Recreation Personal belief systems.

Alucard: you've freaked out one mormon.. err actually not. heh what do you mean by that? Do you think I'm sitting here tripping out that you're different? I've probably met folks a lot stranger than you

To be honest though I skimmed what you wrote because man it was hard to read. Too much r, u, and lack of capitalization at the beginning of sentences. I don't mean to insult, but writing like that will cause people to skip it rather than make the extra effort to decipher it. If you want people to read it, write it well.

Neph: Regarding what the pope said, I can dig that. I believe that men are judged according to what they know and believe. Otherwise God would not be just. The idea that someone from the amazon who has never heard of Jesus can be damned for it is wrong, as far as I believe. So I'm in agreement with that quote, asuming I read it right.

So yeah, see above for what I am.

 

Also a member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (Mormon). I believe that makes at least three of us, but I could be mistaken. Anybody keeping track?

Alucard: I was more intrigued by what you believe in than freaked out, but I have to agree with MamiyaOtaru...if you want someone to read what you've written you really need to write coherently. And as a note, it's spelled Satan, not satin. Satin is a shiny fabric that's used to make dresses.

~Shadrach Anki

 

Hm. Very...interesting...Alucard.

And that's interesting, what the Pope said. ^_^ Very interesting. That's interesting without the ellipses (...).

 

You should see what happens when I whip out that quote in a debate.

 

Atheist.

Obviously with some irrefutible proof I'd believe. Other than that.... nah.

 

I'm like a mix between exitone and angel from hell:
I'm christian catholic and was brought up that way but was never baptized, i never had my first cummunion, and I haven't gone to church in years.

 

Re: Wee hee, a religion thread

This is not just to weaver, but it's an intriguing prompt:

Do you believe that debate is good? Isn't debate a practice of dominance? Or, in other words, a form of violence?




Also:

I take a bit from the Taoists in that I feel that for everything in the universe there MUST BE antithesis. Along with that, nothing can be defined without heterogenous but similar thing for comparison. (no light w/o dark, death w/o life, joy w/o sorrow, &c.)
That is, we cannot recognize high points without low ones to compare to, I can only be seen as me because those around me are different from me, &c.

So:
How can we have peace without violence and confrontation?(context: confrontation exists inbetween violence and peace, but is not peace)
When there is peace for a time, it will always degrade to confrontaion, and then violence, else peace would loose its value, and instead become monotony. If there were no dichotomies in this universe, there would be no difference between life and death. If all people were equal, equally happy, and equally possessed, what would be the point of living?

Inequality is the meat and savour of life.

 

I don't believe anything... I think

 

Even though I received a Jesuit education, I am primarilly an atheist who belives in god. My empirical experience leads me to believe that science is an explanation of how our "ways" are grounded in facts and statistics. And, as some people aptly pointed out, religion is only based on arbitrary paradigms and axioms.

But it is also true that science cannot ultimately explain everything. For a start, science can't explain the existence of science. To separate science and religion out as two separate issues is a simplistic cause and effect social solution to a complex social phenomenon. A multi-factorial approach should be adopted when examining the priorities assigned to science and religion.

Science can explain things that religion can't. But it appears that religion is the only explanation for the existence of science.

 

i dont belive in anything.
though i am reading the bible. just to see if i can pull any cool quotes from it.

 

AH! The Society of Jesus!

I currently attend a Jesuit institution, and I'd say it maintains the standards of top-notch education the order is known to bear.

Then again, I do know that the Society has been nocked around by nearly everyone so far. The Jesuits who headed off to the various nations of the Orient, for example, were recieved by the locals. And then were disrespected and insulted like nobody's buisiness. They did create footholds, though. The Jesuits got a real knocking in Western literature. Not so much hated as fodder for some good jokes. The cool thing is that regardless of the surface-level disrespect, they still were able to maintain themselves in many of the places they visited, and even won converts from time to time.


::warning: joke::

A Rom. Cath. Priest, a Franciscan, and a Dominican were debating which had the best aproach to true belief in God. They decided to let Him make the call. They put a note in the chalice, and left the chalice on the altar overnight. In the morning, they went to the altar and found a new note in the chalice that said:
"You don't quite have it yet. Signed - God, SJ"

 

Me? I'm really trying to decide. I was raised with the catholic church, got baptized, and had my first communion and confirmation. I believe in God, and we're good friends.

Confirmation...Uh-oh, wouldn't it suck if I changed my mind?

I am sort of agnostic, in some respects.

I believe that any sort of church is good because it provides a good moral backing for children. Take a look at the paraboles (sp?).

I am a Stranger-In-A-Strange-Landian, which means I believe in God, but EVERYTHING is God. All that 'groks' is God. There is no way to explain the word grok, so read Stranger In A Strange Land

Everything is God, because all that groks is God, so I am God, and you are God and my hamster is God...and...well, YAY GOD!

So, you see, my beliefs are based on Sci-Fi and the Bible. Science is mixed in there somewhere, I'm sure.

I go to church, and I believe in what they teach, but I don't take it literally. I think mostly it's...uh, what's that word?

I'll shut up now.

 

I dont really give a **** if i believe in religion or not

i dont need it

 

Meaikoh_Takashi - believe it or not, there is actually a church that was formed around the ideas from Heinlein's Stranger in a Strange Land. It's called The Church of All Worlds. I just thought that that might interest you.

I'm surprised with the various responses so far!

I have a question for those that were raised a particular religion, but later rejected what your parents raised you with/convert to something else - do you hold anything against your parents for raising you in that particular faith? IF your parents do know that you've changed your beliefs, how did/do they react to it?
-Odin

 

aaa well they want me to belive and I am having trouble, and i don't know what to do. My familly has to convice me to go to church.

 

Hell yeah, now that's what I wanna hear. I should bring you with me the next time a bandwagon of teenaged Jesus-Freaks gnaw on my @$$. Nah, just joking.

Actually, I'm a lazy Roman Catholic who attends church once every few years (either for Christmas or Easter). I participate in group prayers for respect, but otherwise, I also think that religion is mostly just a guidance for the weak. I could point fingers at some friends of mine who are SO into religion, yet their lives still suck. Hahaha!

Whenever I take the Belief-O-Matic test at beliefnet.com, I end up falling under Neo-Paganism, New Age, and Unitarian Universalism. But that's just my beliefs according to the test; I don't "practice" anything. Overall I believe that religion is an optional part of life; we don't need it, but some aspects of spirituality like astral travel really interest me. I haven't really "changed" my beliefs from Catholicism to Neo-Paganism; my parents themselves hardly go to church, and my mom herself reads about palmistry and astrology sometimes, so she'd probably be okay if I showed her my gemstone & metaphysical book collections.

Edit: I never got first communion or confirmation, but I ate the bread and drank the wine anyway. I guess that makes me a devil! Heheheh! I don't care...Satanism is actually a pretty cool system of beliefs, if you read about it from Anton LaVey.

 

I don't hold anything against my folks for trying tyo raise me Catholic. It's what they know. I don't have any religion, and I'm going to give that to my kids, but I'm not going to force them to be atheist. When they have a mind to begin questioning the world around them, they can make some choices, too. By that time they will - crap I hope - have gotten to the point where they can start thinking for themselves.

My parents are cool with my choosing, though my ex-seminariate dad is a little hot under the collar about the choice itself.

 

Nihilism 'nuff said.

But that belief itself contradicts what it means... ehh meh.

Maybe I'll find a suitable religion, but till then I'll believe in nothing.