EPTChristianity and Faith - Page 2
| Blogs > plbro81 |
Oh boy, a religion thread <_< Remember to keep discussion civil. I'll be monitoring this heavily - empyrean. | ||
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munchmunch
Canada789 Posts
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The_LiNk
Canada863 Posts
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zhurai
United States5660 Posts
That aside, I'm a Catholic Christian. On June 21 2011 17:08 plbro81 wrote: I know a lot of people here do not believe in God, so if so, I don't need any derogatory responses about Christianity. Hopefully some Christians and non-Christians can help me out here. Just wondering, which denomination, because I personally only have experience with a certain subset of that (Catholic) so... I'll format the rest of this post as if you are, if not, I guess disregard everything here........or so? *shrug* On June 21 2011 17:08 plbro81 wrote: So anyway, I've been struggling with my faith lately. I was a Christian since I was born, but lately I've been questioning Christianity more and more (especially since I'm in college now). I kinda miss the days where I blindly believed in God. I've been baptized since... a bit before 1st grade? I dont' remember. I'm in college too, but it really depends which aspects of Christianity you've been questioning anyways Really though, there's something called Confirmation, and people apparently don't get that you had the choice to "go your own path" (i.e. you are now an adult to the Church, when you go accept confirmation you accept God/etc) .... then again, nobody understand it anyways, and goes through it and then quits out of being a Christian altogether. On June 21 2011 17:08 plbro81 wrote: I've read the Bible a couple times, and when I think about it, all of it seems so fake. Like Noah's ark, men growing to be 800 yrs old, and Goliath. What makes Christianity different from other religions in retrospect? I used to laugh at other religions because they were "stupid" but is Christianity really any different? It's so hard to believe sometimes. Is there really a heaven and hell? Is there really a God? When I do something bad, why am I beating myself up over it? Is religion just something created by man to establish moral codes? This content is much better asked to like...your church/parish's pastor/priest or someone like an apologist (ex: http://forums.catholic.com/forumdisplay.php?f=4) On June 21 2011 17:08 plbro81 wrote: Have any Christians went through this phase I'm going through? I really want to believe in God, I really do. I just find it so hard to do so lately. I feel myself degrading slowly morally, which is alarming me. Don't get me wrong, I'm not a bad guy, in fact, I would say I'm a pretty good person. I don't cuss, I don't get into fights, I am a really kind guy. I'm not looking for a reason to do things looked down upon in the Bible. I just want to know whether spending my life "serving God" is a waste of time and I should just live life to the fullest. I don't think I've gone through something through that, as I've been pretty close to the Church ever since I was baptized I believe. I mean, the only other group I'm even close to socializing with other than my church friends is...well teamliquid/starcraft players in a way.... but w/e. I'm not sure what you mean exactly by "Degrading slowly morally". If you think you're a good person/etc, then your "morals" aren't exactly _degrading_. I think it's more like you're just losing faith and is trying to find a good reason to stay a Christian? Are/Were you active at your local parish/church youth group? did you have any good friends that were Christian that you knew back then that you are still friends + they are still Christian? / etc.. I feel that a support network, or at least a network of friends that you have at church would help you keep your faith. Like for me, I've went through the catechism, with a class, and pretty much bonded with them (I'd say) pretty close, so that we essentially created a support network that we can talk to/etc (and it doesn't really have to be just about Church stuff), [Random stuff: I think one or two of them + StarCraft got me interested in k-pop =.=' Heh...] Along with this class I had, we also had a bigger youth group we were part of (lead by the young adults in our church community) that, for us, consisted of all the high school classes/grades, and the activities there helped us bond even more/etc I guess I can talk about this more after my finals this Wednesday or so if you want to talk about it more ^_^'.. ehh getting late... 2am  | ||
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EdSlyB
Portugal1621 Posts
This is mainly because it they preach one thing and I see every catholic doing a diferent thing. Even the priests during the services sound fake and artificial to me. And one thing I hate is hypocrisy. So the church is basically dead for me. But the cool thing about faith is that you don't need to follow other people's faith. If you truly believe that there something or someone that created the whole world around us with a purpose you don't need to call It /Him Jesus or Budha. You don't need to follow the books that explain what you should do. You can call Him/It whatever you want. You can create your own doutrine to follow with your own principles. You can create your own ways of praising Him/It. And you know why? Because He/It will be YOUR God. No one else. And if you truly BELIEVE in Him/it no one will be able to take Him/It down. This won't probably help you much but I hope you find faith either in a god or in a lack of one. | ||
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TheFinalWord
Australia790 Posts
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Kerotan
England2109 Posts
I really wanted to believe because I was terrified of death, I had the same questions as you and it all seemed increasingly like a farce, yet I still believed because I needed a security blanket. I don't want to be too preachy, but I'm going to close with this: You can be a good person and not believe in god. | ||
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DrTJEckleburg
United States1080 Posts
I study a lot of history of religion, it seems like you're asking some very broad questions that I could answer historically but I feel like you would prefer spiritual answers. These are things you need to figure out for yourself of course since I wouldn't feel comfortable guiding someone else's life on the internet. Although I would say to your last question that "serving God" is not a waste of time if you are living life to your fullest; I don't think there is anything wrong with faith and religion helping someone to do good things in life(there shouldn't be much of a gray area here, morality permeates all religions and cultures pretty much.) I will say that the three religions of Abraham: Judaism, Catholicism, and Islam are probably more similar than you might think, but of course have their differences. | ||
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crc
Australia256 Posts
i used to just go along with everything, and was pretty sure about some big ideas. but when i got older i read more widely (Christian and non-Christian works) and explored everything again for myself. you should do the same thing. in fact i find that when i question myself and gotten answers that changed what i thought, it solidifies what i believe in because i discovered it for myself. | ||
Teoita
Italy12246 Posts
I have pretty much always been agnostic, so i'll give a bit of a different input from the first few posts. A couple of interesting sentences in your post are "you really want to believe in God" and "you feel yourself degrading slowly morally". So let me ask you, what do you mean by that? Do you feel like you need some sort of guideline for your life, something you can look at to confort you, learn from etc? That isn't necessarily religion: most agnostics/atheists have their own guideline regarding morals, behaviour etc that is really similar to Christianity. You know, "do unto others as you would have others do unto you.". You don't need to believe in religion for you to be a good person. Faith is something people use to get strength through bad times, or to explain all the evil that goes on in the world without saying "well, many humans are just bastards for no good reason". I think that's what you should look into religion if you feel you need it, not something that tells you wether you have good morals or not. | ||
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Fontong
United States6454 Posts
The fact that you are at this moment questioning yourself and your beliefs speaks that in the end you will be able to make the choice you believe is best for yourself, not a choice that someone else made for you. | ||
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ShadowDrgn
United States2497 Posts
There's a lot I really want to say about this, but I'm not sure how to phrase it succinctly and kindly. There are tons of great essays, books, and videos available online that explain much better than I ever could about the fallacies, lies, and half-truths you've been told at church. You seem to have already deduced some big ones on your own, and from my personal experience, there's no turning back. You can still be a moral person and live a good life without God; we atheists don't murder and rob just because there's no threat of eternal damnation for doing so. We're nice people too, and you don't even have to give us 10% to join. | ||
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Azzur
Australia6259 Posts
I'm a Christian apologist, which means that I try and reconcile science and faith. I believe in everything mentioned in the Bible - from creation in 7 days, Noah's Ark and Jesus. One of the more controversial topics is of course creation. If creation is interpreted literally, not only is the universe made in 7 days, but that means that the Earth is under 10,000 years old (as opposed to the scientifically accepted 4b years). I get this 10,000 years because the complete genealogy from Jesus to Adam is written in the first chapter of Matthew. Then, when you add up all the years that those men lived, you get around 6,000 years. The reason I can reconcile these differences is because of the understanding of "time". Many people will say that the Bible is paraphrasing, and that when it says 7 days, it is 7 "figurative" days. However, I don't accept that. Modern science has shown that time is completely different from what the layman understands (Einstein's Theory of Relativity). Also, I believe that we are on the cusp of broadening our understanding of the universe. Einstein's theory is now breaking down when applied on the quantum level. It is possible that in our lifetime, a new theory will supersede it. The next thing to consider is the timing of when Jesus arrived into the world. He didn't go to a random civilization during the dark ages. He came to the Jews at the height of the Classical era. This meant that the Romans had good roads (vital for spreading The Word) and kept good records. There were many eye witness accounts on Jesus' life. Now, also consider the 3 main monotheistic religions of the world - Christianity, Islam and Judaism. If you study the early history of their books, you'll find them quite similar. In fact, both Islam and Judaism acknowledge the existence of Jesus (but as a prophet). Coupled with the fact that the people living in those areas now are still fighting over their right over the land. The story has been passed down from generations to generations and good records are kept. Having all this knowledge is all well and good. But the main thing - faith and love is the most important. I guess having that knowledge is what sustains me during difficult times. | ||
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Veldril
Thailand1817 Posts
I am not a Christian, rather I am a Theravada Bhuddist (a branch of Bhuddism). However, I studied in a Christian school from elementary study to highschool so I kinda experienced both religions. I used to doubt in my religion once when I was young, then took an interest in Christianity then back to affirm my faith in Bhuddism after I studied both religions thoroughly. I just feel that each religion suits each person more or less than other person. So you should study yourself, your religion and other religions to see what suit you the best. If you can't find one, then becoming Atheist is not bad either. From my experience, religions at their cores aim to make people become morally good. But that does not mean not believing in religion or lacking/reducing of faith makes you become a bad person. As long as you are good, ie. not hurting others both physically and verbally (and to certain extent, mentally), you are practicing religions. Live you life to the fullest and focusing on your present situation and feeling would be more likely to make you happy. Oh, and when you read the scriptures, regardless of religions, please don't take every words literally. Some are written in what I would call "religious language", which need to be analyzed first to understand a deeper meaning of those words or teachings. Also, scriptures were written by human and human do make error, intentionally or unintentionally. So read about teachings, think what they truly means, and how you could adapt and use them to make your life happy. I hope that help you. Good luck. | ||
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gameguard
Korea (South)2132 Posts
Many people want to try to make Christianity compatible with their scientific knowledge or vise versa and I think thats the wrong way to go. Anyone with an education has at their disposal the tools to realize religion for what it is. There is a reason all major religions followed today originated thousands of years ago. It gave people a sense of belonging and something to give them hope. It explained the unknown. Now it is so ingrained in our society that people have a hard time breaking away from it even if it comes to odds with logic and common sense. | ||
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Mactator
109 Posts
Instead of reading the bible perhaps you should read a philosopher, Kierkegaard for example? | ||
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Sotamursu
Finland612 Posts
On June 21 2011 17:08 plbro81 wrote: + Show Spoiler + I know a lot of people here do not believe in God, so if so, I don't need any derogatory responses about Christianity. Hopefully some Christians and non-Christians can help me out here. So anyway, I've been struggling with my faith lately. I was a Christian since I was born, but lately I've been questioning Christianity more and more (especially since I'm in college now). I kinda miss the days where I blindly believed in God. I've read the Bible a couple times, and when I think about it, all of it seems so fake. Like Noah's ark, men growing to be 800 yrs old, and Goliath. What makes Christianity different from other religions in retrospect? I used to laugh at other religions because they were "stupid" but is Christianity really any different? It's so hard to believe sometimes. Is there really a heaven and hell? Is there really a God? When I do something bad, why am I beating myself up over it? Is religion just something created by man to establish moral codes? Have any Christians went through this phase I'm going through? I really want to believe in God, I really do. I just find it so hard to do so lately. I feel myself degrading slowly morally, which is alarming me. Don't get me wrong, I'm not a bad guy, in fact, I would say I'm a pretty good person. I don't cuss, I don't get into fights, I am a really kind guy. I'm not looking for a reason to do things looked down upon in the Bible. I just want to know whether spending my life "serving God" is a waste of time and I should just live life to the fullest. You don't need christianity or any other religion to guide you. All religions sound pretty stupid to someone who is an atheist, just like everything except christianity sounds stupid to you. I'm not going to start arguing why christianity is wrong and god does not exist, you can look up those yourself. http://www.youtube.com/user/TheAtheistExperience You might want to look into that, a lot of people call in with problems like yours. The main host Matt used to be a hardcore christian who was studying to become a priest. While studying theology he realised how much bullshit is in the bible and slowly lost his faith. He sort of went through what you're experiencing now. On June 21 2011 17:19 Torte de Lini wrote: If I recall, Gallileo had several run-ins with the church when he proved that the Earth revolved around the Sun and not vice-versa. The church was furious of this heresy, but Galileo showed, via discourse (or in writing), that both Science and Religion can work in a sort that one guides and answers questions we can't physically prove (or disprove) and another aims to show the inner-workings of it all. . If something interacts with the universe it will leave physical evidence inside it. When you can't find any evidence for the existence of god inside the universe, you can't say a god exists. The scientific method is the best way to determine what is true and what is false. The answers the church offers don't satisfy anyone who wants to think about things for more than 5 seconds. When you accept a lie as the truth, you stop seeking for the truth. Faith is completely useless for discovering anything. That's why anything religion offers on the supernatural has no value. | ||
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deathly rat
United Kingdom911 Posts
I'm atheist. I call myself atheist because not only do I see no good reason to believe in a god, but I also see that religeon is a terrible force for evil in the world. In almost all cases nobody uses religeon to call for increased liberty and human rights. On the other hand it is easy to find people using religeon to justify war and the repression of women. It doesn't matter if you choose to believe in a god, it only matters to you. If you want to you can surround yourself in hardcore believers who will try and reconcile your questions with rhetoric. I really think that you can convince yourself to beleive in anything if you try hard enough. If you decide you don't want to believe in a god anymore, then don't feel bad about this either. Do you really think a being so wise and powerful to create the universe and all within it would be so petty and small minded as to be bothered whether you believed in him or not. | ||
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KrAzYfoOL
Australia3037 Posts
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Sporadic44
United States533 Posts
also realize like empryean so rightfully pointed out, think about other faiths and how they explain this universal concept of god. for example i myself follow no particular organized religion. but that does not make me an atheist, and it doesnt mean im going to hell. | ||
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NotSupporting
Sweden1998 Posts
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