Religion wasn't forced on me, thank god. My parents sent my brother and I to Sunday school when I was little, but I think they just wanted a free baby sitter. I started going to Sunday school on my own without any family accompanying me when I was about 13 or so. Not sure what denomination it was. I got saved at that time. Even at that age I was skeptical. One day I was invited to an evening service which ended up freaking me out. It was way too intense for me. I was used to attending a Lutheran church that my maternal grandparents would go to on Easter and Christmas. I got baptized at the Lutheran church a couple years after I quit the intense one. I don't believe that the bible is the word of god. I think it's completely insane that anyone could believe that stuff literally. Religion isn't all bad, but I don't believe that any of the good things (community, good deeds) about religion needs religion in order to exist or to happen.
Never forced. However was asked to go a few times when I was younger by my mom and then dad stepped in and said she shouldn't force us to go if we didn't want to. What kid wants to? I still believed Too stay neutral in this thread. I do think I'm better of when I'm practicing. And getting it involved. And there is a reason for that.
Not raised religious, not religious now. It was a long time ago that I was a kid, and not being religious was not as socially acceptable as it is now, so my parents told me to say, if anyone asked, that we were X denomination. I no longer remember what X was, though (and I don't think anyone ever did ask). Lutheran? Baptist? Orthodox Jew? I suppose that's pretty non-religious, not even being able to remember what my fake religion was? barfo
Things seem to be just a lil too perfect to be evolved. There is a creator. There for awhile, I had many questions and really lack of beliefs when it came to the bible. One, Based on what I knew, I thought that Noahs ark was a load. I couldn't believe in anyone in the flesh raising someone from the dead or healing anyone just by 'touching' them. Or 2 fish being multiplied by many to feed 5000. Based on what we know living in this world. And never seeing miraculous like that happen. I couldn't bye into it. But when you think about what we are and how surreal it seems and look at it in away that if something was powerful to create all this. Something is powerful enough to put himself in the flesh and do that things the Bible says. Therefore, I choose to believe in Christ.
Dude, seriously. My dad was raised old school Catholic and he has extreme amounts of guilt. I was raised completely atheist and his Catholic guilt even seeps into me from time to time
I was never force into religion and was never religious. Still do not belong to a church. However, I have always consider saying you are an atheist is rather foolish since they have no way to prove their position, it is just a going on faith and hope that you are right and the majority is wrong or better yet, just less educated. Ha! I took the time to study the issue maybe 10 years ago, why do men need religion? It took about 5 years for that study/reading to run its course. Read every book I could find about all religions. The Bible and Who Wrote the Bible, The Quran, The Bhagavad Gita, Then Essene writings. and the writings of some Buddhist monks. Not really much to read about on the subject of Buddhism, they do not have a holy book just some writing of various monks. It all came to rest with admiring the work and wisdom of Thomas Jefferson and his use of the Creator in the declaration of Independence. A marvelous use and understanding of the need for God the Creator in mens lives to set affairs in their proper place. It was a prescription for freedom for those that take the time to understand. The man was not a Christian but he knew they make good neighbors The end result was I find the Christians, Jews, Buddhists, Hindus all to be allies and good neighbors. The Muslims are suspect due to their complete intolerance of nonbelievers. I suppose I consider myself a Christian today, not because I believe that Jesus was God that is probably to much for me although I perhaps admire those that do. The influence of Christianity is all about us every day and I find it good so I must be something close to being a Christian in spirit even though the absolute faith is missing. But in looking around today, I find the non religious, godless people also suspect mainly for their lack of responsibly for their action, leaving the rest of society to cope with their feral children sprinkle here and there. The children deserve better and if uncaring parents don't care on their own, then a little study on why men need religion should be imposed.
ABM treats Christianity like a happiness drug and self admittedly doesn't care about objective reality. hopefully you have better reasons for belief than that : )
What exactly is "perfect"? The genetic code certainly is quite inefficient and messy compared to what it potentially could be if designed. Also on a macro level I think life in general is unpleasant overall compared to what it could be. Life tends to be short and harsh, with organisms including humans suffering in a constant struggle to adapt. The very recent rise of modern technology is the only reason our lives could be called anything resembling comfortable or pleasant. Also obviously 99.99999%+ of the universe is completely uninhabitable to life as we know it, and the tiny parts where life could exist are still extremely dangerous to life. Isn't this what you would expect from a mechanical universe that we just happen to have evolved as an inconsequential part of, rather than one that was designed specifically for us?
Raised religious, was happy. Chose to remain religious. I do not believe the Bible is infallible as it has been copied and translated many times. Hence, I believe it as far as it is translated correctly. I definitely believe in miracles and believe in Christ as my Savior. Men aren't perfect nor are their churches as they are implemented by imperfect men. However, believing in and following the doctrine of Christ has given me a life of peace and happiness. Not without trial but always with peace in my heart. Gramps...
The meaning of those 2 words is not opposite, but essentially science and religion represent incompatible approaches to knowledge. People who follow both necessarily intellectually compartmentalize them from each other and use different standards to assess truth depending on which mental compartment they are operating in.
And here comes crow; not even replying on the thread topic; quickly discounting anyone else that believes in God. I get it now; something bad happened to you in Sunday school or something.
The perfection is how everything that shouldn't came together. But I know you will have some reason why. I disagree. I think technology is adding to unpleasantness. When man just farmed and lived simple lives; their stress level was much less. Stress and depression are two of the leading emotional reactions that hurt the body more than anything else. I see this as more reason why life is a miracle. The entire universe has the ability to randomly create life just like our planet; yet our solar system is a small piece that can. This actually leans closer to design than chance. Actually it is exactly what I would expect for a universe designed especially for us.
My parents were raised Catholic, and stop going to church around the time I was born. We went to church a few times until I was about 8 or 9, but I generally slept on my mom's lap during the service.
Only to a personal that can't see a forest through the trees Even Einstein believed that their was some sort of spiritual level in the universe. Guess it's time for you to tear down your fandom posters of him.
