What is your Religion?

[AnimeFront]

Well this topic was on here and then it disappered so I thought i bring it back, W00t for me. I am not exactly an athiest but i don't believe in a god really. I more or less see god and satan as icons, rpresenting two different things neither bad, but neither good. So what are your beliefs?

[Guest kuroinuyoukai]

[quote name='AnimeFront']Well this topic was on here and then it disappered so I thought i bring it back, W00t for me. I am not exactly an athiest but i don't believe in a god really. I more or less see god and satan as icons, rpresenting two different things neither bad, but neither good. So what are your beliefs?[/quote]
I believe in God and I know Satan is real. I lived with a Satanist who was into witchcraft. I have seen some weird and creepy crap. To answer your question, I am a Baptist. And no, Baptists really aren't as bad as they are portrayed. Some people, as in other religions, just go to severe extremes and take things too literal

[AnimeFront]

[quote name='kuroinuyoukai']a Satanist who was into witchcraft. I have seen some weird and creepy crap. To answer your question, I am a Baptist. And no, Baptists really aren't as bad as they are portrayed. Some people, as in other religions, just go to severe extremes and take things too literal[/quote]
Hey you forgot to vote.

Ah yes the good ole baptist stereotype. It is the so not true, both of my parents are baptist. I have seen the extreme baptist before, but i dont genralise them as all crazy. my grandmother is but she is just ignorant and crazy because she claims that Voodooism is worshipping of the devil. Alot of old black baptist think that, I don't know why?

[Manic Webb]

I knew long before I looked at the poll that you were going to skip at least one of the top 5 religions. You forgot Hinduism. It's the 4th largest religion on Earth, if you count Agnostic/Atheist. If you don't count Agnostic/Atheist, it's #3. You also missed Tao/Confucian/Chinese Traditional, which ranks right behind Hinduism. Buddhism ranks right behind that.

An "Other" option would've been nice, is all I'm saying.

I know it sounds like I'm being snippy, but it's a pet peeve of mine. I'm Christian, but I also happen to like certain things about Buddhism. Seeking enlightenment never hurt anybody... directly.

[Retribution]

[size=1]Yeah, I'm a Protestant Christian, and from what I know, the Catholics like to consider themselves separate from us Protestants. Heheh.

I think Atheism is interesting, but I'm not about to convert. Not believeing in God seems sort of ... empty to me.

On a side note, where is this supposed to go, exactly? Any point in this discussion?[/size]

[Lafleur]

[COLOR=DarkRed]Avowed Athiest myself (As many of you know, :animesmil ). I just can't find myself believing in any sort of god, and here's why:

Think about history. Think about all the cultures. Think about what they worshiped - and they all worshiped somthing. I can't determine what sets Christianity (Or any modern religion) apart from, say, Odinism or Aztec or any other religion. Too me, the only fact that has stayed constant throughout the ages is that all of them were used to explain what they could not. Even if I did believe in a higher power, I'm not going to take any chances - what if the Greeks had it right and every day the Gods just get more angry?

In the words of Burton Cummings... 'Too many churches, not enough truth.'[/COLOR]

[Derald]

[FONT=Lucida Console][SIZE=1][COLOR=DarkRed]I myself am a catholic. However, I'm not one of those catholics who is overly enthusiastic about worship.
I just don't see how praying is going to do me any good. I mean if god has a "plan" set out for someone (as many of you out there still play into it) then obviously praying is not going to save you from an oncoming train if god says, "It's your time."

Also, as I stated before on my thread "Existence Theories," I hate the thought of anyone or anything, be it a divine being or not, creating me just to use in their grand scheme.( I shall also state this: any christians out there who feel like criticizing my views, you can just bite me. I am my own being. I love others out of my own soul, not anything acting through it.)

I also find that I don't like the way that it's foretold that the human race will eventually die out. I find that I like this phisical "realm," if you please, and I believe anything and anyone can be saved. I have helped out others in my life, and I find it soothing to know that I helped ease another's burden.

I see how many of you could hate me for my beliefs, but I care for others more than myself, and I hate to see someone suffer due to something that was "meant to be." Defiance is my thing.[/COLOR][/SIZE][/FONT]

[Soliel]

[QUOTE=Derald][FONT=Lucida Console][SIZE=1][COLOR=DarkRed]I myself am a catholic. However, I'm not one of those catholics who is overly enthusiastic about worship.
I just don't see how praying is going to do me any good. I mean if god has a "plan" set out for someone (as many of you out there still play into it) then obviously praying is not going to save you from an oncoming train if god says, "It's your time."

Also, as I stated before on my thread "Existence Theories," I hate the thought of anyone or anything, be it a divine being or not, creating me just to use in their grand scheme.( I shall also state this: any christians out there who feel like criticizing my views, you can just bite me. I am my own being. I love others out of my own soul, not anything acting through it.)

I also find that I don't like the way that it's foretold that the human race will eventually die out. I find that I like this phisical "realm," if you please, and I believe anything and anyone can be saved. I have helped out others in my life, and I find it soothing to know that I helped ease another's burden.

I see how many of you could hate me for my beliefs, but I care for others more than myself, and I hate to see someone suffer due to something that was "meant to be." Defiance is my thing.[/COLOR][/SIZE][/FONT][/QUOTE]

[COLOR=GREEN]Yes! Another Catholic that thinks like me! Well, not exactly, but I agreed with a lot that you said, Derald.

A few years back, I actually came very close to converting to Atheism. I had just gotten sick and tired of the Bible and what it said about certail things, but at the time, the only way I was taught to interpret the Bible was literally, word for word. But then, my 11th grade religion teacher taught us that the book is better interpreted on a more symbolic level. After that, things just seemed to fall into place in my life and I could finally accept my religion.

I have gotten into an argument with my Babtist roomate on how I interpret the Bible. I'm sorry if I offend anyone, but it is my belief that the Bible just can't be interpreted literally, especially since most of it was written a minimum of 50 years or more after the events transpired, and that's only of the gospals. Its just all too possible that some of the details could have been exagerated.

So back to the initial topic, techniquly I'm a Roman Catholic, but even with my open minded view of the Bible, there are still some things in my religion I don't believe in. Those are my beliefs, I'm not asking anyone to accept them.[/COLOR]

[r2vq]

I was born a Catholic. Raised a Catholic, and went to Catholic schools all my life.
I still am at Mary Ward Catholic Secondary School.
I am baptised, confessed, comuned, and confirmed.
Though at the moment, I guess I'm either agnostic or just undecided.

[quote="dictionary.com"]ag·nos·tic
n.

One who believes that it is impossible to know whether there is a God.[/quote][quote="dictionary.com"]a·the·ist ( P ) Pronunciation Key (th-st)
n.
One who disbelieves or denies the existence of God or gods.[/quote]

They don't seem very similar to me. One says we don't know if God exists and it's impossible to tell. The other says God doesn't exist. Period.

So... why are Agnostic and Atheist grouped together like that?

[quote="Derald"]I myself am a catholic. However, I'm not one of those catholics who is overly enthusiastic about worship.

...

( I shall also state this: any christians out there who feel like criticizing my views, you can just bite me. I am my own being. I love others out of my own soul, not anything acting through it.)
...
I see how many of you could hate me for my beliefs, but I care for others more than myself, and I hate to see someone suffer due to something that was "meant to be." Defiance is my thing.[/quote]

I don't hate you. Far from it. I was like you. I'm not criticizing your views, but if you want to call yourself a Catholic, you have to agree to follow everything the Church tells you. Otherwise, you "know it's bad" and will go to that place where sinners go.
You may call yourself a neo-Catholic, but you can't really call yourself a Catholic, unless you are a real Catholic. If you know what I mean. ^^

That's why I stopped calling myself a Catholic. I don't like following the orders of some old guy in Rome. If my morals and emotions tell me something is wrong, I'm not going to burn any witches or homosexuals because your 1500 year old book tells me to.

[quote="SolarPrincess"]But then, my 11th grade religion teacher taught us that the book is better interpreted on a more symbolic level. After that, things just seemed to fall into place in my life and I could finally accept my religion.
...
So back to the initial topic, techniquly I'm a Roman Catholic, but even with my open minded view of the Bible, there are still some things in my religion I don't believe in.[/quote]

Yep. Same story, but for me it was Grade Nine. ^^ The Bible is an interesting old book written by men (and if you want... inspired by God). Though, like I said above, the problem I have with the Catholic Faith is the way they tell you what to think. Certain things are right, and certain things are wrong because that's what the bigshots say. I'd rather follow my own conscience at the moment. So there are things in Catholicism that I can't agree to, like you. I don't think you should be calling yourself a Catholic either.

But remember, those are my opinions. Don't let me force them on you or offend you. xP

-ArV

[TheShinje]

[QUOTE=Ilium][color=darkred]Avowed Athiest myself (As many of you know, :animesmil ). I just can't find myself believing in any sort of god, and here's why:

Think about history. Think about all the cultures. Think about what they worshiped - and they all worshiped somthing. I can't determine what sets Christianity (Or any modern religion) apart from, say, Odinism or Aztec or any other religion. Too me, the only fact that has stayed constant throughout the ages is that all of them were used to explain what they could not. Even if I did believe in a higher power, I'm not going to take any chances - what if the Greeks had it right and every day the Gods just get more angry?

In the words of Burton Cummings... 'Too many churches, not enough truth.'[/color][/QUOTE]
Well, there is a distinctive difference between Christianity and the rest of the religious world.

Mostly, it comes down to what Christianity claims, it is the only religion in the world that claims that
God had a son who came down to earth as human, took our sin and punishment for our redemption. and raised from the dead to conquer sin and give us a direct line to God through prayer.

Christianity is also more about what God has done for you rather than what you do for God.

I'm a baptist christian, btw. I have been for 3 years.

[Lafleur]

[QUOTE=Shinji]Well, there is a distinctive difference between Christianity and the rest of the religious world.

Mostly, it comes down to what Christianity claims, it is the only religion in the world that claims that
God had a son who came down to earth as human, took our sin and punishment for our redemption. and raised from the dead to conquer sin and give us a direct line to God through prayer.

Christianity is also more about what God has done for you rather than what you do for God.

I'm a baptist christian, btw. I have been for 3 years.[/QUOTE]
[COLOR=DarkRed]
It's been done. It's all been done. Look hard enough and I guarantee you it has been done. There are so many religions out there, all Christianity did was pick-and-choose things from other religions that suited their purposes, and than overexagerat what truth there is in the bible.

I'm honestly surprised there are so many Christians O_O[/COLOR]

[SunfallE]

Well first off, your poll is severely lacking in representing different religions. If you are curious, go here as it lists the top 22 religions based on numbers?.. [URL=http://www.adherents.com/Religions_By_Adherents.html]Religions[/URL]

As for myself, I don?t belong to any religion. First of all you can?t prove that God exists, and documents like the Bible or any other religious documents is not proof. People wrote them and for all we know it was simply a tool used to control people. Just because it is written does not mean that it is actually true.

Also I firmly believe that religion is not necessary for someone to be a kind and good person. There are many Ethical systems that do not rely on religion what so ever. I?m not saying that God doesn?t exist; I?m simply saying you can?t prove it and faith isn?t enough for me. I think religion is simply a way to explain things we don?t understand yet. After all in ancient times, like it has been mentioned by others in this thread, they thought a God produced lightening and yet today we understand what produces lightening, and it isn?t a God. So that?s my stance.

[Loco]

Well, I'm a Christian. My church is kind of a Protestant/Evangelical mixture, though I don't really know whereabouts I fall - nor do I really care.

And I'm not going to argue why my religion's right and everything else is wrong, or all the things I dislike about Christianity (it'd be quite a long list). All I'll say is that if I'm wrong, I'll die wrong. And if I'm right... well, all the better.

But either way, I'm happy where I am right now. And unless someone finds solid evidence proving that God doesn't exist, I'll be happy where I am 'til I'm gone.

[Starr112]

I really dont know. My parents are christains, but I like to dress gothic, so I dont know. Im like half Satinic and half Christian.

[Gavin]

[SIZE=1]Interesting, most interesting.

As I read the poll and the original post the first thing that stuck out at me is the fact that Christian is spelled without a capital letter, I know some people will sigh and think it's a trivial thing to notice but to me it isn?t. There was of course the matter that several very large religions were left out of the poll, though people have already mentioned that.

As per the question of the thread, I'm Roman Catholic like over 90% of all Irish people, I'm proud of being a Roman Catholic, proud of what it stands for in the world even when some groups seek to vilify us because we don't agree with their philosophies. Unlike the previous two ?Catholics? to reply to this, I accept the dogma of the Vatican and the Holy Father as true interpretation of the Bible and God?s Will and those who would care to examine said doctrines would find that no part of the Catholic doctrine preaches hate against any group or any person.

I think the truest essence of being a Catholic person lies not only in accepting the teaching of the Pope and the Catholic Church but incorporating those teachings into your daily life to improve yourself as a human being. Despite the fact that there are a number of splinter groups to Christianity, they all share the same message of love that Christ sought to teach mankind two millennia ago, the same lesson of love can be found in almost every other religion across the world. [/SIZE]

[XxmoraiNAKIxX]

I belive in God. Not a lot of people know my religion...tho..um well.im definally not againced ANY religion. and neither dose my religion. I'm a Unificationist...or Tongil Family church. well.i dont like saying this is a religion..cuz wel..we just concider everyone as our brothers and sisters..well anyways. i like every religion and would like to know all of them.

[Retribution]

[quote name='Gavin][SIZE=1']I think the truest essence of being a Catholic person lies not only in accepting the teaching of the Pope and the Catholic Church but incorporating those teachings into your daily life to improve yourself as a human being. Despite the fact that there are a number of splinter groups to Christianity, they all share the same message of love that Christ sought to teach mankind two millennia ago, the same lesson of love can be found in almost every other religion across the world. [/SIZE][/quote]
[size=1]Hey, I'm no Catholic, but someone had to say it. Thanks.

People don't have to be religious, in my opinion. But please, don't be indifferent towards your fellow man; go do good works just for the sake of helping others. I'm pretty sure none of us do enough of this. The basic teaching of Christianity, or nearly any other religion for that matter, is to love thy neighbor as thyself. What better message is there than that?

I think I've mentioned this before, but I believe that if you live a good life, no matter your religion or lack thereof, you will go on to a better place.[/size]

[TheShinje]

[QUOTE=Ilium][color=darkred]
It's been done. It's all been done. Look hard enough and I guarantee you it has been done. There are so many religions out there, all Christianity did was pick-and-choose things from other religions that suited their purposes, and than overexagerat what truth there is in the bible.

I'm honestly surprised there are so many Christians O_O[/color][/QUOTE]
Interesting...

I challenge you to find another religion that has god's son coming down to die for the remission of humanity's sins, I haven't found one to date. Closest being Islam and even then, their version of Jesus (Isa) isn't actually god's son, but a revered prophet, oh, and he didn't die for our sins either.

As for Christianity being a hotch potch "frankenligion" that's a fallacy. The problem here is that the Catholic Church did incorporate many symbols for their faith (the sun god's discs became the saints halos, Neptune's trident became the devils pitchfork etc.) But the true essence of Christianity, it's message about Jesus rather that the symbols used to portray such, is completely original.

Another example would be the bible's claim that there was once a worldwide flood to end wickedness. Several religions around the world, including aboriginal Australian legend, which came into being on the other side of the world, carry some sort of flood account. It's evident that there was some kind of flood across the globe, that affected all civilisations.

[Lafleur]

[QUOTE=Shinji]Interesting...

I challenge you to find another religion that has god's son coming down to die for the remission of humanity's sins, I haven't found one to date. Closest being Islam and even then, their version of Jesus (Isa) isn't actually god's son, but a revered prophet, oh, and he didn't die for our sins either.

As for Christianity being a hotch potch "frankenligion" that's a fallacy. The problem here is that the Catholic Church did incorporate many symbols for their faith (the sun god's discs became the saints halos, Neptune's trident became the devils pitchfork etc.) But the true essence of Christianity, it's message about Jesus rather that the symbols used to portray such, is completely original.

Another example would be the bible's claim that there was once a worldwide flood to end wickedness. Several religions around the world, including aboriginal Australian legend, which came into being on the other side of the world, carry some sort of flood account. It's evident that there was some kind of flood across the globe, that affected all civilisations.[/QUOTE]
[COLOR=DarkRed]
I'm sure that I've heard of religions very similar too that - but I don't have the time or the resources too look it up, so I concede the point. I don't really think it is valid, though, and here is why: likely, if not certainly, the life of Jesus Christ was horribly exaggerated. Likely, Jesus Christ did no more than any other prophet throughout history - another thing I find odd is that no credible historical source makes mention of Jesus, while other prophets have oodles of history mentioning their name (This doesn't include historical texts edited by the Catholic Church or affiliates)

The message is nothing but the same old message in a clown suit - basically, there is some God who cares for you. But the way Christianity did it, perhaps smartly, was too add the human element, add somone the converted could look at and say 'Wow, look what that guy did for me!' and than convert their friends. It was all quiet clever, but nontheless, once the outer layers of horeshit are cleared away, it's the same as all the others - well, most of the others.

It's not actualy the Bible's claim - it's the claim of Gilagamesh and the Sumerian Legends. The bible stole, word-for-word damn-nearly, the Epic of Gilgamesh when it created the Noah legend. And yes, there are flood-myths worldwide. That doesn't mean anything. A little flooding could, if enough generations pass it down through word-of-mouth (Exaggerating it as they go), become some end-of-the-world flood. Look at places like Australia - it's dry and desert-like for much of the island. Now imagine if some freak monsoon sweeped in and the whole place flooded (Think New Orleans during the highest waters), wouldn't you - a primative, crude aborogini - think somthing must be terribly wrong? That the world was about to end?[/COLOR]

[SunfallE]

[QUOTE=Ilium][COLOR=DarkRed]
It's been done. It's all been done. Look hard enough and I guarantee you it has been done. There are so many religions out there, all Christianity did was pick-and-choose things from other religions that suited their purposes, and than overexagerat what truth there is in the bible.

I'm honestly surprised there are so many Christians O_O[/COLOR][/QUOTE]
[QUOTE=Shinji]Interesting...

I challenge you to find another religion that has god's son coming down to die for the remission of humanity's sins, I haven't found one to date. Closest being Islam and even then, their version of Jesus (Isa) isn't actually god's son, but a revered prophet, oh, and he didn't die for our sins either.

As for Christianity being a hotch potch "frankenligion" that's a fallacy. The problem here is that the Catholic Church did incorporate many symbols for their faith (the sun god's discs became the saints halos, Neptune's trident became the devils pitchfork etc.) But the true essence of Christianity, it's message about Jesus rather that the symbols used to portray such, is completely original.

Another example would be the bible's claim that there was once a worldwide flood to end wickedness. Several religions around the world, including aboriginal Australian legend, which came into being on the other side of the world, carry some sort of flood account. It's evident that there was some kind of flood across the globe, that affected all civilisations.[/QUOTE]

[COLOR=DarkOliveGreen]I think I will take up your challenge. Not in finding another religion that is like Christianity but in that [B]Ilium[/B] is correct in his assessment that some Christian religions did in fact borrow their ideas from another religion. Take the LDS ?Mormon? church for example. It is never discussed by the church leaders or most of their members that their religion is based on other Christian religions. Even their main scripture ?The Book of Mormon? is a taken from other religions. Their original prophet, or rather creator of this religion, took sections of the Bible and re-wrote and paraphrased huge sections of it in order to create many of the scriptures that Mormons use in their religion today.

Now before you assume I am making this up go get your self a copy of ?An Insider?s View of Mormon Origins, by Grant H Palmer? and read it. He is not the first historian to point out that the Mormon Church was created by essentially borrowing from other religions. His book includes references to other historical documents that back his claims. It is pretty much a taboo topic here in Utah and the author of the book was actually kicked out of the Church by the leaders for publishing it.

Personally I could care less how their Church or any other is formed for that matter. But I do find it a bit arrogant for religions to act as if they are divinely guided and blessed when in fact many of the truths they claim they received from God actually came from a source outside of their religion. They use it because as [B]Ilium[/B] said it suits their purpose.

I also agree with [B]Ilium[/B] that flood stories are greatly exaggerated as well. Even though many civilizations have flood accounts in their history, there is no way to prove that the flood they are referring to happened everywhere else as well. The Earth has been around a long time and there have been quite a few floods throughout time so it would be surprising if there wasn?t an account of a huge flood in a civilization?s history. What is missing in this scenario is scientific evidence that there was a huge flood that was worldwide. Like the New Orleans flood, imagine that happening in ancient times. Well they might come to the mistaken assumption that the entire world was flooding as to them that was their entire world.[/COLOR]

[TheShinje]

[QUOTE=Lafleur][color=DarkRed]

It's not actualy the Bible's claim - it's the claim of Gilagamesh and the Sumerian Legends. The bible stole, word-for-word damn-nearly, the Epic of Gilgamesh when it created the Noah legend. And yes, there are flood-myths worldwide. That doesn't mean anything. A little flooding could, if enough generations pass it down through word-of-mouth (Exaggerating it as they go), become some end-of-the-world flood. Look at places like Australia - it's dry and desert-like for much of the island. Now imagine if some freak monsoon sweeped in and the whole place flooded (Think New Orleans during the highest waters), wouldn't you - a primative, crude aborogini - think somthing must be terribly wrong? That the world was about to end?[/color][/QUOTE]

That's the one I was thinking about, Gilgamesh.

I don't think it's a case of who stole the legend, rather than two civilisations take on the same event. Even if it was stolen in some way, the Sumerian writers could have stolen the legend. True, the Bible in it's current status was compiled and canonised less than two thousand years ago, but the religion itself, moreso the Old testament, has been around in various forms of written scrolls and stone tablets, for much, much longer.

[Lafleur]

[QUOTE=Shinji]That's the one I was thinking about, Gilgamesh.

I don't think it's a case of who stole the legend, rather than two civilisations take on the same event. Even if it was stolen in some way, the Sumerian writers could have stolen the legend. True, the Bible in it's current status was compiled and canonised less than two thousand years ago, but the religion itself, moreso the Old testament, has been around in various forms of written scrolls and stone tablets, for much, much longer.[/QUOTE]
[COLOR=DarkRed]
What a terribly funny way too look at it. It's completely ludacris, though.

Sumeria is the worlds oldest known civilization. The Epic of Gilgamesh is the oldest story PERIOD. It predates anything relating too Christianity.

And no, it's not the same - because it's not about a world-wide flood. It's about a massive rainfall in the area that flooded the Tigres River while Gilgamesh and Co were in it. It was flooded too the extent that it was a sea. The boat they were on was a merchant craft which, you guessed it, had two goats, two cows, two pigs, etc etc. The story goes that they used a bird too guide them too land. Therefore, Noah's Ark is merely an exaggerated tale about some soggy clod who got stuck in the middle of a river.

BTW, the reason I said it stole from the 'religion', was because the Epic of Gilgamesh was considerd a legend akin to Noah's Ark by the Sumerians. [/COLOR]

[Guest Warmaster]

Core samples from the Black Sea (in addition to other studies) have suggested that many of the flood stories from different civilisations (which do have "close-enough" corresponding dates for a large flood) refer to the Mediterranean essential bursting in and massively increasing the size of the Black Sea to what it currently is.
Considering the area of the world and how fertile it would have been there, it's not surprising that there would have been many people around to perpetuate the story, whatever form it ended up in.

[Fyxe]

[size=1][color=slategray]I've never had a religion. I used to hate going to church, because I never really bought any of it, even when I was a little kid. I don't know... something about there being some ultimite life force living in some hidden world in the clouds just seems like something an author would make up. Because, let's face it, if God created the Earth, would that mean that he created the rest of the universe? And, with that, how was [I]he[/I] created? And I certianly don't believe in Satan. I think that when you die, you just die. And I don't even want to try and explain ghosts. There are just some things that aren't meant to be explored and you actually find a meaning in it.
God, Satan... I just... can't bring myself to believe in it. People just start religions when they want their life to have a meaning, something to believe in, so everything doesn't seem so empty... and that there will be a place for you to go when you pass on. Religions are there for some people that want to be dependent on something. And then other people are just sucked into it. That's what I think, and it's just about the most logical thing, to me, anyway. Don't get me wrong, I think it's great that a lot of people have religions. I just don't need one to keep myself stable.

The universe is our creator... I guess... -__-[/color][/size]

[DBZgirl88]

[color=#004a6f]Ahhh... good 'ol religion threads.

I'm a Muslim.

I believe in my religion because I think it makes sense to me. We are born free of sin, and people are responisible for their own sins. Everyone is equal in the eyes of God regardless of race, color, or gender.

I think that the only thing that really drives people away from this religion is because it's so "restrictive".

But I'm okay with that "restrictiveness" because God has forbidden everything that is bad for us and permitted everything that is good. He knows what's best for us because he created us, so why shouldn't we obey?[/COLOR]