Why do you believe what you believe

[Wolf Spirit62]

MOD-EDIT, 11-25-2007: I'm bringing this up because it contains some very good material on what it should mean to believe in anything. It's locked because it's a monster of a thread that doesn't need to keep rehashing the same points again and again. If you really feel strongly enough about a point made here, start a new thread, it doesn't take much effort. All in all, everyone should read this and hopefully learn something. -D boy


In a religous standpoint? Why? Pretty self explanitory.

I'm personally not even sure WHAT i belive yet. I'm talking to some people and seeing what things from the Christian belifs I want, but I just take things from all religons i think. I suppose. I dunno. haha

I don't really know WHY I believe whatever though. I still don't kow enough.

But I do belive in God and Jesus and all. But I am not 100% sure why. I mean from a christian veiw i haven't "found Him" or whatever, and I personally on't belive in the Bible as a whole. so i dunno.

What about you?  

[Zedenek]

I'm Catholic, but that doesn't mean that I believe in him just cuz of my family. When I was young, I used to think that God was this guy with a magnifying glass......or something like that. It wasn't until my dad got sick that my faith in him truly came through.

I was told that I was Catholic, and that I was supposed to know all these prayers, and rules, and saints and stuff. I just saw my religion as more school. I never paid attention to what the prayers said or meant. I didn't know what it meant to be a saint, or what it took to become one. I didn't even understand why Jesus, god's son, died. I thought being Catholic was just a title, and that I would be punished if I didn't go to church every Sunday. That was, however, until my dad was diagnosed with cancer.

I was afraid, and didn't know if my dad would live through cancer. So, I prayed to him, with all my heart. I don't know how to explain what happened next. I felt this warmth in me. I felt like I was burning from the inside. I started to cry, not only for my dad, but for the feeling within me. I felt...refreshed after that.

Today, I always pray to him. True prayer, by the way, doesn't not mean chanting verses from the bible or anything. All you need to do is have a heart to heart talk with him. As if he was your best friend....well, he actually is. When I'm in my room, I start of by saying "Hello there, what's up. How was your day?" and so on.

I've learned so much about my religion, and God. Like, did you know that God meant for us to have GREAT sex? I thought that it was bad or something to even think about that. But if you really think about it, why would he make us the way we are? Of course, he also gave us minds to think. We can have all the sex we want, but we also need to accept the consequenses. Also, you're supposed to have sex with your true love. How do you know when that person is the ONE? Well, you see God in them. After all, God made us in his image. And, man and woman were once one.

I hope this is not too confusing for you. And sorry for writing so much sweatdrop  

[Wolf Spirit62]

Zdenek

I'm Catholic, but that doesn't mean that I believe in him just cuz of my family. When I was young, I used to think that God was this guy with a magnifying glass......or something like that. It wasn't until my dad got sick that my faith in him truly came through.

I was told that I was Catholic, and that I was supposed to know all these prayers, and rules, and saints and stuff. I just saw my religion as more school. I never paid attention to what the prayers said or meant. I didn't know what it meant to be a saint, or what it took to become one. I didn't even understand why Jesus, god's son, died. I thought being Catholic was just a title, and that I would be punished if I didn't go to church every Sunday. That was, however, until my dad was diagnosed with cancer.

I was afraid, and didn't know if my dad would live through cancer. So, I prayed to him, with all my heart. I don't know how to explain what happened next. I felt this warmth in me. I felt like I was burning from the inside. I started to cry, not only for my dad, but for the feeling within me. I felt...refreshed after that.

Today, I always pray to him. True prayer, by the way, doesn't not mean chanting verses from the bible or anything. All you need to do is have a heart to heart talk with him. As if he was your best friend....well, he actually is. When I'm in my room, I start of by saying "Hello there, what's up. How was your day?" and so on.

I've learned so much about my religion, and God. Like, did you know that God meant for us to have GREAT sex? I thought that it was bad or something to even think about that. But if you really think about it, why would he make us the way we are? Of course, he also gave us minds to think. We can have all the sex we want, but we also need to accept the consequenses. Also, you're supposed to have sex with your true love. How do you know when that person is the ONE? Well, you see God in them. After all, God made us in his image. And, man and woman were once one.

I hope this is not too confusing for you. And sorry for writing so much sweatdrop

Not confusing at all. (i talk to Christian friends all the time and have them explain their beliefs and whatnot, so I understand) Long explination is fine with me.

That makes great sence to me, and is so similar to my friends who has also found God sounds like. It sounds good and like you also found your beliefs and all on your own accord. Not brainwahed (rough term) by being raised by it.

-kacy  

[gamer014]

Yes I believe in the man upstairs. But I also believe in a grand multitude of religions since I do not like to believe that their is only one diety. So because of this I am labeled as a Pagan since of my wide belief. So my advice for your solution of religion belief is this, look at all the choices, pick one that you believe that furthers your life and that entwines with the choices you have made. Heck I even have a friend that still believes and semi-worships the Greek gods.  

[Wolf Spirit62]

gamer014

Yes I believe in the man upstairs. But I also believe in a grand multitude of religions since I do not like to believe that their is only one diety. So because of this I am labeled as a Pagan since of my wide belief. So my advice for your solution of religion belief is this, look at all the choices, pick one that you believe that furthers your life and that entwines with the choices you have made. Heck I even have a friend that still believes and semi-worships the Greek gods.

yea, it makes sence. Whatever works for you. That's why I always say I have no religon. Because techinally I don't. I have some of everything. I like seeing what other beliefs have. It's interesting.  

[Velorius]

I don't believe in any religion as such (I used to be a devote catholic untill i studied the contradictions in the bible and all the trouble caused in history in gods name, witch hunts, persecution, crusades, etc) I don't like any of the other religions, most say God gave us free-will, to make our own choices, but then say that to get into heaven/paradise/reincarnation/whatever, you have to follow specific rules, which is a major contradiction. I am however open to the possibility that there is a greater ??power?? maybe that guides things along (I don't believe in coincidence)  

[Wolf Spirit62]

Velorius

I don't believe in any religion as such (I used to be a devote catholic untill i studied the contradictions in the bible and all the trouble caused in history in gods name, witch hunts, persecution, crusades, etc) I don't like any of the other religions, most say God gave us free-will, to make our own choices, but then say that to get into heaven/paradise/reincarnation/whatever, you have to follow specific rules, which is a major contradiction. I am however open to the possibility that there is a greater ??power?? maybe that guides things along (I don't believe in coincidence)

Yea, that sounds rather close to with me. Like, I don't really 'do' the Bible. Because there's so many things in it that just dosen't work. I mean, I can se that some people are idiots like with witch hunts or extremists or trying to force their religon on people, so i don't blam religons as a whole from stumpid people lol. I often ask my Christian friends about that whole thing on free will as well. Because it dosen't make sence. I think that there is God who moves things along (such as if the big bang started things for example, he started the Bang and just guided it after that.)  

[miniunfortunado]

i'm catholic. i was raised catholic and to me, being catholic just makes sense! i mean, we've had some 2,000 years to work on our theology and stuff, smooth it out and make sure everything makes sense....

the whole free will thing, well, that means that u have a choice whether or not you accept God. God's greatest gift to us is the fact that we can deny him or not. besides, think about it. if everyone in the world were as good as God wants us to be, then we'd all be happy anyway, sharing and all that.....

the witch hunts. first of all, there weren't very many. second of all, most of those were protestants--exp. salem witch trials. not that i'm saying they were good or anything, but just like everything else run by humans, the church isnt perfect, nor has it ever claimed to be.

the crusades. well, most of those were to stop muslim advances into christendom. some say they were only fought for wealth and glory. well, yeah, some people did, and again, they're human and we're back to the issue of free will, but most everyone went for the right reasons.

the bible. it's all True. not historicallly of course (do you really think its possible for adam and eve to be the only 2 people in the world at the beginning?) the point of the bible is not historical accuracy--exodus sure isn't, the hebrews were slaves way before the great monuments were built in egypt--but a spiritual truth, a moral truth. did you know there are two different creation stories? yep. but they both reveal different sides of God.

as for science, i firmly believe that science and religion go hand in hand. they support each other, they don't contradict each other.

i was raised catholic, but i stay catholic because it makes sense.  

[Wolf Spirit62]

yea. like with the Bible. I think that it may have points in it, and the stories are just made to enforce the points.  

[Raikuya]

I'm probably a very practical person and i believe in seeing is believing or proof is believing. I won't believe in something unless there is some catalyst that will prove it so. neutral

Therefore you can sort of tell that its hard for me to believe in an entity like God when I have not found anything to spur me on to believing in him.

I used to be a Christian once where my aunt would keep pushing me to go to Church and listen to sermons and attend sunday school. But then as age, books and experience starts to catch on, I start to wonder about the existance of God and what proof there is that he exists.

Don't get me wrong, I'm not anti-christ or anything like a skeptic because I DO want to believe in him and I DO want to believe in fantasy and fairytales, but I haven't found any proof of their existance and therefore am unable to believe in them. Scream at me, yell at me, throw the bible at me but i won't flinch until proof crops up. Simply because I don't want to believe in something and then find out later on that I've been hoodwinked and left with my pants around my ankles.  

[J-E-O-C]

Devout servant of the old ones. They speak to me.  

[miniunfortunado]

personally, i tend to think of the universe as proof that God exists, but maybe that's just me.....  

[miniunfortunado]

Xerenus

I'm probably a very practical person and i believe in seeing is believing or proof is believing. I won't believe in something unless there is some catalyst that will prove it so. neutral

Therefore you can sort of tell that its hard for me to believe in an entity like God when I have not found anything to spur me on to believing in him.

I used to be a Christian once where my aunt would keep pushing me to go to Church and listen to sermons and attend sunday school. But then as age, books and experience starts to catch on, I start to wonder about the existance of God and what proof there is that he exists.

Don't get me wrong, I'm not anti-christ or anything like a skeptic because I DO want to believe in him and I DO want to believe in fantasy and fairytales, but I haven't found any proof of their existance and therefore am unable to believe in them. Scream at me, yell at me, throw the bible at me but i won't flinch until proof crops up. Simply because I don't want to believe in something and then find out later on that I've been hoodwinked and left with my pants around my ankles.

practicing a religion wont make you blind....it's actuallly supposed to help you make sense of everything. besides, i can't say i always find church interesting (cause i don't) but i do find comfort in knowing that God is out there watching out for me...but that doesnt put me in a position to be hoodwinked by others. and if you truly know what you are getting into, you won't be hoodwinked because you'll know what's going on.

i've always felt that the universe was proof that God exists. i mean, think about all of coincedinces that went in putting it together. now, think about how impossible it is that all of these coincidences occured in the same universe....if the force of gravity or the speed of light was just a little bit stronger or weaker, the universe would be impossible. and the likelyhood that atoms could form....or come together and create new compounds....things like dna...and that dna would just happen into a pattern that would code for life--in all its forms--as we know it. and that this would occur inside of somehitng that would allow the dna to replicate and reproduce.......i dunno, it just seems to me that something is making all of this happen the way it has.  

[Puffyboots]

Hi! I'm a Catholic. My dad and his family is, but my mother is Jewish, and only varies from orthodox in that she married my dad. I have a good place for our fact-oriented friend to look for some "proofs" of God/Gods.
Try this site:
http://www.talkorigins.org/indexcc/list.html#CF

I don't know how much you'll catch of it, but this is a pretty good compiling of all the reasons science says a creater should, a creator must exist.

As for my own beliefs. I think the Bible has, of course, accumulated some amount of errors over the years (the shear NUMBER of bibles ever made should prove that, plus the fact that anything you're reading has been translated over 200 times, and transcribed many more times than that), but the basic principles are sound, and they're their to illistrate rules and guidelines, not to be historically accurate. Humans are humans, so we've probably messed it up at one point or another, or misinterpreted it (witch hunts, some of the crusades, and so on), but I have to say a lot of people are overanalyzing it looking for minor mistakes, such as chronology (keeping in mind they didn't write in chronological order for the first couple thousand years, so any order seen in their is surmised later), and so on. Well, ta! Hoped that's helped you!  

[Cornelius loh Quatious]

I don't see how that link at all supports how a creator should or must exist. In fact, the links all seem to inevitably argue AGAINST claims made by most anti-science believers of dogma, including:

http://www.talkorigins.org/indexcc/CF/CF101.html
http://www.talkorigins.org/indexcc/CF/CF001.html
http://www.talkorigins.org/indexcc/CF/CF001_3.html

The rest of your post I more or less agree with.