Your divine path?

[Leftimies]

Soooo, I bet this has been adressed like a gazillion times on this forum, but I am gonna do it again anyways...

We all hold, that the belief (or any world view for that matter) that we adhere to is the one that makes most sense to us and, ergo, by all accounts should be true. However we find ourselves holding many different believes, ranging from different types of religions to different types of atheist world views, so certainly different individuals see different things in these various belief systems.

What is YOUR story, how did you end up with the religion or world view you hold today, why do you think it is the truth, etc?

Also, I did not mean this to be a debate ground of any kind, but rather a place for us to compare our religions, world views, and the valuable, good points each of us see in them.

 

[The Sum of Awe]

This thread should be interesting.

 

[StarryNightshade]

Okay, here we go.

I was born and raised in the southern United States and was raised Southern Baptist. I 100% believed in it until about age 10. At 13 I denounced all religion and became an anti-theist. I hated all religion and thought the Abrahamic God concept was the only one in the world. After a while I became a ''satanist'' (for about a week), but pretty much remained anti-religion throughout all of high school.

After I entered college ( and took classes in history, psychology and philosophy) I stop being anti-religion, but was still a non-believer. By this point I refered to myself as ''agnostic''; which I still technically am today. Soon, I read up on Buddhism and began studying the history and practicing.

About a year later (roughly 3 months ago), after studying more philosophical and theological concepts, I realized I was a Transtheist. I also relaized that Buddhism alone wasn't fulfilling my spiritual needs. So I decided to mix religions together. I considered going back to Christianity and looked into Islam, Judaism, Gnosticism, Bah'ai, Sikhism, Native spirituality, etc.

Then, about 3 months ago, I looked into Hinduism (which I had considered before Buddhism) and realized many of the beliefs mirror my own. Now, I consider myself a Hindu-Buddhist syncretist.

As for beliefs:

- I believe there is an ultimate reality that has many forms for the many believers on this planet. For Christians it is the Trinity, for Jews it is Jehovah, for Muslims it is Allah, etc.

- As far as the Deities and Boddhisattvas go, I believe they are representations of said ultimate reality. They use finite characteristics to help us understand an infinite reality.

- I believe in Karma in a ''cause and effect'' sense. Not as a cosmic judge.

- I believe in Rebirth/Reincarnation (more in rebirth, though) as well as an afterlife of sorts; but I'm skeptical as to if they objectively exist.

- Compassion, love, knowledge and living a good life are important.

- I'm more akin to the Jnana (knowledge/wisdom) path, rather than Bhakti (devotion). Although I certainly do have my devotion.

- While I have my religious beliefs, I also have my secular views that I would never give up.

 

[Vinayaka]

What is YOUR story, how did you end up with the religion or world view you hold today, why do you think it is the truth, etc?

I had good luck.

 

[Twilight Hue]

Well after the falling out, a new direction was available. It helped with keeping the feet on the ground.

 

[NoraSariah]

I was born and raised in a non-denominational Christian home. Our church was originally a Baptist church, so it had all of the screaming and shouting that a Baptist church would have. It was around the age of 14 that I started realizing I didn't believe in what my church was teaching. I noticed my mother bribing me to go to youth group, and saw that people who said they'd accept me were trying to change me. At the age of 17, I stopped going there altogether.

I found the Mormon church at the age of 15. I listened to some hymns and read the doctrine and had completely fallen in love with it. I never saw God, Jesus, and the Holy Ghost as the same person and neither did they. Many of the beliefs aligned with mine, and eventually the rest did as well. After years of waiting till I could do it on my own terms, I was baptized into the church on September 22nd, 2012.

I believe:

- That God and Jesus Christ have bodies of flesh and bone just as we do, but that the Holy Ghost is a spirit
- The Book of Mormon is truly accurate concerning historical and spiritual aspects
- The Bible is also truly accurate
- We have prophets and apostles in our day
- God is a God of love, not of hate. He loves and cares for us and wants us to return to Him
- Families are eternal
- Jesus Christ died for my sins so I didn't have to die

I've never found a belief system that impacted me as much as this church did. Because of my beliefs, I'm happier, kinder, and I have a confidence that I've always lacked because I know that I'm a daughter of God.

 

[Knight of Albion]

Gandhi very wisely said that the world's religions are like the branches of a tree...
Which I think beautifully puts the various faiths in proper perspective.

It is our deeds, the accumulated acts of goodness and kindness, that define us and ultimately are the true measure of our worth.
Service is the coin of the spirit. :flower2:

 

[Windwalker]

What is YOUR story, how did you end up with the religion or world view you hold today, why do you think it is the truth, etc?

I see all religious beliefs, those concerning our ultimate concern, as fingers pointing at the moon and not the moon itself. Which would include my own beliefs. It holds truth for me, but that truth is not exclusive nor absolute.

I've come to learn this through a long road spanning 30 years, from a naive confused teen who had a couple transcendent, existential experiences, who sought answers to these newly exposed 'big questions' in religion. Ended up joining a fundamentalist Christian group who promised these answers with a capital A! (appealed to my needs at that stage). My spirit could not find a home in their hollow certitudes after a few years. Left them and went middle of the road. Found little there. Left religion altogether. Ignored these deeper needs, which couldn't ignore me as was evident.

Embraced rationalism to weed out the mythic dogma clouding my vision. Found it to be missing the larger picture. Took up meditation, opening to the inner self and bringing the rational self and the spiritual self together. Christianity is my native language, but I identify with all religions, and none. In this way, I say I'm the same religion as God which is owned by none, but known in all.

 

[Quintessence]

I usually dodge making lengthy replies to threads like this because I've done it too often. *laughs* But I'll give something a bit different than my default answer that is universal to all humans. Before that, I will say that I really don't regard my path as "The Truth" in any fashion. It is a truth - but one map of the territory that is reality. I really have no problem with other maps of the territory until they directly threaten my personal well-being or that of my kinfolk, and I don't mind paradigm shifting to different maps where they have their uses.

Some of the reasons why I identify with Neopaganism:

• Nature-centered. I enjoy a focus on the right here and the right now, because it is what holds value and meaning to me.
• Accepts otherworlds. Because I can't personally stand defining reality in narrow terms; existence as idea or "fantasy" is still existence.
• Non-dogmatic. You're basically free to craft a path that works for you and is meaningful for you, not bow down to some external authority for validation.
• Science friendly. Contemporary Pagan theology strongly complements science and I've never run into an anti-science denalist in the community.
• Fantastical. There are just some cool things here in terms of practices, from theatrical style rituals and bardic storytelling to seeing the extraordinary in the ordinary.

A simplified list, and not a particularly well thought out one, but it suffices to offer a window of understanding.

 

[Sha'irullah]

My belief in Deism started young as I was incapable of accepting anything I was told by my parents. I had a mother who thought the sun orbited around the earth and who thought land sat still above the watery core of the earth. This lack of knowledgeable people led me to seek knowledge and seek I did and I found Christianity entirely incompatible with reason.
This led me to Islam which I adhered to for some years. This was a fallacy of my own do to emotional reasons mainly being that I have a fond love of Turkish and Arabic culture. This was an obvious downfall because after I made my last salat I realized that I was praying to The Supreme God in Arabic because he understood no other language. I was also slowly adopting Arabic superiority to receive salvation and after logic struck my head again finally I moved to Sanatana Dharma and straight to Deism.
I was sort of a Christian Deist as a youth and I have now embraced a purer form of Deism in my life.

To me no holds as much truth as people wish to believe. They are man made but divinely attributed. To me all religions deserved to be dissected and re-evaluated. None are holy but all are important to mankind.
As of now I have began to read the Bible again and enjoy its stories regardless of the fact I find barely any of them historical or factual in nature. Just something for inspiration.

I am transitioning to a form of Deistic Gnosticism as of now. Deism spawned from Spinozism and Gnosticism to begin with so I am experimenting with the Gnostic precursor.

 

[dgirl1986]

I grew up in a non religious household.
Became a christian in year 8 and tried really hard to be a good christian for about 11 years.
Denounced myself as a christian at about 22.
Looked at other belief systems.
Found paganism and I felt like I was coming home.
I think it is the truth because it echoed what I already in my heart believed.
Experiences also contribute.

 

[Jainarayan]

Cliff Notes version:

1. Baptized and raised Roman Catholic.
2. Converted to Eastern Orthodox Church @ 23 years old.
3. Got dissatisfied w/ EO Church also and drifted away after about 10-12 years.
4. Remained agnostic and deist until my latent Hindu beliefs resurfaced a few years ago.
5. Been practicing primarily Hinduism, but adding elements of Mahayana Buddhism and Taoism.
6. I have nothing against Jesus or Christianity as he intended, and I even accept his teachings,
but I would never return to any Christian church.

 

[Fireside_Hindu]

I was raised by liberal (relatively) Catholic parents who had us cycle through protestant churches until I was about 10. Considered myself a Christian until the age of 14, when I realized that all it did for me was instill fear in my heart and that was not what I believed God to be. I wobbled between atheist and agnostic until about a year and a half ago, when I found Hinduism by chance while doing research for an art project.

I took one step into a temple and breathed the biggest sigh of relief I ever had. The thought, "This is it." came to mind and after doing a lot of research I haven't looked back since.

:camp:

 

[Question_love_act]

Love this thread I like how many of us have evolved and have questioned the religion we were born in.

I was born in a non-practicing Catholic family, like almost everybody in Montréal or at least French Montréal. I loved everything about God and Jesus, but never truly practiced because I was not really encouraged to. As a teen, I began to reject the Pope and clergy tenets of Catholicism.

So at the beginning of my teens years, I explored Protestantism, but mostly on an informal level by searching though the web and telling people - both on the web and in person - that I was Protestant. It was not until I was in my late teens that I started actually attending Church, because a friend invited me to his church. It was a Pentecostal Church. I didn't know what it was, but I soon figured out I wasn't at my place. As a feminist en devenir, I was uncomfortable with the way the sexes and sexual orientations were portrayed. So after a period of struggle between two beliefs I thought were incompatible, I looked for another Church.

I looked for a Church that would not condemn sexual equality and sexual diversity. And I didn't expect to find a Church that would actually celebrate it! It was the United Church of Canada (a liberal Protestant Church close to United Church of Christ in the US). Thanks to UCC, I began to believe that Christianity was not the only good religion. That you could celebrate sexuality and other "liberal" issues that are dear to me (environment, fair trade, etc.) even though you were not Christian. And in parallel I got to make friends of other - liberal - religions. So after quite a few years in UCC I completely changed religion.

Because seeing people from different religions is so important to me, I now consider myself a Unitarian Universalist. I just began to assist worships in a UU Church and I feel even better than when I was at UCC. To be continued...