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What do you think makes your religion true?

LittleLowlife

New Member
Question to the religious people on here, what lead you to your religion and what makes it true in your eyes? As it stands I currently lean to atheism however I enjoy hearing about other's experiences and hope to learn something. :)
 
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McBell

Resident Sourpuss
Lack of convincing evidence otherwise.

And for the record: Any being that falls for Pascals Wager is not worthy of being labeld "god" let alone "God".
 

SalixIncendium

अग्निविलोवनन्दः
Staff member
Premium Member
Question to the religious people on here, what lead you to your religion and what makes it true in your eyes?

Experience.

What lead you to the belief that there is a god and further, that your religion holds the truth about who/what that god is?

Apologies for answering your question with a question, by why do you assume a religion requires "god?"
 

McBell

Resident Sourpuss
Apologies for answering your question with a question, by why do you assume a religion requires "god?"
It may simply be an assumed thing.
I know I was guilty of tying religion to god.
Granted that was back right before I joined RF.
But it was an honest mistake due to my making assumptions instead of looking things up for myself.
 

Rival

Si m'ait Dieus
Staff member
Premium Member
Question to the religious people on here, what lead you to your religion and what makes it true in your eyes? What lead you to the belief that there is a god and further, that your religion holds the truth about who/what that god is? As it stands I currently lean to atheism however I enjoy hearing about other's experiences and hope to learn something. :)
Experience and trial and error. I tried a few different religions and could not connect with their God or gods. This is the religion that makes most sense to me, makes sense of my time in this world.
 

savagewind

Veteran Member
Premium Member
I can't come up with another good reason for LIFE and all that it is and because it is so very good, then God has to be good too. :)
 

sun rise

The world is on fire
Premium Member
Question to the religious people on here, what lead you to your religion and what makes it true in your eyes? What lead you to the belief that there is a god and further, that your religion holds the truth about who/what that god is? As it stands I currently lean to atheism however I enjoy hearing about other's experiences and hope to learn something. :)

My beliefs are not necessarily truer than any other persons beliefs. Because to me Truth is beyond belief. But I accept what not only makes sense to me but also gives my life meaning and purpose. And my beliefs motivate me to action.

And the root of that belief is that love is real. Recently I became aware of an expression I quite like from Nisargadatta Maharaj that for me expresses profound truth and my goal in life:
“Wisdom is knowing I am nothing,
Love is knowing I am everything,
and between the two my life moves.”​

What led me to a belief in God was a set of experiences I had that convinced me that there is something beyond the every day world which I labeled "God".

The truth of God to me is beyond words as well because words are limited and can not express ultimate truth. What words can do is give us a frame-of-reference we find helpful.

To me an atheist who has a strong ethical standard and lives the standard is much better than a believer who does not try to live his or her beliefs. Of course we're all humans and don't succeed fully, but to me the important thing is to try.
 

Nakosis

Non-Binary Physicalist
Premium Member
Question to the religious people on here, what lead you to your religion and what makes it true in your eyes? What lead you to the belief that there is a god and further, that your religion holds the truth about who/what that god is? As it stands I currently lean to atheism however I enjoy hearing about other's experiences and hope to learn something. :)

What makes religion true is belief. You believe it to be true. What leads to belief is generally experience. Something you've experienced has confirmed what you believe. What that experience consists of seems to vary amongst individuals.
 

steveb1

Member
Question to the religious people on here, what lead you to your religion and what makes it true in your eyes? What lead you to the belief that there is a god and further, that your religion holds the truth about who/what that god is? As it stands I currently lean to atheism however I enjoy hearing about other's experiences and hope to learn something. :)

My religion is godless - Jodo Shinshu Buddhism. All Buddhism is godless. In Jodo Shinshu, the primordial Buddha, Amitabha, is said to grant the adherent Shinjin - "perfect faith" - in this life, and then to spark our hitherto dormant Buddha Nature upon taking birth in the next life.

Amitabha Buddha is not a deity, not a creator, and not an intervener in this material world (which he did not create to begin with).

For me, Jodo Shinshu is true in the pragmatic sense that it works - it delivers what it promises, and again it is pragmatic because - unlike other Buddhist schools - it eschews all self-power practices, including meditation. The idea is that we cannot attain Enlightenment through self-effort, and so we therefore rely solely on the Buddha for our ultimate Enlightenment.
 

Cooky

Veteran Member
Question to the religious people on here, what lead you to your religion and what makes it true in your eyes? What lead you to the belief that there is a god and further, that your religion holds the truth about who/what that god is? As it stands I currently lean to atheism however I enjoy hearing about other's experiences and hope to learn something. :)

I'm not interested in "true". I'm interested in what feels right.
 

beenherebeforeagain

Rogue Animist
Premium Member
Question to the religious people on here, what lead you to your religion and what makes it true in your eyes? What lead you to the belief that there is a god and further, that your religion holds the truth about who/what that god is? As it stands I currently lean to atheism however I enjoy hearing about other's experiences and hope to learn something. :)
1) my experiences in life
2) I do not old a belief that there is a god, and I most certainly do not know Who/What that god is or would be.
3) I am agnostic about god/gods.
 

osgart

Nothing my eye, Something for sure
I find it inescapable that life is about virtues and vices. Those are ideals though. Life is tribal and territorial for the most part. Virtues are to me a way above and out of tribal limitations.
Democracy seems to be a wedge into the pitfalls of human nature. Power corrupts people. If people need self interested reasons for being virtuous I think there are plenty of them. Humans can often show that it's within them to regard a higher nature to their actions.

The higher nature is what motivates me in my spiritual practices. I think there are many levels to living after virtue. From novice to supreme royalty.
 

Aupmanyav

Be your own guru
Hinduism is many religions in one. It ranges from polytheism to atheism (I am an atheist - non-dual Advaita Hinduism).
What makes it true is that it has no conflict even with the newest theories of science including Chaos, Uncertainty and Quantum Mechanics.
 

loverofhumanity

We are all the leaves of one tree
Premium Member
Question to the religious people on here, what lead you to your religion and what makes it true in your eyes? What lead you to the belief that there is a god and further, that your religion holds the truth about who/what that god is? As it stands I currently lean to atheism however I enjoy hearing about other's experiences and hope to learn something. :)

One reason is that it restored my faith in the goodness of humanity and gave me hope and vision for a glorious future for mankind free of the curse of war, a golden age of peace budding into a world civilisation. That we can do it. That we can and will, despite obstacles, eventually unite and accept our common humanity.

Apart from that my religion literally saved my life after 6 suicide attempts caused by despair and hopelessness.
 

Mock Turtle

Oh my, did I say that!
Premium Member
I can't come up with another good reason for LIFE and all that it is and because it is so very good, then God has to be good too. :)

So many tend to see the opposite - life being such a burden - and probably having a religious belief for this. Me, I tend to see the good and bad in life, accept such, and have no need to explain such through any form of religious belief. We are lucky to have such a rich amount of life on the Earth and should be grateful for it, but this doesn't then inevitably lead to thanking and praising some possible creator for such. Life just is, even though we still haven't found the origins of such yet. But perhaps we will in the future.
 

mikkel_the_dane

My own religion
Question to the religious people on here, what lead you to your religion and what makes it true in your eyes? What lead you to the belief that there is a god and further, that your religion holds the truth about who/what that god is? As it stands I currently lean to atheism however I enjoy hearing about other's experiences and hope to learn something. :)

My religious world view is not true. It works for me subjectively. As for God I am an agnostic and further I know nothing about what reality really is.
Now I believe in God, but that is personal and my version of God is my version and says nothing about God as God.

Regards
Mikkel
 

LittleLowlife

New Member
Experience.



Apologies for answering your question with a question, by why do you assume a religion requires "god?"
Ah sorry, made this post quite late at night. I know there are religions out there that don't believe in a singular god or gods at all. What does your religion teach/ what are your beliefs? Haven't had much experience with Advaitist Hindus.
 
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SalixIncendium

अग्निविलोवनन्दः
Staff member
Premium Member
Ah sorry, made this post quite late at night. I know there are religions out there that don't believe in a singular god or gods at all. What does your religion teach? Haven't had much experience with Advaitist Hindus.

Advaita Vedanta is a Hindu philosophy of nondualism. In essence, it posits that all existence is none other than Brahman (the highest universal principle/ultimate reality) and that moksha (liberation/enlightenment) is achievable in this life.
 

arthra

Baha'i
Question to the religious people on here, what lead you to your religion and what makes it true in your eyes? As it stands I currently lean to atheism however I enjoy hearing about other's experiences and hope to learn something. :)

I was raised in a Baptist family and my Grandfather was a fine model ... but my childhood was during WWII and my father was away in the Pacific theatre of the war until 1946.. My uncle was in the European theatre of the war. Any way in a few years the Korean War started and my father went to Quantico Va. to train lieutenants... Later I joined him and in 1952 observed the racial segregation of Washington DC ... Colored and white schools, drinking fountains, bathrooms, you name it.. racial segregation. So I grew up with baneful influences of was and racism.

When I returned to my own community I had begun reading books in the local library and came across the works of Sir Edwin Arnold who translated in poetic English the Bhagavad Gita, The Light of Asia (Buddhism); Islamic Sufi works... I began to be drawn to exploring other religions... I soon felt I could not belong to a religion that " looked down on other religions".

Around 1965 I discovered the Baha'i Faith in my public library. The Faith opposed war and racism and recognized the Divine origin of the major world religions. I soon found Baha'is in my local community and joined the Faith.

Teachings

One thing that I later discovered was that the philanthropists who donated the library early in the twentieth century had also met Abdul-Baha at a Peace Conference they had organized in 1912
in Mohonk New York.... so it really is a "small world after all!"

Peace Conference at Lake Mohonk | The Journey West
 
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