Why did you choose the religion you follow?

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Siete

I've always been incredibly interested in religions, and have come to believe that there is a slight influence on the personality of a person depending on their religion. Or perhaps, give versa. And one thing I always wonder is why people chose a certain religion over others. From it being what your parents taught you to believe, to choosing it because it's cool, or makes sense. This is not intended to be for people to start bashing on other religions, merely a question from me, because I think it would be rather interesting to find out the different ways that people chose a belief, both for me, and anyone else who might be curious at all.

So what are your beliefs, or lack thereof, and why did you choose them?
 
I don't think people choose their beliefs. People can have their beliefs changed (via evidence, lack of evidence, personal experiences, indoctrination, brainwashing), but I doubt they can just change them on a whim. In other words, you don't actively choose what you believe. Your beliefs are molded by a variety of things. Thus your question is pretty silly (at least to me).
 
Maybe I worded it strangely, then, because it seems to make sense in my head.

Everyone has some control over their beliefs, if not total control. For example, I chose to be an atheist because I became jaded by the world, and slowly wondered any god would make certain kinds of people in this world.

Maybe it could be phrased better as "Why do you believe what you believe?".
 
That would be better phrasing.

And yes, you do have some control over your beliefs in that you can somewhat control what influences enter your life.

You did not necessarily choose to become an athiest. Rather you became one because you saw a corrupt world, which I'm pretty sure was not an active decision on your part.
 
I am an atheist because I base everything I believe on logic and reason. There simply isn't enough evidence for any god. Every attempt to prove a god with logic that I have encountered falls short. To those who take the other route and agree that a god cannot be proven with logic but argue that we should believe anyway (for example Pascal's Wager), I would say this: if a god cannot be proven with logic, why not live life as though this god does not exist? If a god exists who created our wonderful minds, I cannot believe this god would want us to forgo their use. If this god does want us to forgo their use...why is this god worthy of worship in the first place?

That being said, to any theists who read this: if I'm wrong, let me know. If there's a solid logical argument for any god, I'm all ears.
 
Like every other true autistic person I've met in real life, I live under the assumption that there is a higher power. I could no easier explain to Malkyrian and Siete how I know this to be a fact, than I could explain to them how music affects me differently. For as long as I can remember (and I can recall back to the age of 3), where most people saw a fundamental obvious difference between Nature and Technology, I did not. I saw patterns and programs in both. If it is obvious to you that a computer is designed by a sentient life form, then it is is just as obvious to me that a tree is as well. And that's only a minor analogy.
 
I'm an atheist because that's the only form of thinking that makes sense. Most religions are full of contradictions and all religions lack any form of evidence to prove they are correct. I could post many more reasons why I'm an atheist but I'll hold off because it's not really important.
 
I'm agnostic because I really can't be assed to worry about religion. I find some religious stories interesting as I would any other piece of literature. My parents' religion is Hinduism and it's really hard to care when the main religious text is in an ancient language that only a select few can read. I've never thought the values that my culture puts such a strong emphasis on were the most important so that doesn't help either. Not to mention the totally backwards logic that the strongest believers of my - and many other religions - seem to follow.

I don't have a problem with folks who believe in a religion and I can even see the benefit. It gives a core group of values by which to live which can sometimes be of a beneficial nature. It affords community. It also gives hope for something at the end of your life. I don't see a need for those as I have other things that provide them for me but many others like religion to fill that role for them.

Religion being used as justification to discriminate against others on the other hand is something I am completely intolerant of. I am also against using religion as a basis of law or to impede the teaching of scientific knowledge. The very idea of public schools not being able to teach scientific theories like evolution because they're afraid of backlash from religious groups is disgusting.
 
Obsessed said:
I don't think people choose their beliefs. People can have their beliefs changed (via evidence, lack of evidence, personal experiences, indoctrination, brainwashing), but I doubt they can just change them on a whim. In other words, you don't actively choose what you believe. Your beliefs are molded by a variety of things. Thus your question is pretty silly (at least to me).
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Just because it takes time does not mean there cannot be a single turning point one chooses any particular belief or overall sets of beliefs. I had some vague doubt (which I ignored for a year because I had really fun church friends), and then I just abandoned Christianity (i.e. a choice) in about a week when I finally decided to think about it and be honest with myself. Where my beliefs would go specifically in terms of overall morals may not have been outlined then, but the one belief of "not christianity" was my immediate choice! I flirted with some other pools of thoughts (e.g. Deism), and then made the definitive decision of no religion ever when I realized how flimsy my flirtations with any other religions were.
 
I have faith in the existence of a higher power because I would prefer there to be one. I don't believe in any specific religion as it is practiced now, just a general sense of do what is right, in my own opinion. Furthermore, I believe that the existence of the higher power, can neither be proven nor disproven, and that the higher being doesn't really care if we believe in it or not.

I was raise as a Christian in a universalizing sect (as in, if you're a good person, Jesus saves you, even if you don't believe in him) and I pretty much still believe that, but without ascribing any specifics to the higher power, such as having a son named Jesus. I believe that there was a historical person named Jesus, and that his philosophical teachings were a good way of life, so in a number of ways, I'm close to being a monophysite Christian, but I don't believe in enough of their practices to actually say that I am. I also believe that the higher power doesn't actively intervene in the world, and that the higher power would evaluate peoples lives on a system that we don't even know, if it evaluates them at all.

TL;DR, I'm pretty much agnostic.
 
I've made a dramatic shift to Christianity in the past few months.

My friends, most of whom identify with a sort of 'default atheism' , have expressed a certain derisive attitude towards Christianity, making it hard for me to share my faith with them. My own mom is even disapproving of my changing priorities.
Despite the lack of support, I find it easy to believe.

If you want objective evidence, unfortunately I can't offer you anything. Testimonies are anecdotal; biblical historicity is open to interpretation and the trustworthiness of the historian; anything found in nature, from the golden ratio to life itself can be chalked up to the inevitable byproducts resultant from the inscrutable Laws of Nature.

I can believe because I walk in the peace of knowing my sins are forgiven, because God answers my prayers and because of the continuing change in my life. Trite sounding cliches, I know, but I urge people not to write something off until they've thoroughly explored the subject. We've all heard 'the bible is full of contradictions', so if you're so inclined, please PM me the verses you feel contradict each other (or post them here at the risk of me hijacking the thread), and I'll do my best to answer your questions.
 
I used to be really Christian (Lutheran in case anyone cares). But iunno, I just don't really find myself religious anymore. I think it might have been the church I went to which was kinda dumb for instance: in order to get confirmed we had to write like a summary on every service and I didn't like going to church because its pretty boring. So I was kinda like "well this is dumb" and just stopped going to church. I guess I still believe in God and all, its pretty miraculous I'm alive right now but the whole church thing isn't up my alley. I basically was only Christian because my parents were and they forced me to go to church.
 
I'm agnostic; but I have a definite leaning towards atheism.

I was raised in a very religious Catholic family; but I was always more interested in the historical aspect of the bible and learning about other religions, etc. After a lot of studying and introspection, I realized that I had absolutely no faith in religious institutions; that led me to begin questioning whether or not God existed. I can't honestly say that an unexplainable "thing" doesn't exist; but I don't believe that "it" created humankind, nor do I believe that "it" plays a part in everyday human existence (or any part, in fact).

I also don't believe that having "religion" in your life defines your moral code; I think that with or without religion, people would still recognize general social and moral codes. I totally agree with Steven Weinberg's quote: "Religion is an insult to human dignity. With or without it, you'd have good people doing good things and evil people doing bad things, but for good people to do bad things, it takes religion."

Does that necessarily mean that I think religion is evil? No. I just think that it opens the door to be easily to influence people to do atrocious things in the name of some unrealized entity. But, I guess government and media have similar powers.


PS: Do people honestly still not believe in evolution? LMAO! Oh, sorry. I know it's a ridiculous question as I do know a few people who do not believe in it and refuse to teach it; and I even know of a private religious school who doesn't teach it; but the "lmao" value doesn't stop. :)
 
Cartoons! said:
I've made a dramatic shift to Christianity in the past few months.

My friends, most of whom identify with a sort of 'default atheism' , have expressed a certain derisive attitude towards Christianity, making it hard for me to share my faith with them. My own mom is even disapproving of my changing priorities.
Despite the lack of support, I find it easy to believe.

If you want objective evidence, unfortunately I can't offer you anything. Testimonies are anecdotal; biblical historicity is open to interpretation and the trustworthiness of the historian; anything found in nature, from the golden ratio to life itself can be chalked up to the inevitable byproducts resultant from the inscrutable Laws of Nature.

I can believe because I walk in the peace of knowing my sins are forgiven, because God answers my prayers and because of the continuing change in my life. Trite sounding cliches, I know, but I urge people not to write something off until they've thoroughly explored the subject. We've all heard 'the bible is full of contradictions', so if you're so inclined, please PM me the verses you feel contradict each other (or post them here at the risk of me hijacking the thread), and I'll do my best to answer your questions.
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I think it is hard for people to be supportive of Christianity rather than derisive because Christianity is so derisive of any values it wants to say are wrong. I try my best to be supportive of people who appear genuinely eager and sweet about it, but it is hard for me to turn off the scorn.

There are verses in the Bible that factually contradict each other, but that is another topic than this and does not really belong in this thread probably.

AJers said:
I also don't believe that having "religion" in your life defines your moral code; I think that with or without religion, people would still recognize general social and moral codes. I totally agree with Steven Weinberg's quote: "Religion is an insult to human dignity. With or without it, you'd have good people doing good things and evil people doing bad things, but for good people to do bad things, it takes religion."
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Pretty much a perfect example for what I mean with Christianity being so derisive. I do not think it is a skewed interpretation, from what I remember, to say that the Bible literally claims there could not be morality in the world without Judaism/Christianity having existed and God imparting his wisdom. This is really problematic and causes a lot of scorn!
 
Cartoons! said:
We've all heard 'the bible is full of contradictions', so if you're so inclined, please PM me the verses you feel contradict each other (or post them here at the risk of me hijacking the thread), and I'll do my best to answer your questions.
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I don't understand the Trinity, and I'd really like it if someone could explain it to me. I don't understand it because 1) It's a generally confusing subject IMO, and 2) Jesus said that he did not come to change the law but to fulfill it, yet the concept of three in one is a pretty drastic change from the teachings of Abraham, Moses, etc. So if someone could explain it, I'd really appreciate that.


Anywho, my turn! I was born into Islam but I really didn't know anything about it for a while. So I took the initiative and started learning more about my religion and I absolutely fell in love with it. There's so much beauty and wisdom in my religion, it makes so much sense to me and it truly fulfills me. It gives me a defined purpose of living, and I feel I can develop a strong relationship with God without compromising His Image or Attributes. And the concept of God in Islam is just phenomenal, I love it. I wouldn't give up my religion for anything; it makes too much sense to me.

As far as influence goes, once a person indulges themselves in Islam, aspects of it can easily dominate their personality, their demeanor, and even their thought process. This is because Islam promotes morality in every aspect of a person's life, and because the reasoning behind many of its concepts is very simple and easy to understand. However, a large majority of Muslims today aren't very educated in their own religion and end up being swept along with the rest of society. Thus their religion has very little influence on them, to the point where they may as well not even call themselves Muslim anymore. And an interesting thing about that is that there are certain things a Muslim can do or not do that will categorize them as non-Muslim.
 
Bucky said:
I don't understand the Trinity, and I'd really like it if someone could explain it to me. I don't understand it because 1) It's a generally confusing subject IMO, and 2) Jesus said that he did not come to change the law but to fulfill it, yet the concept of three in one is a pretty drastic change from the teachings of Abraham, Moses, etc. So if someone could explain it, I'd really appreciate that.
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Imma jump in here since I know both you guys. xP

The trinity is, yes, generally a very confusing subject. :0 I'm not sure how to respond to your second question, but the whole concept of the trinity is sort of like you said... the whole 'three-in-one' thing. I think the way it works is you have 'The Father', who is the omnipotent presence or the one people call 'God'. Jesus is 'The Son', who was both fully human but also part of God, and the Holy Spirit... is... confusing... :0 The way my pastor explains it is that it's the spirit in the sense of 'human spirit', I guess, to where it's the sense of godliness that Christians (and other people, maybe) have. They're each their own thing, but they're all God... that's the simplest way I can put it. Three sides of the same coin and whatnot... I don't know if that helps, I don't imagine it much does, you probably knew most of what I said already. :0 Maybe Cartoons can explain it better.

EDIT LOL yeah.

...oh, I guess I forgot to mention my own beliefs, huh? :0 Yeah well as you might have guessed, I too am Christian, born and raised. xP Me being in my late teens, though, I tend to find myself questioning it a bit sometimes, (I think atheism / agnosticism is something most people probably pick up in their teens, when they think they know everything... LOL) but on the whole I stick true to it. Really though I stick with it not only because I was raised into it, but I also feel that it makes the most logical sense as far as the grand scheme of... well... everything. :0 Honestly, atheism doesn't make a lot of sense to me from a logical / rational / scientific standpoint, because I feel that it gives us (being humans) as a whole far too much credit as far as our knowledge of the universe goes. (Malkyrian, I'm looking at you)
 
Bucky said:
I don't understand the Trinity, and I'd really like it if someone could explain it to me. I don't understand it because 1) It's a generally confusing subject IMO, and 2) Jesus said that he did not come to change the law but to fulfill it, yet the concept of three in one is a pretty drastic change from the teachings of Abraham, Moses, etc. So if someone could explain it, I'd really appreciate that.
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Good question, it's not a concept I think anyone can fully understand simply because it's the finite mind trying to grasp the infinite. I'm hesitant to use an example because I don't mean to limit God in any way, but much like how you can be one person and be a parent, a child, a student, a teacher, a basketball player or whatever, the three aspects of God, Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, each have a different role to play in His plan for mankind.

The Son and the Holy Spirit are not new to the New Testament.
Isaiah 63:8-10
For He said, “Surely they are My people, children who will not lie.” So He became their Savior. In all their affliction He was afflicted, and the Angel of His Presence saved them; in His love and in His pity He redeemed them; and He bore them and carried them all the days of old. But they rebelled and grieved His Holy Spirit; so He turned Himself against them as an enemy, and He fought against them.

Isaiah 9:6
For unto us a Child is born, unto us a Son is given; and the government will be upon His shoulder. And His name will be called Wonderful, Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace.

Proverbs 30:4
Who has ascended up into heaven, or descended? Who has gathered the wind in his fists? Who has bound the waters in a garment? Who has established all the ends of the earth? what is His name, and what is His Son's name, if you know?

And there are many other verses which establish the presence of the Son and the HS. Add to that the Hebrew term often used in the Old Testament referring to God, 'Elohim', is used to denote a plurality greater than two. The three distinct roles of God magnify one another. 1x1x1 rather than 1+1+1.

edit: heh, good timing Banryu

Starve, please elaborate if you feel compelled. Some of us may be more sympathetic to your beliefs than you may think.
 
CaptKirby said:
I think it is hard for people to be supportive of Christianity rather than derisive because Christianity is so derisive of any values it wants to say are wrong. I try my best to be supportive of people who appear genuinely eager and sweet about it, but it is hard for me to turn off the scorn.
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Christianity is not openly or, for that matter, in any way derisive of other beliefs and values; what the Bible tells us is that Christianity is the 'correct' or factual (or whatever) belief, but that we as Christians should accept the beliefs of others. This can be seen as contradictory, but isn't really if you look at it a little more closely-- don't all religions insist that they're the best one? Also, there are those Christians who DO act derisively toward other beliefs, but they are not indicative of either Christians nor Christianity as a whole... these are the type of Christians that I really dislike because they put other people off of the religion, which is the opposite of what we should be trying to do. :\ I understand why you feel this way, but I don't feel that it's the right way to look at this. Of course, 'the way to look at' anything is an opinion, and I shouldn't be trying to tell you what to think, LOL. Sorry.

CaptKirby said:
There are verses in the Bible that factually contradict each other, but that is another topic than this and does not really belong in this thread probably.
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A lot of people talk about the contradiction of religion, but I wonder how many people who say this are actually well-versed enough in religious texts to actually know that for sure and give specific examples of it. :0 This isn't addressed at you in particular, Captain, but anyone else in the thread who says that, particularly those with atheistic beliefs who would have no reason to seek or possess such knowledge. (popemobile, I'm looking at you here)
 
Cartoons! said:
Add to that the Hebrew term often used in the Old Testament referring to God, 'Elohim', is used to denote a plurality greater than two. The three roles of God magnify one another. 1x1x1 rather than 1+1+1.
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Yeeaahh this is pretty much the only part that made sense to me >__< But I find it interesting that you said the roles magnify eachother, I've never heard it explained that way before, I like that. On a different note, wow, I haven't read the Bible in sooo long, it's drastically different from the Quran, it's like QUE ORO ES?! But thank you so much for your explanation, it really did help.
Lol Banryu, you just confused me more.
 
Oh great, I'm glad I was able to explain my beliefs in a way that sort of helped straighten out my own thoughts at the same time. I find it pretty cool though that you seem to have at least a cursory knowledge of the Bible. I'm still studying it myself and would be interested in getting to know the Qu'ran so that I can feel comfortable talking about it.
 
I was raised Christian, though hardly devout. I became an atheist in my mid-to-late teens, when I came to understand that scientifically speaking, postulating the existence of God solves no problems, and creates many. (Most notably, the "problem of evil", though not insurmountable for Christianity, totally vanishes with atheism). With my scientific understanding, an atheistic and mechanistic worldview makes more sense.

My opinions were doubtless also influenced by coming up against devout Christians online, at least one of whom came across rather poorly, mentioning sin and hell and salvation and Jesus at every opportunity but never actually justifying Christianity. From the scientific side, Hawking's A Brief History Of Time led me to consider that the Universe "just exists", and that it having a first point in time is merely one of its many properties.
 
Cartoons! said:
Oh great, I'm glad I was able to explain my beliefs in a way that sort of helped straighten out my own thoughts at the same time. I find it pretty cool though that you seem to have at least a cursory knowledge of the Bible. I'm still studying it myself and would be interested in getting to know the Qu'ran so that I can feel comfortable talking about it.
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Well there's a few things you should know about the Qur'an before delving into it. First, Muslims view the Qur'an as a book of Guidance. It's style is simple but extremely eloquent. However because it was originally revealed in Arabic, any translations of it cannot fully portray the depth of each verse. I studied Arabic for about 8 years, and when you can read and understand the text in its original language, it's mind-blowing. Also, the Qur'an doesn't give detailed accounts of history, but only focuses on what is needed to teach the readers a lesson.

Second, Muslims believe that the Qur'an was delivered from God, to the angel Gabriel, to the Prophet Muhammad. It was delivered verse by verse, and he committed it to memory along with a few of his trusted companions. And in fact, the style of the Qur'an is such that it is easy to memorize. Muslims believe that the content of the Qur'an has never been changed, and there's evidence that supports this. What has been changed however is the accepted Arabic dialects of the Qur'an, now there is only one dialect that is universally acknowledged.

Sorry for the essay. I think that's it. Feel free to PM me about anything, as I have absolutely nothing to do today lol.
 
Banryu said:
Christianity is not openly or, for that matter, in any way derisive of other beliefs and values; what the Bible tells us is that Christianity is the 'correct' or factual (or whatever) belief, but that we as Christians should accept the beliefs of others. This can be seen as contradictory, but isn't really if you look at it a little more closely-- don't all religions insist that they're the best one? Also, there are those Christians who DO act derisively toward other beliefs, but they are not indicative of either Christians nor Christianity as a whole... these are the type of Christians that I really dislike because they put other people off of the religion, which is the opposite of what we should be trying to do. :\ I understand why you feel this way, but I don't feel that it's the right way to look at this. Of course, 'the way to look at' anything is an opinion, and I shouldn't be trying to tell you what to think, LOL. Sorry.


A lot of people talk about the contradiction of religion, but I wonder how many people who say this are actually well-versed enough in religious texts to actually know that for sure and give specific examples of it. :0 This isn't addressed at you in particular, Captain, but anyone else in the thread who says that, particularly those with atheistic beliefs who would have no reason to seek or possess such knowledge. (popemobile, I'm looking at you here)
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Well to the second part, I certainly know specific contradictions. Luke says Jesus was born two different times (neither being 0 BCE, making it better reconciled with when believers often think Jesus was born). Matthew/Mark/Luke/John are a mess of events that contradict each other, especially John versus the other three. Anyway, the New Testament is just generally a mess, not so sure about the Old Testament. Like I said, that is complex and a whole different topic than anything here...

I looked it up, and I may have been off about the BIBLE itself being derisive about the whole "no morality without God" part; it seems that is probably just a bunch of Christians shitting on Christianity. As to the rest, I do disagree though. The Bible has to inherently be derisive by making so many very strong claims. It is excessively derisive toward those who choose to enjoy any sort of free sexuality, for instance, and I am sure I do not need to back that up with verses for you to understand that I am right. Whether that is right to a Christian or not, well, that is up to them, but it is certainly very derisive. Furthermore the Bible is very derisive to entire ancient races, like the Egyptians or Babylonians, at several different times. I do not think the Bible itself was derisive toward Gentiles (non-Jews) as a whole (maybe more so it was the believers and very traditionalist Jews?), kind of like what I just explained about how it is the believers making more of an issue out of it than the actual Bible, but the Bible may have been derisive toward Jews themselves.
 
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