(Alittle nervous posting about this lol) I know we already had a thread started about morals, but I am curious as to if anyone within our community has any type of belief system or religion that they practice and why. I know this can be a touchy subject for some, but religion is something I am deeply rooted in and would love to hear about yours! I'll start! I am a non-denominational Christian raised extremely conservative but obviously grew out of that as I got older. I still consider myself pretty conservative but based off my own situations and personal experiences I am much more laid back than most Christians you will meet although I definitely consider myself a Jesus freak. There are many reasons why I practice Christianity, one being the fact that I was raised in that environment, the other being I have experienced a lot of brokenness in my family and relationships, and the only time I've ever felt loved and complete and honestly worth something, was in prayer, worship, or just reading about the life of Jesus and what I truly believe He did for me. If anyone reading this thread has any questions as to opinions on certain stuff I am more than okay talking about! Now I want to hear about yours!!
This might sound unusual, but I worship the wind. I align with air and I believe that rain and storms are divine events. If I had to put words to it I would say Jedism or Buddhism are the most similar to how I feel. I was raised extremely conservative christian (Protestant) and I grew to resent this as I grew up. (although I grew to show more understanding as an adult)
That is really unique and peaceful. And yeah, a lot of people who are raised that way do become bitter or resentful, I would say the same for ALL my 9 siblings which is very unfortunate but as long as you are happy with what you practice now is what matters as long as it's not destructive to others.
I believe in non-doucheholism. The made up word to represent the collective of what I believe in; and that is to not be an asshole to people. I grew up going to church every sunday and big religious holidays until about age 18. I shaved my head and eyebrows for a passed relative on my mother's side since she's a Buddhist. I also grew up with 3 sisters, a female cousin, and a mother, so I'm a pretty patient and understanding dude. I don't practice Catholicism nor Buddhism myself now-a-days, but I respect the people who do. I don't think any of it is real (existence of God/Buddha, true nirvana, and an afterlife) persay, but I'm not going to shit on people who do. Everybody needs hope, and sometimes people need some sort of rhetorical affirmation that they're stronger than they think they are. I'm cool with anyone believing whatever they want, but denying facts and being a douche and shoving said beliefs down other's throats is a dickmove. I like dogs.
I'd like to think of myself as an atheist and subscribe to the view of free-thought. I don't believe that any deities exist due to a lack of concrete evidence. Although I'm an atheist, I don't criticize people who believe that there is a god since I think that everyone should be free to practice any religion they want. Secularism is the principle of the separation of government institutions and persons mandated to represent the state from religious institutions and religious dignitaries. One manifestation of secularism is asserting the right to be free from religious rule and teachings, or, in a state declared to be neutral on matters of belief, from the imposition by government of religion or religious practices upon its people. Another manifestation of secularism is the view that public activities and decisions, especially political ones, should be uninfluenced by religious beliefs and/or practices. <-- More so in the crazy world we life in now I also don't like anime culture. Don't kill me senpai
I'm a lot like you, @Chastity4lyfe. I grew up around Christianity; specifically Methodist. When my parents divorced, my dad received custody of my brother and I. We didn't go to church much after that, but my dad made sure to never let that part of our life slip away. When I was in high school, my best friend invited me to the church she went to; it was a Baptist Church, but I was interested, so I went. I went to that church every Sunday for the next two years. I'm definitely more conservative Christian. I wouldn't say I am more non-denominational now than when I was still living at home. I'm a very loving and understanding Christian that always tries to be understanding; kill hate with love. A lot of people find that as a shock when they hear I'm an Air Force member, but I always let them know I'm a paramedic. Paramedics, good ones at least, have no discrimination when they treat patients. I think I'm very comfortable with where I am now and couldn't ask for more.
Very cool, I am in school for criminal justice and currently with a Police department, and honestly it's one of the HARDEST things ever to have a belief like my own and have it so strong, but have to go about dealing with people and have to hold a firm command presence while trying to genuinely help them and also treat them as Christ would treat them. Really cool to hear that you've stuck with it! I don't either.
I'm someone who used to be a christian till around 16 when I became an atheist. I believe if god did exist then Christians, Muslims and Jewish people were fighting over words written by men 1000's of years ago and not the gods they claim to love. But after seeing how vast the universe is and the whole basis on Christianity is god made the universe just for us is absurd. Look how vast the life on this planet was before our brief blink of an eye we call humanity. If anything God made the earth for the dinosaurs and we were his after thought after he wiped the slate clean. But I don't think that is true since there are 100s of billions of galaxies out there each with 100s of billions of stars in them. Do the math, each of those stars have planets, the number of planets out there would be astounding. To think we are special is downright arrogant I think, but who knows... There is other dimensions of space we cant even see and we don't know half of what makes up the universe or what really started it (or who? ). I hope god does exist but if he does all religions are a joke... There is probably so much life out there... and for billions of years... I don't mean to offend you guys its just my personal belief. Spoiler: Billions Of Galaxies
Hmm.. I grew up in a Catholic family who weren't super religious, but religious nonetheless. Church, God, and anything related to that, never really interested me, even as a kid. I was just never a religious person :b. I didn't actually realize this until I was about 13 when I'd go to church with my family and just... never really enjoyed it. I'd look around and see people who wanted to be there while I over here felt obligated because it's what my family believed in. Eventually I stopped participating in these things. I don't really give myself a label, mostly because I don't know what it'd be. It's not that I don't care, it's just that I don't see the point in having something to believe in personally. It's not bad if someone has something to believe, it's just not my thing. I know there's something out there, even if that something is nothing, but I'm not going to devote myself to a certain faith. My parents don't exactly know this, not out of fear, but because I don't feel this is a big of a deal that I need to explicity anounce. I could actually go on and on about this but this is the short version for the sake of the post.
@CDriscoll is actually a great person to have a "Belief" discussion with. I am Atheist with a bit of a backstory in Wicca. We used to have small conversations about our beliefs off and on. Chill guy.
@Beard Core I would definitely say we ARE unique and special, although I do agree that there's so much stuff out there in the world that we don't even know about and that is astounding in itself BUT I look at things like little tiny bugs, each (almost) having a purpose, and each individual thing is amazing to the T as it was created, like butterflies, like what the crap (i am totally blown away by that kind of stuff).
Interesting topic. I find that how your childhood was, largely impacts what kind of beliefs you have when you are an adult. For example, I grew up in what can be considered the "Ghetto" near Pittsburgh. I was a white kid in a predominately black neighborhood, and was seen as outcast. My grandparents are HUGE Christians, but I never went to church or anything like that. Growing up as someone who was seen, and treated as different and losing a few family members when I was young has led me to shy away from religion, and now i'm an atheist. Seeing people literally in the struggle, and growing up in drug culture makes it kind of hard to believe in a higher power.
I grew up in a very conservative Christian household, church every Sunday and nice slacks. I was always fed to believe things I didn't really have a choice believing. When I was got to middle school and throughout high school, I started suffering from really bad disorders, mostly mental. Depression, social anxiety, super weak bones, kidney issues, food intolerances, all that jazz. To be honest, the only reason I kept my spoon fed faith was by going out and seeing what it meant. A lot of those who do get spoon fed "lose their religion" so to speak because they are never taught to go out and learn what they believe and why they believe it. I had a youth pastor who encouraged people to read the bible, ask questions, and was never forced by him to actually believe in God, it was a. Choice. I would go out and help those who needed help, like the homeless and poor. I started being more accepting and more faithful. Im not religious, though it may sound weird, I have a relationship with God. I do believe He exists and I do believe his word. However, I am very accepting of people and not at all hateful towards people of other beliefs. I love talking to others about what they believe and why they believe it. Just the other day, my roommate posted very hateful verses on the wall, each of what Is called the old law for those who don't study the bible, and I actually got mad at him. I do not tolerate hate of any kind. Essentially, I'm just an accepting, God believing guy who doesn't put up with hate for anyone. I believe that nobody can fully prove or disprove God, even as a science major I believe this. If you're gay or a druggie or anything that humans tend to hate on, I will accept you and be your friend. I don't know, probably the only one that is like this around here, but felt like posting it nevertheless.
@Rek Very cool. Although I am curious, and I hope you don't mind my asking, do you feel your faith has had an impact on the abrasive nature that you interact with some people in our community? I feel I sometimes have the same impact with certain people, and in the past I feel it may have been from my judgmental side of Faith and thinking I was right and everyone else was wrong. Just curious what your thoughts are. That is a bit insulting lol.
If you asked me on a poll, survey or had a space for religion on something I was filling out, I'd choose Roman Catholic. But a more realistic answer for me would probably be an odd mixture of agnosticism and Christianity. Let me explain a bit. I was born into a Presbyterian Christian household until my family and I became members of the Roman Catholic Church. Went to Catholic school through middle school up to high school, and I go to a Catholic university now. I learned a lot about that faith through my family, my school, and by going to church. Unlike a lot of people I've talked to, I never felt like I was 'spoon-fed' or anything like that. Certainly, my parents did make me go to church, and they were the ones that made me go through different sacraments that are a part of being Catholic. But I still made the conscious decision to participate in all that I did in my religious life, because I really wanted to try and see the good side of it and take something out of it. Hell, I'd even go so far to say that, if I hadn't been a member of the Catholic Church, I'd be a selfish asshole with no real moral compass. Because that's how I was before I started to take that part of my life more seriously. As I said above, I went to a Catholic high school. It was away from my hometown that I grew up in, so I had friends where I lived and then friends at high school. In both places, I had friends that were very disapproving of being Catholic (which you think would be weird for the ones that actually went to a Catholic school, but that's another story I suppose). And considering high school was probably the period in which my faith developed the most, it was very difficult to really consider my faith in things when they were around, as they were rather opposed to it and didn't take it seriously. Despite that, I still continued to learn more and try to strengthen my faith throughout high school. My first year away at university is where things changed a bit. Being away from my family, my hometown parish, and my busy schedule just started pushing out my time/access to my faith life. After considering what was changing and how important to me that part of my life was, I had some pretty significant changes in how I viewed the idea of God and structured religion. Right now, as I said above, I'm a mixture between an agnostic and a Christian. If you asked me whether or not God existed, I'd say probably say yes. But my main point of the matter would be that there's no way for us to know whether or not he exists, and that whether or not he exists really doesn't matter. What does matter is that we use the lessons, morals and teachings from religion to try and improve life and our community around us, and to use those ideas/concepts in our own journey, as it were, to better ourselves and others. The reason why I say I'm still sort of Christian is because the ideas and tenants of that religion are the most familiar to me, and I know them the best, so that really is still my model as to how I live my life. I'm just no longer really 100% on track with the rituals involved, all the teachings, and their belief structure. I'm more independent and centered around the idea that different religious teachings and practices can really help a lot of people and improve the world around us, and that's how I live my life.
It wasn't really insulting, I just stated that those are two types of people who are commonly hated against in today's society I do believe that me acting on what I believe and helping the community has made a difference. I'm not sure what you're really asking here aha. But I am very open minded and I never really feel like I'm judging others. I try to come across as loving at all times, because I am.
@Lone Wanderer Have you ever heard of Greg Boyd? He's my church's pastor, but he is a well know author, as he was a very strong atheist growing up, and went to school for philosophy and explored life without God being something that was real. Well when he became a Christian, he wrote all these books exploring the ideas of philosophy but from a Christian perspective. I think you'd enjoy his stuff, he speaks a lot about huge issues that people knock God for and challenges the ideas of him not being real in a world where disasters and bad things are happening to others.
Born into a tolerant Catholic family, I grew to be tolerant of anything anyone believes in and let their actions and tolerance speak for them instead. I believe in tolerance (and not forcing beliefs onto anyone) and tend to surround myself with tolerant people. Im not overly PC but respect each person's decision to identify as what they wish and to do whatever they want with their body (as long as this does not hurt them or anyone around them). I'm agnostic myself so I'm not critical or judgemental of anyone's beliefs as long as the person themself doesn't spread hate because of their beliefs, or lack there of.
