Tbone
Well-known member
I had to pick number 1. I believe, but also agree that you should be able to celebreate in you own way. I have not made a habit of going to church a priority.
I believe in God, but the churches I've been to have been filled with hypocrites. I got a little tired of the goodie two shoes crap on Sunday and back stabbings on Monday. You know the types, they'll bend over for you backwards and do summersults on Sunday in front of others to help you, but come Monday, they don't even know who you are and place stumbling blocks in front of you to screw your journey as best they can.
I do my own thing, my own way.
Yes..there are many hypocrites in churches, but aren't there hypocrites everywhere? I go to church to worship my God, not for any other reason. It could just be me and my Pastor and that would be dandy! The older I get, I need the weekly reminder that this is not all there is...I loved what you posted earlier Ross about this better not be it! Deb
Yes there are hypocrites everywhere, but this brand I'm talking about nearly destroyed the church I belonged too. Yes, it was that bad. After that, I started going to my dads church, which is largely of old Dutch/Amish faith and being adopted, wasn't even considered a part of that picture. Nothing like going to church and being totally ignored.
Guess I should say I've never had a good experience in any church.
Yes there are hypocrites everywhere, but this brand I'm talking about nearly destroyed the church I belonged too. Yes, it was that bad. After that, I started going to my dads church, which is largely of old Dutch/Amish faith and being adopted, wasn't even considered a part of that picture. Nothing like going to church and being totally ignored.
Guess I should say I've never had a good experience in any church.
An interesting thread... Born into an Irish catholic family with all my grandfathers brothers being priests it may seem strange that I'm not in the slightest bit religious, I was never brainwashed with it all at an early age, rather bought up to be pragmatic and to make my own mind up about such things... I didn't get it, and I really still dont ? God ? Who is God, who is the Holy Ghost, where does Jesus fit in and how on Earth was Mary a virgin ? Feel free to help me out here ? We just had Easter, a massive celebration for the death and coming back to life of Jesus, but of course the word Easter is a Pagon word and was a Pagon festival which came from the Anglo saxon word for April "Eostre monath". Surely if Easter wasn't just hijacked as a Christian festival then it would be on the same day every year and not moved dependent on the position of the moon as the Pagons would have done? Surely if Jesus was Jewish then the celebration should be "Pascha" or the Passover anyway ?
I just dont get how people can have such faith in these stories ? God, Jesus, Father Christmas and even the Tooth fairies...Why is it that we soon grow out of believing in some but not others ?
I find life and nature quite staggering and really do have little idea as to why we're here or what we're supposed to be doing, other than muddling along, working, helping, learning, listening and nurturing... But as for there being an all seeing all knowing chap with a beard up there in heaven who created it all for us, then to my mind that has to be nothing more than a story. Maybe it has something to do with "God fearing" and control in days of old, to scare the masses into behaving, working and paying taxes ?
And let us not forget something very important, hundreds of years ago life was much much tougher than it is today, life would have been really hard work, cold, often hungry and little in the way of pain relief or medication. The idea of dying then would have been a treat, a massive relief to most. People would die in agony from a simple tooth infection or even a splinter or nasty cut ? Once these people in their masses began to truely fear God and believe in Heaven then the powers that be were laughing, absolute control?
But people still believe these ancient tales of Gods and Heavens designed and written for power, fear and control ... and of course still responsible for most of the worlds power, fear and control even today ? Strangely enough the worlds biggest real estate owner is the Roman Catholic church and I think McDonalds might even be the second... Make of that what you will ?
I dont fear death because of some silly notion about going to, by now a very overcrowded heaven and meeting God or the Holy ghost or Jesus, never quite sure which one it is, I just dont fear it because to me it's as natural as birth, and I dont remember being fed up for millions of years before I was born, so I'm sure I wont be for millions of years after I die ? Going under general anaesthetic for the first time in December actually made me more comfortable about the whole dying thing because it really was and must be like falling into a deep sleep...
Anyway... There wasn't really an option for me in this poll, because I certainly believe in something, as there's no doubting the power of positive thinking or love or good will...
Oh, and I'm definately not a Hippy, I've just not figured it out yet...
Given how much just the English language has changed over the centuries, I personally would have little faith in what is written in a book (or books) that were originally written in a completely different language, thousands of years ago. Translation issues aside (because most languages have turns of phrase and words that cannot be directly translated into another language) how do you know the modern day interpretation of this language is still correct when the meaning of many words have changed substantially?
I figure if there is a "God" up there who wants my attention, then he needs to do something a little more convincing to get it. Like anything, I'd rather hear it straight from the horse's mouth (so to speak), than relying in second-hand information. At the moment, the whole thing seems a little too much like Chinese whispers for me to believe any of it.
I guess I just can't summon that kind of faith.
Hm, just thought I'd like to add that any people from other religions should definitely post to! It'd be good to hear from another perspective too so don't feel this is solely focused on Christianity!
Personally I cannot get my head around the idea of a 'God'. I'm open to the idea, believe me, but I need some evidence. I did my training in psychology and for example, when you see the way different neurotransmitters can affect someones personality it really made it hard for me to accept a religion. Of course that's just one minor example. Then there's the whole evolution thing, space etc. All that stuff just seems right to me. I guess in the same way religion 'feels' right to someone, these explanations 'feel' right to me. Of course I'm not saying science will (or ever) have all the answers
You can watch the History channel, and watch movies like The Da Vinci Code and believe that, but you can not believe in the bible?
Interesting thread. I respect everybody's faith but only practice the faith in humanity and try to live as a good human being, compassionate to others. In that sense I practice every religion : )
For the record, I was raised as a Hindu in a very religious household, and I am married to someone who was raised Catholic and is an agnostic. Growing up, always questioned why people would pray to God selfishly to fix everything in their lives. I realize now that this praying is not really to "fix" everything but to have an inner strength to go through with it, since really whatever higher power in the Universe you are praying to doesn't really have the bandwidth to address everybody's individual needs. Yet, for a person, there maybe immense healing power of prayer and faith. For myself, as I deal with this wait for surgery and what lies beyond, I have become more spiritual not religious.
Read an interesting interview with the author who published a book recently.
Excerpt :
Want to build a better brain? Ramp up your spiritual practice, says Andrew Newberg, a neuroscientist at the University of Pennsylvania. Meditation and prayer can improve your physical, intellectual, and emotional well-being and may even slow the brain's aging process.
Newberg, who is also the director of the Center for Spirituality and the Mind, is the author of four books, including the recently released "How God Changes Your Brain," which discusses the results of brain scans that he and his team conducted on more than 100 meditating or praying people. The research shows that the physical and emotional benefits of spiritual observances dramatically accrue over years of practice, but even recent converts exhibit healthier brains -- in one study Newburg's team scanned the brains of people who had never meditated before, then taught them simple meditative methods. After eight weeks of meditating 12 minutes a day, an evaluation showed considerable improvement in memory scores and a measurable decrease in anxiety and anger.
Atheists can feel free to jump right in here as Newburg's research indicates that faith in a divine being isn't required to benefit from meditation. But pessimists may be out of luck -- faith in a positive outcome is necessary for the best results.
Full interview at:
http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/artic...elig042709.DTL&hw=prayer+brain&sn=001&sc=1000