Who Are You and Where Are You Going?

Who Are You and Where Are You Going? (Full Version)

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MmakeMme -> Who Are You and Where Are You Going? (8/10/2006 2:32:13 PM)
My father was a Methodist minister - I grew up in the church, and attended at least two services each Sunday morning and Sunday evening (totally four services - not easy for a ten-year-old). My parents were also swingers. It gave me a warped sense of what living a Christian life was supposed to be, although it did give me an open mind. Thank goodness. What / Who is responsible for your religious beliefs (or lack of)? What DO you believe? The way I see it is that if there were one True religion there wouldn't be any other religion on earth. There are many similarities in many religions - the Lakota call it mitakuye oyasin (we are all related, or all my relatives). We don't know what's going to happen when we leave this lifetime. It is not my job to say "this is wrong" or "that is incorrect". I enjoy the study of the different religions as well as philosophy. I haven't found a religion I didn't enjoy learning about. I left the teachings of the Christian church when I was a teenager. I saw hypocrisy and greed, but the church is made up of PEOPLE, not of the divine, and so I decided to give it another shot. The teachings are indeed beautiful. My sig is part of I Cornithians 3. Could religious intolerance be due to a lack of understanding / study? There is beauty in all of it ... at least ... that's how I see it.

sub4hire -> RE: Who Are You and Where Are You Going? (8/10/2006 2:39:59 PM)
My father was a hard working man who owned many business's over the year's. He loved his family and his kids most in life and would do anything to protect them. My mother tried her hardest which didn't seem to be enough most of the time. My mother was my fathers slave in all aspects of the word. Yet they did not use that terminology. They were catholic. They never impressed their beliefs on me. While growing up I loved the Southern Baptist church and even was the youth group leader. I've studied various religions on my time here on earth so far. I've taken pieces of this one and that one to make me who I am. Who am I today? One would not consider me religious but I am very spiritual. I've lost over 300 loved ones and friends in my short life thus far. When no one can give you answers you create them for yourself. It does not mean my theories are the end all because I am not ignorant enough to believe I know it all in any facet of my life. I have lived my life the way I thought the supreme being would want me to. I help those in need. Actually devoted my life to helping other's. Yet, my eyes are not glassy from the crap people throw out either. I won't give a homeless person any money but I will buy them lunch or a hotel for the night. I've learned you cannot help those who don't want help. What does that make me? Well, I don't know. I attend a Lutheran church for the moment. Yet, I am not a Lutheran.

LaTigresse -> RE: Who Are You and Where Are You Going? (8/10/2006 2:42:35 PM)
I have a deep distaste for every organized religioun I have come into contact with. I don't agree fully with any christian faith as it is being practiced now, nor do I agree with the modern bible. I am however, a very spiritual person.

MmakeMme -> RE: Who Are You and Where Are You Going? (8/10/2006 2:49:38 PM)
One of the attracitve things of the Methodist church (attractive to me) is that they are not bible literalists and very casual readers of the bible. Many parts of the bible were written in code. Other parts were interpretations. Many books of the bible were left out for political and power reasons. I enjoy this sort of non-religious religious study and would like to study other religions this way.

CatNmouse2002 -> RE: Who Are You and Where Are You Going? (8/10/2006 2:49:39 PM)
Coolaid will be served after the collection plate is passed .Don't worry there is plenty for everyone . * wonders off with a big pitcher of iced grape coolaid and little plastic cups *

MmakeMme -> RE: Who Are You and Where Are You Going? (8/10/2006 2:51:17 PM)
~ smiling at CatNMouse ~ Ah. It must be communion.

MmakeMme -> RE: Who Are You and Where Are You Going? (8/10/2006 2:52:54 PM)
quote: ORIGINAL: LaTigresse I have a deep distaste for every organized religioun I have come into contact with. I don't agree fully with any christian faith as it is being practiced now, nor do I agree with the modern bible. I am however, a very spiritual person. Yes, one can be very spiritual without believing in organized religion. If I may ask, what is it that you believe? Do you believe in one supreme being? Several? None? Are your beliefs more earth-based? All sorts of beauty in non-organized spirituality.

juliaoceania -> RE: Who Are You and Where Are You Going? (8/10/2006 2:53:43 PM)
quote: ORIGINAL: MmakeMme . What / Who is responsible for your religious beliefs (or lack of)? What DO you believe? The way I see it is that if there were one True religion there wouldn't be any other religion on earth. There are many similarities in many religions - the Lakota call it mitakuye oyasin (we are all related, or all my relatives). I left the teachings of the Christian church when I was a teenager. I saw hypocrisy and greed, but the church is made up of PEOPLE, not of the divine, and so I decided to give it another shot. The teachings are indeed beautiful. My sig is part of I Cornithians 3. Could religious intolerance be due to a lack of understanding / study? There is beauty in all of it ... at least ... that's how I see it. This is why I fell in love with anthropology, the beauty inherent in all people. It is a spiritual thing for me. I was reared in the Christian way, although I was never dragged into a church, I was indoctrinated with the Bible from a young age, and I saw my parents study the Bible endlessly while discussing it. It did have an impact on me of course. I had a hard time rejecting Christianity as "The One True Way", but eventually I had to because my knowledge of the world and of how other people do things finally won out over this indoctrination. It is ironic that as time went on, my mother also rejected Christianity as the one true religion.. neither of us rejected Jesus mind you, just what most of the New Testament states about him. I prefer the Gnostic books. I also have really embraced Taoism in the last few years because it speaks to me in how I see the world. I guess the biggest gift my parents gave me was that they taught me that if my religion could not stand up to logic then it wasn't worth believing in. They raised me without much guilt too

Daddy4UdderSlut -> RE: Who Are You and Where Are You Going? (8/10/2006 3:03:27 PM)
From what a pastor who'd gone through Divinity School explained to me, I am an agnostic. He said that atheists know that there is no God. I don't see how anyone could know that there is no God. As the old saying goes "Absence of evidence is not evidence of absence". I do deeply appreciate many of the teachings of the Bible, the moral code, if you will. I do believe that kindness, generosity, mercy are the deepest and truest beauty. I have little regard for most organized religions. For example, with Christianity and it's branches, if the average Christian acted just even a little bit as was taught by Christ's examples, I would have a lot more regard for them. The Dalai Lama, a very wise and gentle soul by my measure, said "I like your Christ, but I do not like your Christians". I know just what he meant.

Daddy4UdderSlut -> RE: Who Are You and Where Are You Going? (8/10/2006 3:17:54 PM)
Some words by clear thinkers that I identify with: "My religion is very simple. My religion is kindness." " This is my simple religion. There is no need for temples; no need for complicated philosophy. Our own brain, our own heart is our temple; the philosophy is kindness." ... Dalai Lama "When I do good, I feel good; when I do bad, I feel bad. That’s my religion." ... Abraham Lincoln

popeye1250 -> RE: Who Are You and Where Are You Going? (8/10/2006 3:19:04 PM)
Daddy, so you're an "Agnostic?" I guess then that the Ku Klux Klan would burn a big question mark (?) on your front lawn.

Evanesce -> RE: Who Are You and Where Are You Going? (8/10/2006 3:22:41 PM)
I was raised and baptized in the Methodist church. By the time I graduated high school, I'd visited many "churches" of other religions, and even been recruited by a cult, but they didn't really know what they were doing and I went on my merry way. By then, I'd seen enough hypocrisy in my lifetime that I chose to never set foot in another church, and I embrace no form of organized religion, although I have read the Bible from cover to cover several times. I am not spiritual in the way many people think of spirituality, nor am I atheist (although that comes closest to my beliefs), nor am I agnostic. I believe there is more than this life, and that we are here to perfect our own souls. I believe we come to this life knowing what our experiences will be, and that our choices have the ability to change those experiences for better or worse. And I believe that Scientology is the biggest bunch of hooey I've ever heard!

Daddy4UdderSlut -> RE: Who Are You and Where Are You Going? (8/10/2006 3:22:53 PM)
quote: ORIGINAL: popeye1250 Daddy, so you're an "Agnostic?" I guess then that the Ku Klux Klan would burn a big question mark (?) on your front lawn. lol Yep, that is, if they can spell "?"! [:D]

Chaingang -> RE: Who Are You and Where Are You Going? (8/10/2006 3:45:04 PM)
quote: ORIGINAL: popeye1250 I guess then that the Ku Klux Klan would burn a big question mark (?) on your front lawn. Is it a bad thing to be a person of reason? Not all matters can be settled in terms of absolutes.

MmakeMme -> RE: Who Are You and Where Are You Going? (8/10/2006 3:48:32 PM)
quote: ORIGINAL: juliaoceania It is ironic that as time went on, my mother also rejected Christianity as the one true religion.. neither of us rejected Jesus mind you, just what most of the New Testament states about him. I prefer the Gnostic books. I also have really embraced Taoism in the last few years because it speaks to me in how I see the world. Ohhhh! I ~ love ~ the gnostic gospels. Much beauty there. I like Taoism as well. And, of course, Zen.

MmakeMme -> RE: Who Are You and Where Are You Going? (8/10/2006 3:50:21 PM)
quote: ORIGINAL: Chaingang quote: ORIGINAL: popeye1250 I guess then that the Ku Klux Klan would burn a big question mark (?) on your front lawn. Is it a bad thing to be a person of reason? Not all matters can be settled in terms of absolutes. It is not bad to be a person of reason. Nothing is absolute. It is the beauty of being mortal - we ~ don't ~ know it all.

captiveplatypus -> RE: Who Are You and Where Are You Going? (8/10/2006 3:50:28 PM)
quote: ORIGINAL: popeye1250 Daddy, so you're an "Agnostic?" I guess then that the Ku Klux Klan would burn a big question mark (?) on your front lawn. this made me giggle out loud. Both my parents went to church all through their childhood, and even took my older brothers to church. When they had me (I am 9 years younger, and all my brother moved out by the time I was 5 or 6 for various reasons) my parents stopped going at some point. I remember going to church a total of two weeks throughout my childhood. My parents did not instill any religious or spiritual beliefs in me other than I was not allowed to use "God" as in "God darn it!" That really didn't stick anyway. I was about 7 or 8 the first time it occured to me God and the afterlife did not exist at all, and I didn't sleep for days, it scared me so much, even though my family was not at all religious as far as I knew. Now, I honestly don't know. I am not going to claim there is no God. I am hesitantly hopeful there is one, and if there is one I do not believe it is a concious guiding force as we understand it, I believe God to be something still far beyond total human comprehension. I also do not believe there is one "right" religion. I believe if there is a God the different religions are due to different social interpretations by very differing social structures. I think it would be very unfair if all but one were incorrect and people were doomed to hell after living a good life simply because they were raised in a differing society than mine. That having been said, I find it hard to believe there is a God considering how many atrocities are commited on earth, how so many people suffer simply due to the life they were born into at no fault of their own. I do believe Jesus existed, I am not sure either way whether he was the Son of God. I wasn't there, there is no proof either way.

MmakeMme -> RE: Who Are You and Where Are You Going? (8/10/2006 3:55:59 PM)
quote: ORIGINAL: captiveplatypus That having been said, I find it hard to believe there is a God considering how many atrocities are commited on earth, how so many people suffer simply due to the life they were born into at no fault of their own. I do believe Jesus existed, I am not sure either way whether he was the Son of God. I wasn't there, there is no proof either way. I had a similar conversation with My Father The Minister. His point about human atrocity is this: God gave us the gift of free will. FREE will. Some humans abuse the gift. Unfortuantely, those who do not abuse it don't make the news.

MHOO314 -> RE: Who Are You and Where Are You Going? (8/10/2006 3:57:41 PM)
quote: ORIGINAL: popeye1250 Daddy, so you're an "Agnostic?" I guess then that the Ku Klux Klan would burn a big question mark (?) on your front lawn. ????? whew dude get some fresh air--

captiveplatypus -> RE: Who Are You and Where Are You Going? (8/10/2006 3:59:38 PM)
quote: ORIGINAL: MmakeMme quote: ORIGINAL: captiveplatypus That having been said, I find it hard to believe there is a God considering how many atrocities are commited on earth, how so many people suffer simply due to the life they were born into at no fault of their own. I do believe Jesus existed, I am not sure either way whether he was the Son of God. I wasn't there, there is no proof either way. I had a similar conversation with My Father The Minister. His point about human atrocity is this: God gave us the gift of free will. FREE will. Some humans abuse the gift. Unfortuantely, those who do not abuse it don't make the news. I mean also such as those born with severe birth defects. Sucky existance.

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