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 Posted: Sat May 22, 2010 3:52 am
I'm Agnostic.
I'm very...indecisive about a higher religion. I just simply don't know.
I wasn't born into a religious family at all, my whole family sits on the fence. But my father was Christian and went to Church every Sunday. He even thought about becoming a priest once, before he met my mother. I did go to Church with him, because it made him happy, but when he died I couldn't bare to face that Church without him.
When I was a kid, I used to play around with witchcraft with my friends, but i didn't get very far with that.
I guess I've always wanted to belong to something. I've always been really curious about other religions. I ask my Islamic friend questions quite often and talked to my Buddhist singing teacher what it was all about. He told me it was about becoming enlightened and letting go of your attachments, which I just don't agree with.
Theres just so much to make decisions on. Even that 'Belief-O-Matic' doesn't help.
"Does your God have a god or is a spirit or do you worship mulitple gods what about Ultimate Reality Or do you not believe it him?"
Errrr....'Not Sure...' Right, got myself out of that one, on to the next.
"Are the humans incarnation of god do you think there is one carnation of God or many?"
Oh, ermm....'Not Sure...' Right, next.
"What are the Origins of the Earth?"
GW@A#IUE&TF;£KS$JGB;wbfg;123%4&$!!!!!! gonk
Anyone else have this problem?
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Posted: Sat May 22, 2010 6:00 am
yeah,,, me to... i want to belong to something.... i feel that im alone... even thou i have lots of friend & kinda popular... have a gf... havin a best friend to share opinion with... & im also religious (muslim).... but really deep inside i feel so lonely.... feels like i dont belong to anything... its mybe cause i dont have anyone that is trully understand me... but i thought that its ok... because i thought that only God can understand me.... but i cant understand God & because of tha i still feel lonely...
and believe o matic is actually for fun... its not the real deal about religion anyway...
u see... im pretty certain about my answer in the test... and the the result says that im a sikihism ( which i actually share the same idea as that religion)
but still.... im still 100% sure that Islam is the right religion(just my perspective for my self)
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Posted: Sat May 22, 2010 11:05 am
Wish I could help, but I pretty much rejected all of it at the age of 12. :l
Still, it's not something that someone can decide for you. No one can teach you to feel connected to a God.
Perhaps find out your own beliefs first on what God is, why we suffer, what happens when we die, why do bad things happen to good people, etc. first.
Keep in mind though that finding acceptance and being part of something bigger probably isn't a reason to join a religion.
Your beliefs might differ from any mainstream religion, and that's not a bad thing.
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Posted: Sat May 22, 2010 11:13 am
HollywoodNobody yeah,,, me to... i want to belong to something.... i feel that im alone... even thou i have lots of friend & kinda popular... have a gf... havin a best friend to share opinion with... & im also religious (muslim).... but really deep inside i feel so lonely.... feels like i dont belong to anything... its mybe cause i dont have anyone that is trully understand me... but i thought that its ok... because i thought that only God can understand me.... but i cant understand God & because of tha i still feel lonely... and believe o matic is actually for fun... its not the real deal about religion anyway... u see... im pretty certain about my answer in the test... and the the result says that im a sikihism ( which i actually share the same idea as that religion) but still.... im still 100% sure that Islam is the right religion(just my perspective for my self) As far as i know, "sikihism" is a variant of Islam ........ !
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Posted: Sat May 22, 2010 12:13 pm
Tiina Brown HollywoodNobody yeah,,, me to... i want to belong to something.... i feel that im alone... even thou i have lots of friend & kinda popular... have a gf... havin a best friend to share opinion with... & im also religious (muslim).... but really deep inside i feel so lonely.... feels like i dont belong to anything... its mybe cause i dont have anyone that is trully understand me... but i thought that its ok... because i thought that only God can understand me.... but i cant understand God & because of tha i still feel lonely... and believe o matic is actually for fun... its not the real deal about religion anyway... u see... im pretty certain about my answer in the test... and the the result says that im a sikihism ( which i actually share the same idea as that religion) but still.... im still 100% sure that Islam is the right religion(just my perspective for my self) As far as i know, "sikihism" is a variant of Islam ........ !
As I understand it it's monotheistic.
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Posted: Sat May 22, 2010 12:18 pm
C h e r r yADE xx I'm Agnostic.
I'm very...indecisive about a higher religion. I just simply don't know.
I wasn't born into a religious family at all, my whole family sits on the fence. But my father was Christian and went to Church every Sunday. He even thought about becoming a priest once, before he met my mother. I did go to Church with him, because it made him happy, but when he died I couldn't bare to face that Church without him.
When I was a kid, I used to play around with witchcraft with my friends, but i didn't get very far with that.
I guess I've always wanted to belong to something. I've always been really curious about other religions. I ask my Islamic friend questions quite often and talked to my Buddhist singing teacher what it was all about. He told me it was about becoming enlightened and letting go of your attachments, which I just don't agree with.
Theres just so much to make decisions on. Even that 'Belief-O-Matic' doesn't help.
"Does your God have a god or is a spirit or do you worship mulitple gods what about Ultimate Reality Or do you not believe it him?"
Errrr....'Not Sure...' Right, got myself out of that one, on to the next.
"Are the humans incarnation of god do you think there is one carnation of God or many?"
Oh, ermm....'Not Sure...' Right, next.
"What are the Origins of the Earth?"
GW@A#IUE&TF;£KS$JGB;wbfg;123%4&$!!!!!! gonk
Anyone else have this problem? How can you disagree with letting go of attachments?
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Posted: Sat May 22, 2010 3:40 pm
@divine: I actually have the same problem with Buddhism. I don't think people were created to be that way, because it'd probrably be easier for something to start in a neutral state, which we don't. If that's true, they why would we desire things and have the intensity of feeling that we do if we're just meant to walk away from all of it?
@Cherry: I can't say I've ever had that problem. sweatdrop My suggestion is to start with looking for truth and to go from there. Try and see what seems to have a lot of holes, and what might make sense with the world. For me, one of the most important things in my religion is I get to have a relationship with God, and He gives a purpose to everything, including life. He is my truth. I'd also look for something that has a moral code you can live by, and a community of people who can encourage you in it (even an online community would be good).
The last thing is try not to make it completely about yourself. A lot of people think building a belief system around themselves is fine, but if you do that it might just all come down to you and have no importance in itself, and that's not what it's about. Anyway, I hope you find what you're searching for. ^^
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Posted: Sat May 22, 2010 5:19 pm
xxEternallyBluexx @divine: I actually have the same problem with Buddhism. I don't think people were created to be that way, because it'd probrably be easier for something to start in a neutral state, which we don't. If that's true, they why would we desire things and have the intensity of feeling that we do if we're just meant to walk away from all of it? @Cherry: I can't say I've ever had that problem. sweatdrop My suggestion is to start with looking for truth and to go from there. Try and see what seems to have a lot of holes, and what might make sense with the world. For me, one of the most important things in my religion is I get to have a relationship with God, and He gives a purpose to everything, including life. He is my truth. I'd also look for something that has a moral code you can live by, and a community of people who can encourage you in it (even an online community would be good). The last thing is try not to make it completely about yourself. A lot of people think building a belief system around themselves is fine, but if you do that it might just all come down to you and have no importance in itself, and that's not what it's about. Anyway, I hope you find something what you're searching for. ^^ Maybe that's the test? What about the saying "An ounce of gold cannot buy an ounce of time"? Knowing that all things are impermanent, does this not bring sadness to know that all things go away with time? (Admittedly, not the soul, but objects, relationships, lives.) The point is to find happiness. Anything that exists in the world will not last and therefore can not truly bring happiness because it will go away (thus creating loss). It will also promote a sense of sadness in the knowledge that it will not be premanent, if one thinks that far ahead. Therefore, by the logic of Buddhism, true happiness is found by casting away the impermanent and focusing on the spiritual self. Some cast away a will for possession, and some go so far as to cast off relationships and families. The idea is that we have, basically, two choices- Cling to what we want and lose it, or walk away from it to begin with because we know that it is nothing in the face of infinity.
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Posted: Sat May 22, 2010 7:44 pm
divineseraph xxEternallyBluexx @divine: I actually have the same problem with Buddhism. I don't think people were created to be that way, because it'd probrably be easier for something to start in a neutral state, which we don't. If that's true, they why would we desire things and have the intensity of feeling that we do if we're just meant to walk away from all of it? @Cherry: I can't say I've ever had that problem. sweatdrop My suggestion is to start with looking for truth and to go from there. Try and see what seems to have a lot of holes, and what might make sense with the world. For me, one of the most important things in my religion is I get to have a relationship with God, and He gives a purpose to everything, including life. He is my truth. I'd also look for something that has a moral code you can live by, and a community of people who can encourage you in it (even an online community would be good). The last thing is try not to make it completely about yourself. A lot of people think building a belief system around themselves is fine, but if you do that it might just all come down to you and have no importance in itself, and that's not what it's about. Anyway, I hope you find something what you're searching for. ^^ Maybe that's the test? What about the saying "An ounce of gold cannot buy an ounce of time"? Knowing that all things are impermanent, does this not bring sadness to know that all things go away with time? (Admittedly, not the soul, but objects, relationships, lives.) The point is to find happiness. Anything that exists in the world will not last and therefore can not truly bring happiness because it will go away (thus creating loss). It will also promote a sense of sadness in the knowledge that it will not be premanent, if one thinks that far ahead. Therefore, by the logic of Buddhism, true happiness is found by casting away the impermanent and focusing on the spiritual self. Some cast away a will for possession, and some go so far as to cast off relationships and families. The idea is that we have, basically, two choices- Cling to what we want and lose it, or walk away from it to begin with because we know that it is nothing in the face of infinity. I admittedly don't know much about Buddhism, and correct me if I'm wrong, but isn't the point in Buddhism that all things are impermanent, including the soul? I could definetely be wrong about that, but if that's the belief, then nothing has a purpose, so what's the purpose of the test? That's actually the way it is in Christianity, at least in some ways. We're supposed to focus on God and other people and store our riches in Heaven and not in this world. That's pretty much what Jesus said, "Those who find their life will lose it, and those who lose their life will find it." (my paraphrase) Anyway, the difference, in my eyes, is that Jesus held the supernatural things to be important and permanent, while I'm not sure Buddha did. That, and Jesus embraced serving God with passion and having desire for the things of God, where again, I don't know that Buddha did. Feel free to correct me though. ^^
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Posted: Sat May 22, 2010 7:55 pm
divineseraph C h e r r yADE xx I'm Agnostic.
I'm very...indecisive about a higher religion. I just simply don't know.
I wasn't born into a religious family at all, my whole family sits on the fence. But my father was Christian and went to Church every Sunday. He even thought about becoming a priest once, before he met my mother. I did go to Church with him, because it made him happy, but when he died I couldn't bare to face that Church without him.
When I was a kid, I used to play around with witchcraft with my friends, but i didn't get very far with that.
I guess I've always wanted to belong to something. I've always been really curious about other religions. I ask my Islamic friend questions quite often and talked to my Buddhist singing teacher what it was all about. He told me it was about becoming enlightened and letting go of your attachments, which I just don't agree with.
Theres just so much to make decisions on. Even that 'Belief-O-Matic' doesn't help.
"Does your God have a god or is a spirit or do you worship mulitple gods what about Ultimate Reality Or do you not believe it him?"
Errrr....'Not Sure...' Right, got myself out of that one, on to the next.
"Are the humans incarnation of god do you think there is one carnation of God or many?"
Oh, ermm....'Not Sure...' Right, next.
"What are the Origins of the Earth?"
GW@A#IUE&TF;£KS$JGB;wbfg;123%4&$!!!!!! gonk
Anyone else have this problem? How can you disagree with letting go of attachments?
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Posted: Sat May 22, 2010 7:58 pm
brainnsoup Wish I could help, but I pretty much rejected all of it at the age of 12. :l Still, it's not something that someone can decide for you. No one can teach you to feel connected to a God. Perhaps find out your own beliefs first on what God is, why we suffer, what happens when we die, why do bad things happen to good people, etc. first. I'd have to agree with you on this. If she is wanting to find to find a religion she should start listing off what she believes. First one, is there a God or Gods. What makes them God or Gods (seeing as different cultures and different religions define Gods differently), what do you believe about the afterlife, along with brainnsuop's items. Quote: Keep in mind though that finding acceptance and being part of something bigger probably isn't a reason to join a religion. Your beliefs might differ from any mainstream religion, and that's not a bad thing. Yeah exactly. Religion is very personal and while a community is helpful in your religious search, joining a religion just to be part of a community is fast way to quickly become hidebound and miss what you were looking for to begin with. It be like joining the "cool" kids cause they are "cool".
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Posted: Sat May 22, 2010 8:13 pm
xxEternallyBluexx divineseraph xxEternallyBluexx @divine: I actually have the same problem with Buddhism. I don't think people were created to be that way, because it'd probrably be easier for something to start in a neutral state, which we don't. If that's true, they why would we desire things and have the intensity of feeling that we do if we're just meant to walk away from all of it? @Cherry: I can't say I've ever had that problem. sweatdrop My suggestion is to start with looking for truth and to go from there. Try and see what seems to have a lot of holes, and what might make sense with the world. For me, one of the most important things in my religion is I get to have a relationship with God, and He gives a purpose to everything, including life. He is my truth. I'd also look for something that has a moral code you can live by, and a community of people who can encourage you in it (even an online community would be good). The last thing is try not to make it completely about yourself. A lot of people think building a belief system around themselves is fine, but if you do that it might just all come down to you and have no importance in itself, and that's not what it's about. Anyway, I hope you find something what you're searching for. ^^ Maybe that's the test? What about the saying "An ounce of gold cannot buy an ounce of time"? Knowing that all things are impermanent, does this not bring sadness to know that all things go away with time? (Admittedly, not the soul, but objects, relationships, lives.) The point is to find happiness. Anything that exists in the world will not last and therefore can not truly bring happiness because it will go away (thus creating loss). It will also promote a sense of sadness in the knowledge that it will not be premanent, if one thinks that far ahead. Therefore, by the logic of Buddhism, true happiness is found by casting away the impermanent and focusing on the spiritual self. Some cast away a will for possession, and some go so far as to cast off relationships and families. The idea is that we have, basically, two choices- Cling to what we want and lose it, or walk away from it to begin with because we know that it is nothing in the face of infinity. I admittedly don't know much about Buddhism, and correct me if I'm wrong, but isn't the point in Buddhism that all things are impermanent, including the soul? I could definetely be wrong about that, but if that's the belief, then nothing has a purpose, so what's the purpose of the test? That's actually the way it is in Christianity, at least in some ways. We're supposed to focus on God and other people and store our riches in Heaven and not in this world. That's pretty much what Jesus said, "Those who find their life will lose it, and those who lose their life will find it." (my paraphrase) Anyway, the difference, in my eyes, is that Jesus held the supernatural things to be important and permanent, while I'm not sure Buddha did. That, and Jesus embraced serving God with passion and having desire for the things of God, where again, I don't know that Buddha did. Feel free to correct me though. ^^ all religions have variants of this sort of belief. The reason that we want these things could be construed as a temptation from the "devil", or yourself, keeping you from attaining the level of happiness or perfecting your spiritual self. Almost all religions have some basis on this fact.
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Posted: Sat May 22, 2010 8:17 pm
C h e r r yADE xx I'm Agnostic.
I'm very...indecisive about a higher religion. I just simply don't know.
I wasn't born into a religious family at all, my whole family sits on the fence. But my father was Christian and went to Church every Sunday. He even thought about becoming a priest once, before he met my mother. I did go to Church with him, because it made him happy, but when he died I couldn't bare to face that Church without him.
When I was a kid, I used to play around with witchcraft with my friends, but i didn't get very far with that.
I guess I've always wanted to belong to something. I've always been really curious about other religions. I ask my Islamic friend questions quite often and talked to my Buddhist singing teacher what it was all about. He told me it was about becoming enlightened and letting go of your attachments, which I just don't agree with.
Theres just so much to make decisions on. Even that 'Belief-O-Matic' doesn't help.
"Does your God have a god or is a spirit or do you worship mulitple gods what about Ultimate Reality Or do you not believe it him?"
Errrr....'Not Sure...' Right, got myself out of that one, on to the next.
"Are the humans incarnation of god do you think there is one carnation of God or many?"
Oh, ermm....'Not Sure...' Right, next.
"What are the Origins of the Earth?"
GW@A#IUE&TF;£KS$JGB;wbfg;123%4&$!!!!!! gonk
Anyone else have this problem? actually I don't think that your an agnostic, unless you think there's a chance that you want to belong to the group of atheists, but that doesn't seem to be the case here. Though I can't say that I've had this problem, I just want to know the answer. Though if you want to find a religion to follow, you should look up religions and find out about them. Your more likely to find something that you feel like you belong to.
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Posted: Sat May 22, 2010 8:21 pm
I just had a debate with my boyfriend the other day on some of the stuff covered in here.
So I'm an agnostic atheist and he's Baptist right? We've had discussions before about the Bible, such as the idea that it should be taken with a grain of salt because it's been translated and translated so many times over. The King James version was specifically re-translated by a bunch of poets so that the language would come off as more poetic and beautiful per se, and that's generally the version that gets quoted in English when debates concerning the bible pop up.
Anyways I've expressed before that I don't believe it was originally created to be taken word for word as fact, rather like the fairy tales of old you read the story and take the moral of it with you rather than accepting the story itself as fact. When it comes down to it, I don't believe in taking blind leaps of faith. It just amazes me that people can accept something as true and live their life accordingly when they don't in fact know something is true. That's just cocky.
So somehow the conversation evolved into death. I said straight up, as far as I know, when you die that's it. There's no after life. No heaven or hell, you just die. My boyfriend expressed that he doesn't know how in the world I can live with that point of view. When asked to explain he expressed that life's nothing but s**t, that if there was nothing to go for afterward then what in the world is the point of living? There has to be something behind life to make life worth living for, because life sucks.
This sparked a big huge debate. I said I live life for the sake of living life. As far as I know, this is it, this is all I get. Sure parts of life is shitty but it's all in what you make of it. I can't understand living only for the sake of death or outright rejecting life itself like that. You KNOW you have to live life, you have no means to know beyond any reasonable doubt that there's something afterward. I hate to reference Pascal's Wager, but overall it seems better to do the opposite. To me it's more risky to live for the sake of something you don't absolutely know to be true than to make do with what you absolutely do know you have.
I've never had an issue with having no set religion. Sure there's a community I miss out on but over all, I find that I'd rather admit I don't know s**t than have someone that assumes they do know it all try to tell me how to live. I'd focus community efforts myself on something else, something more concrete like say an art community or I don't know, finding something that's based on interests.
But that's me.
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Posted: Sat May 22, 2010 8:34 pm
xxEternallyBluexx divineseraph xxEternallyBluexx @divine: I actually have the same problem with Buddhism. I don't think people were created to be that way, because it'd probrably be easier for something to start in a neutral state, which we don't. If that's true, they why would we desire things and have the intensity of feeling that we do if we're just meant to walk away from all of it? @Cherry: I can't say I've ever had that problem. sweatdrop My suggestion is to start with looking for truth and to go from there. Try and see what seems to have a lot of holes, and what might make sense with the world. For me, one of the most important things in my religion is I get to have a relationship with God, and He gives a purpose to everything, including life. He is my truth. I'd also look for something that has a moral code you can live by, and a community of people who can encourage you in it (even an online community would be good). The last thing is try not to make it completely about yourself. A lot of people think building a belief system around themselves is fine, but if you do that it might just all come down to you and have no importance in itself, and that's not what it's about. Anyway, I hope you find something what you're searching for. ^^ Maybe that's the test? What about the saying "An ounce of gold cannot buy an ounce of time"? Knowing that all things are impermanent, does this not bring sadness to know that all things go away with time? (Admittedly, not the soul, but objects, relationships, lives.) The point is to find happiness. Anything that exists in the world will not last and therefore can not truly bring happiness because it will go away (thus creating loss). It will also promote a sense of sadness in the knowledge that it will not be premanent, if one thinks that far ahead. Therefore, by the logic of Buddhism, true happiness is found by casting away the impermanent and focusing on the spiritual self. Some cast away a will for possession, and some go so far as to cast off relationships and families. The idea is that we have, basically, two choices- Cling to what we want and lose it, or walk away from it to begin with because we know that it is nothing in the face of infinity. I admittedly don't know much about Buddhism, and correct me if I'm wrong, but isn't the point in Buddhism that all things are impermanent, including the soul? I could definetely be wrong about that, but if that's the belief, then nothing has a purpose, so what's the purpose of the test? That's actually the way it is in Christianity, at least in some ways. We're supposed to focus on God and other people and store our riches in Heaven and not in this world. That's pretty much what Jesus said, "Those who find their life will lose it, and those who lose their life will find it." (my paraphrase) Anyway, the difference, in my eyes, is that Jesus held the supernatural things to be important and permanent, while I'm not sure Buddha did. That, and Jesus embraced serving God with passion and having desire for the things of God, where again, I don't know that Buddha did. Feel free to correct me though. ^^ There are variations of belief- It's like asking if Christians really think that the wine they drink in church is actually God's blood. Some do, some don't. No matter what, they believe the spirit or life-force is permanent, and is the only "constant"- When you die, it moves on and animates something else, possibly on a different realm. It's more like this branch sees the soul as a flowing movement of energy more than what you consider the soul. Of course, some believe that the soul is more like the western idea and travels similarly. Keep in mind, Buddhism isn't truly a religion, it's a philosophy. You can be both Buddhist and Christian, for example, because Buddhism doesn't really touch WHY the universe is, just how to best exist in it. Then why crave stuff? Why crave what you know will not and can not last? This is where the test comes in, where Capitalism kills, and where we sin. We want. Buddha was not concerned with finding God, in my opinion. He was trying to end suffering on earth. He found the cause to be wanting and expecting and clinging, and the cure to be casting these things off. It's like God and Science- They don't really line up. But this does not make them mutually exclusive.
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