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re: Do you ever question religion?
Posted on 10/23/15 at 8:04 am to Roger Klarvin
Posted on 10/23/15 at 8:04 am to Roger Klarvin
Maybe the hardcore preachy atheists are the ones that were converted. I would say I am more agnostic and it is probably a result of just not growing up in a religious household. I was never really forced to go to church unless it was Easter.
1
Posted on 10/23/15 at 8:06 am to Landsharks
quote:What is funny is that all of what you said about the time falls under the theory of relativity
Here is my theory about the age of the earth. When God created the heavens and the universe he spent seven days. He never specified 24 hours. He could have worked for billions of years fixing such a complex structure.... He says he is coming soon for the rapture but who knows what "soon" means. There is no night in heaven and a day time could be equivalent to 1000 years. It's all hard to grasp but it's called faith for a reason
Posted on 10/23/15 at 8:11 am to dallastiger55
Religion is man's interpretation of things, I am not religious but I am spritual. All I can say is that I don't know who or what God is, I am content to just know that He is.
Posted on 10/23/15 at 8:13 am to Eric Nies Grind Time
I think atheists who blindly reject God without good reasons are worse than knowledgable religious people.
Ignorance regarding things you claim to believe is my biggest pet peeve.
Ignorance regarding things you claim to believe is my biggest pet peeve.
This post was edited on 10/23/15 at 8:14 am
Posted on 10/23/15 at 8:19 am to Roger Klarvin
quote:
I think atheists who blindly reject God without good reasons are worse than knowledgable religious people.
Ignorance regarding things you claim to believe is my biggest pet peeve.
I agree with this and would have to say that's a big pet peeve of mine as well.
However, Christianity is based in Faith to such an extent that for a lot of things there are just not concrete answers to, other than "faith" alone.
Posted on 10/23/15 at 8:22 am to DynastyDawg
quote:
That's simply not true.
Around 75% of atheists and agnostics in America formerly believed in God, most formerly some denomination of Christian. To be fair this does not describe the depth of belief, only that people identified as theistic/deistic or religious at one time.
Contrast that to the percentage of American Christians who were previously a member of a different or faith or formerly identified as atheist/agnostic, which is about 15%.
The overwhelming majority of religious people anywhere are the religion of their native culture and/or family and were never anything else.
This post was edited on 10/23/15 at 8:24 am
Posted on 10/23/15 at 8:28 am to Wtodd
quote:
This maybe "splitting hairs" but questioning faith IMO isn't healthy but asking questions is healthy (you may or may not have meant this).
I mean, to me those are one and the same. Asking questions IS questioning faith.
Maybe I'm misunderstanding you. If so, I apologize.
Posted on 10/23/15 at 8:33 am to DynastyDawg
quote:
Christianity is based in Faith to such an extent that for a lot of things there are just not concrete answers to, other than "faith" alone.
This is true of all religions.
My issue is not necessarily with taking things on faith, it's taking things on faith which contradict known physical realities.
For instance, Christians and Muslims believe in certain events from the Bible and Koran respectively which by all measures of science and history never happened. I can show with a reasonable degree of certainty that things like Noah's Flood never happened and the Koran's claims about Alexander the Great are just historically wrong. Once you are able to discount such things in supposed holy texts the house of cards begins to crumble.
Posted on 10/23/15 at 8:38 am to dallastiger55
quote:
Do you ever question religion?
I question people who question religion
I question religious leaders who misinterpret religion for their own means
Posted on 10/23/15 at 8:57 am to dallastiger55
Really only good can come from questioning your beliefs. Either you strengthen your faith or you unload a burden you didn't truly believe in. That's a positive either way.
Posted on 10/23/15 at 8:58 am to TbirdSpur2010
quote:
I mean, to me those are one and the same. Asking questions IS questioning faith.
Maybe I'm misunderstanding you. If so, I apologize.
Maybe I wasn't clear.....I mean it the same way as someone "asking" you questions vs. someone "questioning" you......clear?
Another shot at it.....despite any 'questions' you may have regarding your faith, your faith has remained right?
Posted on 10/23/15 at 9:05 am to Roger Klarvin
quote:
Contrast that to the percentage of American Christians who were previously a member of a different or faith or formerly identified as atheist/agnostic, which is about 15%.
If we are talking about American Christians then I would certainly agree with you. I took the original post to which I replied, to mean the whole world.
Posted on 10/23/15 at 9:06 am to Roger Klarvin
quote:
I can show with a reasonable degree of certainty that things like Noah's Flood never happened
Please do. I'm not saying this sarcastically, I would like to know.
Posted on 10/23/15 at 9:19 am to DynastyDawg
All the time.
People blindly follow the Bible, a book that has 40 authors written over a period of 1,500 years.
Couple that with all the different parts of the Bible that have been lost or conveniently taken out and you have a text that is not even close to being accurate.
I have no doubt that Jesus existed and the moral compass that he laid out is a great way for anyone to lead their lives.
However, the belief that people from other religions won't go to Heaven because they don't follow the Bible or "Christian" ways is just insane.
People blindly follow the Bible, a book that has 40 authors written over a period of 1,500 years.
Couple that with all the different parts of the Bible that have been lost or conveniently taken out and you have a text that is not even close to being accurate.
I have no doubt that Jesus existed and the moral compass that he laid out is a great way for anyone to lead their lives.
However, the belief that people from other religions won't go to Heaven because they don't follow the Bible or "Christian" ways is just insane.
This post was edited on 10/23/15 at 9:20 am
Posted on 10/23/15 at 9:24 am to DynastyDawg
quote:
American Christians then I would certainly agree with you. I took the original post to which I replied, to mean the whole world.
Across the globe we see the same thing. If you're born in Iran, the odds are overwhelming that you'll live and die a Muslim. In India, a Hindu. In Samoa, Christian. And so on.
If Christianity or any other religion clearly has more truth and power to it, along with a God or Gods who genuinely wanted his creation to know him, we would expect that religion to eventually spread ubiquitously as its superior merit became obvious. However we don't see that.
Posted on 10/23/15 at 9:29 am to dallastiger55
The biggest things I struggle with when it comes to religion:
- The pressure from individual sects that no other religion is right except their own. If you learn anything about most other religions, they share a lot of the same tenants so I have a hard time following that line of thinking.
- How tainted some modern day churches are. I've attended a couple in the area and felt like it was all about a "If I donate XX do I get to sit front and center?" mentality. When I see a church putting more money into building their 3rd campus then helping the community it services, I have an issue with that and feel like that inherently goes against the teachings of the Bible.
- The judging of parishioners when you do have questions about your Faith. That being on any kind of fence is wrong and the backlash you get from that.
- The utter hypocrisy of some who attend church regularly. I really don't want to sit and listen to you tell me how I should be a better Christian and attend church every Sunday and pay my tithe when you're fricking around on your husband/wife.
I've met some really exceptional people in my life who truly believe and practice their religion in a really righteous way. But I feel like the older I get, the fewer in number those people become. And it leaves a really bad taste in my mouth for organized religion.
FWIW, I was raised in a family that was essentially half Southern Baptist and half Roman Catholic, my parents are non-denominational Christians and did not attend church much. I would sometimes attend Baptist services with my Grandparents and Catholic Mass with my Great-Grandmother.
- The pressure from individual sects that no other religion is right except their own. If you learn anything about most other religions, they share a lot of the same tenants so I have a hard time following that line of thinking.
- How tainted some modern day churches are. I've attended a couple in the area and felt like it was all about a "If I donate XX do I get to sit front and center?" mentality. When I see a church putting more money into building their 3rd campus then helping the community it services, I have an issue with that and feel like that inherently goes against the teachings of the Bible.
- The judging of parishioners when you do have questions about your Faith. That being on any kind of fence is wrong and the backlash you get from that.
- The utter hypocrisy of some who attend church regularly. I really don't want to sit and listen to you tell me how I should be a better Christian and attend church every Sunday and pay my tithe when you're fricking around on your husband/wife.
I've met some really exceptional people in my life who truly believe and practice their religion in a really righteous way. But I feel like the older I get, the fewer in number those people become. And it leaves a really bad taste in my mouth for organized religion.
FWIW, I was raised in a family that was essentially half Southern Baptist and half Roman Catholic, my parents are non-denominational Christians and did not attend church much. I would sometimes attend Baptist services with my Grandparents and Catholic Mass with my Great-Grandmother.
This post was edited on 10/23/15 at 9:32 am
Posted on 10/23/15 at 9:42 am to DynastyDawg
quote:
Please do. I'm not saying this sarcastically, I would like to know.
The list of flaws with the story is too extensive to list them all in one post. Here's a link with a pretty extensive breakdown:
LINK
Some quick hitters:
1: The amount of water that would be required to submerge the entire planet to the extent described in Genesis does not exist.
2: There is no means by which non-flying animals could exist in places like Australia and Madagascar.
3: The genetic bottleneck we would see in all species including humans if such a drastic population reduction occurred does not exist. It is impossible for our genetic diversity to exist if such an event had happened so recently in the past.
4: Mathematically it is impossible to fit even a tenth of the land species on earth plus food, supplies, etc. for 40 days on a ship the size of the Ark. Even if you could, the ship wouldn't float.
5: There is no such evidence of the flood in rock depositions, ice cores or the fossil record. We would easily be able to identify such an event by these measures had it occurred especially in the last 10k years.
6: There are tree rings that go back farther than 10k years with no evidence of flooding.
7: The polar ice caps couldn't exist as they do today had such an event occurred.
8: Such an event would have violates many basic laws of nature.
And thousands of other problems
Basically life couldn't exist as we know it if the Noah story is true. Even if we account for everything using miracles, there are STILL gaps because it would mean God actively covered his tracks by removing ALL evidence.
Posted on 10/23/15 at 9:47 am to wmr
quote:
I've been going to church lately, but that is the feeling it always gives me. Everybody is so "light-hearted and happy" there and it makes me uncomfortable. Never baptized here, but curious about faith and realize that I believe in God....I think.
But it just strikes me as so weak...
I agree about Protestantism. Eastern Orthodox is a lot less effeminate.
Posted on 10/23/15 at 9:59 am to cokebottleag
quote:
I agree about Protestantism. Eastern Orthodox is a lot less effeminate.
I was the best man for a Greek wedding the other weekend. Iunno about less effeminate, but it was definitely longer.
Posted on 10/23/15 at 11:16 am to Roger Klarvin
I appreciate the list.
Some of the stuff sounds like it could be explained away. Others, not so much.
Idk, man. I've got enough to sort out without worrying about that kind of stuff. I deleted my earlier post because I just figured it was a little more personal than I wanted to share after it was posted, if you got to read it before I deleted it then maybe you understand.
When you grow up being taught something your whole life, what are people supposed to do when the foundations of their belief are challenged?
Some of the stuff sounds like it could be explained away. Others, not so much.
Idk, man. I've got enough to sort out without worrying about that kind of stuff. I deleted my earlier post because I just figured it was a little more personal than I wanted to share after it was posted, if you got to read it before I deleted it then maybe you understand.
When you grow up being taught something your whole life, what are people supposed to do when the foundations of their belief are challenged?
This post was edited on 10/23/15 at 11:17 am
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