born into relgion?

Your parents can make you go wherever they want until your independant, its up to you if you want to belive it or not..

 

Let's not forget - the older one gets the more one learns. The more one learns the more one finds that the majority of religions are based on 'stories' similar to greek mythology, jack and the bean stalk and other tales which have become seriously exaggerated over time.

So your parents can influence what you believe as a child (such as santa clause) but once one absorbs science and fact they are free to decide what they wish regardless of upbringing.

Slyp

 

Being a Parent, I think all parents should lead by example. If you force your children to goto church and you live a life that contradicts what your religion teaches well then that makes them Hippocrits. Not saying that people have to be perfect because we all know Nobody is.

BoredJIm:

you're atheist right? Well let's say it's Judgement day and you find out that God really does exist. What do you say to him?? I thought I was right??
What if you do follow the teachings in the Bible, will it make you a worse person?? I've not read anything in the Bible that would instruct oneself to be anything but Good.
I would love to hear your thoughts

 

Old testament dates back further than Greek mythology. And yes many religions are somewhat similar. I think it's just different regions or nationalitie's interpretation of the truth.

Just because one studies Science, doesn't mean it to be fact. There are Millions of things that science cannot prove, only hypothesies(whoa SP?)

 

Have you read the bible? http://www.evilbible.com/ God's a bad mutha fucka. Jesus may be known as the Prince of Peace but he was the only peaceful one in that family. God is nothing but hate, vengance, and wrath against anyone who does not believe in him. Hell, even that sappy Noah's Ark story generally leaves out one part in the children's movies: GOD KILLED EVERYONE ON EARTH.

Here's just a random quote from EvilBible.com:

So if anyone's wondering why Christians are so violent (ie: Crusades), perhaps it's because their God is.

 

I got a little antsy and didnt read all the responses, so sorry if this was said or not, but this is what im thinking:

In a perfect world everyone could decided what their beliefs etc are then choose a religion that suits them best. The problem with this is that you probably never know exactly what you want. Im 18 and I defenitaly have a lot better ideas towards this than I did when I was 10, but there is no reason to think I have already figured everything out. To a parent who decides they will let their child choose, the child will have no idea or understanding of the need (for many people) for religion or really the concept of it until alot of time has passed, perhaps times when they will need it most.

Really the part of religion that makes it so, perhaps flimsy? or why I, along with most others hate when people assert that theirs is right and other will go to hell, whatever, is the fact that you are born into it, like to topic says. You are just born into a religion and here many people are trying to say that theirs is right, when in reality they didnt even choose it? Its just kind of odd, but thats not to say religion isnt important.

Sorry if some got a bit off topic, just the born into religion aspect got me thinking.

Edit: Little thing after reading, why would god be so self centered as to punish everyone who didnt believe in him? Isnt that no different than dictators on earth? If god is all wise and forgiving or however you exactly believe he is, wouldnt he understand?

And at the guy who said whats the problem with beliving in god and the bible, why dont you go pray to allah, just in case? No harm right?

 

BigT - I could not agree MORE.

I also grew up Christian and stayed with that belief until age 30. At 30 I started asking questions like:

I have tried discussing with other christians to find 'the truth'. Problem I've found - if you are curious about buying a car, would you go to a car dealer to find the best one? They would only try to sell you THEIR car, saying it's the best. So please consider the following items with an open mind. They are just questions (which seem to upset most Christians or cause defense instead of logic).


1: When we die, we go to Heaven. Heaven is perfect and NONE shall feel pain, anger or any other negative feelings. We will all be perfect.
If #1 is true - how did Satan cause a war in heaven? If it is a perfect place, how could angels feel jealousy? Jealousy is also a human emotion, not an angelic one.

2: In the story of Job, God decides to completely ruin a man's life to PROVE to Satan that Job is committed to God.
Ok ok, this is completely rediculous. God is proving something to Satan? Why would he bother? I thought 'Thou Shall Not Test God". Guess that one was the exception...?

3: Believe in Jesus and you will be saved. Don't believe in him and you will burn in hell.
Ok ok - So let me get this straight. If Hitler, previous to death, accepted Jesus in his heart and repented inside for what he did (who knows, could have happened prior to his death), then he would go to Heaven. However, if a small family living in the wildnerness decided to worship the sun God, were good to their people, helped others, prayed and did their rituals ..... They would go to Hell?? Makes no logical sense.

4: Heaven is described as streets of gold, castles, servants, etc. These are ALL human items. As a spirit, what importance does Gold hold? Zero. Why have streets when all are spirits? Not that big of a point, but still something doesnt click when thinking about it. Also, why aren't there computers, big tv screens, loud speakers, fields and fields of ripe buds, etc? Begins to sound like a person's perfect Earth huh....


FINAL question: Why did all the miracles stop?

Let's face it - today the only miracles that meet the actual definition are shown on TV by evangelistic healers. Research has shown that such healings are faked. Benny Hinn has even admitted that the majority of results people see are due to the 'mass influence' (so many people, so much energy, etc). People have DIED because they stopped treating an illness, knowing inside that God healed them. If they are not healed, or it doesnt work, people blame themselves for not believing hard enough.... ??? HUH?!



Oh.... HAPPY EASTER.


-Slyp

 

Well, then your not really believing in true faith, Your believing to save your ass. I am agnostic personally, If there was a god, and he wanted us to follow him, Don't you think he would present his facts in a better way than wivestails and a book written SO long ago, that does it really have any relavance?

As A child I really did believe in God, I was born into the christian faith... But as I got older and wiser, I Saw threw it. I just try to live my life, in a positive way.

 

Most of the bible was written thousands of years ago, when people communicated ideas to eachother in much different ways than the way we do now. Some would disagree, but I think that reading the bible does require some interpretation on our part.

All the lessons tought by prophets or spiritual teachers all point to the same divine virtues. Obviously they all communicate the "path" to these virtues in a different way... this doesn't mean that the holy ideal is different from person to person. I'm sure enlightened beings like Jesus or Buddha would probably resemble eachother a lot. We can question how "enlightened" they really were in real life, but just look how many people were inspired by their example.

I think it's a shame that sometimes groups of people with different interpretations of scriptures don't get along, but I don't think that means that the guidance of whichever teacher they follow is any less valuable.

In my experience, I think that the most importance thing is to live your life being guided by your heart, but that you also have to be humble enough to realize that sometimes you let own self-centeredness take control. That's why I like reading various religious texts... trying to be a nicer person requires a constant effort

 

I agree with one exception. The primary purpose of religion is man's weak attempt at explaining what happens when we die. If a religion did not include this portion I doubt it would have much of a gathering.

So, if most of us basically agree that stories in the bible arent logically correct, and that if you dont believe in Jesus you will NOT go to hell... and if all religions are 'basically' correct - The next logical question would be : What happens when ya die.

Solve that riddle and you'll have a NEW religion on your hands.

 

My parents raised me without a religion, though they were both deeply religious. They felt it was important that, if i so chose, i picked my own beleifs.

Though, i'm still currently mostly agnostic and have no strong convictions of faith.

Is it just coincidence or am i that way because i was raised?

 

that's cool how your parent let you make your own decision. I don't think that it is a coincidence, as long as you have questioned faith and took some time to make an attempt at a spiritual path.

 

I think being born into religious families is a big problem.

While I am against religion, it's beyond the point. Being born into religion basically weens the kid onto a line of thought that they might not have otherwise valued or believed.

I say, if there is a true religion, and if a god did exist, then one should be able to discover this god for themselves. No church pastor to tell you what god is. No family to make you say a prayer with them before eating. No religious morals stuffed down your throat, dictating what you learn to be right and wrong.

While I completely believe there is no god, and religion is a bunch of bull plop, I do have the mindset that if there was a god, people would come to the conclusion to believe and be guided spiritually on their own. Not thanks to their family, or because of an institution.

 

That's really interesting.

You just got the wheels turning in my head. haha.

Rep + for that.

 

slipkno- theres no answer to dilemmas like that, especially in the old testament. its crucial to remember that the old testament was essentially the book of myths that one particular set of tribes in israel believed. it was passed down so many times, hand copied by people of varying (sometimes questionable) literacy, that theres really no way of knowing what was originally in it, and even less chance to know what might be "true".

i was raised a christian (german lutheran, to be specific), but after taking a few religious studies classesi realized that having a dogmatic belief in any of these unreliable texts of questionable authenticity is silly. im confident that there is a god/deity type force in the universe, and that Jesus was a great role model who wandered the region preaching that people should be less materialistic. beyond those vague beliefs? HA

 

Sounds right on the money for how I've watched my own beliefs evolve. Once again, it seems that the smarter the human race gets, the more evidence there is that these writings were indeed myth, legends, etc.

Here's one thing that I wonder about though: If we consider the facts of religion and religious belief it kind of looks like this. There are millions and millions of people who have some form of Christian (pentacostal, lutheran, etc) belief. Is it statistically likely that I'm actually smarter than ALL those people in that I have found enough conflicting evidence to believe the bible is not accurate??? Doubtful. So what have all these people experienced that I have been left out of.

That's pretty much what keeps me driving to find out more information about religion, God, etc. Im either missing something or there are a LOT of people who are seriously lost and I'm one of the very tiny population that is 'found'... again, statistically unlikely.

-Slyp