What's your Opinion?

[wandering_wind]

Hey everone!

I really like hearing other people's opinions on their reilgion (even if I don't always agree with them) and I would like it if you feel like putting yours here lol.

As for me, I don't have a strong belief in anything really. I have opinions but I don't follow anything by the book. I'm still just exploring the world in a way (I'm 15 so I've got a lot to discover lol). I don't know much about a lot of religions, i mostly know christianity.

And honestly I don't really like it.

Where to begin... well, first of all I don't like how it basically says "believe in God or go to hell", lol. There are all these rules that are more like morals that someone could have, but just because you dont follow them 24/7 shouldn't mean that your gonna be punished for them. I mean everyone "sins" with little white lies and stuff like that. If I told my teacher that I left my homework at home as an excuse because I hadn't done it at all would I be punished?

Yes, it's good of it to tell people not to do bad things, but everyone knows that. When we're young, it's one of the first things our parents teach us. Story books tell us that in the end good conquers all and in the cartoon shows it's always the heroes who are victorious. Even the bad guys know that. In fact, that's why they're bad, just to get on everyone's nerves.

Besides that, what gets to me is how people say that God is good, that he can do everything and knows all. If that's true, then he knows that our world is unfair and cruel and that some people are really mistreated, homeless and have no food or water while others are like kings and queens. Why didn't he/she/it/whatever just make everything right? Why is it that we have to go down on our knees and beg for his/her/its help? Did he/she/it create this beautiful planet just to watch humans pollute and destroy it? (I probably sound mean right now but it makes me mad, sorry)

There are some other things too but I think you've had enough now lol. I'm interested in hearing what you have to say! (I can feel the arguments coming... haha)

 

[Bandit]

maybe God did it this way on purpose? for everyone to decide for themselves if they will look up & believe or keep looking down & not believe.

i dont think everyone knows & teaches not to do bad things or else we would not be in such a troubled world.

if you dont do your homework & lie about it, (which everyone has probably done) the only thing that happens is you get a bad grade.

maybe God allows all these things just to see what we are going to do with them & how we are going to treat those who are less fortunate than us?

i guess it depends on what you build your foundation on & where you rest in your hope.

 

[wandering_wind]

maybe God did it this way on purpose? for everyone to decide for themselves if they will look up & believe or keep looking down & not believe.

Did what on purpose?

maybe God allows all these things just to see what we are going to do with them & how we are going to treat those who are less fortunate than us?

But God would already know how we would deal with that, and yea there are some kind people out there who try to help and it's great but the governement and what not don't do much at all to help except when things like the tsunami happen. It's like they're used to hearing that people in Africa need more food and everything and they don't do anything about it, if they did the problem wouldn't be around anymore. What they do instead is spend millions of dollars on pointless wars when they could find a cure for cancer with all of that money. So if God were doing this basically for fun and experimentation, it's cruel, including that he/she/it supposedly has the power to change all of this.

But I liked what you had to say Bandit lol it made me think a bit

 

[Bandit]

Did what on purpose?



But God would already know how we would deal with that, and yea there are some kind people out there who try to help and it's great but the governement and what not don't do much at all to help except when things like the tsunami happen. It's like they're used to hearing that people in Africa need more food and everything and they don't do anything about it, if they did the problem wouldn't be around anymore. What they do instead is spend millions of dollars on pointless wars when they could find a cure for cancer with all of that money. So if God were doing this basically for fun and experimentation, it's cruel, including that he/she/it supposedly has the power to change all of this.

But I liked what you had to say Bandit lol it made me think a bit

made us that way on purpose to decide for ourselves what to do, what to believe & what we should say. dont you choose your own actions & words?

of course God already knows what we will do & what is going to happen- He is just waiting to see you do it. do you get that?
will you ignore, make it worse it or do something to help?
THAT is what He is wating for.

Why would God change anything? if He has a perfect plan. LOL
Dont get stuck in the middle, see it from beginning to end also.
i think you just need to find that middle point & understanding of predestination & free will & how everything is timed perfectly within the plan of God.

so you can choose...put your trust in the government & science (which makes big mistakes) or keep your trust in God. it is all up to you- & yes He already knows.
& welcome to CR Wandering Wind

 

[wandering_wind]

lol thanks!

Well hey you seem like a really nice person, I like what you have to say lol. I suppose my thing is just personal, if you read the thread "Fear of religion" you'll understand a bit more, I posted something there and it sorta explains my history lol. So yea I'm open to most things, it's just that for some unknown reason christianity just always got on my nerves...

Hmm... well I don't have anything to say lol I'm not in the mood to argue or anything cause it's gonna lead to nowhere, but I'm still interested in other people's opinions!

Oh and hey, here was something I thought of last night about fatalism (fate) and I would also like to know what you all have to say about it.

This came to me in a kind of flash, I dunno if you know what I mean lol. So say fatalism had to be depicted, this is sorta what I think.

Imagine you're lost in the woods and you have absolutely no idea where you are. You're walking down a path but you don't know where it leads to. After a while you reach a fork in the road. This is what represents the choices we make each day, when we have to decide what to do... and then when u randomly/strategecally pick you sealed ur fate sorta... like now whatever happens to you in the next moments to come (or in this case, wherever u end up at) is determined for you.

So, what do you think?

 

[Bandit]

lol thanks!

Well hey you seem like a really nice person, I like what you have to say lol. I suppose my thing is just personal, if you read the thread "Fear of religion" you'll understand a bit more, I posted something there and it sorta explains my history lol. So yea I'm open to most things, it's just that for some unknown reason christianity just always got on my nerves...


Imagine you're lost in the woods and you have absolutely no idea where you are. You're walking down a path but you don't know where it leads to. After a while you reach a fork in the road. This is what represents the choices we make each day, when we have to decide what to do... and then when u randomly/strategecally pick you sealed ur fate sorta... like now whatever happens to you in the next moments to come (or in this case, wherever u end up at) is determined for you.

So, what do you think?

could it be, that it gets on your nerves because it requires obedience & sacrifice? any way i am not arguing either- just trying to help...but since i am not helping much, then my opinion is, you should believe whatever you want to believe.

i will leave the lost in the woods story for someone else.

 

[wandering_wind]

Ummm I dunno lol, maybe, but I wouldn't be able to pin point what gets to me really. Ever since I was young I've had religion class at school and I basically grew up with it but a couple years ago I just started really thinking on how so many things don't fit together. Maybe that's what lead to my dislike, I can't remember.

 

[bruceg]

Hi Wandering Wind - welcome to CR!

Reading your post, it sounds like your issue is not with religion in general, but a single instance - what I tend to call "hellfire & brimstone Christianity". (or Deity as the strict schoolmaster...) . That doesn't make sense to me either - but then again, that's why I no longer follow the religion I was raised in - didn't make sense, so I've wandered in search of a faith that works for me.

As you look around the site here, you'll see a lot of different stories - and folks from a lot of different religions, and there's a lot of info on many. The Christianity forum has a wide variety of people and varieties of belief - including some of the literalists & hellfire types (or in the case of Bandit, pickle jar types... )

The issues you raise about a loving god vs "believe or burn" and human suffering are the core, I think - I have a Teaching Company religion course on tape that states that the latter is the core of all religius theory - if there is deity, how can they permit suffering, and why?

Anyhow - welcome again to CR!

 

[Bandit]

Ummm I dunno lol, maybe, but I wouldn't be able to pin point what gets to me really. Ever since I was young I've had religion class at school and I basically grew up with it but a couple years ago I just started really thinking on how so many things don't fit together. Maybe that's what lead to my dislike, I can't remember.

hmmm. i think what you call the fork in the road i call the WALL. where you have to go left or right, because the wall is too big to climb over. that is one reason i dont conclude to too many claimed doctrines because eventualy they all run into the wall (more like a dead end).
i think Bruce is right on this also...because how can this be, if it is like this over here & it just does not fit with that over there. or so it does not seem to fit to us.

maybe no one has it perfectly figured out & i am content with that also.

 

[wandering_wind]

haha, maybe if there really are any gods they're all just playing a different version of the sims with us lol and they allow suffering cause sometimes they get bored.

Sorry, had to say that

The issues you raise about a loving god vs "believe or burn" and human suffering are the core, I think - I have a Teaching Company religion course on tape that states that the latter is the core of all religius theory - if there is deity, how can they permit suffering, and why?

I'm sorry I'm not exactly sure I got what you mean, but it just kind of made me think of something. Is it that religion was invented to kind of explain why some things go wrong and why some things go right? Like say there was a storm outside, people from an earlier time might've said to themselves that obviously a superior being is mad at us for something we did so we must find out what and that's basically how they came up with their rules. In the end it was just to explain what they weren't able to explain. And from there they started associating the good and bad things that happened to them with a superior bein who's either smiling or frowning on them. Does that make any sense or am I just babbling? (lemme guess, I'm just babbling lol)

Well hey thank you for posting Bruce!

And Bandit, I believe you completely lost me lol I dunno if I'm just slow today. But yea it's not really important, like I said I just got this flash of it and I had to tell someone (haha, ok maybe the entire world was a bit much but oh well lol)

But thanks for posting too!

 

[truthseeker]

I am Christian - and I don't like it much most times, either.

The basic message of Christianity is Love. The problem is the way that Christianity is used to control people. The love message allows me the space to not be so critical of myself when things go wrong and not be so judgemental of others - which gives me a sense of freedom within my understanding of myself and the world around me. But because of the Love message that frees me, I don't really appreciate the fire and brimstone message, which tends to bind me. If the message of Love gives me understanding, then I should be able to mess up and be understood. My wanderlust should not send me to an fiery, miserable, annoying eternity. But I will say that the laws that are established in Christianity are for the ultimate good.

 

[wandering_wind]

Yea truthseeker, I'm sure/I know that that religion was made for people to love one another and accept other people and all (isn't it odd that before they weren't able to accept other people of other religions?), but like you said, if we wander a bit off track they say that we'll end up somewhere rather unpleasant to put it lightly and I dunno, it's like bribing basically.

 

[truthseeker]

I suppose it does sound a bit like bribery. I was superstitious as a child - you know, "Step on a crack, break your mother's back", "7 years bad luck if you break a mirror", "Don't split the pole", "Don't sweep the broom over someone's foot".... If you're familiar with that sort of thing. Now that I am an adult, I see these superstitions as a way to keep discipline.

To a child, 'sin' can sound like an unspeakable force that binds one to eternal damnation - well, perhaps. For those who have sinned but don't live in fear of never being able to attain grace - I mean, those who are good of heart and commit no irreparable damage but have to live this life, Christianity can be a wonderful spiritual quest. To truly know right from wrong and have a personal relationship with your creator in a ritualistic manner that others can relate to you in, is a jewel.
Welcome to CR, Wandering Wind. I like your signature.

 

[iBrian]

Lack of certainty can be a very good thing to have - not rushing into wanting to be pigeon-holed - sounds fair to me.

 

[Curios Mike]

Well I believe in God, I'm also a Christian so yes I believe in Christ. I dont believe in the church or place it on a diety peddistle. I believe all who know Christ belog to his church, but I dont perscribe to buildings with stained glass and beautiful structures to be the church, but the people who genuinly know Christ!

As to your charges towards God.
1st off I agree that alot of rules and regulations are not fit. Its been tried before with Moses, but no one, or very few where able to be obedient to this. 2nd God rescued man kind through noah when the majority of man was evil! Then he sent the law through Moses to His people, but they would not listen, and now we have Christ. That if we believe in him we might be saved. God has very good plans for man kind. It is written "And I followed him, and he set me before the doors of the city. And I saw a golden gate, and two golden pillars before it, and two golden plates upon it full of inscriptions. And the angel said to me: Blessed is he who shall enter into these doors; because not every one goeth in, but only those who have single-mindedness, and guiltlessness, and a pure heart. " This (I know is not excepted in most of Christianity) is from the revalation of Pual( revelation of paul - apocrypha (New Testament) - christianity). But it kinda reminds me of what Jesus said "Matt 7:13 "Enter by the narrow gate; for wide is the gate and broad is the way that leads to destruction, and there are many who go in by it. 14 Because narrow is the gate and difficult is the way which leads to life, and there are few who find it. NKJV" Maybe this is the path you have mention earlier in this topic.

I believe that the world is bad becuase they do not listen, nor want to listen and hear. Jesus tuaght us to be humble, meek, having humility,and selflessness. Dont you think the world would have alot less wars, and more working together if they practised those. Jesus basically put the commandments into two categories when he stated "Love the Lord thy God with all your heart, soul, mind, and strength, and the 2nd namely Love your neighbor as yourself." If people loved God they would obey him, and take care of this world, If people loved their neighbor they wouldnt kill or hurt one another, or hurt the environment so that generations to come might suffer! But people do not, and some claim it with their mouth, but with their heart are as far from God even as far as the farthest skeptic. God could have wipe man kind from the face of the earth... He almost did it in noahs time, he used Noah to warn them look stop it or yah gonna get it(but of course they didnt listen), now its Jesus his son, and look we killed him. God knew this but used his son as an ultimate sacrifice for me and you, that we may be also called the sons of God. That all we have to do is believe on the name of Jesus, and turn from our ways of disobeying God and Hating our neighbors. And begin to Love God, and one another.... Not perscribe to some religion of dogmas and laws, but to love. The love of God and of people. If we do this wars would cease, are environment wouldnt be poluted, Fathers wouldnt malest their children, mothers wouldnt kill their unborn..... Whatelse should he do! Hes already sacrificed his only son. Maybe its not what you or I would do, but then again we are looking at this situation with very limited knowledge. He's already singed the adoption papers if you will. But you have to want to be adopted.

I guess I'll stop their. But basical thats what I believe into response to your question, and a breif reponse to your charges towards God.

God bless yah
Curious

 

[truthseeker]

Lack of certainty can be a very good thing to have - not rushing into wanting to be pigeon-holed - sounds fair to me.

For those who are naturally curious, you'd be lieing to yourself to submit to biased understanding. Some think that this wandering is an evil spirit. I tend to think the opposite.