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Why did you convert to hinduism?

Starlight

Spiritual but not religious, new age and omnist
Why did you convert to hinduism, buddism or sikhism?;

I'm just curious :blush:
 

JustGeorge

Not As Much Fun As I Look
Staff member
Premium Member
Thanks for the answer:blush:Was you born in a hindu family?

No. Mom had no real interest in religion, and Dad was a fire and brimstone Christian. Mom pretended to be Christian for awhile because Dad was so pushy, but this did a real number on their marriage. (They divorced eventually.) I was out of Christianity in my teens, but I didn't make it known until I moved out at 17.
 

Starlight

Spiritual but not religious, new age and omnist
No. Mom had no real interest in religion, and Dad was a fire and brimstone Christian. Mom pretended to be Christian for awhile because Dad was so pushy, but this did a real number on their marriage. (They divorced eventually.) I was out of Christianity in my teens, but I didn't make it known until I moved out at 17.
Why did you leave christianity? Was it because ortodox christianity do not teach reincarnation?
 

Vinayaka

devotee
Premium Member
I (the personality) was raised agnostic leaning to atheism this lifetime, and rediscovered the religion of my soul at around age 18, although I (the soul) didn't recognise that it was Hinduism until a few years later. Last lifetime I was in Calcutta, India, and via reincarnation, came to the west, following a western soul. So I got the wrong address, realised my mistake, and corrected it.

The first time I entered a Hindu temple, and the first time I saw a particular Hindu icon, I just knew. Those can be overwhelming experiences, and they were. Eventually I went 'all in' so to speak.
 

Starlight

Spiritual but not religious, new age and omnist
I (the personality) was raised agnostic leaning to atheism this lifetime, and rediscovered the religion of my soul at around age 18, although I (the soul) didn't recognise that it was Hinduism until a few years later. Last lifetime I was in Calcutta, India, and via reincarnation, came to the west, following a western soul. So I got the wrong address, realised my mistake, and corrected it.

The first time I entered a Hindu temple, and the first time I saw a particular Hindu icon, I just knew. Those can be overwhelming experiences, and they were. Eventually I went 'all in' so to speak.
What beliefs in hinduism made you love hinduism?
 

JustGeorge

Not As Much Fun As I Look
Staff member
Premium Member
Why did you leave christianity? Was it because ortodox christianity do not teach reincarnation?

I just didn't believe in any of it. The need to be saved, or that Jesus was the son of God. The stories never really hit home, and I felt no connection to the God of the Bible. Reincarnation did play a part, but really, there was never any connection.

The first time I entered a Hindu temple, and the first time I saw a particular Hindu icon, I just knew. Those can be overwhelming experiences, and they were. Eventually I went 'all in' so to speak.

That was kinda how it was for my husband. While I had my 'experience' with Krishna some time before our first temple trip, and he followed me into a Navaratri fast and had some of his own experiences with Durga previous to the trip as well, his most profound experience was actually walking into a temple. He said at that moment, he knew he was meant to worship Shiva.
 

Vinayaka

devotee
Premium Member
What beliefs in hinduism made you love hinduism?

Initially it wasn't about belief at all, but about how the Hindu environment made me feel. Hinduism isn't so much a 'belief' religion, but an 'action' religion. Beliefs vary widely between sects ang groups, reflecting the vast lot that we are. A Hindu can go to a temple, and stand there in a blissful state, and have very few beliefs about that, or if you ask, it comes out confused.

But the first belief that really hit the nail on the head was the one about inclusiveness, and not declaring that your faith is the only way. The first analogy I heard on that had some faiths drawing a box, putting themselves inside, and keeping all other religions outside of it. With Hinduism, it was a giant multi-coloured circle, and putting all of humanity inside it. That one really hit home. It was in stark contrast to any religion I had seen until then.
But so did ahimsa (as a kid I hated the farm butchering, and would go for long walks when it happened) karma, (it seemed absolutely fair) reincarnation (I had hints of it), and moksha (that seemed logical to me).
 

metis

aged ecumenical anthropologist
I'm not a Hindu, but let me just say that Hinduism is quite compatible with accepting factual information as it is a religion with no binding creed. Using one's logic, experiences, and observations is strongly encouraged.
 

Jainarayan

ॐ नमो भगवते वासुदेवाय
Staff member
Premium Member
I don’t consider it a conversion but a discovering and naming of my beliefs. I was born into an Italian-American Roman Catholic family. I practiced Catholicism and Eastern Orthodoxy until was about 33 when I drifted away. Even as a teenager I leaned towards belief in Hindu philosophy and the deities. I came to realize that what I actually believe has a name... Hinduism.
 
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Starlight

Spiritual but not religious, new age and omnist
I don’t consist a conversion but a discovering and naming of my beliefs. I was born into an Italian-American Roman Catholic family. I practiced Catholicism and Eastern Orthodoxy until was about 33 when I drifted away. Even as a teenager I leaned towards belief in Hindu philosophy and the deities. I came to realize that what I actually believe has a name... Hinduism.
What catholic beliefs made you drifted away?
 

metis

aged ecumenical anthropologist
I don’t consist a conversion but a discovering and naming of my beliefs. I was born into an Italian-American Roman Catholic family. I practiced Catholicism and Eastern Orthodoxy until was about 33 when I drifted away. Even as a teenager I leaned towards belief in Hindu philosophy and the deities. I came to realize that what I actually believe has a name... Hinduism.
The irony is that one can have both, although I'm not saying nor implying you should. Thomas Merton, for example, said that what he learned from the eastern religions helped him to become a better Catholic.

BTW, Gandhi is my main mentor, and he believed in Jesus, possibly even more so than some Christians.
 

Starlight

Spiritual but not religious, new age and omnist
The irony is that one can have both, although I'm not saying nor implying you should. Thomas Merton, for example, said that what he learned from the eastern religions helped him to become a better Catholic.

BTW, Gandhi is my main mentor, and he believed in Jesus, possibly even more so than some Christians.
Do you believe in reincarnation?
 

metis

aged ecumenical anthropologist
Do you believe in reincarnation?
I neither believe nor disbelieve as I believe that one cannot objectively find evidence one way or another.

BTW, I heard of a guy who wanted to reincarnated as a stud, and I hear he's now in a snow tire.
 

Starlight

Spiritual but not religious, new age and omnist
I neither believe nor disbelieve as I believe that one cannot objectively find evidence one way or another.

BTW, I heard of a guy who wanted to reincarnated as a stud, and I hear he's now in a snow tire.
What is stud?

How did him become a snow tire? Is not that inpossible?
 

Jainarayan

ॐ नमो भगवते वासुदेवाय
Staff member
Premium Member
What catholic beliefs made you drifted away?

The irony is that one can have both, although I'm not saying nor implying you should. Thomas Merton, for example, said that what he learned from the eastern religions helped him to become a better Catholic.

BTW, Gandhi is my main mentor, and he believed in Jesus, possibly even more so than some Christians.

I don’t believe:
  • The theology, ontology, soteriology of Christianity.
  • That God created the universe out of nothing, that nothing existed before that.
  • That God is outside and separate from creation.
  • The whole temptation, fall of mankind, redeemer belief.
  • The need for salvation through Jesus.
  • The Christian concept of sin and forgiveness.
  • Divine commandments.
  • Judgement, punishment.
There are no doubt more that I can’t think of off the top of my head but it’s safe to say my (dis)beliefs are incompatible with Christian teachings. My beliefs about Jesus are that he’s a yogi, a prophet, a guru, a self-realized and enlightened being, not unlike the Buddha. I’m iffy about him being a manifestation or incarnation of God any more than we or creation are.
 

Sirona

Hindu Wannabe
Why did you convert to hinduism, buddism or sikhism?;

I'm just curious :blush:

For reasons I will not state here, I have a complicated relationship with my father. I think that people who believe in "God the Father" had a reasonably harmonious relationship with their fathers; thus they simply retrieve the "programming" they experienced during their childhood. As I said, it never worked for me or felt very uncomfortable. Moreover, I have a birth defect, so I was never quite happy "the way God made me". I think that most people who believe they were "wonderfully created" are simply taking their health for granted. To be exact, the issue of my birth defect was the main reason that drove me away from the Christian God. Reincarnation and karma seemed to make more sense to me. In the Bhagavad Gita it is said that one cannot remember one's last incarnation, so the question of why suddenly fell away for me.
What I liked about Krishna was the fact that in the Bhagavad Gita, he really gives you free choice whether you want to believe in him or not. There is no threat if you refuse to believe in him. Also, I see Krishna more as an "counselor" and "friend." It does not, unlike what I have experienced in Catholicism, have a negative connotation to approach God, whereas as a Christian you should always have a submissive attitude as a "sinner" in relation to Jesus, even though you may not actually feel that way.
 

Hockeycowboy

Witness for Jehovah
Premium Member
I’m not a member of any eastern religion, but probably the reason behind some conversions from a Christian style or dogma, to something completely different, is due to the hypocrisy so prevalent in Christendom!

For Christians, the Bible outlines a sexually-immoral-free life, but few live by it. And rarely is anything done to keep such damaging influences out of christian congregations.

On top of that, Jesus tells His followers to love one another (John 13:34-35)…. But Christendom, since it’s inception in the fourth-century, has been supporting the world in its conflicts, and killing their brothers! In spite of Jesus telling us to even ‘love our enemy’.(Matthew 5:44)
Titus 1 10 & 16 (written to warn those 1st-century Christians) was evident even back then.

But obviously, God does have standards: our divinely-given conscience is evidence of that…we make judgement calls every day, discerning between what is right and wrong. And the Bible reveals those standards. That’s one reason why I love the Bible.
(Not the institutions of Christendom, though.)


Best wishes.
 
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