Do you choose your religion - or does it choose you?

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   sammyfictionposted 13 years ago

   Do you choose your religion - or does it choose you?
   
   Just because you may have been brought up from birth into a certain religion, does that make you a believer? or Faithful even?

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   Medkh9posted 13 years ago

   the real believer is one that takes a religion out of conviction and not birth , we all have the influence of our parents and family but as we grow up and read more and moe we understand things much more better

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3. 63

   pisean282311posted 13 years ago

   well in most cases people tend to believe in what their parents believe...if we view religions and their central figures..their influence did change people's belief and which gave birth to group which later became religions..so first generation under influence of charismatic individual did change there belief but then onwards most belief in what their parents believe ,who in turn believed in what their parents belief and so forth..yes perceptions do change but core religion remains same..some do change their religions but those are few...

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   BenjaminBposted 13 years ago

   I believe it does choose you depending on the path you follow in life. Most of us were forced to,what many considered,suffer through long sundays at the church of our parents choosing. Later in life as we were introduced to new experiences and free of those restraints we were either firmer in our beliefs or had grown further away from them causing us to constantly question and search for a sense of being.

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   Bob Vince Jrposted 13 years ago

   God chooses you and the Holy Spirit will guide you to Him. You need to in tune to this guidance. I was brought up Catholic but I have also been Lutheran, Mormon, Pentecostal,and Baptist.
   God allowed this wandering to prepare me for my current belief but its not a religion it's a way of life. I am a Disciple of Jesus.

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   keepitnaturalposted 13 years ago

   All religions are the same in the respect that they all have the belief in something out there much greater than us here on Earth, many of us would call this God. Whichever way you choose to percieve God is down to you & therefore whichever religion you follow is your choice. Whether you choose to follow in the religion of your parents or follow your own path, the decision is down to you & what feels right for you. You may even have your own ideas which do not fall into the belief system of any specific religion, this is fine too & perhaps an increasingly popular choice these days.

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   Freeway Flyerposted 13 years ago

   Being brought up in a certain faith increases the odds that you will adopt that belief system. I tend to think, however, that people who choose a belief system different from the one with which they were raised will often have a deeper faith. A faith unexamined is not worth very much. When someone has made their own personal spiritual decision, it is an indication that he or she is a person willing to reflect on his or her beliefs and not just believe out of habit. They have made their faith truly their own.
   
   http://hubpages.com/hub/Unitarian-Universalist

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8. 68

   CarolineVABCposted 13 years ago

   I do agree with some of the answers here, that, initially religion chooses you, just because we believe what our parents believe, but as we get older and start thinking for ourselves, we, either, follow the same religion or follow another or not deal with it at all.  But religion is not the same as "faith."  I believe you can have "faith without religion," but not the opposite.  And having a religion does not necessarily make someone a believer.  I hope this clarifies things? Thanks for asking a very insightful question!:-)

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