Can my religion be open-mindedness? Enlighten me,

[Soul_Inmate]

Yes, I am a Catholic by birth since it is my parents' religion and was baptized to it,
I received Communion and Confirmation a few years back but by age 13, I started to stray from my faith.
By 17, I did not attend much of Church because I was a College freshman and other stuff.
Now 18 going 19, I feel adamant in denouncing my faith but I couldn't do so because my family is predominantly Catholic, although we have friends of other faiths, they are not very open to them.
The reason for my change was because there was a time when my grandmother kept telling us to just keep praying when we were in a deep crisis even though she can help us.
All I keep hearing was "pray" instead of offering some solid advice that can help us through.

Personally, I believe that all religion is the same and people shouldn't fight about here and there.
The Catholic Church is nice with all its grandeur and power but it cannot simply make decisions for everyone or force things down one's throat.
I have exposed myself to others' religion through reading and personal contact but never joined them, yes I kept my Catholic faith but I have not fully participated in masses and etc.

I do respect religion, I do acknowledge deities but I do not believe in them, I see them as mere models of morality, archaic examples to follow.
I find the Catholic Church as an anachronism to our times, these ever changing times, and that they have been left behind in the Middle Ages!

I don't mind being Catholic but I dislike the fact that many tend to blur the lines and make new religions out of it, I dislike that people fight because of religion and that life has to be centered around God.

I consider myself as a drifter but what should become of me? sweatdrop

[Crystal8Phoenix]

Well, I don't have an official religion but I go to service at the Unitarian Universalist church. They believe in the independent search for spiritual truth, and looking to wisdom from all religions, as well as reason and science, to find not necessarily the ultimate truth, but a way of believing that brings you personal fulfillment.

I strongly favor this idea, as that is what I've done since I denounced the Christian faith when I was 14. I went through a phase of agnosticism, paganism, and eventually found that no one can teach you truth. No one can read it to you, no one can even describe it. It's something that resonates within you. And you will find errors and have to fine tune your thinking, because life is a process of experiencing, and it's through experience that we grow wiser

[xXZirkannia]

I don't get why some people call themselves catholic, and then turn around and say they don't agree with most of it. (No offense.) Why then even bother calling yourself one if you don't want to be classified with such teachings? Calling yourself a catholic in front of man won't do much good when standing before God. He knows all of your heart. Your thoughts. Actions. Deeds. Words. He already knows you're not really that in to it, ya know?

Besides, I find it silly that the Catholic Church is so worried about other people not following God's commandments when they themselves have twisted, taken away from, and unjustly added to scriptures. Half of them don't even read the bible or bother learning the true meaning of the scriptures, so what's the point? 0.o Calling oneself religious does nothing between a person and God. Reading, following, and acting on his Word does.

[Dysia]

Get trepanned. Then you can call yourself open minded in a religious sense.

[Xiam]

Soul_Inmate

Personally, I believe that all religion is the same and people shouldn't fight about here and there.

Well... it is all the same, and it isn't. It's sort of difficult to explain without me going into a lengthy rambling essay. In short, the details are mixed and are based wholly on the culture from which they derive, but in broad strokes, it's all the same sort of human search to understand the world and derive some sort of meaning and purpose from it.

Soul_Inmate

I do respect religion, I do acknowledge deities but I do not believe in them, I see them as mere models of morality, archaic examples to follow.

Ehhh, not all of them. As I said, it's largely a system of understanding. About on par with science, when you think about it.

Step 1: Uncover the mysteries of the universe.
Step 2: Apply knowledge to appease and/or bend the forces of the universe to your will
Step 3: Use this to the benefit of oneself or one's society.

Soul_Inmate

I find the Catholic Church as an anachronism to our times, these ever changing times, and that they have been left behind in the Middle Ages!

I notice they haven't been killing anyone though. They're also more open to science nowadays. The Vatican is even okay with evolution now! And they threw out the geocentric model of the Universe years ago.

It's the Protestants you gotta worry about.

Soul_Inmate

I don't mind being Catholic but I dislike the fact that many tend to blur the lines and make new religions out of it, I dislike that people fight because of religion and that life has to be centered around God.

Welp, that's human pride for you.

Soul_Inmate

I consider myself as a drifter but what should become of me? sweatdrop

Whatever you want to become of you. Really, that's all.

Dysia

Get trepanned. Then you can call yourself open minded in a religious sense.

Uhhh...

Quote:

Trepanning, also known as trephination, trephining or making a burr hole, is a surgical intervention in which a hole is drilled or scraped into the human skull, exposing the dura mater to treat health problems related to intracranial diseases. It may also refer to any "burr" hole created through other body surfaces, including nail beds. It is often used to relieve pressure beneath a surface. A trephine is an instrument used for cutting out a round piece of skull bone.

No.

[CuAnnan]

Xiam

Soul_Inmate

Personally, I believe that all religion is the same and people shouldn't fight about here and there.

Well... it is all the same, and it isn't. It's sort of difficult to explain without me going into a lengthy rambling essay. In short, the details are mixed and are based wholly on the culture from which they derive, but in broad strokes, it's all the same sort of human search to understand the world and derive some sort of meaning and purpose from it.

While I was initially going to contest the point, I agree with what you've just said.

Xiam

Step 1: Uncover the mysteries of the universe.
Step 2: Apply knowledge to appease and/or bend the forces of the universe to your will
Step 3: Use this to the benefit of oneself or one's society.

We don't have step 2.
Edit: We do and we don't. It's complicated.

Xiam

I notice they haven't been killing anyone though. They're also more open to science nowadays. The Vatican is even okay with evolution now! And they threw out the geocentric model of the Universe years ago.

I'll be happy when they stop declaring war on homosexuality and paganism.

[Kaworu 17]

CuAnnan

I'll be happy when they stop declaring war on homosexuality and paganism.

Being opposed to something does not constitute a war.

Paganism? What paganism? There is no "war" on that.

[Avgvsto]

Soul_Inmate

By 17, I did not attend much of Church because I was a College freshman and other stuff.

Oh, that makes sense.

[Xiam]

CuAnnan

Xiam

I notice they haven't been killing anyone though. They're also more open to science nowadays. The Vatican is even okay with evolution now! And they threw out the geocentric model of the Universe years ago.

I'll be happy when they stop declaring war on homosexuality and paganism.

Won't we all?

The problem with "One True Religions" though, is they're really hard to budge on issues. Especially issues involving other religions, like that last one. Unfortunately, the only way they seem to budge on this is when they portray Paganism as a skewed take on the "real" religion.

Which is why I was so adamant about religions being the same but not the same. They're all similar, and variations on a theme, but you have to be very careful not to assume the theme from which they are varying is your theme.

You also have to struggle from sounding wishy-washy on the issue, which I'm always afraid I'm doing. It's really hard to say "It's all based on something we really don't know" without sounding like a copout.