Do you believe?

[Tyari]

Hi dolls! I just wanted to start a current, friendly, non-confrontational discussion about religion. I was raised christian my whole life. I was brought up in the church of christ, which strictly believes there's only one way to heaven, one God, one faith, etc... However, in recent years I've found myself questioning my beliefs and faith. I've gotten to the point where I don't believe in organized religion. I believe the bible is man's invention and created to control the masses. It's kinda of weird because I feel like I want to believe in the bible and church but I just don't. It's like my beliefs were washed away by something. However I'm still curious to know what everyone's religious beliefs are.

 

[Dragonfly]

I can tell you that I'm Pagan and my beliefs follow the old Irish ways.

For specifics I won't engage as I'm sure that others will only want to criticize or start an argument.

 

[ladygrey]

Like you, I was raised Christian my whole life. Even at a young age, I had so many unanswered questions about what I was taught and I never really truly believed it, I guess. I always tried to make myself believe, because I felt like something was wrong with me for "not getting it". Another huge part of it was where I was raised; if you aren't a Christian in my small Texas hometown, well...people won't always be super accepting of you.

Any way, it was during college that I embraced myself as a non-believer. My husband and a few agnostic, atheist and tolerant religious friends know, but I've chosen not to tell my family since I know it would just cause issues. 

 

[Souly]

Most of my friends are pagan though I don't consider myself one. I seriously cringe at the label "new age" but if others were to label me, I would be a new age/buddhist/pagan. I was not raised around religion at all. My grandma is a palm reader, my mom has telekinetic abilities & I grew up thinking that seeing & talking to ghosts was normal. So, I have a very open minded yet slighty wacky family /emoticons/[email protected] 2x" width="20" height="20" />

So, in other words, I am a believer - just not in the traditional sense.

 

[BombDiggity]

I am Roman Catholic. I went to Catholic school from Kindergarten all the way through High School. I went through all the traditional steps of being Catholic: Baptism, communion and etc. Religion has never been a huge part of my life. I never attended church, unless I went because of school.

I believe in and have a relationship with God. I pray, not every night, but I still do it. I ask for guidance from time to time. I'm thankful for what and who I have in my life. That's what my Religion is to me. I feel that organized religion is far too judgmental. Plus it seems severely contradictory. I don't recall Jesus judging his peers, so what gives us the right?

I'm not into judging people based on decisions they make that only affect them. If someone is gay/lesbian or whatever more power to them. If someone wants to have a child out of wed-lock, cool. If people choose to have sex before marriage, that's great for them.

I think people need to care less about others lifestyles and religions and focus on loving themselves and making themselves better people.

 

[Bflopolska]

Originally Posted by Beautiijunkii /img/forum/go_quote.gif

Hi dolls! I just wanted to start a current, friendly, non-confrontational discussion about religion. I was raised christian my whole, I was brought up in the church of christ, which strictly believes there's only one way to heaven, one God, one faith, etc... However, in recent years I've found myself questioning my beliefs and faith. I've gotten to the point where I don't believe in organized religion. I believe the bible is man's invention and created to control the masses. However I'm still curious to know what everyone's religious beliefs are.

I am a Pagan. Specifically, a Druidess. I was raised in the Christian tradition (Catholic/LDS) and spent some time actively practicing Sikhism, my husband's faith. But ultimately I find more divinity in nature, even a city park, and in the sound of rain and thunder and the roar of a Buffalo blizzard, than I have ever found in the mainstream churches.  

I am basically Unitarian in my outlook. Druidry, Christianity, Sikhism, Buddhism, all the beautiful and diverse faiths are individual ways to attain the ultimate reality. I don't believe in one way. Faith is a tool to help one make sense of the universe, and I believe that all which honor life and strive to do as little harm as possible are true.

 

[Johnnie]

I am agnostic. 

 

[Staceypigeons]

I'm atheist. 

 

[Dalylah]

I grew up Christian, my dad is a pastor, etc. As for my adult life, I do believe in a higher source but I am still exploring what that is. I don't have a problem with other people's religions or lack thereof as long as it is not crammed down my throat. I am a live and let live kinda gal.

 

[StellaSunshine]

Growing up my family rarely went to church and seldom discussed God or religion.  Although I still don't attend church, I have had several personal experiences that make me believe 100% there is a God.   Let me share one story with you. 

Several years ago my mother became ill with cancer and deteriorated rapidly over a period of a few months.  During the last 3 weeks of her life, she was confined to a hospice bed and was unable to walk, move, open her eyes or speak. She had Parkinson's disease as well and was very stiff and her jaw was clenched tight.  No communication, grunts, eye blinking, nothing in nearly a month.   During these last three weeks she never showed any sign of knowing we were at her bedside.  She was very jaundiced (bright yellow-orange skin and eyes due to liver failure).  My three siblings and I were all at her bedside telling her she didn't need to hang on for us and that it was ok for her to go.  Suddenly, my mother sat upright and opened her eyes which were now a bright sparkling blue and looking young and childlike she said "yes!" and thrust her arms up as a child would to be held.  She was looking past all of us at the bedside and her eyes moved along as if following someones movement walking to her bedside all the while looking bright and youthful.  Then she took one large breath and exhaled and she was gone.  One breath!  My siblings and I were all astonished and were left with an instant peaceful feeling.  I feel blessed to have witnessed this and to have been given the peace I felt when my mom left.  I can only tell you that it was a miracle what I saw that night.  I witnessed a very sick unmoving, non-communicating person transform into a child before my eyes.  Someone came to rescue her from her dying body and provided me with what I can only describe as peace and love and safety.  I am no longer afraid to die.

 

[BrittneyMarie]

I don't believe in the traditional "God", but am open to the possibility of some sort of higher power. I don't believe in religion.

 

[Tyari]

Wow!!! What a story!!! Something very similar happened to me when my grandmother passed away in Dec 2010. She was already a paraplegic due to a stroke she'd suffered 19 years prior and for the past 15 years or so, she'd been suffering from progressive dementia. Well about a week before her death, she'd had another massive stroke which rendered her speachless and unable to move. Her eyes were glazed over, she was clearly between here and the hereafter. The only thing she could do was blink and swallow and after a couple days, she couldn't even do that. Her eyes became half closed, and it was very clear that she wasn't there anymore. Well at about 9:12pm on December 27, suddenly she began to take really deep breaths and then her head turned all the way to the side. Mind you, she could not move her head or anything else on her body. So her head moved from left all the way to the right while she was taking these deep breaths and her eyes got really REALLY big so I know she could see something that definitely was not in the room with us. She was looking past my mom, brother and I. After about 3 minutes of this, she took one last, deep breath and closed her eyes really tight, as if she were preparing for take off, and then she was gone.

Originally Posted by StellaSunshine /img/forum/go_quote.gif

Growing up my family rarely went to church and seldom discussed God or religion.  Although I still don't attend church, I have had several personal experiences that make me believe 100% there is a God.   Let me share one story with you. 

Several years ago my mother became ill with cancer and deteriorated rapidly over a period of a few months.  During the last 3 weeks of her life, she was confined to a hospice bed and was unable to walk, move, open her eyes or speak. She had Parkinson's disease as well and was very stiff and her jaw was clenched tight.  No communication, grunts, eye blinking, nothing in nearly a month.   During these last three weeks she never showed any sign of knowing we were at her bedside.  She was very jaundiced (bright yellow-orange skin and eyes due to liver failure).  My three siblings and I were all at her bedside telling her she didn't need to hang on for us and that it was ok for her to go.  Suddenly, my mother sat upright and opened her eyes which were now a bright sparkling blue and looking young and childlike she said "yes!" and thrust her arms up as a child would to be held.  She was looking past all of us at the bedside and her eyes moved along as if following someones movement walking to her bedside all the while looking bright and youthful.  Then she took one large breath and exhaled and she was gone.  One breath!  My siblings and I were all astonished and were left with an instant peaceful feeling.  I feel blessed to have witnessed this and to have been given the peace I felt when my mom left.  I can only tell you that it was a miracle what I saw that night.  I witnessed a very sick unmoving, non-communicating person transform into a child before my eyes.  Someone came to rescue her from her dying body and provided me with what I can only describe as peace and love and safety.  I am no longer afraid to die.

 

[Totem]

My grandmother visited me two weeks after her funeral so I always believed there was life after death. She woke me up by tapping on my window. It was a second story window and there were no trees around. I told my parents about it the next morning and they looked pale like they had seen a ghost because she did the same thing to them above each one of their heads. My mom was really freaked and never wants to talk about it but my dad and I still always do after all these years. I guess my grandma was also turning the lights on and off in the house and freaking out my mom so my aunt came over to burn sage all over the house to make her go away and I was so mad. I was 10 and thought it was rude. She still gives me signs. The most recent was around Thanksgiving. It was after 1am and i had forgotten to turn off some boiling water I had made for tea. I got three knocks right above my head on the wall. I immediately jumped up and ran in the kitchen, and came back with my tea laughing. Clear as day-three knocks.

I get a lot of signs from my grandfather too. Whenever I go to Disneyland I always ask my grandfather for a sign. He worked for Disney years ago before he was murdered. I never met him. When I was at the Cars Land premiere last month at CA Adventure I was hanging out in the Sky Lounge right before I left and a mentally ill boy, teen just randomly came up to me and told me, "The father's gone, but he's still around!"

That's all he said.

I'm beginning to believe that we were never really born. I think all babies come from heaven and don't believe in the devil.

 

[MarbleSky]

I was raised in small Texas towns like another person said. I'm agnostic, but I don't let it be known because it isn't easy to fit in around here if you are not Christian. I respect everyone's beliefs though, and think it's great to have something that you believe so strongly in. It's just not for me /emoticons/[email protected] 2x" width="20" height="20" />

 

[alphaloria]

I was raised Catholic, and when I was 15 I veered off on my own path. Now I would identify as Pantheist. I have no religious practice and believe that spiritual experience happens every day in the way we connect with one another, with nature, and with ourselves. If I ever decided I needed a religious home/community, I would probably turn to a Unitarian church.

I enjoy sharing ideas on religion and spirituality and hearing about others' experiences and will pick the brain of anyone willing to have their brain picked. It's a shame that so often so many are defensive about their beliefs rather than willing to find commonality or at least willing to say, "I'd rather talk about makeup" and "That's ok."

 

[MissLindaJean]

Originally Posted by StellaSunshine /img/forum/go_quote.gif

Growing up my family rarely went to church and seldom discussed God or religion.  Although I still don't attend church, I have had several personal experiences that make me believe 100% there is a God.   Let me share one story with you. 

Several years ago my mother became ill with cancer and deteriorated rapidly over a period of a few months.  During the last 3 weeks of her life, she was confined to a hospice bed and was unable to walk, move, open her eyes or speak. She had Parkinson's disease as well and was very stiff and her jaw was clenched tight.  No communication, grunts, eye blinking, nothing in nearly a month.   During these last three weeks she never showed any sign of knowing we were at her bedside.  She was very jaundiced (bright yellow-orange skin and eyes due to liver failure).  My three siblings and I were all at her bedside telling her she didn't need to hang on for us and that it was ok for her to go.  Suddenly, my mother sat upright and opened her eyes which were now a bright sparkling blue and looking young and childlike she said "yes!" and thrust her arms up as a child would to be held.  She was looking past all of us at the bedside and her eyes moved along as if following someones movement walking to her bedside all the while looking bright and youthful.  Then she took one large breath and exhaled and she was gone.  One breath!  My siblings and I were all astonished and were left with an instant peaceful feeling.  I feel blessed to have witnessed this and to have been given the peace I felt when my mom left.  I can only tell you that it was a miracle what I saw that night.  I witnessed a very sick unmoving, non-communicating person transform into a child before my eyes.  Someone came to rescue her from her dying body and provided me with what I can only describe as peace and love and safety.  I am no longer afraid to die.

I worked in hospice care for four years and the many experiences absolutely sealed the deal that there is a God. I guess if I had to stick a label on myself I'd say I'm a spiritual Christian?? I do attend a church, which I never did as a child. I was raised in a home with a belief in God, but it was never pushed on us as children; I was only ever told that it was no one else's business and wasn't for a public display, but a private relationship between myself and God. I think my multi-cultural background has helped me to be more open to other religions/world views and a personal curiosity to be more self-educated..people would be surprised at the common factors a lot of tenets of faith share.

I only wish that people were more open to religion/non religion. So many people become defensive. I think that organized religion can be a gift towards a person who feels drowning and needs support, but it can also be used as a crutch/scapegoat for someone who's bigoted and whatnot. Certain thoughts and feelings already exist in people, we tend to forget they may abuse their religion/faith/lack of and it becomes the focus, not the person.

 

[Totem]

This book just came out if anyone's interested. It's about a FBI agent's experience on 911 where she claims she saw angels at the Flight 93 crash. I added it to my Amazon wishlist.  It's called, "In the Shadow of a Badge" by Lillie Leonardi
 

"An outstanding and inspirational story that will provide its' readers with hope, and renew their faith in God and mankind. Lillie's story will bring tears to your eyes and warm your heart with her kind and caring personal story of her career and her experiences during the 9/11 attack on America. Lillie had a tremendous positive impact on her local community while employed by the FBI, and through this book the WORLD will benefit from her caring, loving personality. I personally encourage all who believe, and even those that have their doubts, to read Lillie's story. I could not put the book down until I had read it in its entirety." - Kenneth T. McCabe Special Agent in Charge - Federal Bureau of Investigation (Retired) Commissioner - Pennsylvania Gaming Commission Board (Retired) In The Shadow Of A Badge: A Spiritual Memoir, is the first of a trilogy of books written by Lillie Leonardi. It is a first-hand account of the spiritual experience Lillie encountered while serving in her professional capacity as the Community Outreach Specialist with the Federal Bureau of Investigation, Pittsburgh Division. Her story reflects of the visitation of Angels at the Flight 93 crash site in Shanksville, Pennsylvania. This is her personal interpretation of the historic facts leading up to and following the events of September 11, 2001. Lillie Leonardi s memoir also details her diagnosis of Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) and her on-going journey to heal and recover from its effects."

 

[imonabhaute]

I was raised Roman Catholic but 1/2 my dad's family is Jewish and the other half just not religious(not sure if atheist, agnostic, spiritual, etc).  I never really believed, and would classify as atheist.  The only thing I do is follow the golden rule, not due to belief in karma, but because I think that if everybody followed it we'd all be set (I'm just doing my part).

What I do know is that religion of any kind can be a powerful force in someone's life.  I know people who use religion to judge people and be an as*****.  I know people who believe in their religion and better themselves and work to help improve the lives of others (not necessarily further their religion but do stuff like build houses, shelters, food pantries, etc).  

I believe that if religion makes you want to be a better person and/or help others, go nuts, I'm glad people want to do good regardless of the reason.  I also believe that people using religion to be an as***** doesn't invalidate religion as that person would still be an as***** if they didn't have religion.

 

[MissLindaJean]

Originally Posted by imonabhaute /img/forum/go_quote.gif

I was raised Roman Catholic but 1/2 my dad's family is Jewish and the other half just not religious(not sure if atheist, agnostic, spiritual, etc).  I never really believed, and would classify as atheist.  The only thing I do is follow the golden rule, not due to belief in karma, but because I think that if everybody followed it we'd all be set (I'm just doing my part).

What I do know is that religion of any kind can be a powerful force in someone's life.  I know people who use religion to judge people and be an as*****.  I know people who believe in their religion and better themselves and work to help improve the lives of others (not necessarily further their religion but do stuff like build houses, shelters, food pantries, etc).  

I believe that if religion makes you want to be a better person and/or help others, go nuts, I'm glad people want to do good regardless of the reason.  I also believe that people using religion to be an as***** doesn't invalidate religion as that person would still be an as***** if they didn't have religion.

Ditto!! Right on the money...regardless of some people's religion or absence of, if they are a nasty and rude person, they're going to continue to be so. They need a character overhaul and some education.

 

[Tyari]

Weirdest thing but since posting this thread, I want to go to church!