Confused about my religion... Help?

[King INRI]

Depends on your age. Not trying to pry that information, but...

I was very skeptical of my religion until I moved out, and studied on my own. Everything makes sense now, and I have a certain set of believes that I follow, and will continue to follow.

Sometimes you can't help but to be skeptical, but its a lot easier to find your believes when your parents are not a factor.

[blackheartgirl2]

X-Yami-no-Ko-X

blackheartgirl2

RosithBelle

It's horrifying, because I've been going to church all my life, but when someone ask's me a question on why certain things are the way they are on the bible or on the christian doctrine, I don't know how to answer...

I don't know what christianity is... I'm just so confused...

Like, I know what my parents told me, but I don't know it for myself..

If you feel he religion of your parents is the right religion then learn the answers to those questions and if you think it is not right, go out and find a religion where you have all the answers.

just because you were born into a religion doesn't mean it is the right one for you.
Go out and find a religion that makes you say "i love god, i love this religions, its perfect"

Shouldn't the phrasing be more like "I love my G/god(s). I love this religion. Its perfect." since there are religions that have more than one?

yes of course sorry. i am very aware that some religions have more than one. i just forgot to add it.

[blazewing2010]

RosithBelle

I was brought up into a very orthodox christian congregational church, but I suddenly find myself to be very confused about religion in general. I think I believe in God, but I just don't identify myself with the doctrines of my church and their mentality, but going to another church just seems wrong.

I kind of like some ideas of Buddhism and Transcendentalism a little bit...

Any suggestions on how to stop being so confused...?

About ten years ago, I found myself in much the same position that you find yourself in now. I seriously started questioning the church when some things didn't add up. I struck out my own path, despite what the fearmongers of the congregation said, and now I find myself following a more pagan path than anything else. I had to go with what worked for me. If I didn't it wasn't going to end well.

It's all about you and what you're most comfortable with. Believing in God is awesome, but that doesn't mean you even have to go to church every sunday, nor abide by alot of the more outdated customs either. Talk with God and ask for his help. Ask Him to help define your pah and show you where you need to be. God/Goddess have a wonderful yet majestic way of working things out. Do some soul searching and I'm sure you'll find it all out in the end.

Also: Enjoy the journey.

[Vannak]

You are probably just going to end up spending a lot of time thinking about things. Many people go through the same thing as you. Here are some lines of thought that helped me:

Before you do anything, you have to think about what represents the highest level of truth. When beliefs conflict you're going to end up having to pick one of these sources over the others. In my thoughts, I broke sources of information into three categories:
There's your own mind, Doctrine, and the Natural World.

By this I mean to ask, if something you see in the world disagrees with something you feel deeply true, what are you going to rely on? If something you feel to be true disagrees with what a religious text, which is more reliable?

In a very very very general and broad way, Buddhists deists pantheist and nihilists tend to fall into the first category, organised religion tends to fall into the second, and atheists humanists and agnostics tend to fall into the last. Of course there is plenty of overlap. Many agnostics fall into the first category, as well as many followers of organised religion.

If you are talking about being unsatisfied with the beliefs you grew up with, that suggests you're searching for understanding and knowledge. Before you can get anywhere you really have to decide what is the highest authority on knowledge out of these there.

[DomlyDaniel]

I suggest Tao - or Daoism.

Mind you, it's just a suggestion.

Taoism is not a religion but a philosophy - one of finding your own path, ingraining your own beliefs, rights and wrongs, morals and whatnot.

The word 'Tao' means Path. Taoism is - while nearly impossible to explain, because it is inherently something else for everyone - about finding your own path and following it, not focusing so much on the 'destination' (future then) or the start of your trek (past then) - but walking in the here-and-now, learning from current experiences to improve future experiences.

Moreoever - Taoism and religion are not mutually exclusive.

A good - and humorous - approach to Taoism - a somewhat humorous or at least tongue-in-cheek philosophy in and of itself - can be found by reading "The Tao of Pooh", explaining Taoism through the characters of the Winnie The Pooh stories.

Remember though : The Tao that can be easilly explained, is not Tao wink

[bear eating a salmon]

you don't need a religion. it's perfectly fine to believe parts of christianity and parts of buddhism. whatever works for you.

[Leland18]

RosithBelle

I was brought up into a very orthodox christian congregational church, but I suddenly find myself to be very confused about religion in general. I think I believe in God, but I just don't identify myself with the doctrines of my church and their mentality, but going to another church just seems wrong.

I kind of like some ideas of Buddhism and Transcendentalism a little bit...

Any suggestions on how to stop being so confused...?

Its perfectly fine to question the teachings you've been brought up with. As we grow, we all tend to do it at one point or another. The truth about faith and religion is we all have our own individual truth, our own path and journey to walk. This path may be a life long venture, so you must be willing to have patience and carefully study each religion with an open mind. What you should do is make a list laying out your personal beliefs, values, and ideals. Do you believe in one God, or several Gods? Do you believe in a female side? Only you can answer these questions. You may identify with a certain religion, or you may choose not to follow any specific religion, and that's acceptable to. This is your belief, and you shouldn't stop until you get it right. If you want to know about a given religion or want somebody to talk to on your journey, feel free to message me anytime.

[Lesser Tile]

RosithBelle

I was brought up into a very orthodox christian congregational church, but I suddenly find myself to be very confused about religion in general. I think I believe in God, but I just don't identify myself with the doctrines of my church and their mentality, but going to another church just seems wrong.

I kind of like some ideas of Buddhism and Transcendentalism a little bit...

Any suggestions on how to stop being so confused...?

Watch the TV show "The Atheist Experience" either on TV or on YouTube. Most of the time they're pretty decent.