What religion are you and why? [I Love Researching Religions]

Thats a very good question. To say what led me away from my Christian faith is too complex to describe here. It was multifaceted, and took years of inner torment as my faith began to crumble. I never wanted to lose my faith, and I cried and prayed for years that I wouldn’t lose it, but one morning, I woke up, and knew my faith was gone. So even though it was a process that took years, and caused me great angst, it also happened over night. Before I lost my faith, I was a devout Christian.
As for Buddhism, I became a Buddhist a few years later. The thing about religions (although Buddhism is not a religion), many share the same values. I found these values in both, and also in the Vedas of Hinduism. I have an internal moral compass, which seems to run mostly parallel with these teachings, and I took Buddha at his word, and became my own moral authority.

I’ve heard Christians say that those who do not believe should believe anyway because what if you are wrong, and you end up in hell. That is deceptive in my book...because you are only pretending to believe in something you do not, and if God is real, he knows your heart, and knows you are pretending, for the sake of keeping Christians who want you to believe, happy. That’s not very Christian like, and I’d rather live in truth than deception. If there is a God, then he knows my heart. @astrosandorbits

@Carissimi excellent response! Thanks for giving insight into it. And yes Buddhism is a philosophy and not a religion.
You bring up such a good point as it is one that I struggled with for a long time when I was a Christian. People would draw out the probability table of being wrong or right and what would happen to you. In the end, you're absolutely right! That is deceptive and completely wrong to try to believe in something you don't.
If it's one thing I try to tell people, it's what you just said. God knows your heart! Only He knows what you truly feel.

I think you are the first person I’ve spoken with that lost their Christian faith too. Most Christians don’t understand what’s its like to lose your faith because they can’t. When you have faith, you see your version of the world. Without faith, dare I say, to use a biblical verse, it’s like the scales dropped from your eyes. You see the world differently. In fact, with less arrogance. @astrosandorbits

@summersong so you don't believe something much more grand than nature created nature and the universe?

@astrosandorbits nope

@summersong okay great. Can you explain your reasoning on why you believe this?

@kodiac I'm sorry to discover that. Many terrible things have been done in the name of religion and it is a disgrace.

@astrosandorbits Agreed

That’s why I didn’t tell anyone I didn’t believe in god. But I really didn’t need to talk about it. I was and okay with it. I just think ot thought other people might not be. I didn’t think my husband would be bothered by it since he never talks about it and doesn’t go to church and is my husband after all. It’s almost since he got upset about my not believing 4 years ago he thinks believe it is enough. Well if you believe don’t you think you should read the Bible? 🤔 @princessyaya

@Snowvixen so if I may ask, what about almost dying 3 time led you to Christianity specifically rather than any other religion? :)

@astrosandorbits I had a rocky relationship before the 1st time that I almost died, during the moments where I thought it was going to happen I turned everything over to God. I was brought up Lutheran but that never stuck with me, and as a teen I was rebellious against religion as a whole.

@SW-User What can you say has given you conviction that God exists?

I don’t know , I’m open to most things so I just don’t dismiss them @astrosandorbits

@peskyone can you identify the main differences between catholicism and Episcopalian?

@astrosandorbits

There are many but the important issues, for me, are:

Women can become priests in the Episcopal Church.
Gay marriages are allowed in the Episcopal Church.
The Episcopal Church is accepting to everyone - if you walk into any church you are allowed to receive communion (not so in the Catholic Church)

I would have to say the sexual abuse cover up, in the Catholic Church, REALLY cemented my distrust in the institution.

@bijouxbroussard would you say the things you were taught in church that led you away were teachings of the Bible and its morals? Or was it false teachings the were outside the realm of Christianity?

@astrosandorbits Everything they taught could be justified by Biblical scripture.

@Pretzel Youre the first to mention this and im not too informed on this religion. What is drawing you towards it and why? What would you say are the most important teachings and values of pastafarian?

@Pretzel [quote] am leaning toward pastafarian
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r'Amen, brother, r'Amen.

@riseofthemachine it is interesting how when we are vulnerable (i.e. you mentioned pain) we often seek something supernatural to cling to. I think it is good to be open to other practices. We can learn a lot about the world this way and it broadens our horizons.

@astrosandorbits that's very true . Once your willing to openness

@NickiHijab assalamu 3laykum sister I am muslim too :)

@astrosandorbits Walaikum asalaam😌

@astrosandorbits hallucination but also not reliable as it's not verifiable

@Jackaloftheazuresand you're correct in that there is no way to verify them. I've always had a hard time believing those claims because it seems fishy when a book is written and mass produced with this as the main topic.

@astrosandorbits [quote]stories of people dying and allegedly going to heaven and/or meeting God[/quote]
Just as other "meet" the deity they've been brought up to be believe in. The important thing to remember is, they're not really dead, there is still some brain activity.

@FreestyleArt Okay so I want to have some friendly dialogue. You said that there is no need for laws to have a relationship with God. I see where you're coming from. Jesus in the new testament claimed he came to fulfill the old law revealed to Moses. He also taught to keep the commandments. What do you think about this and how important is it in your relationship with God? :)

@astrosandorbits Is to love one another even your enemies is what keeps the commandments. whenever Commandments you break means you broke all the commandments. Jesus made it easier for us to know what God wants for us.

We are all sinners which is why Jesus is the final sacrifice for our sins and there's no need to sacrifice animals to God anymore from the old testament. Not only Jesus fulfill what Moses did but the rest of the books of Prophets as well from the old testament. even the Genesis .

@astrosandorbits Yeah, I was raised with no religion, but a decent amount of exposure. Tbh I didn't even know my parents actual religious leanings until I was almost an adult - but I've been in more churches than most.

The super contrived cosmology and creation myths, and all the supernatural shit is what never made sense to me. The morals and teachings are usually fine, if often primitive - the sort of stuff any society codifies one way or another to keep itself going. People do good and bad things in the name of pretty much anything, that doesn't bother me either.

But between "all this goofy magical shit is totes real bro" and "people made this shit up because folks need answers", option B just always made way more sense.

@QuixoticSoul Pretty much. Back then in the ancient world, a world without scientific thought or even a basic understanding of biological facts. Religion makes sense in the context of a cruel, mysterious, ancient world. But as civilization advanced, the physical facts we learned left religion in the dust. It’s outdated.

@QueenOfZaun The physical facts certainly make certain sorts of religious nonsense obsolete, but they don't really help people grapple with the human condition. There is definitely plenty of room left for spirituality in various forms.

But if you're going to make "two thousand years ago, these three dudes [i]totally [/i]saw this other dude walk on water" part of it, I will roll my eyes.

@Spoiledbrat what gives you conviction that a God doesn't exist?

Because I do not believe in ghosts or supernatural beings. @astrosandorbits

@Spoiledbrat fair enough! It is hard to believe in the Unseen when it can not be proved using the scientific method.

@saragoodtimes 🤣🤣 that's hilarious.

@DarlingSelah when you say outside of your awareness, what do you mean in particular? Do you choose to not pay any attention to other religions and their teachings?

@FreeSpirit1 thanks for the response. So what led you away from catholicism?

@astrosandorbits It made no sense to me, I had questions for years and no satisfactory answers, which I interpreted as there being no answers. Having faith wasnt enough.

@Nimbus culture club nimbus that song goes back a year or too maybe eighty three

@smiler2012 Karma, Smiler, Karma ;)

@Nimbus cameleon 😄

@astrosandorbits im so happy to meet another islam

@ahiyaa may Allah bless you brother. Perhaps I can message you and we can talk more if you'd like.

@astrosandorbits i’m glad you recognize me as a brother.

maybe but i no sex chat

@LadyJ what led you to Christianity?

@astrosandorbits my childhood my family..my early school days..and its something i believe today as an adult

@JaggedLittlePill you know something? I can really touch base with this response of yours. When I was younger and went to church, a specific guy who went to Bible College was a huge example and inspiration to me. He ended up leaving the faith and eventually that sparked my down-spiral of faith in Christianity and eventually I left it. It takes a lot of maturity to come to terms with your true reason for going to church (whatever it may be). This is not a topic discussed enough by individuals. Im sure it left you feeling a certain way you hadn't been familiar with at that point of your life.

@astrosandorbits You were Christian and now you are Muslim? May I ask what the appeal was? 🙂

@peskyone of course! Are you familiar with the Quran or have you read any of it?
There is a surah (chapter) in it called Ashams. This basically translates from arabic to English as "The Sun". In this surah Allah (God) speaks about the way he fashioned the sun and the moon. It is then paralleled with the way Allah fashioned our souls. I had been reading through the quran for roughly 4 years and didn't think much of it. One day while reading this surah, I found that perhaps I should seek God through the simple things (before this i had been agnostic for about 11 years). I had a huge desire to go to the mosque in my city. When I went, I watched them pray the evening prayer, and then the imam (prayer leader) asked me what my reason was for coming. I told him about how this surah about the sun and the moon gave me a different perspective on God and how maybe I shouldn't look so far and wide for a complicated matter to prove God's existence. Now I know the sun and moon are very complex in their makeup, but in the surah God makes it simple for us to understand his creation. It says in this surah that we succeed when we purify our souls in which Allah fashioned for us; and we fail when we corrupt it. I always felt we have as humans an innate sense of what is right and wrong.
That night when I walked outside of the mosque, the wind was blowing g very very hard. I called my brother who is a Christian, and told him about the wind. He told me the Father is who gives us signs through weather.
Long story short, I began chasing and chasing after God and found Him through islam.
Now, what led me away from Christianity other than what I told Jaggedlittlepill was that I never believed Jesus himself was God. Nor did I believe God is triune. I believed Jesus was a prophet of God and taught to others the same exact message all other prophets taught.
Anyway I know this is super long and I can explain way more about what led me to Islam. But these are some of the basics :)

@SirenCalledLuce what has convinced you of this? That there is no connection between God and what is mentioned in the abrahamic faiths.

@Sharon my question to you then is this: do you think something can come from nothing?

@astrosandorbits [quote]do you think something can come from nothing?
[/quote]

No, and simply saying "goddidit" isn't an answer as it just raises the question "where did this god thing come from?" Any answer to that can be applied to the universe instead, thus rendering this god thing redundant.

@DDonde before you became unaffiliated with any religion, what was the religion you followed? And at what age did you leave it?

@astrosandorbits Roman Catholic Christianity. I don't remember if there was an exact age, but about 21 or 22

@SW-User when you tried something such as, say, Judaism, what led you away from it?

@Darksideinthenight2 what led you to have animosity towards a religion such as, say, Buddhism?

@Darksideinthenight2 fair enough. With that being said, do you believe in objective morality or subjective morality? Why so?