[The_AK]

So this has been bothering me... for a long time..

How do people choose their religion and justify what they believe?
What reasons do people have to believe in the religion that they currently do?

:confused:

[skyxx]

LEt's talking about True Religions.

Okay that was cheesy.....

[bossxx]

I think ppl are brought up into religion. Their parents, grandparents etc.. I remember my grandparents bringing me to church on sundays when I was a kid. Over the years I realized that I hated church and that I couldn't get into it. I didn't believe it. To me it just makes no sense physically/ scientifically.

I have nothing against ppl who are religious! None whatsoever. My whole family is religious except me.

We need an Atheism thread lol

[bossxx]

LEt's talking about True Religions.

Okay that as cheesy.....

lol.

[Noir]

Usually one's religion originates from ones upbringing. Usually, but is not always the case.

[Chestnut]

I love JC and all followers of the Christian faith. As for you all non believers, I will pray for you.

I am a C
I am a C-H
I am a C-H-R-I-S-T-I-A-N
And I have C-H-R-I-S-T
In my H-E-A-R-T
And I will L-I-V-E E-T-E-R-N-A-L-L-Y

I love the L
I love the L-O
I love the L-O-R-D J-E-S-U-S
And I am L-I-V-I-N-G
By His W-O-R-D
And I will N-E-V-E-R R-E-G-R-E-T I-T

[skyxx]

One time two girls from "Jehovah's Witnesses" knocked on my door. I opened the door and they asked me if I needed help with my life etc etc. She was talking for a good 5 minutes but I couldn't help myself but stare at the cute Asian girl beside her the whole time. I was gonna ask her out but then she's from JW so she'll make me join unless there's hope that I can change her MUAHAHA...hmmm

[bossxx]

I was fucking a JW in the spring for a couple months (not shitting you it took me like 4 months to finally nail her). It was pretty sweet though once I was in. I felt like I had accomplished a goal I was determined to achieve. Anyways, she was nice n all but she sometimes felt weird like she felt bad about stuff she did with me lol I am the fucking devil right!! haha she would tell me stuff about her religion that actually bugged me. I took her to a Canucks game once and she didn't stand up for the national anthem. I was like why aren't you standing up? this is pretty disrespectful to Canada and the ppl who died for this country. She was like yea the anthem is from teh gov't and the gov't is bad. I can't support the national anthem. I was like okk awkwardd.. haha she said she heard that from one of her 'meetings' that she goes to. fucked up if you ask me.

edit: i was like so every jw thats in GM place is sitting down, right? haha.. stupid..

[Dan_Guy]

Question:
( we will refer to God as he, so one one gets confused, not being sexist. Plug in She/It if you want )

If one believes that God is the ultimate being. He is the Alpha and Omega. He does not exist in space or time. He is omniscient. He knows the future and the past. Unbeatable. Pure. All Power full. And God created everything: the universe, light, darkness, plants trees, humans, animals, so on. Humans he created in his own image, not specifically that he must look like us of course, but in some way, and loves us, and wants us to be happy as we are his children. And humans shall not suffer.

If above is so, then why create the devil? Why create hell? Why create The Tree of Knowledge of Good and Evil and tell Eve and Adam to not touch the fruits, if he himself Knew that they would touch it for he knows the future? Is God then loving if he makes rules that we KNOWS we will disobey and be punished for?







/am not anti religious, but not super religious either

[impactX]

Wow, this thread will end well.

[impactX]

I was fucking a JW in the spring for a couple months (not shitting you it took me like 4 months to finally nail her). It was pretty sweet though once I was in. I felt like I had accomplished a goal I was determined to achieve. Anyways, she was nice n all but she sometimes felt weird like she felt bad about stuff she did with me lol I am the fucking devil right!! haha she would tell me stuff about her religion that actually bugged me. I took her to a Canucks game once and she didn't stand up for the national anthem. I was like why aren't you standing up? this is pretty disrespectful to Canada and the ppl who died for this country. She was like yea the anthem is from teh gov't and the gov't is bad. I can't support the national anthem. I was like okk awkwardd.. haha she said she heard that from one of her 'meetings' that she goes to. fucked up if you ask me.

edit: i was like so every jw thats in GM place is sitting down, right? haha.. stupid..

So how was the 4-month process and how crazy was she (in bed) compared to normal girls? Obviously, you are goal-oriented... but I guess she wasn't too devoted either?

[TheKingdom2000]

if you're interested in a religion then just go to a few churches/temples..

unless you're just asking the question..
it's all parents. and how you've been brought up.

[bossxx]

Religion is like joining a gang; you have the head boss and then his followers. The followers recruit others to join the gang and together they create an army and go kill ppl who are in the opposing gangs.

[The_AK]

Well im curious to know why some people are part of a religion and what allows them believe in it?

Personally, I never really understood certain things that we did and when I asked my parents about it they simply replied tradition. I guess im looking for a better answer than just "tradition". I'm leaning to the belief that god does not exist, that there is no heaven or hell, and that we simply perish when our times comes.

[bossxx]

So how was the 4-month process and how crazy was she (in bed) compared to normal girls? Obviously, you are goal-oriented... but I guess she wasn't too devoted either?

The 4 month process was strenuous. I had known her for maybe a year but never really had contact with her much because I had a gf at the time. After I broke up with my gf I started talking to her on the phone and then started seeing her quite regularly. At first I thought there was no way in hell I would be able to get down her panties because she put up such a huge wall. I was determined though and continued on my mission. We would start making out and stuff eventually (I felt like I was in high school) and after weeks of that we eventually graduated onto more intense stuff. It seemed like forever and at this point I was getting exhausted from dating this chick. I knew she wanted to fuck though but her religion was stopping her. She told me this a couple of times. Although I had put in a huge time investment into this girl I had really had it with not moving in for the win so I was going to play hard to get and if it didnt work no biggie but if it did then sweet. So sure enough I told her I didn't really want to get involved with her religion so it was best we stopped hanging out. She agreed but I guess felt bad about it. We didnt talk for a week and then she called me out of the blue one evening and I came over and we fucked like rabbits. After that we would have sex sometimes twice a day and this went on for a few months. She was not a virgin and she was pretty good in bed. Not the best sex of my life but definitely not the worst. She was into like any position I put her in. She had a really nice body lol. Anyway she started to really like me after a couple months and I stopped hanging out with her. She randomly called me last week at like 3am and wanted to have sex but I told her I was seeing some girl, which was a lie, but I didnt want her over and bringing up what was already in the past because it ended on a good note for both of us. She wasn't too devoted to her religion I guess at the time we were seeing eachother. Even tho she would go to her meetings regularly and all that other jazz.

[skyxx]

^ Now that's what I call a "True" story. :thumbsup:

[ShanghaiKid]

We believe not in religion, but in faith. That's how many people will justify it. Their "religion" is simply a representation of their faith, a belief that there is something out there that's greater and that we are all part of something much bigger than us. And so they have faith, some greater purpose to hold onto, to rely on, and to comfort them. Evidence that they need this so much is demonstrated daily, from suicidal bombings, to praying in a chapel on sunday, or to eating only a specific type of food.

We all have different religions, but what it boils down to is that we all have faith. That's all it is, that's all it ever will be. Sadly the world has yet to realize that, so they war because of our differences, just as we war because of political beliefs, skin colour and culture. This being the reason why I don't have a religion, while still having faith.

[Wongtouski]

She was not a virgin and she was pretty good in bed.

Dude, I was thinking about that before I got to that part. Usually they practice abstinence but never have I heard a girl have sex, then stop because of a religion. Double weird.

[SlowRider]

im not sure why people replace spirituality from there life with religion .....

fail....right there....

[unit]

^kind of how i feel. raised in a christian family, dont go to church anymore. still believe in a higher power but just hate the church structure. ppl are so fake it blows my mind. superficial, hypocritical, judgemental people everywhere.

[Drow]

i believe that there is a "god", an omnipotent being somewhere out there in the vast nothingness of spa-a-a-ace. The world as we live in today could not have been created entirely out of nothing. Just because i believe in such a deity does not mean i dismiss theories which explain the beginning of the universe. Take the big bang theory for example. The theory states that the universe was indeed created from nothing, or from a "singularity". This "singularity" sorta started expanding outwards from billions of years ago ( known as the "big bang" ) and our galaxy is a small part of this expansion. But what created this...singularity? What caused it to expand? I believe an omnipotent being would be responsible for those. It was probably responsible for the design of the universe as well.

WHO it is or WHAT it is i am not sure, but as you can see there are many religions in this world who illustrate this being to their own beliefs. I can say that a certain religion may be completely absurd, but what i cannot say that it is wrong. We just don't know if it may be the true religion or not, for it is ultimately unknown in today's world.

agnostic theism ftw

[ZhangFei]

people who are brought up in strict religious families find salvation in breaking those rules

people who are brought up in atheism and carpe diemism find salvation in strict religion.

that has been boggling my mind these past couple of weeks.

[Meowjin]

i grew up in a church environment pretty strict, i think my bro was theo nly one who stuck with it... went over to his house today and got yelled at because i didn't go see some holy relic flown in from russia. regular "your going to hell stuff"

[Ulic Qel-Droma]

i believe that there is a "god", an omnipotent being somewhere out there in the vast nothingness of spa-a-a-ace. The world as we live in today could not have been created entirely out of nothing. Just because i believe in such a deity does not mean i dismiss theories which explain the beginning of the universe. Take the big bang theory for example. The theory states that the universe was indeed created from nothing, or from a "singularity". This "singularity" sorta started expanding outwards from billions of years ago ( known as the "big bang" ) and our galaxy is a small part of this expansion. But what created this...singularity? What caused it to expand? I believe an omnipotent being would be responsible for those. It was probably responsible for the design of the universe as well.

WHO it is or WHAT it is i am not sure, but as you can see there are many religions in this world who illustrate this being to their own beliefs. I can say that a certain religion may be completely absurd, but what i cannot say that it is wrong. We just don't know if it may be the true religion or not, for it is ultimately unknown in today's world.

agnostic theism ftw

or we human's are just too stupid to be able to figure out where everything came from. we only know our world based on our science, what we've discovered.

I think even if some superior being came down and told us how the universe was created, we'd be too fucking primitive to understand what the fuck he was talking about.

religion, spiritual stuff, whatever, helps us humans stay sane by answering questions we cannot answer ourselves. it probably helps and or allows the human psyche to expand. whatever the fuck that means.

[q0192837465]

There was this Christian guy who came up to me last week in Metrotown and told me that if u believe in Buddhism, u'r going straight to hell. I loled.

[!SG]

ive had ppl say that to me.

my reply

"going to hell??? ive already booked the tee time w/ the devil!"

or

"well... im sure ill see you there with the wrong doings you have done in your life..."


i have no problem with what religion ppl believe in. i do have a problem when those ppl start thrusting it upon others that dont believe in the same religion as they do. That and ppl that believe god or some higher power told them to go kill someone. If the higher power is so powerful, why would they as them to go kill someone, why dont they just smite thee with their powers?

stay open minded, every religion has some what the same basic belief, there is a higher power, and you should live your life within reason and without doing harm to others.


as to what religion to choose, ur opinion would be based on what religion ur family follows and influences from the ppl around you. my family has been buddhist/daoist(taoist) and thus i am. yes im going to hell, one of the deites we believe in is of war and money.

There was this Christian guy who came up to me last week in Metrotown and told me that if u believe in Buddhism, u'r going straight to hell. I loled.

[silk]

i dont mind religions, but i hated when people getting too worked out on there religion and trys to convert you into one.

I noticed a lot of Jesus's fellows love to do that and I totally aginst it.

[SpuGen]

I went to Church drunk once.
I was heavily drinking the night before, and took a few more shots in the morning before going.

I remember passing out in the pew.

[tool001]

meh, attended catholic church for a bit.

Pretty much they say, if u dont believe in catholic church, u go to hell.... (yeh head that before on the new alot about another religion .... if u what i mean)

RELIGION is nothing but well organized money /power laundering scheme and opium for the masses

[Hondaracer]

When a star goes super-nova in the galaxy after however many light years it took to finally detonate, the elements omitted are virtually the exact same elements which compose the human body

but god made it like that right? :/

im no physicist but imo the wonders and facts of the universe, and how things all come together and just seem to "work" with the very basic understanding that we have of our world today, there is absolutely no way i can believe in some big guy in the clouds with his master plan in works

As i've said before, once the large hadon collider goes online, it will most likely open a huge can of worms in terms of new discovery and research

if you've seen any sort of "technology timeline" or anything of the sorts in time magazines, tv shows, etc. by the year 2100 in almost all of these predictions, it's said that the basic origins of the universe will have been uncovered, kind of hard to dispute facts like that when they come to be.

[Ilagon]

I was brought up in a Catholic home and went to a Catholic elementary school. I never really questioned it until I went to a public high school. I was so sheltered from everything during elementary and went I started high school, it opened up my eyes a bit. I consider myself a non-practicing Catholic because I still believe in God, but not the extent that I used to.

[q0192837465]

To me, the biggest problem I have with religion is that they act like they fully understand God. I believe in a high being but not in the way Christians/Catholics portrays him/her. They always say God this God that. Well, who told u? How do u know that wut u'r told is correct? How come whenever I have a rebuttal, u'll answer with God this & that? So if u can answer all the questions I raised against ur religion, wouldnt that make u God since u already know everything there is to know about God?

The ppl who try to sell u their religion always try to out-reason u. And that, I think, is the biggest problem. People r afraid if admitting that they don't know. But the truth is we'r merely human, we are flawed, and we don't know everything. Sadly, most ppl will not accept this.

[Sid Vicious]

people who are brought up in strict religious families find salvation in breaking those rules

people who are brought up in atheism and carpe diemism find salvation in strict religion.

that has been boggling my mind these past couple of weeks.

You are quite possibly the dumbest human being on this planet

[Corey Darling]

.

[NJMR]

science is a religion. and its faith is in man.

[Sid Vicious]

science is a religion. and its faith is in man.

Science is based on empirical research...and religion is based on manuscripts written thousands of year ago? what is the similarity?

in short, you are an idiot

[Mugen EvOlutioN]

believe wat u want to believe i guess

[jeff_alexander]

http://www.motifake.com/demotivational-poster/0712/christianity-explained-god-demotivational-poster-1198455582.jpg
http://img.visualizeus.com/thumbs/08/02/05/blasphemy,funny,jesus,painting,wmca,ymca-446afeaf52db5cb2160ac33633d95999_h.jpg
http://img388.imageshack.us/img388/232/religionkv0.png

This pretty much sums it up.

[Corey Darling]

.

[mgarba]

Religion is a belief, simply that, and nothing more. It is not truth. A child born does not come out preaching Jesus, this is something taught. Much like your parents teach you that stealing and lying is wrong, these are also beliefs and values.

Look how many Muslims, Christians, Jews, Mormons, Catholics, etc that are in this world. Each person from these groups will say the other person's beliefs are wrong, and their own religious stories are truth. If all of these people are right, how many Gods are out there? How can one belief be 100% correct, and another as well? It's not possible. The Bible, in addition to other religious beliefs are mere STORIES, written by common man.

I believe religion did have a place thousands as years ago, as it did develop civilizations, and was an excellent way to put the fear into people to follow a certain code of values and rules to live their lives without anarchy, but at this point the need for religion IMHO is no longer.

Think of it this way, how much has changed in 25 years? How about 100 years? Think of how much different science and human beliefs were only 100 years ago? Vastly different. There is no reason to follow a book that was written over 2000 years ago, and expect to use that as a scientific truth of our world and existence.

[124Y]

I interpret religion as a "faith" as well. A lot of times, this "faith" supports ourselves mentally and spiritually when we run into obstacles in our lives. From a long time ago, religion was created to explain those natural events unexplainable back then. Now, we have scientific proof for those events such as earthquake, thunder, and etc. but people still believe in their religion.

[!LittleDragon]

I believe there's something out there but I don't pretend to know what it is. Mankind for all we know could be the result of an alien experiment. Mankind can already create life, clone it, etc... and if the LHC is successful, we will understand the universe a whole lot more. If these are powers that God supposedly has, what does that make us?

Anyone remember the Star Trek movie where Spock's brother led them to the edge of the universe where they found "God"? Kirk asked him a simple question... Why does God need a space ship? Well, since we don't have intergalactic space ships... Why does God need money?

I take the philosophies of many religions and apply it to my own life, mostly the ones pertaining to how you should treat others. And if I'm wrong and there really is a god with heaven/hell, I'd like to think that I'll be judge by what I did in life and not how much I believed in him.

[LiquidTurbo]

http://img388.imageshack.us/img388/232/religionkv0.png

This pretty much sums it up.


Hahahahah that's awesome.

[Drow]

ONIYOU



So what created your omnipotent being?

probably another omnipotent being, and another omnipotent created that other one, etc. etc.

:thumbsup:

[Leopold Stotch]

One time two girls from "Jehovah's Witnesses" knocked on my door. I opened the door and they asked me if I needed help with my life etc etc. She was talking for a good 5 minutes but I couldn't help myself but stare at the cute Asian girl beside her the whole time. I was gonna ask her out but then she's from JW so she'll make me join unless there's hope that I can change her MUAHAHA...hmmm

I always look out the peephole before opening the door so whenever i see JW and i haven't changed yet, i come out in just my underwear.

they're normally quite taken aback and stutter which i enjoy, but i never take ti too far, they're nice people.

[ajax]

i believe that there is a "god", an omnipotent being somewhere out there in the vast nothingness of spa-a-a-ace. The world as we live in today could not have been created entirely out of nothing. Just because i believe in such a deity does not mean i dismiss theories which explain the beginning of the universe. Take the big bang theory for example. The theory states that the universe was indeed created from nothing, or from a "singularity". This "singularity" sorta started expanding outwards from billions of years ago ( known as the "big bang" ) and our galaxy is a small part of this expansion. But what created this...singularity? What caused it to expand? I believe an omnipotent being would be responsible for those. It was probably responsible for the design of the universe as well.

WHO it is or WHAT it is i am not sure, but as you can see there are many religions in this world who illustrate this being to their own beliefs. I can say that a certain religion may be completely absurd, but what i cannot say that it is wrong. We just don't know if it may be the true religion or not, for it is ultimately unknown in today's world.

agnostic theism ftw

Well said, that's exactly how I believe. For me, my way of praying to God or worshiping or whatever is just to live happily. I think of it as humans and animals being his pets, wouldn't you want your pet to be happy?:p Technically I'm a Sikh, but after growing up in an age so influenced by science, all the miracles and crazy stories that happened during the beginning of the religion are just hard to believe. And it seems like thats the way with other religions too.

[moomooCow]

I believe there's something out there but I don't pretend to know what it is....I take the philosophies of many religions and apply it to my own life, mostly the ones pertaining to how you should treat others. And if I'm wrong and there really is a god with heaven/hell, I'd like to think that I'll be judge by what I did in life and not how much I believed in him.

QFT
I just try to be the best person I can be and if there is a God then I'm sure he'll see that and will judge accordingly.

[!SG]

the funny thing i find is, the bible describes "hell" as being the place abscent of god. thus pretty much everyones interpretation of hell is just the glorified version we've all seen in movies and tv.

but what would i know, im buddhist and have only read a bit of the bible...

[Brianrietta]

Look how many Muslims, Christians, Jews, Mormons, Catholics, etc that are in this world. If all of these people are right, how many Gods are out there?

Only one actually... Islam, Judaism and Christianity all share a common deity. ;)

[some_punk]

I have no problems with people of other religions or faith, but I do have a problem when they try to convert others, especially when you are doing something.

One time I was having lunch at tim hortins, and this old lady comes up to me and asks me "Do you know where you are going to go when you die?" Not to be rude but that reallly annoyed me so I said to her "I know where I am going to go if you dont shut up". And then she leaves me alone and goes over to a few other tables and ask those people the same question.

[1exotic]

Religion is like joining a gang; you have the head boss and then his followers. The followers recruit others to join the gang and together they create an army and go kill ppl who are in the opposing gangs.

but there is a difference.

http://www.amren.com/ar/2009/04/06a-guatemala_gang_tattoo_01.jpg

http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_WPjZST8SC40/R5jp0ZD0I_I/AAAAAAAANV8/UJfEczp5q5c/s400/priest_83273t.jpg


Is VTEC considered a religion?

http://img9.imageshack.us/img9/1291/127200265924pm57221.jpg

[Graeme S]

I remember watching a special on Penn and Teller about religion, and they summed it up excellently.

In the war of Religion vs Science, there is one key point to consider. Religion has a point. A decision. A Truth, if you will. This is the way it is, and we have to find ways to prove that this is the truth.

Science, on the other hand, has no truths. It has only facts. It has only Theories. We often espouse the most recently proven theories as Truth, but science acknowledges no truths. We analyze what we see and hear and find, determine if it fits what we believe, and if not, we shift what we believe.

So you need to decide for yourself which is better: a Truth that never changes, no matter the evidence, or a Theory that will change and grow as we learn more about ourselves and the Universe.

Only one actually... Islam, Judaism and Christianity all share a common deity. ;)

Which is yet another reason why I cannot believe in any of them--each of them have several different interpretations of which is correct, and each of the three squabble amongst themselves to determine which one is worshipping God in the proper way.

Seriously, bitches, what the fuck?

[!LittleDragon]

Which is yet another reason why I cannot believe in any of them--each of them have several different interpretations of which is correct, and each of the three squabble amongst themselves to determine which one is worshipping God in the proper way.

Seriously, bitches, what the fuck?


werd... Christianity has close to 34,000 different sects. A church divided is no church at all.

[Noir]

I've seen many anti-christ/religion many of whom echoes much of the same opinions as have been stated here, but when one comes across a situation where they may be facing their own mortality, they will be looking for a God.

Seen it happen.

[q0192837465]

There is only one God. But religions are merely human interpretation of this one God. As humans, we'r flaws & thus our interpreations vary. The day we realize that no single religion holds the full truth and that each religion has a piece of the truth will be the day we reach salvation. Too bad ppl r too self centered to see the big picture.

[chunk_stir]

So this has been bothering me... for a long time..

How do people choose their religion and justify what they believe?
What reasons do people have to believe in the religion that they currently do?

:confused:

Ok, past observations on forums like revscene that deal with this topic tell me that it's not worth the time to reply... but hopefully the less vocal, but interested readers will enjoy the conversation here before the thread goes down in flames...

In any case, many responses so far have dealt with "why I think <insert religion/faith group here> is not as good as what I believe." Many responses address why you think religion is irrelevant.

But that's not really the question.

If I read the OP correctly, he/she is asking essentially, "Why do people believe what they believe? On what grounds do people make their faith choices?"

Everyone believes in something that they use to make sense of life, purposes, guiding morals, etc. So that's the way I'm answering the quetsion. Religion/faith/worldview is the set of morals, overarching principles, belief system that one chooses to use to view the world and their place in the world (be it Christianity, Islam, Buddhism, Universalism, Atheism, Rationalism, etc).

Now to actually answering hte question.... Most are correct in saying that family and culture play a huge role in defining this. And like many who have responded already, you hit a point where you begin to question whether what you believe (or told to believe) actually makes sense of the world you see and its problems. So you take what you know and learn, combine it with some personal experience and hopefully observations of genuine adherents to the faith/religion and come up with what you believe. At least I hope that's what people do. Without thinking and interaction between your religion and the outside world, you either get fundamentalists (of any faith group) who are intolerant of anything contrary to what they believe, or you get people who just plain reject it. But faith/religion I think is more than a personal intellectual/philsophical quest. I think if your faith is really your faith, it affects how you relate to others, how you act and your attitudes. Otherwise, it's just a bunch of hypothetical/philosophical balony that you use to justify yourself before others.

So after processing what you believe, we see some of the results in this thread...

Some have given up on their family faith/religion because of disappointment, abuse, hypocrisy, etc. Some stick to it out of tradition and family/cultural loyalty. Others find other faiths/religions that seem to make more sense. Others explore (like me) explore whether what I've grown up in actually is worth believing in and find much contentment in it.

So whatever category you are in and if you are willing to acknowledge the world is bigger than you and your feelings, then you will at some point have to confront some major questions about what you believe... and come up with your "religion", "faith", belief system, whatever it may be.

If you've got this far in the thread (and in my response), then you're either interested in proving why what you believe is better than others here, or that you genuinely want to figure it out your "religion" for yourself. If it's the latter, then I hope you take the time to investigate and genuinely ask the tough questions about the world, life, its meaning (if any), and the problem of suffering and evil. Take some time for it. Talk to people who are genuine, reasonably knowledgable AND practice what they believe. It probably is worth your time.