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Why Did You Chose Your Form Of Religion?

Halcyon

Lord of the Badgers
AlanGurvey said:
I wanted to make a good first thread so here it goes.... :eek:

O.K. Then I don't know if I am opening a can of worms here.. But why did you chose your religion or lack thereof? After all in our lives we always have the ability to chose our forms of thought and worship. Why does your religion of non religion appeal to you? How does it fit into your logic? Has your religious views been affected by your parents or environment? How can your religion or lack thereof be considered logical?
My spiritual search began at the age of 14, when i looked into my father's eyes as he died.
Before the age of 14 i was hylic, that is materialistic/un-spiritual. I was raised atheist.

After my father's death i began searching for higher truth, a greater understanding. I studied various religions, and for 3 years i was something of a Kemetic. Upon discovering Buddhism, i found a different way of thinking - my Kemetic beliefs disappeared. In Buddhidsm was something totally different to the anthropomorphic Abrahamic religions.

At university i became interested in Wicca and joined a group of pagans. This opened my eyes to other forms of anthropomorphic projection onto deity, although in the case of Wiccans they realise they are projecting. I still have much respect for the pagan paths.

After university i continued searching and through the goddess Sophia, who i knew via paganism, i discovered Gnosticism. Gnosticism reawakened the Buddhist ideas that had been pushed to the back of my mind. They're very similar.
Mix Buddhism, Taoism and a bit of Hinduism and you pretty much have Gnosticism.

So that's how i came to my 'religion', or path - path is better.

So, why Gnosticism? Well to use the cliche, it answers all my questions. But not in the way any other religion does.

Gnosticism is a path, because it is constantly changing. It leads to a destination, it is not the destination itself. My search led me to Gnosticism, and my search continues through Gnosticism. Gnosticism gives hints to answers, little clues that teachers like Yeshua have left behind. But we have to find those answers ourselves.

Through my scientific studies i understand how the universe was formed, how life came to be and how it evolved into its current state.

Through my contemplation of The One i have found answers to why the universe formed, why the universe should exist at all and why we are here. (if you want these answers, just PM me)
There is still a lot more that i don't know, like is there life after death?

People look to religion for an assurance that they will continue to exist after death, they look to God for protection and beg for help in their earthly lives. Gnosticism isn't about such trivial things though, Gnosticism is about understanding and finding peace. No earning of divine browny points. No reliance an an external God or Saviour. No prayer/begging to an antropomorphic deity.

Gnosticism was accused of being elitist in ancient times, and you know what - maybe there is some truth in that. Not everybody is ready for Gnosticism as you need to approach it with a certain mind state.
Most people are either Hylic - that is they don't care about the spritual, they concentrate only on material wealth and gaining more of it. They may have an idea about God or a lack of God, but it doesn't concern them as much as what colour their car is.
If they're not Hylic, then their Psychical. This doesn't mean they are psychic. It just means they believe in the spiritual, but they anthropomorphosise it, they see purpose and interaction with human like deities. They see an astral world that is like this one, where gods, fae and other beings live and can interact with us. They limit God.

The remainder are the Pneumatics, the Gnostics. The elite few who can see past the Hylic and Psychical mindsets. They search for realisation, they do not read about it in a book. They try to interact with God, but not with words or actions. They look for answers and sometimes they find them, but not from a story - they find their answers within and without.
Gnosticism does not contradict science in any way, if it did i would not be Gnostic. The only faith we have is that there is more to existance than meets the eye.

Anyone can be Gnostic, all it takes is for you to open your eyes.

This is why i am a Gnostic.
(you asked for detailed posts:p )

p.s. you asked about logic. Well logic applies to this universe, i use it when i think about the properties of this universe. Outside of this world, different logic applies.
 

michel

Administrator Emeritus
Staff member
AlanGurvey said:
HOW IS IT LOGICAL TO YOU?!?!?!?
COMMON PEOPLE THINK!
DETAIL!
ANALYZE YOURSELVES! :mad:

Please, Alan, don't do that again.

Why did I choose my form of Religion ?..... my form of Religion is an ever changing one. It seems to 'adapt' as I grow older; it is not one from a book, not from sacred documents or books. It is a belief system that I believe in, because, to me, it is the only way, (and when I say that, I mean, 'for me').

When I was in my late teens, I read a few books, did an awful lot of meditating, and came to the point at which I now am.......a 'composite' of Christianity and various other faiths. It feels right for me. To me, that is all that should matter.
 

Buttons*

Glass half Panda'd
How did I choose my form of religion? (if i dont have the question in front of me i'll go off topic)

This is how I came to my conclusion (long boring story):

I was born into the Episcopal church. I was baptized as a baby. We went to church every sunday, and I attended an Episcopal lower/middle school. I even sang in the chior there. At my school, every year, we had a ceremony called "blessing of the animals" where you would bring your pet to get baptized so it would go to heaven with you. So I always believed that animals and plants had souls. I was the child who, on "classroom of the earth" trips, would wander off to be alone to listen to nature, I was so sure something was there that i could not see. The energy of the earth is incredible.

When we learned a out Native Americans in school, I always thought that their religion was great because of the respect shown to all living things. I always believed that they believed in MY god, but they just split him up into different gods. (I wanted to believe they were going to "heaven" with me) I didnt really feel strongly about my faith, or condemning anyone else for theirs. My Epsicopal school actually taught religious tolerance, and thinking for ourselves. (We had a Jewish teacher who taught us about Islam.) We had chapel the first 15 minutes of every day, and then God was not mentioned in the classroom for the rest of the day. When i was In chapel, I never "spoke" to god, I "thought" to him. I thought if he could read my mind anyway, no reason to speak what i was thinking... I had some amazing teachers who always tried to instill in us the will to think for ourselves.

Well, we graduated in 8th grade, and i was 14. When i was 12 my parents got divorced, and after i graduated, we didnt have enough money to live in the house we did, so we moved out to ****-hole Argyle. I went to Public school for my Freshman year. I met friends of various beliefs, such as mormonism, atheism, and non-denominaitonal christian. One of the teachers i had really challenged us to think beyond what was written. I was lucky, because i got philosophy in english class. (we learned hardly anything english-wise that year)

That same year, i found out that my best friend was pagan. I still justified that she believed the same god, jsut split up differently. I really liked the dedication that people had in the mormon faith. When one of the LDS girls told me that my pagan friend was going to hell, and I didnt really care about her because I let her make her own decisions, i realized that Christianity wasnt the way i had always seen it. I was always taught as a christian that people should know you're christian by the love you show, not by saying, "I am a Christian" I thought, "We're all gonna wind up in the same place anyway, who cares what you believe to get there?"

Amelia and I discussed religion, beliefs, and thought all the time. She mentioned something about there being a missing Goddess to Christianity, which, at the time, i put aside. I went to a book store and found a book that had the title, "Jesus and the Lost Goddess" ... I had to look into it! I picked it up, and read it several times... I found in it an ancient "religious" sect of Gnostics, and cried when I read how they were persecuted for believing slightly differently than everyone else. How could people kill eachother like that? The injustice of it all made me hurt inside. I assumed that all the Gnostics were gone. So I didnt really look into it as a religious possability. Although I REALLY wanted to...(2003)

...Well, my Sophomore year, I wanted to twirl for my highschool, and the public school wouldnt let me, so I changed schools to a non-denominational christian school. (perhaps the biggest mistake of my life...) This school prays before every class, and discusses the faults in all other religions. It upset me that people couldn't be open minded and loving. It is a very frustrating situation.

That summer I went to baton twirling nationals at the University of Notre Dame. While there, I looked in their book store, and found a book that changed my life, "The Heart of Philosophy" by Jacob Needleman. Amelia, my pagan friend, had already confronted me with the fact that there was a goddess to christianity, and other such radical ideas. While i read the book, I was so happy. Inside, I felt a fire of excitement.

A few months later, I was looking in a book store in Hawaii, and happened to look up to see a book titled, "The Gospel of Mary Magdelene" with a forward written by Jacob Needleman. Of course i had to look into it! I read that gospel forwards, backwards, inside out, and i cried each and every time. It was so beautiful, the overwhelming message of inner knowledge and understanding. Indescribable....

November 2004 I went to go see my dying grandmother. In the airport book store, I found a book called, "The Gnostic Gospels of Jesus"... I picked that book up, and didn't set it down for a few weeks. Read it cover to cover several times... It made me feel inside what nothing else ever has. Complete. While I was reading the texts, everything made sense, and I sometimes understood, for brief moments anyway. The allegories and stories were just beautiful. I was free to search for the truth behind the veil! It covered all the loose ends that i ever had while believing in Christianity, and gave oppertunity to find my true self within the pages. It made perfect and rational sence in the fact that the "gods" are simply personafied thought! Its so easy!!! Its all there, if people would choose to see it! I learned that I know that I dont know. The love of Sophia is what saved me.

I've always thought that Irony follows me. If there were any god that i percieved as a true, living God, Irony would be it. I dont think I chose Gnostics... i believe the coincidences for me finding those books and the feelings inside chose me. Irony willed me to find it. Just as Irony willed me to find this place... I'll see the purpose of it someday. heh... maybe there is no purpose, who knows? Not me.

I'm starting to see... maybe...

(sorry for the long post)
 

Ody

Well-Known Member
FFH said:
You asked for details.

Yes and you gave them, i wasn't attacking not a single person for thier beliefs, i was attacking the two sentance posting.

Btw frubals for your posts, some for halycon to :bounce
 

St0ne

Active Member
I found the new way of thinking to be much more revealing of the nature and realities of the world, I can also go read something Buddha has said and then aply it to everyday life or observe it to see if it is true, I've always found that what I've investigated in Buddhism to be true and extremely insightful so It has convinced me yet allowes and encourages me to maintain whatever level of skepiticism I like.

Most of all it has made me more mindful of everyday things, it has peaked my engagment in world issues. It has made me a better person a taught me much about myself I hadn't realised and confirmed many things I had. I feel as if I am actually getting somewhere.
 

Karl R

Active Member
I grew up in a Methodist church from earliest childhood. Bible stories were presented to me as fact, and I believed them.

Early in my teen years I realized that attending a christian church did not make me a christian. I then made a conscious choice to become a christian. My primary motivation at that time was a desire to go to heaven and a fear of going to hell.

In high school I was introduced to the concepts of deistic and theistic evolution. Since then, I've never felt there was any inherent conflict between christianity and science.

Around that same time, I came to realize that I had chosen christianity because that's what my parents had taught me. That's what my church had taught me. After a couple of months of searching, my experiences led me to a point where I was still a christian, but it was my decision, not a default setting.

When I went to college, I started hanging around with a group of christians who demonstrated what the ideal of christian fellowship is truly meant to be. That experience has remained a strong influence on me since.

In college I first got the chance to study other religions. I discovered that there was a lot of truth and wisdom in other religious texts.

This led me to again question my beliefs. I was brought up in a christian society. It was very likely that I would have grown up with different beliefs if I'd been born elsewhere. After spending much time examining other beliefs, I realized that I didn't connect with any of these other religions in the way that I connected with christianity.

A couple years later I had four months of extreme financial hardship. I was hungry to the point of malnourishment, and I was facing the very real possibility of ending up on the street. My faith was one of the things that kept me going through that time.

That may sound corny to non-religious people, so I'll try to explain:
When you are in a desparate situation, and there is every reason to expect the situation to continue to get worse, anything that can give you enough hope to keep trying is extremely important. Especially when there's no rational reason to have hope.

I also learned a lot during that time. Among other things, I now have a crystal clear understanding of what things in life are necessities, and what things aren't. That understanding is rare in most first world countries.

Over the next few years I became disillusioned with organized religion. I was particularly disgusted by the way that most churches treat homosexuals. For several years I left the church.

Eventually I came to realize that I needed some form of christian fellowship or I stopped living my beliefs. Intellectually believing is easy, but I need some form of support network to make it possible to put those beliefs into action. I found a Presbyterian church that was more tolerant than most and became quite involved until I moved away.

At some point during this time I realized that the afterlife was no longer a major concern to me. Christianity was important to me because it encouraged me to become a better person. I believe in heaven, so I don't fear death. But if I discovered that the only thing that existed after death was oblivion, I wouldn't regret the path I've followed.

Following this, I had another one of the pivotal experiences in my spiritual journey. I prayed for a miracle and got it. I had a fairly normal reaction: it scared the s**t out of me. I won't bother with the details. You can believe that I'm lying, or that I'm mistaken, or that I'm a delusional nutcase. I don't have that luxury.

As a side note, I have no idea why god granted my request. In retrospect, the situation didn't seem that important. I'm absolutely certain that the miracle wasn't granted on my merits as a christian. I can only guess that there was something in the situation that made it particularly important to god.

Around the same time I had another important experience. I had been asking god why he allowed so many denominations to exist, particularly the conservative ones which I felt were terribly wrong. God showed me that all the denominations serve a purpose. Some people can only find their way to god in a highly structured dogmatic church. They'd feel lost in any church I'd like. Similarly, I'd feel stifled in that kind of church, and I have to attend churches where I am free to question anything and everything. As part of that epiphany, I realized that god didn't share my biases about which denominations were right and wrong.

In the years since then, I've come to strongly suspect that most religions are just as valid as christianity. I no longer worry whether my beliefs are more true than anyone else's. I know my beliefs are sufficiently valid, and that's as much assurance as I really need. If anyone follows a path that leads them to treat other people better, I will do nothing to discourage them from that path.

I've recently started attending a unitarian universalist church. I'm using the opportunity to start exploring in depth what other religions believe. I'm particularly seeking pieces of wisdom that I can incorporate into my own beliefs.

For me the journey isn't over. There will always be more out there for me to learn. My faith is continuously evolving, and I really have no idea where it will end up.
 

Booko

Deviled Hen
AlanGurvey said:
I wanted to make a good first thread so here it goes.... :eek:

O.K. Then I don't know if I am opening a can of worms here.. But why did you chose your religion or lack thereof? After all in our lives we always have the ability to chose our forms of thought and worship. Why does your religion of non religion appeal to you? How does it fit into your logic? Has your religious views been affected by your parents or environment? How can your religion or lack thereof be considered logical?

Hi Alan:

The short answer is: My beliefs seem to fit the way the world works better than anything I've found yet.

I would've given you the same answer when I was an atheist, fwiw.

I was raised a Christian (Protestant), but left that for atheism when I thought I had to choose between what I could see with my own eyes and an ancient text. Eventually I learned what a "false dichotomy" was....very handy, that. As an atheist, I was always reading up on other religions, wondering why anyone would be deranged enough to belong to one, and then I ran across one that dealt with the "problems" I thought religion had. If, someday, I run across a religion, or lack thereof, that provides a better explanation of reality as I perceive it, then I'll change my belief system yet again.

If I get to the point where I stop looking at things and wondering about what is real and not real, what is true and not true, then I will get really worried.

I look forward to tracking down your post about why you believe what you do.
 

Booko

Deviled Hen
Bangbang said:
I am a Mormon today because I thought it would be cool to have multiple wives. I know...I know....but there must be a branch of Mormons that still practices this....Right?

Dear Bangbang: Now I *know* that you must be insane. :p

PMS times x number of wives.
They gang up on you with the "Honey-do list"
Your hands will be tired from too many foot rubs.
You'll be working 3 jobs to buy a house big enough for everyone...and the *furniture* ack!

Naw...you really should rethink this one.
 

Booko

Deviled Hen
ChrisP said:
They call it Smog ;)

That's the SE part of Michigan. On the Western side they got rain clouds. Sometimes it even rains.

Sometimes there are even jobs.

Regards,
A gal [formerly] from Kalamazoo
 

Booko

Deviled Hen
BruceDLimber said:
Just in case you don't know the definition:

PMS, n. Just before their periods, women behave the way men do all the time.

Trust me, I know very few women who haven't heard that one before. It comes up in public restrooms with some frequency. :sarcastic
 

opuntia

Religion is Law
I chose my religion because of its doctrinal consistencies. Religion I believe should be orderly as God we suppose is orderly. Religion that is disorganized is inconsistent with the thought of a Supreme Being and His perfections. Jesus organized a Church close to two thousand years ago, just one Church. Today we have over a thousand forms or sects that call themselves the Church of Christ. Moses and Muhammad both brought forth only one form of observance, but today there are more than one sect in each religion. It would seem that to be consistent, one religion should answer for all of mankind.
 

oneness

Member
In my younger years I used to think that becoming a Bahá’í was an event after which one could no longer do certain things. Gradually, I am discovering that it is very much a process and a journey in which one would WANT to DO certain things out of love and not fear or force.

Bahá’u’lláh teaches about equality of women and men, replacing the rule of the sword with the power of the Word, independent investigation of truth and not the clergies’ version, harmony of religion with science and logic, finding spiritual solutions to economic problems, adoption of one auxiliary universal language, script and currency, elimination of all forms of prejudice, noble creation of all human beings, amity and friendship with all races and kindred of the world, service to all mankind … and above all the three onenesses…

That God is one, man is one, and all the religions are one … one religion of God, “eternal in the past, eternal in the future” being revealed to us progressively as we grow and evolve in every way as a race. That only God is absolute in Himself, and all things, including religious truths, are relative and need to be updated with time and our progress.

Imagining God to be a fixed point in space (absolute) and we humans a moving one since we are constantly in the state of flux and evolution, it would only be logical for our relationship, religion, or the line that connects us to change and evolve in its properties. Although its basic properties or spiritual core are the same, the length and inclination, or social teachings evolve and change.

With that He has created love and admiration for all the peoples of the world and taught us that we can be united with all our diversity, for unity is not uniformity. He has taught us that in accepting Him, we need not reject others, rather to acknowledge and celebrate their contribution to the advancement of humankind as well. His words clothes past scriptures with meanings and let the essence and truth of their message shine forth under the thick man-made dross of dogma and superstition.

Bahá’u’lláh says that God has reserved human hearts to be “His dawning place”, so therefore ‘faith’ is something that one must feel in one’s heart. As God is the center of the ‘circle of life’ and we all stand on the circumference circling round the center, we are all connected to that ONE center, albeit through seemingly different radii, and are united in our common gravitation towards it.

For every age and every religion there is a purpose. Others have fulfilled theirs. The purpose of the Bahá’í faith is to unite the peoples of the world and build an ever-advancing society. For the first time in our history, not only are they possible, but inevitable. For that, I am a Bahá’í.

Peace,
 
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