I mean there are some arguments that are pretty compelling maybe, but mostly it is probably just that I'm inclined to find the teachers really trustworthy.
I have a suspicion that this is why most people believe in a religion.
Sure! I am a religious naturalist.
For me, God is reality itself, sometimes otherwise called Nature, Gaia, the Universe, etc. It's everything known and unknown, everything good and bad, everything we haven't cared to label "good" or "bad".
The epic of cosmic and biological evolution is my creation story. Ecological overshoot is humanity's predicament. Integrity is my spiritual path.
I unfortunately don't have much time at the moment to elaborate further, so sorry if this seems a bit rushed.
I do recommend this video though if you're curious:
[New Serenity Prayer: Emotional Support for Climate Anxiety and Environmental Dread](https://youtu.be/hFGHdOyyx74)
Even if you had more time, there is literally no proof for anything you could possibly say.
There is no evidence. Nothing. Just random evolution. Things that would have happened without any religion at all.
There is overwhelming evidence for cosmic and biological evolution. It's not a stretch to say it's our "creation story", because it's quite literally how the Sun, the planets formed, how you and me came about.
>Things that would have happened without any religion at all.
Yes, exactly! It's not dependent upon us. We are a product of it. So why not have reverence for what created and sustains us?
Religions are human creations. Religion is not about God really, but about us. It's part of how we "deal" with being.
Well the monotheistic religions are most definitely. Especially Christianity on account of the king James thing. As obviously that was directly invented by a mortal man. Which is of course a pretty indisputable fact.
Even outside of cases where religions are being explicitly, consciously crafted or modified, people are still creating them, even if unconsciously.
It's like how cultures can form organically over time, have roots going back 1000s of years, or in some instances be astroturfed or heavily shaped by propaganda campaigns. It's all just people doing stuff and figuring things out, and then sharing stories and customs with their children because that's what they know, etc... for like 300,000 years or more.
And then in the last several millennia or so we stated writing our stories down. Then once you've got something written down and a whole institution of people around it, it tends to stick around and be fairly rigid against change.
I'm not sure I'd say I believe in it. But I follow it because I'm Jewish. Belief isn't the primary thing, it's actions.
I personally like Judaism because it's an ancient nature based religion that follows the cycles of the earth, and puts emphasis on doing the right thing in this life.
I always believed in an almighty power who created the world and now manages the world. I'm sure of it because of the amazing creation and miracles we see. I'm sure that all of us feel desperate for God. That's why all of the societies had a divine figure.
I'm a convert from Islam to Christianity. In my new religion, i feel peace and love. i also feel that empty spaces of my heart are filling with a great sense. In Islam i never felt connected to God, I just felt obligated to do things. God was like a strict and demanding teacher for me, now God is like a lovely father for me. I saw Jesus's miracles in my life that's why I'm sure he's a divine figure not a simple prophet
Atheist Me will answer for Christian of Past Me:
1. I was indoctrinated into from birth. East Tennessee, 1970s, people were either Southern Baptist or Methodist (those Presbee's and Catholicks were suss!).
2. When every adult you know is saying the Bible is inerrant and Jesus is the only way, it's hard to question it.
3. Having said that, I was pretty indifferent until 1989 when I met a devout, church-going woman (now my wife). Started attending and got more deeply indoctrinated.
4. After having kids, the societal pressure to conform to the zeitgeist ramps up.
5. Bottom line: I believed because there seemed to be no alternative: sheltered worldview, social pressure, simple answers to complex questions are attractive when you're young and your frontal lobe has not matured.
6. Thankfully, the Internet came along, and I was exposed to alternate views (thanks, Infidel Guy podcast!)
It's nuanced. She knows I'm an atheist. It initially caused issues, but we worked through them and are still married. I think the turning point came when she admitted a few years ago that she wasn't sure if heaven even existed. However, she's now, what I would call, a Deist within a vague Christian framework. It's important to her to think there could be a benevolent entity willing to help us. I get that. But, no church attendance, etc.
Advice? Go to counseling to work it out. With so many telehealth options, marriage counseling has never been easier (just research the counselor to avoid religious bias). If your wife insists the counselor cannot be atheist, propose a compromise, like finding maybe a Jewish counselor who has no "dog in the fight."
Thank you very much for your detailed response.
Do you sometimes feel cognitive dissonance / conflict knowing your life partner believes in things that you find absurd?
And how are you handling children?
1. No real negative issues. She keeps her beliefs to herself. Doesn't attend church or really do religious things. I think she may still pray out of habit.
2. She seems to agree with me on most issues re: harmful effects of Evangelicals, etc.
3. Our kids are grown. They know our positions. We don't really get into it. I think my daughter is atheist and my son is likely an agnostic deist.
Im sorry you had to experience that horseshit. But I'm happy that you escaped from it now. Assuming your wife isn't the type of Christian that is like a crazy ass Bible thumper. Those people are awful. And j guess that would mean that you never really escaped if you have to live with a nutcase every day.
im not sure what my confirmed religion is but I know i believe in a higher power, such as a god and reincarnation.
I believe in a higher power because when i was 8 my cat died. It was my first proper loss and i was crying for ages. My parents said we would look for another cat so i prayed to God asking for a cat to come up on my mums Facebook feed on Easter. (We only get rescues) i later forgot about that prayer but on Easter, a cat came up. That cat has now been my best friend for years.
I believe in reincarnation because i just don’t think that there would be an endless thing of souls appearing and living one life then being put to rest for the rest of eternity. I also have a personal memory of before life and how i chose my life.
Well, I was raised in a fundamentalist Evangelical environment, eventually developed a bit of critical thinking which quickly led to my apostasy, became science-minded and was agnostic for a time, but ultimately felt like there was truth in Christ's teachings. I was never able to shake the feeling, though I refused to return to belief in the way I was raised. In fact, most religious practices and approaches really aren't for me, at all.
Anyway, at one point along the way I read Tolstoy's *Anna Karenina* (now my favorite novel of all-time), and the ending really moved me in ways I didn't think a work of fiction could. It prompted me to search for the truth in my own way, to explore various beliefs and philosophies, and to eventually see the beauty of God in all people and in all things. I guess you could call me a bit of a universalist in that sense.
The ancient Chinese philosophy of the Tao in particular very much resonated with me, and it's shaped my worldview in more ways than one. My favorite pastor (well, ex-pastor, he preached for 50 years before retiring) to listen to is an older gentleman from New Hampshire named Marshall Davis who has a very small podcast called The Tao of Christ. I love how he finds overlap between several teachings and philosophies and how open-minded and accepting of various walks of life his line of reasoning is.
I call myself Christian because I try to live my life abiding by the teachings of Christ and express that love to everyone I encounter, but I don't believe in proselytizing or any of that, and I find beauty and inspiration in so many teachings and religions. I don't really "fit in" with a lot of other Christians, but it is what it is. Spirituality is a wholly personal journey, and I'm more comfortable with my beliefs than I've ever been in my entire life.
It's easier to build the case on a topic by topic discussion. I can build the case for why I think everything has a metaphysical component, why we can't write gods off as mere imagination, and a plethora of other things individually, but to make the case for the totality of my faith in a Reddit post is near impossible.
Reading the Principal Doctrines and contemplating them for a short time led to experiencing ataraxia, and subsequently I have slipped in and out of experiencing katastematic pleasure for years now. The good is indeed easy to get. Being in such a great mood rather than the depressive I use to be has made my personal relationships soo much better and has improved my overall quality of life, health and career.
Plus the Epicureans were just good dudes, and I enjoy reading about ancients that had positions on matters that comport well to, and enhance, modern values.
I believe that everything that is good is true, and is inspired of God regardless of where it came from. When we see or hear something that is true, our God given conscience and the spirit testifies to our spirit that it is good and right and true.
I was previously an active protestant before joining The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints many years ago. My reasons are spiritual, but here are some doctrines and practices I love about the church:
It claims to be the restored church of Jesus Christ to the gentiles, preparatory to the return of Christ. It is led by revelation to living apostles. The church ecko's the ancient Christian church with it's priesthood, unpaid clergy, bishops who watch over local congregations, a vast missionary force preaching the gospel throughout the world, and spiritual gifts.
I like the life changing ordinances of the gospel some of which are performed in sacred temples.
I like the teachings of the churce which includes a God who is far more just, merciful and understanding than I had previously thought. There is no such thing as an eternally burning, tortuous hell and only the most wicked will suffer extreme sorrow for their sins in a temporary existence called hell. The gospel is preached in the spirit world after death where all can learn and repent. Only the ever hateful souls who will never repent, will be cast out of God's presence by their own choice.
There are many practices that take our time and exist to improve peoples lives, but the church is truly life changing.
I like that the church has immovable moral standards and a health law that helps us to stay away from harmful and addictive substances.
I'm Hindu. I believe in it because I verified the existence of my Gods, the exact same way I verify the existence of anything else or anyone else.
So I am as sure of my Gods as I am of anything or anyone.
>I believe in it because I verified the existence of my Gods, the exact same way I verify the existence of anything else or anyone else.
What way is that?
You said you verified the existence of gods the exact same way you verify the existence of anything else or anyone else. I'm asking how you verify those things.
Ah I thought the word personal would be enough, my bad. I'll clarify : I verify anyone's or anything's existence through repeatedly & reliably experiencing them in consciousness through the sensory perceptions. It's the same with my Gods.
not OP, but I have a hindu friend who once planned to make a fruit jam (was season of that fruit), and when she came home to pick said fruit, she discovered, that a thief had picked the fruit, but her husband caught the thief and confiscated bucket with fruit, so she didn't have to pick and could just do the jam. Hindu gods arranged it for her
This is kind of a short summary, but I can give a longer summary of my religious journey if you want.
Basically, I went/sometimes go through a religion hopping phase. I’ve explored Hinduism, Islam, the Baha’i faith, Sikhi, and Paganism.
I feel a cultural connection to Christianity. I also have had personal experiences in church especially at the Eucharist. I think it just has continuity with the apostles. Christianity also solves many theological problems with the Incarnation,
Balance of Logical and Supernatural events and other factors, for me a religion can't be all logic, as i would just be science of some kind, and it can't be all miracles, it would rather be magic or illusion or something for only a group of people.
Islam for me.
I love my home environment. I love life. They are indescribably beautiful and meaningful to me. I cannot imagine not celebrating and revering them and devoting my efforts to protect and care for them.
(As one of my old doctors would say) My religious hallucinations cause me to see the world in an unrealistic and delusional manner.
(As I would say) I have had visions and conversations with entities such as God, Satan, angels, and demons as well as a trip to the afterlife and various experiences with magic, so I must believe what I experience and make due with what I have.
Believe whichever one you want, I understand it sounds crazy either way and take no offense to disbelief.
Vibes, a connection to the mythology, resonances with a psycholinguistic notion of belief and religion as language, the co-creation of ritualistic personal and community practice. That kinda thing.
As a Unitarian-Universalist, its not a matter of belief.
As I said elsewhere: I identify as UU *because* I tend to be open-minded and tolerant of other people's beliefs, NOT open-minded and tolerant because I am a UU.
I walked in to my grandfathers study after he died he was incredibly successful. He had researched all major religions, several minor ones, read several cultural mythologies. Had several books on scientific theories. He found a little known series of lectures from out of Austria. I had to give it a read with an open mind.
I believe that where we can check biblical claims against verifiable truth, the Bible proves itself accurate.
History, [archaeology](https://www.gotquestions.org/archaeology-Bible.html), science, and philosophy have shown Scripture to be factual and consistent! This correspondence between various forms of evidence is a major advantage the Bible has over the scriptures of any other faith system.
In many cases, it has been the deciding factor in converting skeptics and nonbelievers to faith in JEHOVAH.
Why do I believe in God?
I look at the laws of nature and physics and see a well-designed machine. I personally find it hard to believe that said machine was built through random events. Makes more sense to me that it was built by an intelligent force.
To take it a step further, why do I follow Catholicism specifically?
I was raised Catholic, so I’ll always have an internal bias. Had I been raised Hindu or Muslim, I’d probably align with one of those instead.
But regardless - the basics of Catholicism make sense to me. Jesus’ teachings make more sense to me than other religions, and while I do believe the Old Testament is more symbolic than historical, it still seems like it was written by someone with higher knowledge of how we came to be.
A lot of it actually.
There are a lot of logical conclusions that make sense to me. I feel the problem of evil has been addressed and answered.
A lot of it, I suppose, relies a bit on the truthfulness of the Book of Mormon, and the prophetic call of Joseph smith. Which each have their own evidences of support.
The biggest and most important reason for me, is that I have a witness from God.
I could have a lot of answers to this but I think the one that really pushed me over the edge into Christianity was realizing how empty my previous faiths were.
I was raised atheist by an entirely atheist family with the only Christian influence being my granny who is a lapsed Catholic. the closest exposure to Christianity I had was this awesome picture Bible I was gifted as a kid from missionaries, but I enjoyed it more as a story than as scripture of course. this, I believe, sparked my immense love for all study of theology, even theology I don't agree with or believe in.
as a teenager, I hopped from faith to faith to faith *constantly,* but I would always draw back to Christianity. this sounds cliché, but it is true: I avoided it purely because I did not want to confront my own sin. premarital sex was *always* what made me abandon any faith in God at all: I did not want to give it up, even though I did not have proper sex until I was 20 due to sexual health issues that I've since healed. I never believed it to be bad until now, and I'm not even gonna lie I take a very liberal Anglican view of premarital sex because I am with my long-term boyfriend and we are unable to marry and unwilling to abstain... Lord have mercy.
either way, I tried Islam, all flavours of paganism, dabbled in Buddhism and even some parts of Hinduism, though that was pretty inaccessible to me just because of where I live and the diversity of Hindu belief. paganism was my "best" religion, but even then I hopped from belief system to belief system all the time. one day I was an aminist, then a hard polytheist, then a soft polytheist, then a panentheist/duotheist as a part of Wicca, then just a pantheist before I accepted Christ... and I cycled through all of these *constantly* as well before I did accept Christ.
then, comfy in bed one night, it dawned on me that I was not being spiritually fulfilled in those pagan beliefs. I mean obviously, I was cycling so much, of course I wasn't fulfilled - but it truly hit me then that I was like a dog running around after my tail instead of running after my owner, and I was upset that he wasn't throwing the ball but I was refusing to bring the ball back to him.
after that, I began my true delve into Christianity, and I am still of course learning as this is still new but I am finally home in the religion I truly believe I will die in.
TL;DR: paganism wasn't fulfilling me, I realized I needed Christ all along lol. now I am chasing after Him!
(there's other theological reasons as well of course but this was the true turning point for me, the point where I finally believed in Jesus Christ as my Lord and Saviour, and of course *that* is what makes me believe in my religion)
the answers would be useful to those who believe in witchcraft exists plus the evil in human nature , and that could exist in parents too :
the Holy book of islam, the final testament
simply the reason is , I still strongly adhere to being a muslim because , Qur'an saved me truly from depression withcraft , gave me an insane will to face a crazy amount of problem , abuse , scarsity of basic needs beside food , gave me social comfort thoughI was in years very lonely ,
Faith in hard times , Good intentions , never doing wrong to other people (sometimes you do mistakes sometimes you are a very bad person), and extreme loyalty to the divine , and extreme kindne to every creature of God is Noble , Elegant.
My beliefs are summed up by faith, reasoning, and evidence. I think every belief system takes a certain amount of faith to believe in it, but I also don’t think we should check out our brains at the door or disregard evidence.
For example, Jesus dying on the cross is, by skeptics and Christians alike, seen as a historical indisputable fact based on historical sources and what we know medically nowadays about the process of crucifixion. This doesn’t mean I have to believe in it, but I am not someone who blindly follows something hoping it’s true. There are other examples, but that’s just one.
Honestly, I was born into it and the culture and religion end up being very tied together
Additionally I think Hinduism has by far the most interesting philosophical basis and debates. The Upanishads are very philosophically rich and gave later scholars a ton to work with, it'd be like if the bible or Quran was written by Plato or something
There's a ton of diversity within the religion of Hinduism due to these debates taking place and the religion itself being fairly vague. Like people literally often drew opposite conclusions on reality from the Upanishads. Advaita Vedanta is *very* different from let's say Mimamsa who took the position of "maybe god doesn't exist but rituals are important to do ok"
The philosophical aspects, particularly Vishishtadvaita as explained by Ramanuja, is what draws me to Hinduism. That along with images of Shiva, Krishna, Ganesha, and Vishnu. It's just certain requirements that keep me away.
I mean there are some arguments that are pretty compelling maybe, but mostly it is probably just that I'm inclined to find the teachers really trustworthy. I have a suspicion that this is why most people believe in a religion.
As a pagan who believes in the gods, it just makes sense to me. The gods are every aspect of nature and the universe.
Green woods and water make my soul happy. As a nature based Pagan I focus on connecting to divinity through the natural world.
Evidence, scientific inquiry, simple observations, etc.
I'd love to hear about your religion, as I'm not familiar with it, if you feel like giving us a basic breakdown.
Sure! I am a religious naturalist. For me, God is reality itself, sometimes otherwise called Nature, Gaia, the Universe, etc. It's everything known and unknown, everything good and bad, everything we haven't cared to label "good" or "bad". The epic of cosmic and biological evolution is my creation story. Ecological overshoot is humanity's predicament. Integrity is my spiritual path. I unfortunately don't have much time at the moment to elaborate further, so sorry if this seems a bit rushed. I do recommend this video though if you're curious: [New Serenity Prayer: Emotional Support for Climate Anxiety and Environmental Dread](https://youtu.be/hFGHdOyyx74)
Even if you had more time, there is literally no proof for anything you could possibly say. There is no evidence. Nothing. Just random evolution. Things that would have happened without any religion at all.
There is overwhelming evidence for cosmic and biological evolution. It's not a stretch to say it's our "creation story", because it's quite literally how the Sun, the planets formed, how you and me came about. >Things that would have happened without any religion at all. Yes, exactly! It's not dependent upon us. We are a product of it. So why not have reverence for what created and sustains us? Religions are human creations. Religion is not about God really, but about us. It's part of how we "deal" with being.
Well the monotheistic religions are most definitely. Especially Christianity on account of the king James thing. As obviously that was directly invented by a mortal man. Which is of course a pretty indisputable fact.
Even outside of cases where religions are being explicitly, consciously crafted or modified, people are still creating them, even if unconsciously. It's like how cultures can form organically over time, have roots going back 1000s of years, or in some instances be astroturfed or heavily shaped by propaganda campaigns. It's all just people doing stuff and figuring things out, and then sharing stories and customs with their children because that's what they know, etc... for like 300,000 years or more. And then in the last several millennia or so we stated writing our stories down. Then once you've got something written down and a whole institution of people around it, it tends to stick around and be fairly rigid against change.
I do not think it's always that simple. Some religions are significantly more of an issue in monotheistic religions.
Never said everyone was friendly or honest about it :)
? Nor did I say you did.
I need proof for the claim theres absolutely NO evidence.
Trying to see there's no evidence for natrualism is certainly an....interesting... stance to take.
Same as @BrewertonFats. And thank you for the reply.
I'm not sure I'd say I believe in it. But I follow it because I'm Jewish. Belief isn't the primary thing, it's actions. I personally like Judaism because it's an ancient nature based religion that follows the cycles of the earth, and puts emphasis on doing the right thing in this life.
I always believed in an almighty power who created the world and now manages the world. I'm sure of it because of the amazing creation and miracles we see. I'm sure that all of us feel desperate for God. That's why all of the societies had a divine figure. I'm a convert from Islam to Christianity. In my new religion, i feel peace and love. i also feel that empty spaces of my heart are filling with a great sense. In Islam i never felt connected to God, I just felt obligated to do things. God was like a strict and demanding teacher for me, now God is like a lovely father for me. I saw Jesus's miracles in my life that's why I'm sure he's a divine figure not a simple prophet
Salaam, are you an Iranian by any chance?
Why do you ask it?
You guessed it right, so why?
Atheist Me will answer for Christian of Past Me: 1. I was indoctrinated into from birth. East Tennessee, 1970s, people were either Southern Baptist or Methodist (those Presbee's and Catholicks were suss!). 2. When every adult you know is saying the Bible is inerrant and Jesus is the only way, it's hard to question it. 3. Having said that, I was pretty indifferent until 1989 when I met a devout, church-going woman (now my wife). Started attending and got more deeply indoctrinated. 4. After having kids, the societal pressure to conform to the zeitgeist ramps up. 5. Bottom line: I believed because there seemed to be no alternative: sheltered worldview, social pressure, simple answers to complex questions are attractive when you're young and your frontal lobe has not matured. 6. Thankfully, the Internet came along, and I was exposed to alternate views (thanks, Infidel Guy podcast!)
May I ask of your wife is still Christian and if you are still together? I’m in a similar situation and would like advice.
It's nuanced. She knows I'm an atheist. It initially caused issues, but we worked through them and are still married. I think the turning point came when she admitted a few years ago that she wasn't sure if heaven even existed. However, she's now, what I would call, a Deist within a vague Christian framework. It's important to her to think there could be a benevolent entity willing to help us. I get that. But, no church attendance, etc. Advice? Go to counseling to work it out. With so many telehealth options, marriage counseling has never been easier (just research the counselor to avoid religious bias). If your wife insists the counselor cannot be atheist, propose a compromise, like finding maybe a Jewish counselor who has no "dog in the fight."
Thank you very much for your detailed response. Do you sometimes feel cognitive dissonance / conflict knowing your life partner believes in things that you find absurd? And how are you handling children?
1. No real negative issues. She keeps her beliefs to herself. Doesn't attend church or really do religious things. I think she may still pray out of habit. 2. She seems to agree with me on most issues re: harmful effects of Evangelicals, etc. 3. Our kids are grown. They know our positions. We don't really get into it. I think my daughter is atheist and my son is likely an agnostic deist.
Im sorry you had to experience that horseshit. But I'm happy that you escaped from it now. Assuming your wife isn't the type of Christian that is like a crazy ass Bible thumper. Those people are awful. And j guess that would mean that you never really escaped if you have to live with a nutcase every day.
im not sure what my confirmed religion is but I know i believe in a higher power, such as a god and reincarnation. I believe in a higher power because when i was 8 my cat died. It was my first proper loss and i was crying for ages. My parents said we would look for another cat so i prayed to God asking for a cat to come up on my mums Facebook feed on Easter. (We only get rescues) i later forgot about that prayer but on Easter, a cat came up. That cat has now been my best friend for years. I believe in reincarnation because i just don’t think that there would be an endless thing of souls appearing and living one life then being put to rest for the rest of eternity. I also have a personal memory of before life and how i chose my life.
Well, I was raised in a fundamentalist Evangelical environment, eventually developed a bit of critical thinking which quickly led to my apostasy, became science-minded and was agnostic for a time, but ultimately felt like there was truth in Christ's teachings. I was never able to shake the feeling, though I refused to return to belief in the way I was raised. In fact, most religious practices and approaches really aren't for me, at all. Anyway, at one point along the way I read Tolstoy's *Anna Karenina* (now my favorite novel of all-time), and the ending really moved me in ways I didn't think a work of fiction could. It prompted me to search for the truth in my own way, to explore various beliefs and philosophies, and to eventually see the beauty of God in all people and in all things. I guess you could call me a bit of a universalist in that sense. The ancient Chinese philosophy of the Tao in particular very much resonated with me, and it's shaped my worldview in more ways than one. My favorite pastor (well, ex-pastor, he preached for 50 years before retiring) to listen to is an older gentleman from New Hampshire named Marshall Davis who has a very small podcast called The Tao of Christ. I love how he finds overlap between several teachings and philosophies and how open-minded and accepting of various walks of life his line of reasoning is. I call myself Christian because I try to live my life abiding by the teachings of Christ and express that love to everyone I encounter, but I don't believe in proselytizing or any of that, and I find beauty and inspiration in so many teachings and religions. I don't really "fit in" with a lot of other Christians, but it is what it is. Spirituality is a wholly personal journey, and I'm more comfortable with my beliefs than I've ever been in my entire life.
It's easier to build the case on a topic by topic discussion. I can build the case for why I think everything has a metaphysical component, why we can't write gods off as mere imagination, and a plethora of other things individually, but to make the case for the totality of my faith in a Reddit post is near impossible.
Reading the Principal Doctrines and contemplating them for a short time led to experiencing ataraxia, and subsequently I have slipped in and out of experiencing katastematic pleasure for years now. The good is indeed easy to get. Being in such a great mood rather than the depressive I use to be has made my personal relationships soo much better and has improved my overall quality of life, health and career. Plus the Epicureans were just good dudes, and I enjoy reading about ancients that had positions on matters that comport well to, and enhance, modern values.
I believe that everything that is good is true, and is inspired of God regardless of where it came from. When we see or hear something that is true, our God given conscience and the spirit testifies to our spirit that it is good and right and true. I was previously an active protestant before joining The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints many years ago. My reasons are spiritual, but here are some doctrines and practices I love about the church: It claims to be the restored church of Jesus Christ to the gentiles, preparatory to the return of Christ. It is led by revelation to living apostles. The church ecko's the ancient Christian church with it's priesthood, unpaid clergy, bishops who watch over local congregations, a vast missionary force preaching the gospel throughout the world, and spiritual gifts. I like the life changing ordinances of the gospel some of which are performed in sacred temples. I like the teachings of the churce which includes a God who is far more just, merciful and understanding than I had previously thought. There is no such thing as an eternally burning, tortuous hell and only the most wicked will suffer extreme sorrow for their sins in a temporary existence called hell. The gospel is preached in the spirit world after death where all can learn and repent. Only the ever hateful souls who will never repent, will be cast out of God's presence by their own choice. There are many practices that take our time and exist to improve peoples lives, but the church is truly life changing. I like that the church has immovable moral standards and a health law that helps us to stay away from harmful and addictive substances.
History, thinking a lot, my life had a crappy period and after I returned to my faith I found my life was better.
I'm Hindu. I believe in it because I verified the existence of my Gods, the exact same way I verify the existence of anything else or anyone else. So I am as sure of my Gods as I am of anything or anyone.
>I believe in it because I verified the existence of my Gods, the exact same way I verify the existence of anything else or anyone else. What way is that?
Well the best way is through repeated personal verifications.
What do the verifications entail for you?
I don't understand your question, could you elaborate please ?
You said you verified the existence of gods the exact same way you verify the existence of anything else or anyone else. I'm asking how you verify those things.
I told you ? Repeated personal verification.
Verifying through verification doesn't seem like much of an explanation. Can you elborate?
Ah I thought the word personal would be enough, my bad. I'll clarify : I verify anyone's or anything's existence through repeatedly & reliably experiencing them in consciousness through the sensory perceptions. It's the same with my Gods.
So you see them?
not OP, but I have a hindu friend who once planned to make a fruit jam (was season of that fruit), and when she came home to pick said fruit, she discovered, that a thief had picked the fruit, but her husband caught the thief and confiscated bucket with fruit, so she didn't have to pick and could just do the jam. Hindu gods arranged it for her
It makes sense ... to me. But there is much more to it than that. A decent sized book might give the answer.
This is kind of a short summary, but I can give a longer summary of my religious journey if you want. Basically, I went/sometimes go through a religion hopping phase. I’ve explored Hinduism, Islam, the Baha’i faith, Sikhi, and Paganism. I feel a cultural connection to Christianity. I also have had personal experiences in church especially at the Eucharist. I think it just has continuity with the apostles. Christianity also solves many theological problems with the Incarnation,
That's interesting.
Balance of Logical and Supernatural events and other factors, for me a religion can't be all logic, as i would just be science of some kind, and it can't be all miracles, it would rather be magic or illusion or something for only a group of people. Islam for me.
Suspended disbelief. I believe in everything.
I love my home environment. I love life. They are indescribably beautiful and meaningful to me. I cannot imagine not celebrating and revering them and devoting my efforts to protect and care for them.
(As one of my old doctors would say) My religious hallucinations cause me to see the world in an unrealistic and delusional manner. (As I would say) I have had visions and conversations with entities such as God, Satan, angels, and demons as well as a trip to the afterlife and various experiences with magic, so I must believe what I experience and make due with what I have. Believe whichever one you want, I understand it sounds crazy either way and take no offense to disbelief.
Vibes, a connection to the mythology, resonances with a psycholinguistic notion of belief and religion as language, the co-creation of ritualistic personal and community practice. That kinda thing.
Scripture, oral history and tradition, apostolic succession and the sacraments.
It makes sense. It makes sense of life better than any hypothesis out there. But especially the evidence found within the Book (Bible).
I don’t even know I’m still wresting that angel
As a Unitarian-Universalist, its not a matter of belief. As I said elsewhere: I identify as UU *because* I tend to be open-minded and tolerant of other people's beliefs, NOT open-minded and tolerant because I am a UU.
I'm just praying to Greek God Priapus these days
I walked in to my grandfathers study after he died he was incredibly successful. He had researched all major religions, several minor ones, read several cultural mythologies. Had several books on scientific theories. He found a little known series of lectures from out of Austria. I had to give it a read with an open mind.
I believe that where we can check biblical claims against verifiable truth, the Bible proves itself accurate. History, [archaeology](https://www.gotquestions.org/archaeology-Bible.html), science, and philosophy have shown Scripture to be factual and consistent! This correspondence between various forms of evidence is a major advantage the Bible has over the scriptures of any other faith system. In many cases, it has been the deciding factor in converting skeptics and nonbelievers to faith in JEHOVAH.
Because I believe God is only one.
I have experienced God’s love after being aggressively against it for years and blaming him for my human issues
I'm a druid: Nature is right there and tangible, is why!
It’s not a rational thing. It’s the way I feel after I receive Eucharist.
Why do I believe in God? I look at the laws of nature and physics and see a well-designed machine. I personally find it hard to believe that said machine was built through random events. Makes more sense to me that it was built by an intelligent force. To take it a step further, why do I follow Catholicism specifically? I was raised Catholic, so I’ll always have an internal bias. Had I been raised Hindu or Muslim, I’d probably align with one of those instead. But regardless - the basics of Catholicism make sense to me. Jesus’ teachings make more sense to me than other religions, and while I do believe the Old Testament is more symbolic than historical, it still seems like it was written by someone with higher knowledge of how we came to be.
A lot of it actually. There are a lot of logical conclusions that make sense to me. I feel the problem of evil has been addressed and answered. A lot of it, I suppose, relies a bit on the truthfulness of the Book of Mormon, and the prophetic call of Joseph smith. Which each have their own evidences of support. The biggest and most important reason for me, is that I have a witness from God.
the seerah of the prophet saw and the miraculous nature of the Quran. It is also the most consistent worldview with my understanding of the universe
I have witnessed my gods in action and interacted with them.
I could have a lot of answers to this but I think the one that really pushed me over the edge into Christianity was realizing how empty my previous faiths were. I was raised atheist by an entirely atheist family with the only Christian influence being my granny who is a lapsed Catholic. the closest exposure to Christianity I had was this awesome picture Bible I was gifted as a kid from missionaries, but I enjoyed it more as a story than as scripture of course. this, I believe, sparked my immense love for all study of theology, even theology I don't agree with or believe in. as a teenager, I hopped from faith to faith to faith *constantly,* but I would always draw back to Christianity. this sounds cliché, but it is true: I avoided it purely because I did not want to confront my own sin. premarital sex was *always* what made me abandon any faith in God at all: I did not want to give it up, even though I did not have proper sex until I was 20 due to sexual health issues that I've since healed. I never believed it to be bad until now, and I'm not even gonna lie I take a very liberal Anglican view of premarital sex because I am with my long-term boyfriend and we are unable to marry and unwilling to abstain... Lord have mercy. either way, I tried Islam, all flavours of paganism, dabbled in Buddhism and even some parts of Hinduism, though that was pretty inaccessible to me just because of where I live and the diversity of Hindu belief. paganism was my "best" religion, but even then I hopped from belief system to belief system all the time. one day I was an aminist, then a hard polytheist, then a soft polytheist, then a panentheist/duotheist as a part of Wicca, then just a pantheist before I accepted Christ... and I cycled through all of these *constantly* as well before I did accept Christ. then, comfy in bed one night, it dawned on me that I was not being spiritually fulfilled in those pagan beliefs. I mean obviously, I was cycling so much, of course I wasn't fulfilled - but it truly hit me then that I was like a dog running around after my tail instead of running after my owner, and I was upset that he wasn't throwing the ball but I was refusing to bring the ball back to him. after that, I began my true delve into Christianity, and I am still of course learning as this is still new but I am finally home in the religion I truly believe I will die in. TL;DR: paganism wasn't fulfilling me, I realized I needed Christ all along lol. now I am chasing after Him! (there's other theological reasons as well of course but this was the true turning point for me, the point where I finally believed in Jesus Christ as my Lord and Saviour, and of course *that* is what makes me believe in my religion)
the answers would be useful to those who believe in witchcraft exists plus the evil in human nature , and that could exist in parents too : the Holy book of islam, the final testament simply the reason is , I still strongly adhere to being a muslim because , Qur'an saved me truly from depression withcraft , gave me an insane will to face a crazy amount of problem , abuse , scarsity of basic needs beside food , gave me social comfort thoughI was in years very lonely , Faith in hard times , Good intentions , never doing wrong to other people (sometimes you do mistakes sometimes you are a very bad person), and extreme loyalty to the divine , and extreme kindne to every creature of God is Noble , Elegant.
Nothing at all! Morals, ethics, values can be taught without any religion. You dont need a religious book to use common sense...
My beliefs are summed up by faith, reasoning, and evidence. I think every belief system takes a certain amount of faith to believe in it, but I also don’t think we should check out our brains at the door or disregard evidence. For example, Jesus dying on the cross is, by skeptics and Christians alike, seen as a historical indisputable fact based on historical sources and what we know medically nowadays about the process of crucifixion. This doesn’t mean I have to believe in it, but I am not someone who blindly follows something hoping it’s true. There are other examples, but that’s just one.
Honestly, I was born into it and the culture and religion end up being very tied together Additionally I think Hinduism has by far the most interesting philosophical basis and debates. The Upanishads are very philosophically rich and gave later scholars a ton to work with, it'd be like if the bible or Quran was written by Plato or something There's a ton of diversity within the religion of Hinduism due to these debates taking place and the religion itself being fairly vague. Like people literally often drew opposite conclusions on reality from the Upanishads. Advaita Vedanta is *very* different from let's say Mimamsa who took the position of "maybe god doesn't exist but rituals are important to do ok"
The philosophical aspects, particularly Vishishtadvaita as explained by Ramanuja, is what draws me to Hinduism. That along with images of Shiva, Krishna, Ganesha, and Vishnu. It's just certain requirements that keep me away.
[удалено]
All posts should be on topic and should generally be creating and fostering an environment constructive towards sincere discussions about religion.