Religion: Why Do You Believe In Your Religion?

Because I had a need to know Bob, that is why I believe. My father was going to be a priest but some thing happened I don't quite know what but it did not happen. My mother is from Argentina a country of mostly Catholics, neither my father nor my mother were very fanatical towards religion, both professed and believed in One God, The God of Christianity. I grew up going not to a Catholic church but a Baptist one. As I became older at age 16 or 17 I thought I wanted to travel the world doing missionary type work and professing the Gospel. By the time I was 18 or so I was in a Zen Buddhist monastery in Rochester New York exploring Zen Buddhism, after a few years I went back to searching and purchased a book of all the religions of the world, I went through each and every one in a quest to find the true one. After much struggling and searching and actually asking God to guide me, he lead me back to Christianity. So I do not think that my parents religion or beliefs had any thing to do with my own journey in coming to be a Christian.

Thanks Mario....

Do you not think that your early exposure to the Baptist church at least primed you to "accept" the existence of a God?

bob

If you are this that or the other depends on where you were born

Your nationallity
Your politics
Your football team

City or United?
Yankee or Confederate?
Communist or lets get out of it?

And lots of other things

We all understand that Bob

Now it is up to you to expand the debate

Not at all, I have gone thru periods of my life questioning God's existence, now I find it impossible to dismiss, his hand print is all over creation, it's to vast, to beautiful, to big, to majestic, for it to have occurred by chance.

I think it's more complicated than believing in a higher power like a Santa or tooth fairy. I am an atheist, also. But every time I plant a flower in the garden, I can feel that there is something at work in the cosmos -- either that, or everything we see or experience is an illusion. Unlike Mario, I don't have a need "to know." That would mean we are capable of having all the answers and circumventing science, which is arrogant. I don't see religious people as followers, I see them as egotists, thinking they are so important as to hold the keys to the universe. And all that without a shred of evidence.

Geordie.. well that is sort of what this topic is about. Indoctrination.

There are also other considerations such as social ( being ostracized because of your non-belief). Just in case [ what if they are right? I don't want to end up in hell ]. The comfort of belonging. Fear of being shamed.

The points that you mentioned are an example of why someone believes what they do. And early indoctrination is very powerful and difficult to question.

bob

@Mario.. it would only be a guess, but I am guessing that your journey is not the normal one that most take. I would also guess that would make you very comfortable in your beliefs.

Most are born into a religion and never [ openly ] question it.

@Patricia... I think nature is much more complicated than most can [ or desire ] understand. But those who do study nature have unlocked many of the mechanisms that nature uses... like fractals, they are found most everywhere in nature. The symbiotic relationships between insect and plant. The notion that only God can make a tree is just false.

bob

Dear Patricia, and I'm not being condescending when I say dear, I must say that it is a very interesting position you take, in placing all your faith in science, that is something I can not do, science has been wrong about so many things, it's not infallible like God, actually to believe in God requires great humility the exact opposite of what your described. It never amazes me when I speak to some one that says they are atheist, most of the time not always ,some where in there explanation their is a critique towards the believer as in your case. How is it you don't see them as followers? they are not professing their own made up rules, we as Christians are bound by the Holy Scriptures, how is that not following? are their Christians that are arrogant? as many as their are non Christians that are arrogant. Do we now judge a religion by the actions of it's followers with out exploring what it is they are following? or I should say who it is they are following? Christians are sinners and imperfect like all of humanity. Christians can really proclaim no superiority over a non-believer other than the blessing God gives us, we as Christians do not earn our salvation through works, it is a gift of God we receive. We do not make the laws, the laws of our beliefs are Gods Laws, so maybe it's not that we as Christians are being egotistical because Gods Laws as written in the bible which is the final authority might not be flexible to the liking of all, is not cause to say Christians are egoist.

Hi Mario...

You get back to my questions of why. Why [ and I am asking out of curiosity only ] do you believe that the words written by men in the Bible are the words from a God? In view of the facts that the words [and translations] in the Bible have changed over the centuries to suit those in power?

There is not even one instance of historical writing from the era (and area) of Jesus [ of which there are millions ] that ever mention anything like him. How are you so sure that he even existed? Why do you believe that the Bible is the word of God other than that is what you have been told?

thank you for your views, by the way.

bob

We are advanced enough intellectually as a species to have the ability to contemplate our own existence; therefore, we have invented ways to explain it. Here is an excerpt that Stanislav posted from the other thread that illustrates why I think believers are egotists:

“The Supreme Arrogance of Religious Thinking:

That a carbon-based bag of mostly water on a speck of iron-silicate dust around a boring dwarf star in a minor galaxy in an under-populated local group of galaxies in an unfashionable suburb of a super-cluster would look up at the sky and declare "it was all made so I could exist.”

Anyway, Mario, I don't mean to be so hard about it. I am a nonbeliever, plain and simple. We do what works for us, and keeping an open mind works for me. I guess I don't have that driving desire for worshiping a higher power that others do. I did grow up in the church, I just never bought any of it, nor do I have any desire to. I find that reading and thinking about the cosmos, the origins of life, the workings of the universe as far as we know it, is absolutely thrilling. Perhaps believers find it scary. I don't need answers, I want to explore new paths of understanding. The only evidence that people cite for the existence of god is to quote scripture. That may be enough for you, but it's not enough for me.

Yes,Bob. Inspired by God and it is Holy ,meaning apart from and unlike any other written book, Inspired by God, man is imperfect, God has overseen the Bible in his Omni present and All knowing wisdom to give the believer doctrine that is sufficient for guidance, and then their is prayer, we practice Christianity by faith, a faith that can not be willed, it comes from God and he gives it freely to those who ask. The intellectual part of understanding is not nearly as important as the Faithfulness part. God can over come all those things we as humans view as flawed or imperfect, even the translation of a Holy Scripture.

@ Patricia Strand - quote

Unlike Mario, I don't have a need "to know." That would mean we are capable of having all the answers and circumventing science, which is arrogant. I don't see religious people as followers, I see them as egotists, thinking they are so important as to hold the keys to the universe. And all that without a shred of evidence.

________

I agree Patricia it would be arrogant and egotistical of anyone to claim to know it all, but you forget or are unaware that much of Christian belief depends on faith. Like waiting for a bus and having faith that the bus company will ensure it arrives on time or even planting a seed and having faith that it will recognise the seasons.

@ Patricia

Do you think Eve had a belly button?

Patricia, the arrogance lies in believing we are so intellectually advanced. We can't even answer a simple question? where does evil come from? we can not live in peace after so many thousands of years trying on this earth, really, we are so intellectually advanced? I would be afraid to accept that notion, we are a barbaric species, that does not think twice about beheading a fellow human being, we steal, we rob, we rape, we wage war, we lie, and when I say we I don't mean you or me, I mean as a species, the one you call intellectually advanced. God uses the foolishness of man to confound him, to make him see that without him we are doomed! The closer we get towards this doom, I believe the more people will want to turn away from their own created religion and seek relationship with him.

Evil comes from evolution. Survival of the fittest [ or most evil.. those that lean to take advantage of others ]

where does evolution come from?

starts with self organizing molecules and so far ends with humans.

I am Jewish. I read the Torah ( 5 books of Moses) daily, as commanded and reread it every year as commanded. It is a manual for living, containing our laws...It is not just a book of our history, but one that foretells our future. I would be lost without it.
My parents were Jewish, as their parents were and we have always been an observant family. Our religion encompasses our lives as we work our way through the Hebrew calendar celebrating, observing and learning. Our laws set the bar for the Judeo-Christian world of ethics and morality.
I'd love to answer part two....but I cannot even fathom not living Jewishly...

Bob, you would be pleasantly surprised that it's so much easier to be a Christian, some of the concepts you guys have to deal with are so outta this world. Lol it's never to late Bob, it will be like a huge weight off your shoulders,. Jeeez, next your gonna tell me it all started with one Big Bang far out in space. And from you Bob who does'nt even believe in santa or the tooth fairy.

Marlene, if we could only get you to read the Books of the New Testament!

Marlene...
With the most respect I ask you to think about "if" you were born into Christian family would you not likely be a Christian?

Yes Mario, that is one of the most attractive aspect that I see about Christianity is that is so "easy". ;O)

Bob, please don't tell me we evolved from this little fellow, if he is a distant family member you might want to have a talk with him.Lol (Just Joking Bob) I know you have a strange humor about you, but I'm only kidding with this.

Yes Mario that makes me laugh everytime you post it.. ;O)

BUTT ;O) we did not evolve from them we have a common ancestor.. kind of like a distant cousin..

One more attempt at answering your question Bob, why do I believe in my Religion, first I'll address your question by saying, it's not my religion that I believe in, I think that's a big problem, hundreds and thousands of people if not millions running around all claiming to believe in "their religion". I don't believe in my religion, I believe in Gods word, I believe in the one God and his Son Jesus Christ, there are many reasons why I believe, none of which I would claim because it's "MY religion". I don't totally believe in science, that's just one big reason why I believe God over science, GOD is unchanging, science changes every day.

No Bob - it's you who is the brickie

I know you are but what am I? LOL

I am an atheist. I was a Catholic, but saw the light in university. Sex was the driving force behind my thought process. Of course sex is the driving force for everything in a 22 year olds life. In a jammed nutshell, here was my reasoning: God created all things. God is omniscient. Ergo, God created and simultaneously knew of my sexual desires, yet God would banish me to hell for eternity for doing what seemed so natural and wonderful. Hmm…That did in Catholic theology! They next stages were for me just common sense.

On another note, I and most Canadians have no idea what religion our political leaders follow or ignore. I doubt an atheist could be elected to high office in the US. I find that scary.

Hi Steve.. thanks for sharing..

Mario.. I know you do not follow the Roman Catholic agenda... just the Bible.. and you take what the bible says literally. I got that.

And I think you once said that "why" you believe what you do is personal.. and I respect that.

Steve,

The person that told you that, God would banish you to hell for eternity for doing what seemed so natural and wonderful, omitted one of the most important verses of the Bible.

It is also the part of the Bible that Catholics ignored when teaching people that only Catholics can be saved.

They got it wrong on both counts.


Matthew 12:31

You don't know who I am Bob and never will.

Not likely to even see a photograph of me in many places on the Net

But hang slack

I'll get one and then you will at least have a picture in your mind of who you are speaking to.

Here's looking at you baby.

I sleep often during the day

This is more as I might be seen, um during a - night





When the jungle shadows fall?

A glimpse

Night and day

wow! all good reasons why a change in landscape.

And all good reasons why a change in BlakesCape

Geordie.. the " I know you are but what am I"? is something as kids we would say to each other when called names... I really wasn't a statement about knowing "who" you are.

That's OK Bob,

I was thinking of wearing a mask

But you might have thought I was Tonto so I didn't bother

I am not the lone ranger... I am Don Diego... Zorro's secret identity... who normally would not be wearing a mask but this was a Halloween costume.. one of my mother's inventive homemade Halloween costumes. ;O)

And anyway Tonto had MUCH more hair than that! LOL

Guess ye tight, LOL

BTW Bob

Do you dress as Dracula for the American Indian Heritage Day?




That's a question mark Bob BTW

Geordie.. No.

What seriously? He is Don Diego named Bob for crying out loud!

It is a question mark Bob

I promise

I know you pretend to forget when you have used them

You naughty boy

I did answer your question... so I haven't a clue what you are talking about.... not that that is anything new ;O)

Bob, 5 month ago, you ignored one of my questions. i was hurt......really hurt.......
or was it that other Bob?????

It could have been Sponge Bob Drew.....?

You guys make me laugh... thanks for that ;O)

Give me a bob and I'll do the job

Boy Scouts

Doing it for you

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/education/educationnews/9264135/Scouts-Bob-a-Job-week-is-back-as-Britain-learns-to-value-volunteering-again.html

Oops

Just noticed - yes you did answer

In a way similar to how you often start a statement, thought you were speaking about something else.

what ever you do, just please don't give me a Bob-itt, as in Lorena Bobitt....LOL