What makes you believe in your particular faith?

1. 90

   CyclingFitnessposted 12 years ago

   I'm in the position of choosing not to follow a religion.
   
   Why do you follow your choice of religion?
   
   Do you consider you have a choice in your religion? Ans would you ever consider or have you considered switching faith?

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   1. 59

      deblippposted 12 years agoin reply to this

      We choose our religion for a lot of reasons. Because it has a sort of psychic and psychological resonance. Because the images, memories, and feelings it evokes are moving and powerful for us. Many us of choose a religion, not for its theology, but for the community and fellowship it brings, for its continuity and history, for its social policies, for its organizational structure, or something else.
      
      For myself, I left my religion of origin (Judaism) for a lot of reasons. Fundamentally, because I did not feel divinity there, but also because of the sexism inherent in it. At the same time, I was drawn to my current religion (Wicca) because I just knew. I believed in the Earth Mother and in many of the theological principles of Wicca before I knew there was such a thing as Wicca; it was a calling.

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      1. 50

         paarsurreyposted 12 years agoin reply to this

         I don't understand.

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         1. 59

            deblippposted 12 years agoin reply to this

            If you explain what, in particular, you don't understand, perhaps I could explain further.

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   2. 86

      livelongerposted 12 years agoin reply to this

      In terms of belief, I chose my religion (I converted to Reform Judaism a couple of years ago) because it felt right. I enjoy being part of a people who share my values, and because I feel spiritually and intellectually fulfilled being part of that community. I never felt that in the religion I was brought up in (Roman Catholicism) or when I didn't consider myself religious at all (most of my adulthood before conversion).
      
      The choice I feel I have over my religion is implied by my conversion to it, but also because it explicitly allows plenty of choice in it.

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   3. 58

      A Troubled Manposted 12 years agoin reply to this

      The problem with that is as soon as you make the decision, another position and another religion reveal themselves.
      
      Then, you have to choose not to follow those religions, too.
      
      Where does it all end?

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      1. 79

         earnestshubposted 12 years agoin reply to this

         With the joke about the suicidal baptist on the bridge.

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2. 61

   Owl Ka Mystposted 12 years ago

   Everyone has a choice. I have chosen to be without a religion for the whole of my life.
   I did not have to face the decision of leaving one religion to be part of another.
   However, all religions are an interesting study for the non-religious.

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   1. 58

      OutWestposted 12 years agoin reply to this

      I'm with you.  I have no religion but I do believe in God.  I do read the bible at times but I take out of it what I feel it is saying to me. And I don't follow any religious beliefs

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3. 61

   cindi hposted 12 years ago

   I was raised a Roman Catholic. We were dragged to church every Sunday and even attended Catholic school for 8 years.However, as I became an adult, I realized the hypocricsies of the church. I now consider myself a non-practicing believer, a spiritualist with a foundation in biblical teachings.

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4. 85

   kerrygposted 12 years ago

   I consider myself Christian because I respect Jesus as a great teacher, but I'm also agnostic because, although I am open to the possibility that a god or gods exist, I have yet to see a single piece of convincing evidence for it.

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5. 0

   jomineposted 12 years ago

   Faith is the natural part of human existence. Even our modern economy works on faith. As we are not produced by gods, but are just a product of evolution, our faith is not selective. We simply believe from our experiences and from the authority of others!

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   1. 50

      paarsurreyposted 12 years agoin reply to this

      Yes we are the product of evolution; but evolution is set by the Creator-God. I agree that we believe from the authority of others and from our own experiences; that is but natural.

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6. 72

   lone77starposted 12 years ago

   My mother was the daughter of a Southern Baptist minister, while my father studied Buddhism, Hinduism, Taoism, New Age, Scientology and a number of others, as well as Christianity.
   
   Every heavily institutionalized religion I've encountered seemed largely devoid of spiritual inspiration. There was a lot of belief and ritual, but almost no "faith" in the sense of the state of mind of Peter when he walked on water.
   
   I left the Southern Baptist realm effectively before I was a teenager. I went to church to keep the peace, but even at age 13, I was asking my preacher's wife, grandmother about reincarnation, to her dismay.
   
   My beliefs have been affected by exposure, learning and empirical experience.
   
   I have studied with Tibetan Buddhist monks in Los Angeles. I have been a divinity student in Scientology. I have studied Taoism, Judaism and the Kabbalah. And now, I'm comfortable in my own denomination of Christianity -- a denomination of one (there are no other members).
   
   I respect all great religious teachers, because they were participating in the greatest quest of all humanity -- re-awakening the immortal spirit.
   
   "Faith" is not "belief," but superior to it. With "faith" you can walk on water; with "belief" you can be proven wrong.
   
   We all have a choice, whether or not we care to admit it.
   
   And many who follow a religion, are not really following it. They merely follow their (or someone else's) interpretation of that religion. Humility is the key that allows learning the secrets. Arrogance that one "knows it all" already only blinds one to what is available.

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7. 50

   paarsurreyposted 12 years ago

   What makes you believe in your particular faith?
   
   I am a peaceful Muslim; I believe in it as it is a very natural faith or religion.
   
   I don't find anything wrong in it; so I don't change it. It is truthful that is why I believe in it; if the truth is somewhere else and I am convinced of it, I must change it.

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   1. 72

      lone77starposted 12 years agoin reply to this

      And that humility makes your faith ever stronger!
      
      Very nice.

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      1. 50

         paarsurreyposted 12 years agoin reply to this

         Thanks

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8. 60

   qwarkposted 12 years ago

   Questions:
   
   1.Why do people believe in this alledged jesus person?
   2.What is a "spiritualist?"
   3.How can one have a belief in this jesus person and be an agnostic?
   4.What would be a "piece of convincing evidence" that there is this "god thing?"
   5.How does: "...our modern economy works on faith."
   6.What is considered to be a factual basis for "spiritual inspiration?"
   7.How can a beleif in a fairytale god thing be empirically experienced?
   8.How can "faith" be used to "walk on water?"
   9.Are fundamental believers in this "god thing," arrogant in their obvious bigoty?
   
   Oh I have so many more, but these will do as starters.
   
   Qwark

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9. 68

   IntimatEvolutionposted 12 years ago

   It fits me as an individual best.  Love, compassion, joy, prayer...

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10. 52

    ibneahmadposted 12 years ago

    I don't see any wrong with my faith; if I see any wrong in it and I am convinced of it, I should change it.

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    1. 52

       ibneahmadposted 12 years agoin reply to this

       My faith is peaceful and does not harm anybody.

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       1. 52

          ibneahmadposted 12 years agoin reply to this

          My religion teaches me to respect and love everybody and to hate nobody. It is the evil which is to be hated not the human being.

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          1. 52

             ibneahmadposted 12 years agoin reply to this

             There is no compulsion to believe in my religion;one has to be fully convinced oneself to believe in it; one could leave if one is not satisfied; it is a bond between the Creator God and one who believes in it.

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             1. 58

                A Troubled Manposted 12 years agoin reply to this

                No compulsion.
                
                After going through some threads here, you sound remarkably similar to Paarsurrey, and by the looks of it, you started posting when he stopped. What's with that?

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11. 79

    earnestshubposted 12 years ago

    People born in Afghanistan are usually muslim of one type or another, same with Iraq.
    
    People born in America are usually christian of one type or another, and both are certain they have chosen the only true religion.
    
    What is logically missing here?

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    1. 58

       OutWestposted 12 years agoin reply to this

       The common element is God or a belief in a Creator.  That is what they feel so right about.  And even though they are different religions because they were developed in different parts of the world there is so much commonality between them.

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       1. 58

          Evolution Guyposted 12 years agoin reply to this

          Really? The Muslims are adamant that your religion is false and Paul twisted Jesus' words. They believe you will burn in hell for all eternity. The Protestants think the Catholics will burn, the Catholics think everyone else will burn. There have been wars fought over whether Jesus is the son of god of god himself. This does not sound like a lot of commonality.
          
          Gosh you religious people are poorly informed. Do you read anything at all ever?

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          1. 58

             OutWestposted 12 years agoin reply to this

             If you look for things in common I'm sure you'll find them too. You seem to know so much about all these religions I'm sure it'll be easy for you.

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             1. 58

                Evolution Guyposted 12 years agoin reply to this

                Yes. The common thread is they all believe nonsense and think all the other religious nuts who adhere to the wrong versions are going to burn in hell. Wonderful stuff.

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       2. 59

          deblippposted 12 years agoin reply to this

          "Creator" is the primary characteristic of deity in some, but not all, religions. Many religions don't see "Creator" as of real importance. It's kind of like, the universe was created a long time ago, what have you done for me lately? (With more reverence, of course.)

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          1. 58

             OutWestposted 12 years agoin reply to this

             As the Muslims call Him: The Sustainer.  He sustains life and even in Christianity He is referred to as the Living God.  In the present...the here and now.

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12. 78

    DoubleScorpionposted 12 years ago

    From some people you might remember:
    
    James Madison
    4th US President/Father of the Constitution
    "Religious bondage shackles and debilitates the mind and unfits it for every noble enterprise."
    
    "During almost fifteen centuries has the legal establishment of Christianity been on trial. What have been its fruits? More or less in all places, pride and indolence in the Clergy, ignorance and servility in the laity, in both, superstition, bigotry and persecution."
    
    
    Benjamin Franklin
    US Founding Father/Statesman/Scientist
    "Lighthouses are more helpful than churches."
    
    "The way to see by faith is to shut the eye of reason."
    
    Thomas Jefferson
    3rd US President/principal author of the Declaration of Independence
    "I have recently been examining all the known superstitions of the world, and do not find in our particular superstition (Christianity) one redeeming feature. They are all alike, founded upon fables and mythologies."
    
    "The Christian God can be easily pictured as virtually the same as the many ancient gods of past civilizations. The Christian god is a three headed monster; cruel, evil and capricious. If one wishes to know more of this raging, three headed, beast-like god, one only needs to look at the caliber of the people who say they serve him. The are always of two classes: fools and hypocrites."
    
    "Millions of innocent men, women, and children, since the introduction of Christianity, have been burnt, tortured, fined, and imprisoned, yet we have not advanced one inch towards uniformity."
    
    Found at: http://www.truth-saves.com/

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