) I meditate a lot, with a lot of my own writings about the subject at hand. I read the Bible, and believe in what Jesus said... not what any fanatical preacher interprets the Bible to say in order propogate his hate through his church. I want to kill the notion that God is a material being... he is IMMATERIAL!

Sheesh!

 

[reitz]

1. Christian
2. Raised Catholic, but I don't attend church anymore. I like the Catholic mass, and the core beliefs, but there is too much hypocracy in the churches I've tried to attend.
3. Beliefs are pretty solid now, but there was a time when they waivered quite a bit.

EmperorNero: if you think the Catholic Church relies on the Bible too much, you'll probably never find a religion you like Nearly everyone I've talked to who left that church for another complained that Catholics don't follow the Bible enough...

How old are you? I think it's natural for everyone to question their beliefs, no matter what they are, as they reach young adulthood.

 

[AMDJunkie]

1.) Catholic
2.) Though guilty of past mistakes, I do not make too much of it for the simple reason that humans are imperfect and religion is not God. I agree with most of the teachings of Catholism and the ones that I don't are too minor to make complaint about. I feel that a few people have mistaken views on my church that I would be glad to correct for them.
3.) Though i go to Mass every Sunday, I must admit that my life could be more intigrated with my religion and that I have a few changes to make in my lifestyle.

 

[Athanasius]

<< The questions were:
1) what are your beliefs? if christians, what sect?
2) what are your views on your religion/church?
3) what's the status of your beliefs? >>





1) Christian, as defined by the New Testament and the early historic Christian faith, which addresses every fundamental doctrine of Christianity by 451 A.D. I presently attend a non-denominational church.

2) No one religious organization is &quot;chosen.&quot; They are made up of fallen human beings with often highly-mixed motives. Religious organizations claiming to be Christian should be tested in light of the New Testament, the early historic Christian faith, and their corresponding lifestyle.

3) My beliefs concerning the person and work of Christ and what he reveals about the substance and nature of God are very strong, and heavily researched, both in early Christian writings and, more importantly, in the Bible. But, I try not to be personally authoritative in my expression of those beliefs. Loyalty to what is Good and True is more fundamental than any specific belief system.

 

[EmperorNero]

sorry red dawn for that angry reply last night - some guy got on my nerves a little while earlier so I was pissed.

reitz, I'm 15 - I started questioning my beliefs when I went on the &quot;Is there A God?&quot; board at www.bolt.com. the atheists/agnostics there opened a whole new view upon religion where I have never bothered to question.

and AMD Junkie, in reply to your #2,
I do *think* (keep in mind these are my opinions and I do not regard them as fact which everybody should believe) the church does have a lot of contradictions, and pretty much every other christian churches out there. their contradictions stem from the bible - in the O.T., it preaches the &quot;eye for an eye&quot; philosophy, while the N.T. preaches the &quot;turn the cheek&quot; philosophy. also, according to the church, it's a sin to lust. and since it's a sin, the severity of it will either make us go to hell or purgatory. on the otherhand, for protestants, even one minor sin is going to make you go to hell. and we all know lust is a humanly action - why would god punish us for being humans?

 

[~zonker~]

Nero...

I have had the same problems in my faith over the years. I've come to the following understanding. Yes, there are many many rules for conduct spelled out in the Old Testament as well as the New Testament. This may be refered to as the law and judgement againt the law is justice. In both collections of books however the love and mercy of God and God through Jesus allow us to be forgiven. This may be refered to as grace or mercy. I have never enjoyed the message that someone preached hell and damnation at believers.

We're all sinners, no matter how strong our faith and belief is. Only God is good. If you hold that humility in your heart and believe that Jesus can take away your sins, you should not be spending too much time thinking about hell and more time concentrating on how to please God.

------------

Speak and act as those who are going to be judged by the law that gives freedom, because judgment without mercy will be shown to anyone who has not been merciful. Mercy triumphs over judgment!

(James 2:12~13 NIV)

 

[ChazJuarez]

god is perfect...
man is not perfect...
god made man...
god is not perfect...

thank god there isn't a god.

 

[warlord]

let the flaming begin

 

[ltk007]

Actually God made man imperfect because man betrayed God.

 

[reitz]

Nero, questioning your beliefs is good. I pity the person who believes anything, just because that is what he was taught, or because it's what other people believe. Whatever conclusion you come to, at least you can be secure in knowing you thought hard about it and questioned the alternatives.

 

[Athanasius]

Questioning in a search for truth is always good. But, if one is really searching for teuth, then one should investigate primary sources, not &quot;cut and paste&quot; varieties of the modern, &quot;cyber space&quot; search for truth.

Emperor Nero, I applaud your search. Keep in mind that much of the Old Testament is considered &quot;shadowy&quot; and symbolic by the earliest Christians. Plus, it is written to a specific culture at a specific time of history and is harder for the non-Hebraic, non-Ancient Near East people groups to understand. While the New Testament, like any writing, is influenced by its time and culture, it is more universal in both intent and nature.

A genuine love for truth should not fear any genuine intellectual discussion. But read the New Testament for yourself, especially John, Galatians and Hebrews. John gives the clearest presentation of the person and work of Christ. Galatians gives the clearest application of that basic message of &quot;good news&quot; about Christ (and how it supersedes the Old Testament), and Hebrews gives a good overview of the symbolism and purpose of the Old testament writings.

If your really serious, also read some from the earliest Christian writings after the New Testament. Also consider what, as best as you can discern, are genuine questions, criticisms, and difficulties raised by agnostics and atheists. Pray, think, desire to experience truth more than anything else, and make your own decision. In the end, each individual has to be persuaded in their own mind, and be ready to live and die with the consequences of that choice.

As Socrates, (or was it Plato?) said:


<< The unexamined life is not worth living >>

 

[EmperorNero]

Athanasius, that's another thing that bothers me about bible thumping christians. I agree with that part when you said the O.T. is blurry. but some christians tend to use the OT to justify their bias, condemning, and discrimination. for example, they condemn gays and say the O.T. says it's a sin. while in the new testament, jesus said only the sinless can cast the first stone at the whore. so there's another contradiction: they use the bible to condemn, while the bible also say they can't condemn since they are not without sin. what's even worse is that those christians say &quot;I live my life by the bible.&quot; arggh, that just pisses me to no end: here are two conflicting points in the bible, they choose one which is easier to follow and say they are true christians.

 

[astroview]

1) Atheist, 20 years old
2)Born Catholic, don't understand the irrationality of it
3) Hardcore, read Candle in the Dark by Carl Sagan for some stuff related to this, I love it.

 

[Yeeny]

1) Catholic
2) What AMD said fits me perfect too.
3) I have not been to church in over a year. I really need to go back. I am just afraid that a lightning bolt may have my name on it when I walk through the door. :Q

 

[bones10]

I couldn't resist posting in this thread:


<<
1) what are your beliefs? if christians, what sect?
2) what are your views on your religion/church?
3) what's the status of your beliefs?
>>



1) I am a Christain as defined by the other Christians in this thread. I attend a Lutheran Church.

2) I think that a whole lot of people believe the Bible is a rule book on how to behave. When these people look at the Bible in this way, they see contradictions. I believe the Bible is not about us. It is about God. When viewed that way, it is very consistent. In both the OT and NT, God has a pattern of acting with judgement in reaction to our sin which is then followed by grace.

Christianity is about having a relationship with God, not about doing enough good things to get to heaven. An example of this can be found by looking at the thief on the cross who went to heaven. He obviously didn't get to heaven by being a good person.

The best way to have a relationwhip with God is to read the Bible. It is also helpful to keep a journal and write down your reactions and responses to what you read in the form of prayer to God. This way you have two-way communication.

3) My status is that I am struggling to follow my own advice on having two way communication with God. I want to. The struggle, I suppose, is to be disciplined enough in my life to do this consistently.

- bones