Did you go to your parents' church? Were you enlightened? How did you come to believe in what you choose to believe in? My parents were just talking about how they decided to just "home-school" me in religion which meant buying an illustrated Bible and putting it on the bookshelf, so I never really got into religion. But as I've started smoking a lot more weed, I've found that when I peak I'm often associating it with a religion, or higher power, which differs depending on the music I'm listening to... (i.e. Aliens/extraterrestriality for Red Hot Chili Peppers, or Rastafarianism for the Bob)... Now, I can't imagine what it'd be like to believe, or wonder about, something else. I wouldn't be able to have nearly as much fun while high, or let that cross over into when I'm sober (and seriously think about the beliefs) if I kept wondering "Oh, what does [insert name of religious power] think of what I'm doing right now?" especially if it was force-fed by my parents or something... I think this makes sense after a re-read, but I've smoked like 4 times today and I hit a big home-made bong a couple hours ago, so my thinking is pretty impaired... What are you on GC's thoughts about this? And where/how did you come to believe in what you do?
Hahaha, imo the best way to homeschool religion. Pick it up sometime if you still have it, when you're high or not, you might find it interesting. Music had a big impact on me. The Holy Bible, the Satanic Bible, the Harry Potter books, the Lord of the Rings and Star Wars movies.. I went to church when I was younger and got to see a bunch of people listening to some guy loosely interpreting 2000 year old text, so I figured, why can't I do the same? There's some video somewhere I don't remember the name of about scientists who dealt with the depths of infinity, and there've been quite a few posts in this forum as well about it, which let me know I wasn't imagining the irregularities I saw in the universe. But because I believe in Infinity, my beliefs still get tweaked a bit each day. Pot helps. A lot.
It started, as usual, with my parents. They weren't particularly religious our spiritual and I never went to church, but the idea of God was just something they didn't question. They both grew up going to church every week but stopped later in life. Both believe in evolution and the big bang theory but believed that God caused it to happen. Neither were especially vocal about their faith. I mostly just picked up exactly what they felt about God, that he had caused it to occur, but as time went on, I began to question that idea. Never having read The Bible, I chose to do so. What I read seemed, to me, less believable than a J.R.R. Tolken novel. The clear inconsistencies and ridiculous views appalled me and I decided that I no longer had faith in that particular religion. The next logical question was, well, I don't believe in that, but what about God? Using the internet, I did some digging and came upon a classic logic experiment by Epicurus called "Problem of Evil." The questions that he ask and his lack of a real answer to consolidate his findings rang true with me. Every single response or defense was as close to a straw man argument that I dismissed them outright. We cannot know God's plans? Weak-sauce. Now, I do not believe in any gods. I question the possibility of advanced beings that may be godlike (essay example), but that is the extent of my current beliefs.
For me religion started with my parents and grandparents. My grandma was an avid believer in the Catholic Religion and I often found myself going to church and taking classes to do my first communion. Needless to say, I was often reprimanded for asking "ungodly" questions. "Sometimes you just have to believe." was not enough for me... So growing up, I was lucky to have a mom that preferred to be open about the possibility of studying other religions. I studied a little of of everything i could think of. My grandparents thought i would be damned to "HELL" for questioning god's Word. That only added more fuel to my research... Now, I'm glad I studied. I'm glad to see how many different people choose to view the world. But my beliefs go far beyond the norms and boundaries of religion. I think Anything is possible. From aliens, to the possibility of other human races living in distant planets, spirits, angels, and the mighty force that made all of this possible. An energy, neither man nor woman that gave us the opportunity to come down and live life to learn many things and evolve our spirit form...
life is so large and this universe we know is just another building block to a larger more complex universe as that is the aspect of infinity. So to me god is whatever made this universe, something did and if it was made on its own than it is god itself. Everything is so perfect but imperfect at the same time, perhaps intentionally. to OP I am in NH too!
My family takes the Catholic faith seriously, and I naturally believed the same things until I was about 17 or 18. I started taking classes on philosophy, religion, sociology, and psychology, which led me to question my beliefs more intently. With the internet, virtually anything you'd like to learn more about is at your fingertips, so I've spent a lot of late nights just looking things up online.. I don't have any religious beliefs, really. Spiritual beliefs, I guess. I kind of see myself as a tiny part in an infinite web of life, and I just try to do my best to make my tiny part good. I can't claim to know anything about the origin of the universe, time, the meaning of life.. but that's exciting, because there's always more to learn and understand!
Really? Where in NH?? Thanks for all the good replies, good to see that this thread is actually going somewhere!
I thunk about it. Read some books, smoked some grass, and thunked some more. Actually, my father touched my butthole, therefore I am agnostic. [ame="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8GfgnBEZsj4"]YouTube - Mr Show - My Father Touched My Butthole[/ame]
Well I grew up in a Christian family. My mom is very very religious, the rest of the family not as much. Four years ago (age 14) I wanted to strengthen my faith in God and learn more about Christianity (over the intranetz); but ironically, over the period of six months I lost my faith. Hahaha. Now I'm an Atheist.
my dad is a hardcore Christan, and i'v had Christianity shoved down my throat my whole life. Then one day it clicked in my head that its a bunch of bs. I'm agnostic though, because there isnt even proof to prove anything. I'm willing to belive any thereoy as long as there's enough evidence that i can witness for myself. But as of now, i dont belive in anything.