What do you personally believe in?...
- Thread starter Kase
- Start date
T
I hear ya.. I used to be the same way.
If the old Tessa just would have heard the stuff coming out of my mouth a year ago.. wow.. I'd be slapping myself siilly.
You're right. You have to give in to faith. You have to trust. You have to open up your heart. Trusting and opening up my heart were two things I was very bad at.. and that left me friendless and very unhappy.... God has helped to change me. All because I gave in to His love for me.
If the old Tessa just would have heard the stuff coming out of my mouth a year ago.. wow.. I'd be slapping myself siilly.
You're right. You have to give in to faith. You have to trust. You have to open up your heart. Trusting and opening up my heart were two things I was very bad at.. and that left me friendless and very unhappy.... God has helped to change me. All because I gave in to His love for me.
Buckshot! You are freaking me out! I agree with you AGAIN! I also think this whole heaven or hell is for people who can't deal with the fact that they are simply dead when they die. To take away the fear of death.
There are too many things that do not sound right to me. Babies going to hell if they die before being baptized?
I believe in Karma. What goes around comes around.
I believe in myself.
And I believe that religion is a farce to keep order and discipline and to keep people from accepting the truth about life.
There are too many things that do not sound right to me. Babies going to hell if they die before being baptized?
I believe in Karma. What goes around comes around.
I believe in myself.
And I believe that religion is a farce to keep order and discipline and to keep people from accepting the truth about life.
I believe in nature. Silly I know, but I always feel more "enlightened" when I am closest to nature. A hike in the woods always lifts my spirits, so much more than going shopping or just walking in a city. If there's anything that I feel is truly divine, it is nature.
I want to believe in God. I hope that God will lead me to strengthen my belief in Him. I go to church to learn about Him, but with so many people's interpretations of God and the Bible being thrown at me, I feel that "religion" is solely a man-made thing. I don't want to follow the laws that humans have made up. I don't want humans to tell me what is and is not moral.
What faith I have is between me and God. I wouldn't say I am a Christian, though I believe Jesus is my savior. I can't let myself get wrapped up in all the details and man-made rules of organized religion. I've found that when I do, and when I see how much hatred and discrimination breeds within a religion based on love and kindness, I only get discouraged and my beliefs dwindle.
I believe in Karma.
I don't believe in fate. I feel that when things happen, it's often a result of coincidence.
I don't believe in destiny or predetermination. I believe that people have control of their destiny, and can change it if they try hard enough. I think it's a lazy thing to say, when someone says that "God has a plan" or "I'm destined to this". Maybe it's true, but if you really want something to happen, get off your butt and act on it.
I believe in love.
I want to believe in God. I hope that God will lead me to strengthen my belief in Him. I go to church to learn about Him, but with so many people's interpretations of God and the Bible being thrown at me, I feel that "religion" is solely a man-made thing. I don't want to follow the laws that humans have made up. I don't want humans to tell me what is and is not moral.
What faith I have is between me and God. I wouldn't say I am a Christian, though I believe Jesus is my savior. I can't let myself get wrapped up in all the details and man-made rules of organized religion. I've found that when I do, and when I see how much hatred and discrimination breeds within a religion based on love and kindness, I only get discouraged and my beliefs dwindle.
I believe in Karma.
I don't believe in fate. I feel that when things happen, it's often a result of coincidence.
I don't believe in destiny or predetermination. I believe that people have control of their destiny, and can change it if they try hard enough. I think it's a lazy thing to say, when someone says that "God has a plan" or "I'm destined to this". Maybe it's true, but if you really want something to happen, get off your butt and act on it.
I believe in love.
My brother is the same way. Whenever we talk about religion, he asks me to prove what I'm saying. Well, to me, that's part of the point of a religion...you just believe in it. You may not have proof that certain things happened but to follow a religion, you just have to have faith. There are definitely things in my religion that I can't prove, but I still believe them to be true.
I don't think my brother will ever find a religion for himself because he needs proof for *everything*, he's very interested in history and scientific stuff so religion just doesn't work for him lol.
I'll admit I'm still a bit "new" to Christianity, I've always considered that my religion but it's not until recently that I started caring about my religion and wanting to learn about it. So I definitely don't know all the details of it and I'm still trying to figure out what exactly it is I believe.
I don't think my brother will ever find a religion for himself because he needs proof for *everything*, he's very interested in history and scientific stuff so religion just doesn't work for him lol.
I'll admit I'm still a bit "new" to Christianity, I've always considered that my religion but it's not until recently that I started caring about my religion and wanting to learn about it. So I definitely don't know all the details of it and I'm still trying to figure out what exactly it is I believe.
cowgurl6254 said:
I'm not going to post it on here, but if anyone is interested in my "proof" about God, PM me. I've experienced three miracles in my life that proves he exists.
I've experienced a bit of one myself, I think that's when I decided I wanted to be a Christian, not just call myself one.
Southpaw- The "religous" debates you have with your brother sounds like me and Brent! LOL
His thing is, God is, and he just believes. Plain and simple. No ifs ands or buts. I ask for proof. Quite simply the proof I want is non-existent, but that's not the point.
The point is just believing.
And we go round and round and round again! ROFL
LOLHis thing is, God is, and he just believes. Plain and simple. No ifs ands or buts. I ask for proof. Quite simply the proof I want is non-existent, but that's not the point.
The point is just believing.
And we go round and round and round again! ROFL
T
The thing is.. ask a christian for proof. We'd give and talk of proof all day, but our proof is not the kind of proof that you want or will choose to accept.
I find myself using the same answers that I once used to judge as stupid and ridiculous. If only I knew back then that it was I that was stupid, and not the answers.
ETA:: O geeze, that cameoff bad. I'm not calling anyone stupid. Just myself stupid. Lol
I find myself using the same answers that I once used to judge as stupid and ridiculous. If only I knew back then that it was I that was stupid, and not the answers.
ETA:: O geeze, that cameoff bad. I'm not calling anyone stupid. Just myself stupid. Lol
It's nice to see a thread like this as I've already pointed out in a previous post. I feel like as of late I've been on a spiritual journey... looking for answers. I've talked to many people about Christianity among other religions and I've maintained an almost Agnostic view for a period of time... but I feel like I'm moving on into, yes, you guessed it, Christianity. Clive Staples Lewis has a way with words, I suppose (Mere Christianity, great book by C.S. Lewis).
But there are a couple of questions I have and I want to see the answers I get from some Christians among the board. And I've asked quite a few actually, I've talked to a lot of people on my journey.
First of all, how can somebody worship a God as immoral and cruel as the one that the Christian religion makes God out to be? According to Christianity - He has:
Turned somebody into a pillar of salt.
Killed 50,000+ people just because a few looked into the Ark of the Covenant.
Ordered the genocide of an entire race including the animals, infants, and women (Amalekites).
And not to mention, torturing people for eternity for a lack of belief in Him and the Christian religion. Christianity makes God out to be worse than any human dictator.
He is unfair; He dishes out infinite punishment for finite sins quite sadistically as well (hell is meant only to inflict pain.. for eternity).
Christians say: God gives us a choice, we don't have to burn in hell, he gives us a way out.
But I say to you, what kind of choice is it? Would you rather get your throat slit or get shot in the head? An abusive father says: constantly praise and adore me or be beaten.
Christians say: God is giving us the way out OF HELL, it's a free gift, please take it!
But I say - are you suggesting that hell exists outside of God's control? Is the devil so POWERFUL as to win souls? In this analogy you portray God as someone who is trying to protect a child of a danger which exists outside of His control. But that's like a parent saying to his son: "Don't go into the street or you'll get run over by a car" and then the son goes out into the street and the parent gets in a bus and runs them over.
Christians say: God doesn't send us to hell, we send ourselves.
But I say - hey, God is the one who CREATED hell, why would He do that? It was created for Satan and his demons but if a parent buys an oven to bake cookies and puts his children in there, it does NOT remove his guilt. It's God's choice to put us there since he created it, he made it for us, in a way, it's sort of his tool. Nice and loving, eh?
Also, another example: I do agree. We punish ourselves. A man indulges in his sexual lust, he gets aids and lives a crappy life. God takes it one step further and then damns the man to hell forEVER.
And I have one more thing to say which bothers me about the Christian religion; or rather, a passage. Apparently, animals have no souls. Which means I will not see Rocky in heaven, if I were to go there. That doesn't make me happy. Not one bit. If my family is not there with me, then I cannot be happy up there. But the bible says the household of a Christian will also be in heaven. But if you consider an animal to be a part of your household then how does that hold water?
God created animals. Scientifically, we ARE animals. But what seperates us from other animals is that we're more intelligent. But then you'd ask, so if there here for no reason at all - then why did God create them? I imagine God would say 'to help humans'... but they do help us, perhaps they love us and I love them, to take them away in the final stage of 'life' (heaven) is just one more cruel and immoral thing God could do.
If you've gotten this far, thanks for reading...
(Mere Christianity, great book by C.S. Lewis). But there are a couple of questions I have and I want to see the answers I get from some Christians among the board. And I've asked quite a few actually, I've talked to a lot of people on my journey.
First of all, how can somebody worship a God as immoral and cruel as the one that the Christian religion makes God out to be? According to Christianity - He has:
Turned somebody into a pillar of salt.
Killed 50,000+ people just because a few looked into the Ark of the Covenant.
Ordered the genocide of an entire race including the animals, infants, and women (Amalekites).
And not to mention, torturing people for eternity for a lack of belief in Him and the Christian religion. Christianity makes God out to be worse than any human dictator.
He is unfair; He dishes out infinite punishment for finite sins quite sadistically as well (hell is meant only to inflict pain.. for eternity).
Christians say: God gives us a choice, we don't have to burn in hell, he gives us a way out.
But I say to you, what kind of choice is it? Would you rather get your throat slit or get shot in the head? An abusive father says: constantly praise and adore me or be beaten.
Christians say: God is giving us the way out OF HELL, it's a free gift, please take it!
But I say - are you suggesting that hell exists outside of God's control? Is the devil so POWERFUL as to win souls? In this analogy you portray God as someone who is trying to protect a child of a danger which exists outside of His control. But that's like a parent saying to his son: "Don't go into the street or you'll get run over by a car" and then the son goes out into the street and the parent gets in a bus and runs them over.
Christians say: God doesn't send us to hell, we send ourselves.
But I say - hey, God is the one who CREATED hell, why would He do that? It was created for Satan and his demons but if a parent buys an oven to bake cookies and puts his children in there, it does NOT remove his guilt. It's God's choice to put us there since he created it, he made it for us, in a way, it's sort of his tool. Nice and loving, eh?
Also, another example: I do agree. We punish ourselves. A man indulges in his sexual lust, he gets aids and lives a crappy life. God takes it one step further and then damns the man to hell forEVER.
And I have one more thing to say which bothers me about the Christian religion; or rather, a passage. Apparently, animals have no souls. Which means I will not see Rocky in heaven, if I were to go there. That doesn't make me happy. Not one bit. If my family is not there with me, then I cannot be happy up there. But the bible says the household of a Christian will also be in heaven. But if you consider an animal to be a part of your household then how does that hold water?
God created animals. Scientifically, we ARE animals. But what seperates us from other animals is that we're more intelligent. But then you'd ask, so if there here for no reason at all - then why did God create them? I imagine God would say 'to help humans'... but they do help us, perhaps they love us and I love them, to take them away in the final stage of 'life' (heaven) is just one more cruel and immoral thing God could do.
If you've gotten this far, thanks for reading...
R
I believe in god and reincarnation. I dont think there is a "hell", because I think its just used as a scare tactic, and it works. I believe god has a plan for everyone, and everything happens on purpose. I believe we all make our own life chart before we are born. A life chart is a list of everything that will happen in your life, to put it simply. Life is a test for our soul; a test to see how we deal with things, and to learn from our experiences.
I believe all animals have souls except for insects. All animals go to heaven.
I believe that if you commit suicide durring your life, you go to heaven but you are imediately born again into a similar life that you exited. You have to start all over again.
I do not believe in abortion. Its the one thing I will never change my mind about, hopefully.
I do not believe in karma. Life isnt fair.
I do not believe in any one religion.
I believe all animals have souls except for insects. All animals go to heaven.
I believe that if you commit suicide durring your life, you go to heaven but you are imediately born again into a similar life that you exited. You have to start all over again.
I do not believe in abortion. Its the one thing I will never change my mind about, hopefully.
I do not believe in karma. Life isnt fair.
I do not believe in any one religion.
R
Roxy's CD said:
If everything was predetermind, wouldn't God have planned a suicide then??
Just thought of that now... So God knew they would kill themselves...
Edited in (cuz Tessa answered so darn quick): For those of you who believe in predetermination
Just thought of that now... So God knew they would kill themselves...
Edited in (cuz Tessa answered so darn quick
): For those of you who believe in predetermination
Yeah, I think you're right to an extent. Basically, that's what I believe. God has a plan for us... that plan goes by following His will and treading the righteous path but we make mistakes and depending on the weight of these mistakes we can either get way off track and commit suicide (depending on how strong you are, I suppose) or get back on track. And he knows every which way you can go and it's up to you to take the road.
I believe that humans hold their own key for being enlightened and spiritual.
I don't really believe in any higher power. Any god.
I believe that humans need to look inside themselves to better themself and the world, and not rely on someone or THING else.
I think that religions are based on folklore and fairytales. And that they are old "rules" set down from days gone by to scare people into behaving correctly. And by people who didn't understand the world around them.
I am going to be starting yoga in september, and hopefully meditation too
The only being I am in awe of is mother nature.
We need to care for each other and the planet FIRST before some "higher power".
I don't really believe in any higher power. Any god.
I believe that humans need to look inside themselves to better themself and the world, and not rely on someone or THING else.
I think that religions are based on folklore and fairytales. And that they are old "rules" set down from days gone by to scare people into behaving correctly. And by people who didn't understand the world around them.
I am going to be starting yoga in september, and hopefully meditation too
The only being I am in awe of is mother nature.
We need to care for each other and the planet FIRST before some "higher power".