What do you believe in - and why?

[Glamourcide]

I was baptised as a Roman Catholic and raised by a Catholic mum and Lutheran dad (both non-practicing, and the only time we ever went to church as kids was for weddings, funerals and christenings). I used to identify as an atheist, but in all honesty, I cannot say now that I do not believe in anything. I suppose I identify as agnostic as I'm not done with my research yet and am still open to new ideas and learning more, but in my heart I know I believe in *something* - there is too much evidence around me to not support the theory that there is a higher power. At the moment, I'm leaning more toward, I suppose, Neo-Pagan ideals in which nature/Mother Earth are the life and soul of everything, that we and everything around us are small pieces of the puzzle that work together in perfect sync. I still picture in my head the Christian concept of 'God' as the supreme authority and creator of everything, I don't know how that fits into the picture but somehow it *has* to for me.

I too do not believe in Satan or a driving evil force, I believe that side of us comes solely from within and we have the power to choose our actions and behaviours, and I believe that unfortunately, too many of us have become consumed by our dark sides and do wrong even though we know it's a poor choice - I think selfishness, greed, and 'looking out for #1' have become overwhelming traits in society and it saddens me. I look at what we do to the environment, to people in other countries in pursuit of money or resources, and what we do to those around us in pursuit of comfort, money, 'fun', etc, and I can't help but think that we're a parasitic disease and sooner or later, Earth is going to have to take drastic action to stop us.

I believe that if there is a God, we were given free will for a good reason. That we all have a moral compass that is strong, that God has no control over what we think, feel, or do, only we have that power, but that God gave us that free will in order to give us the freedom to make choices - and to accept consequences. I don't need to follow the Bible's rules for fear of being punished in the next life - I need to follow what my heart tells me is right or wrong because the consequences will be present in this life, and I can't afford to stuff it up, kwim?

As far as the afterlife... I think this is where and why the Christian theory has to be part of my beliefs. I cannot believe that this one life we live is all we have. I need to believe that when we die, we are rewarded by being reunited with those we have loved, those we have lost, and that we are in a sort of paradise forever where we are comfortable, full of love and light and laughter. I feel that this life is a test of sorts - we spend but a few decades here (if we're lucky), it feels pointless if it's not for a 'reason', kwim? Like, if there's nothing else, I may as well not have bothered existing in the first place. I see people live through so much pain and suffering in their lives, I need to believe that those people's pain has not been in vain and that when they die, the wrongs will be made right and they can finally erase all the suffering they've endured and be happy.


Sorry, that was probably really confusing, but as I said, I'm still doing my research And FWIW I do believe in evolution, perhaps 'intelligent design' I think it's called, wherein the Creator has some control over how things develop, and that it has happened (and is continuing to happen) over millions and millions of years.

Great thread, hun, very interesting to read what others feel deep down

[AnyDream]

I started out vaguely Christian, remember going to Sunday School at ??? church as a small child (I think my parents stayed at home?)...but always had a yearning for the spiritual. My sister (who shares same yearning) and I both joined a Bible class at school when I was in grade 5 - moved away and then spent some time attending Church with the family of one of my sister's friends. Eventually was baptised & confirmed a Catholic...very devout...contemplated a vocation and even starting corresponding with an order of nuns when I was 16. However life took a different turn, I couldn't reconcile the Church's teachings on homosexuality with Jesus' message of compassion and felt excluded by the sexist language etc.

At that point I went my seperate way and began to construct my spiritual/religious belief based on my direct mystical experience & wide reading. There isn't any one word that describes my belief, I believe in a Creator/Source/Spirit which breathes life into everything, I believe we are all essentially spirit but incarnate into human form in order to learn and heal and evolve to become closer to this Source over a number of lifetimes. I have had a number of experiences which confirm my belief in reincarnation and the world of spirit helpers (angels, guides, whatever you want to call them) and I can also perceive energy/information when I am clear & focussed. But I don't hold much chop with what I call "new age fluff" which I think distracts a lot of people who are genuinely seeking to live a more authentic/spiritual life. I believe we all come into this world with a lesson to learn and a gift to share, by learning what we have to and sharing it, we allow the spark of divine consciousness within (ie the soul) to shine into the world and make it a better place for others.

[Arimeh]

These are great responses - thanks for sharing guys

MD - I'm curious - what do you class as "new age fluff"?

[fionas]

I have a hard time believing in God but believe that Jesus existed, really like what he stood for and broadly speaking try to live my life around Christian principles (kindness, treating others as you would like to be treated etc.)

Would like to learn more about Buddhism too. The little I have read made an enormous impression on me.

Really struggle with the afterlife concept given that I find the concept of "God" difficult to have faith in. Am afraid of death and this being IT but don't want to force myself to have faith in God as an insurance policy.

However, Buddhism believes in reincarnation which is partly its attraction for me as is its belief that there is no supreme being. So it ticks both boxes for me as well as obviously its teachings on how to live your daily life.

[slyder]

Ace thread, love it.

Raised by parents who seem to have no firm opinion on the topic, and are thus agnostic I suppose. Many of the older generations in my extended family have some form of belief I think, but I don't really know.

Personally, I have a very low regard for all religion and am a firm athiest.

Here is my favouite quote on these matters:

"The telescope...we weren't ready for that one. Up to that point the Earth was the centre of the universe, and humanity was the centre of God's attention. And then along came the telescope and Galileo and Copernicus and we weren't special any more. We were just desolate dust floating, fragments of bits and bobs that didn't mean a damn thing on a galactic ball of nonsense that didn't mean very much either. God just wasn't that interested. Four hundred years later, I don't think we've ever gotten over the shock" - Blánaid McKinney, 'These Important Messages'.

Peace.

[Matryoshka]

I don't believe in any religion (although "catholic", only got half way with the processes though).

I believe in the power of the universe... that there is an energy that created us, and continues to connect us.

When i need to ask for guidance, i ask the universe to leave me in the right direction, or to give me the knowledge i need.

I also respect the power of water, i believe it to have taken part in our creation and our continual nourishment. It ihas a life force that i believe is healing. This is the exact reason we moved to the coast, we are a couple of minutes from the beach, and i feel no where better than being close to the ocean.

edit:

Oh in regards to the after life.... i believe that we are a spirit, that continues to another body (just a physical shell) and with continue to travel from one life to another. I believe our bodies decompose and go back in to the earth and re-energise creating new life.

[Winter]

Raised by parents who seem to have no firm opinion on the topic, and are thus agnostic I suppose.

Personally, I have a very low regard for all religion and am a firm athiest.

:yeahthat: Please don't shoot me! I just find it impossible to believe in anything...

[Inanna]

Aaaah my Wintery friend you won't get shot in here my love!

I also wanted to here here Nettie - I am with you all the way there...

[Fleur]

:yeahthat: Please don't shoot me! I just find it impossible to believe in anything...

Lol Winter... no shooting
My DD1 is the same as you, she just cannot believe, and we struggle to understand eachother. I don't understand how she can't believe in anything, something...to me it is just so obvious that there is something more, something bigger & yet to her, it's just not there BUT we have learnt to be respectful of our different beliefs & can discuss it just fine (phew!)

[Rowellen]

Ace thread, love it.

Raised by parents who seem to have no firm opinion on the topic, and are thus agnostic I suppose. Many of the older generations in my extended family have some form of belief I think, but I don't really know.

Personally, I have a very low regard for all religion and am a firm athiest.

Here is my favouite quote on these matters:

"The telescope...we weren't ready for that one. Up to that point the Earth was the centre of the universe, and humanity was the centre of God's attention. And then along came the telescope and Galileo and Copernicus and we weren't special any more. We were just desolate dust floating, fragments of bits and bobs that didn't mean a damn thing on a galactic ball of nonsense that didn't mean very much either. God just wasn't that interested. Four hundred years later, I don't think we've ever gotten over the shock" - Blánaid McKinney, 'These Important Messages'.

Peace.

That's me also. I love that quote Slyder. Kind of sum's things up nicely.

Having said that, I am interested in learning more about many different religions especially paganism but it's not high on the to do list. I sort of imagine myself being a little old lady with a walking stick before I have the time to learn anything! I have been browsing on BB, & learnt a bit already though.

[AnyDream]

Arimeh, new age fluff = variants on a theme which basically involve the ego. for eg, I get tired of hearing about people who went for a past-life reading and get told they were ancient priestesses or some other similarly romantic sounding thing. Genuine past life regressions (in my direct personal experience) usually involve fairly mundane (but traumatic) incidents, and my reading on the topic supports this. Starships, Lemuria, Atlantis, Ascension theory pretty much all fall into the "fluff" box IMO. People like to feel they belong to something special, so getting caught up in this stuff often means they don't get down to the real business of sorting themselves out and living their best possible life, kwim? I won't say it's all blatantly untrue (I admit the possibility that there are truths that lie outside of my own experience/framework) but I have a problem with it when it holds people back rather than helping them to heal and evolve, or when it keeps them ungrounded. Probably because in my own journey learning to stay grounded has been so important.

ETA - wanted to add - didn't mean for that to come across as a blanket criticism of the new age movement, as it encompasses many things of great spiritual significance and value, it's more the flakey practitioners - not grounded in reality - that give the rest of it a bad name. Also happy to acknowledge that many people would consider my beliefs to be "new age fluff" .

[luna moth]

FSM - there's as much logic behind it as any other religion, so why not?

But - as I eluded to in the other thread - I disagree with evangelism. Which includes evangelical atheism. I'm cool with lots of religions existing, and I am definitely cool with people believing in them, even for the various illogical reasons that they do. But I am NOT cool with trying to change someone else's belief.

[squidipa]

Lets start with im pentecostal Christian.

i was raised Catholic as good as my mom could. Church on Easter and Christmas and Sunday school and weekly school and from time to time depending on where we moved i also done daily religious instructions. I was baptized catholic. Holy communion too and continued with regular religious instructions in school and out side of school.

As i got older i needed more and more questions being left un-answered regarding what the bible was saying and moved from being a catholic to a pentecostal christian. I felt more at home here and had a better understanding of things and made more sense of things. I did resist it to start with but the more understanding i got the better my heart felt at home.

My eldest kids at school do religious instructions non denominational and they attend church and my eldest goes to weekly youth group. They did have other weekly activities but we moved on from that.

I have not found the right church yet locally and honestly been so busy havnt looked as much as i could have but my heart remains the same. All the kids are and hubbie to christian. Hubbie was baptist now pentecostal baptist lol he comes form a baptist family who is heavily involved in church. Actually we met in a Christian chat room lol

EDIT

i believe profoundly in free will and that opening gates. oh and also the kids have had dedications but not baptized i believe thats there choice when ready.

[Indadhanu]

I was not raised any religion. My parents were very spritual but not very religious. I discovered Buddhism when I was about 15, and found when I read about Buddhism it was what I already felt, and knowing the specific details seemed to light up a part of me that was in darkness.

I follow Buddhism as a religion, not just a philosophy.
I don't believe in a God or any Gods or Goddesses.
I believe in rebirth or reincarnation, onto one of 31 planes of temporary existence.
I believe in Karma. But not that 'karma is a b~tch' (and I absolute detest that phrase...).
I don't believe in fate or predetermination. I believe that we do start life with lessons we need to learn or experiences we need to have but I believe these could come in a range of forms and they aren't 'set' to happen. I don't know how to explain it, thats as good as I can do without going quite deep

Ummm, so, yeah

[RhiChiChi]

I was baptised as a Roman Catholic and raised by a Catholic mum and Lutheran dad (both non-practicing, and the only time we ever went to church as kids was for weddings, funerals and christenings). I used to identify as an atheist, but in all honesty, I cannot say now that I do not believe in anything. I suppose I identify as agnostic as I'm not done with my research yet and am still open to new ideas and learning more, but in my heart I know I believe in *something* - there is too much evidence around me to not support the theory that there is a higher power. At the moment, I'm leaning more toward, I suppose, Neo-Pagan ideals in which nature/Mother Earth are the life and soul of everything, that we and everything around us are small pieces of the puzzle that work together in perfect sync. I still picture in my head the Christian concept of 'God' as the supreme authority and creator of everything, I don't know how that fits into the picture but somehow it *has* to for me.

I too do not believe in Satan or a driving evil force, I believe that side of us comes solely from within and we have the power to choose our actions and behaviours, and I believe that unfortunately, too many of us have become consumed by our dark sides and do wrong even though we know it's a poor choice - I think selfishness, greed, and 'looking out for #1' have become overwhelming traits in society and it saddens me. I look at what we do to the environment, to people in other countries in pursuit of money or resources, and what we do to those around us in pursuit of comfort, money, 'fun', etc, and I can't help but think that we're a parasitic disease and sooner or later, Earth is going to have to take drastic action to stop us.

I believe that if there is a God, we were given free will for a good reason. That we all have a moral compass that is strong, that God has no control over what we think, feel, or do, only we have that power, but that God gave us that free will in order to give us the freedom to make choices - and to accept consequences. I don't need to follow the Bible's rules for fear of being punished in the next life - I need to follow what my heart tells me is right or wrong because the consequences will be present in this life, and I can't afford to stuff it up, kwim?

As far as the afterlife... I think this is where and why the Christian theory has to be part of my beliefs. I cannot believe that this one life we live is all we have. I need to believe that when we die, we are rewarded by being reunited with those we have loved, those we have lost, and that we are in a sort of paradise forever where we are comfortable, full of love and light and laughter. I feel that this life is a test of sorts - we spend but a few decades here (if we're lucky), it feels pointless if it's not for a 'reason', kwim? Like, if there's nothing else, I may as well not have bothered existing in the first place. I see people live through so much pain and suffering in their lives, I need to believe that those people's pain has not been in vain and that when they die, the wrongs will be made right and they can finally erase all the suffering they've endured and be happy.


Sorry, that was probably really confusing, but as I said, I'm still doing my research And FWIW I do believe in evolution, perhaps 'intelligent design' I think it's called, wherein the Creator has some control over how things develop, and that it has happened (and is continuing to happen) over millions and millions of years.

Great thread, hun, very interesting to read what others feel deep down

Alot of this reasonates with me.....

[Bathsheba]

Really enjoying this respectful discussion... and yes... no shooting

[Bumperstump Cummerbund]

As probably everyone here already knows, I'm a Jehovah's Witness

I am a firm follower of the Bible. I have had many struggles to understand certain parts of the Bible, and I still struggle at times, but I wholeheartedly have faith that the Bible is God's Word and is true, and therefore it is my understanding at times that is wrong. I believe that the Bible never contradicts itself, but man's failed interpretation does. I believe in doing the research, going back to the original language, and reading the context to find out the true meaning, and thats why sometimes there are doctrinal differences when a scripture is just pulled out of nowhere and taken literally on its own, without reference given to the context in which it was written. I also believe in following all of the Bible, not just the convenient parts - not that I'm perfect, but I'm trying

I believe that God's Organization is perfect, but the people living in it are not, and that causes problems sometimes. I believe that when I have a problem with a person and what they are teaching from the Bible, I need to do the research myself and prove it to myself, and strongly question myself as to whether my problem is with the message or the messenger - it is generally the latter. I believe that 'the light is getting brighter', and sometimes that means leaving behind old understandings when it becomes obvious that we were on the wrong track. I believe some things that are very unpopular in todays world, but I also believe that that only makes my belief in the Bible stronger, because it was predicted that it would happen this way.

And I believe that that is enough from me!

[Starfish]

Very very cool thread. I have only skimmed some of the replies, but will come back and read more thorougly.

Anyway, here is my story. My whole family, from all sides is Catholic. So I was baptised, went to Catholic schools (both primary and secondary), got confirmed at age 11 (most Catholics get confirmed at around 15-18, but I wanted to do it early - not for religious reasons but because I hated my name, and when you get confirmed, it is like a second Baptism, and you get to choose another name for yourself - I know I was young and silly). You can probably tell from this that my parents were not that strict about the whole thing (then again, many Catholics seem to just do things "for show" IYKWIM - I don't mean to offend anyone, I am just talking about the mentality of "I can do what I want as I will confess it all on Sunday morning anyway", as discussed in anohter thread).

For many years, I wanted to be Catholic. I wanted to belong and to this day I kind of envy people who feel this sense of belonging and community in any church (or anywhere else for that matter). I went to church every Sunday until my mid-twenties, until I could no longer deny that I felt like a hypocrite. I wanted to believe it all, but I just couldn't.

So what do I believe? Well, I believe in the Force (seriously, until the Star Wars prequels came out and they started going on about midichlorians, I really thought that this was the best explanation about the nature of the Universe that anyone had ever come up with). I believe that the Universe is too vast and amazing and incredible for any human to ever be able to describe it properly to anyone else or even to themselves (like trying to describe a 4 dimensional cube - we just don't have the capacity). I believe that religions started because people tried to describe the nature of the Universe to each other in the best ways they could. Ao in a way, I believe tha tthe Force is God. I believe that Jesus had more perception about the nature of the Universe than anyone else and tried to tell people what He knew. So in a sense, I am still a Christian, as I fully believe in the teachings of Jesus. I believe in miracles. I believe in evolution (or intellgent design - as another poster put it). I used to practice Wiccan spells, and I see these the same as prayers, just more ritualised. I pray every day to Mary the Mother of Jesus, as She is what I was raised with. To me, She embodies the Female power and I find it easiest to connect with the Universe through Her. I believe that we are put on earth to learn a specific lesson, and are reincarnated into new bodies until we learn the lessons of life, then we can break free of the cycle and become higher beings (this is what I think Heaven is).

(Okay, hope that doesn't sound too weird.)