What are the positive reasons for joining a new religion?

[Dawnofhope]

What’s good about changing religion for you? There have been a couple of threads recently about why people have left religion. That often implies a negative experience with one’s former faith, though it could also be due to positive reasons for joining. I’m interested in exploring the positive as opposed to negative forces. Both positive and negative experiences are important in shaping who we become. Sometimes it helps to consciously focus on the positives. So what are the positive experiences for you in moving from your former faith to one you have now?

 

[SomeRandom]

I suppose one can find inner peace and happiness

 

[Marcion]

I never joined a religion. I just became convinced that consciousness is a basic part of reality and that living beings expand their individual consciousness and that this is the natural flow in the whole universe.

The positive effect of this change of mind and my start of spiritual practices was that I discovered and realised on a deeper level that the source of happiness cannot be found in sense gratification or mental pleasures.

 

[Spirit of Light]

What’s good about changing religion for you? There have been a couple of threads recently about why people have left religion. That often implies a negative experience with one’s former faith, though it could also be due to positive reasons for joining. I’m interested in exploring the positive as opposed to negative forces. Both positive and negative experiences are important in shaping who we become. Sometimes it helps to consciously focus on the positives. So what are the positive experiences for you in moving from your former faith to one you have now?

A great OP

For me it has changed mostly everything about how i see and understand religion and the purpose of study it.
But it actually changed me personally even in to the core of my being.
Many here know i saw my self as a Buddhist for more than 20 years, But after i left Buddhism and started the journey in to Sufism, i have realized i was a very bad buddhist i had no wisdom or understanding and my ego only become bigger.
Now as a sufi the ego is getting a beating every day so to realize that I as a being is just a tiny drop in the ocean and not a briliant awaken one

 

[Dawnofhope]

A great OP

For me it has changed mostly everything about how i see and understand religion and the purpose of study it.
But it actually changed me personally even in to the core of my being.
Many here know i saw my self as a Buddhist for more than 20 years, But after i left Buddhism and started the journey in to Sufism, i have realized i was a very bad buddhist i had no wisdom or understanding and my ego only become bigger.
Now as a sufi the ego is getting a beating every day so to realize that I as a being is just a tiny drop in the ocean and not a briliant awaken one

The OP is probably just as relevant to someone who recently converted to Islam compared to someone who changed faiths decades ago. The ego is something we all grapple with and whether it gets easier or harder with the progress of the years, is hard to say.

I became a Baha’i over 30 years. Faith, marriage and children and work have been heavily intertwined over the last twenty years. Its been an incredibly busy challenging time without a great deal of time to reflect. That’s not necessarily a bad thing as too much time spent looking inwards can be detrimental. These days I look towards God and spiritual practices such as prayer, fasting and following the laws can be of invaluable assistance.

May your walk with Allah bring you a life of fulfilment and peace.

 

[Secret Chief]

i was a very bad buddhist

Your kamma going kick your ***!

 

[Heyo]

So what are the positive experiences for you in moving from your former faith to one you have now?

And what is special about religion as opposed to say, joining an other sports club or philatelists association?

 

[Dawnofhope]

And what is special about religion as opposed to say, joining an other sports club or philatelists association?

I used to play football on Saturday afternoons, then we would have a few drinks together after the game and go home. It was fun.

Religion brings people together for the purpose of worshipping and serving God. Serving God means service to humanity and charity. I do volunteer work at a medical Centre providing free medical care to those who would struggle to afford being part of a standard medical Centre whose costs are prohibitive to those on a low income.

Playing a game of footy on Saturday doesn’t motivate me too much to help those most in need whereas religion does.

 

[darkskies]

So what are the positive experiences for you in moving from your former faith to one you have now?

I didn't move to any new religion or faith but changed my beliefs to be intellectually honest with myself.

 

[SalixIncendium]

What’s good about changing religion for you? There have been a couple of threads recently about why people have left religion. That often implies a negative experience with one’s former faith, though it could also be due to positive reasons for joining. I’m interested in exploring the positive as opposed to negative forces. Both positive and negative experiences are important in shaping who we become. Sometimes it helps to consciously focus on the positives. So what are the positive experiences for you in moving from your former faith to one you have now?

First and foremost, no one tells me what is true or what I should believe, which was not the case in the religion in which I was raised.

 

[SalixIncendium]

And what is special about religion as opposed to say, joining an other sports club or philatelists association?

Sports clubs and philatelist associations don't typically mold how you live and now you relate to others in day-to-day life nor do they offer answers to one's existence.

 

[stvdv]

Both positive and negative experiences are important in shaping who we become. Sometimes it helps to consciously focus on the positives. So what are the positive experiences for you in moving from your former faith to one you have now?

I agree, it's good to focus on the positive

To picture my context:
I was brought up as a Christian and when I was around 25, after finishing my engineering, I went on a 6 month trip around the world. I did 1 month of sightseeing, and after that I had no interest seeing any sights any more, and natural arose the interest in Spiritual life. So, I read Koran, Bible, Bhagavad Gita while travelling, enjoying the freedom in my tent in marvelous tropical islands and New Zealand (my goal why I started this 6 month journey) where I spend 3 wonderful months travelling/hitchhiking from Auckland all the way down to Wellington and even Christchurch. All the time sharing with others about religion.

I’m interested in exploring the positive as opposed to negative forces

*) From above context comes my first positive experience "why 'change' religion"

When a baby, I was baptized (not a baptist though; others groups also baptize in Holland). Not my choice, but my parents' choice. When much older, reading about other religions, I clearly felt that deep inside, I never was a Christian, like how they expected christians to be in the churches, BUT, on the other hand, I felt very closely related to Sanathana Dharma, Hinduism, Buddhism. I did always like Jesus though, and still do. Also Allah.

Hence it was natural for me to chance my religion. But that is the wrong choice of words. I have been my whole life "feeling" inside the path of Sanathana Dharma, but I had to learn that there was a path conform my "feeling".

So, finally I came home, where my heart has always been; Sanathana Dharma way of life
@stvdvRF

 

[Treks]

... So what are the positive experiences for you in moving from your former faith to one you have now?

Gaining access to a plethora of resources in English

But I found a welcoming community and a scripture and religion much deeper than I ever gave it credit for. Songs I can actually sing, with words I understand, in worship of a God much more personal than my understanding of the creative force of my former faith.

On a very personal level I feel like I can stop running from the path that has been nagging at me all my life. It is a great relief.

 

[Estro Felino]

If I someday decided to leave my religion, I would go atheist. I would never pick another one...no matter how much it fascinates me.

I would respond the same way Fee Cleary answered to Father Ralph in The Thorn Birds :
" When I lost faith in my God*, I decided I wouldn't pick Another One. But our children are Catholics, if it concerns you"


*she had been raised Protestant.

 

[Vinayaka]

What’s good about changing religion for you? There have been a couple of threads recently about why people have left religion. That often implies a negative experience with one’s former faith, though it could also be due to positive reasons for joining. I’m interested in exploring the positive as opposed to negative forces. Both positive and negative experiences are important in shaping who we become. Sometimes it helps to consciously focus on the positives. So what are the positive experiences for you in moving from your former faith to one you have now?

I can think of many positive reasons, but it sure would vary on the individual's personality, and on the religion.

For example, joining some religions would mean there is no need to think. All you have to do is read and understand what the founder was saying. For people who were previously floundering with a search, or in confusion, that would be a Godsend.

And yet, the opposite is also true. For folks that felt their previous religion didn't give them any room for thinking for themselves, the new religion most likely provided space for personal though. In that case, for that person, it's also a Godsend.

I can't answer the question at the end, because I didn't go from one faith to another. I had no faith at all, so in a sense, I was born Hindu, as it was my first faith, in this lifetime.

 

[Brickjectivity]

What’s good about changing religion for you? There have been a couple of threads recently about why people have left religion. That often implies a negative experience with one’s former faith, though it could also be due to positive reasons for joining. I’m interested in exploring the positive as opposed to negative forces. Both positive and negative experiences are important in shaping who we become. Sometimes it helps to consciously focus on the positives. So what are the positive experiences for you in moving from your former faith to one you have now?

All of my attributes negative and positive came with me, so I learned about myself. I also noticed similar problems and solutions faced by different communities. I learned that having older and experienced people helped stabilized any church that faced a decision. Communities that are started new go through a set of common obstacles until they gain experienced people, and then they become more stable. If a church is led by young people, then its a church that will be phased when it encounters the common problems that all churches encounter. Lacking experienced leaders it will repeat some common mistakes. I also learned isolation is not good, that harsh discipline is weak. Its easy to hide problems and difficult to face them. You only hide them when you make everyone act uniformly, and you honor people who know how to act. When a church is systematic begins a countdown to its doom, because systems always break down. This has also influenced my views about politics. There is no stable political system, because systems hide problems.

 

[Pete in Panama]

...changed my beliefs to be intellectually honest with myself.

Huh, now that's a rare quality.

 

[Unveiled Artist]

What’s good about changing religion for you? There have been a couple of threads recently about why people have left religion. That often implies a negative experience with one’s former faith, though it could also be due to positive reasons for joining. I’m interested in exploring the positive as opposed to negative forces. Both positive and negative experiences are important in shaping who we become. Sometimes it helps to consciously focus on the positives. So what are the positive experiences for you in moving from your former faith to one you have now?

I've always been off and on with ancestral veneration as a practice for years because the internet (I don't have outside influence) has much information that sounds more like a fad. This was before my christian conversion in about 2008ish. My grandmother passed 2011 and I had an extreme experience that lead me back. My aunt died and have been practicing sense.

I don't have a structure and never grown up with a solid family structure. It is helping me more with family connection. It's hard to learn gratitude practice with bloodline if you can't with living family. That and I'm finding more things about where I came from. I'm actually part cuban, great grandmother's side and in part my other father's relatives.

As a former catholic, I didn't have that pull to better myself as I do now. As for switch on religion, I do wish I followed a religion that can help put structure to what I do. Though I'm not into paganism and other more traditional religions, lack of better words, are highly private.

All in all, I learning a lot of things from practicing gratitude alone. I guess one would say I received some signs from god or so have you but I always thought it was family protecting me. I wouldn't be surprised, though. Some theist religions believe serving God through ones ancestors. While I don't believe there's a creator, I do feel they have a point.

 

[darkskies]

Huh, now that's a rare quality.

Perhaps. I've met other atheists who've done pretty much the same.

 

[Quintessence]

It's hard to say if I ever really had a "former faith" because although I was raised in a tradition, this was only for around four years of my life and it never really took to begin with. That tradition didn't do any of the things religion is supposed to do in a person's life. Perhaps unsurprisingly, finding religion was one of the best things that ever happened to me in life because it got me those things.

To speak one of those, religion is something akin to axel of one's life wheel - it is the central anchor around which all else revolves, keeping one's life centered. The more you keep that axis aligned and maintained, the less wobbly your wheel, the more it can support, and the smoother it rotates. It is the meaning that is woven through one's existence - an anchor for all of those big, existential questions that have no true answer but through which truth is found/created through experience. Mindfully constructing those stories is very satisfying; taking ownership of who and what you are, your limits and relationships, brings peace.