Religion

[heezay]

I'm an atheist, which means I do not believe in a supernatural God. I've been an atheist, or inclined to it ever since I was young, since I've been raised as an atheist, but go to a catholic school. I was born an atheist, just as everyone of you, but haven't "felt" that connection with something superior.

The thing is that I do consider myself quite ignorant about religion and I would like to know about other people's religions and views about it. Excuse me if any of my responses sound disrespectful (e.i: internal disputes shouldn't be part of a religion as all followers go by the same book, yet they exist.), but it's out of ignorance or curiosity. I have no interest in turning believers into atheist and, may I rest you assure, I'm not going to believe in God by what someone tells me. I think of it more as: if it's going to happen, let it be by introspection.

I have most experience with Catholics, but I'd be glad to listen something else there is to be added.

Thank you

[Xx{Midday}xX]

I am indifferent on this matter. I believe I am an atheist, but it is hard to tell.

I think of God as the representation of human weakness. Religion gives humans the right to blame God for every event that occurs in our environment and to ourselves. Hence, I despise the thought of God, or the idea that a supernatural existence causes the revolution of time.

It would be easy for me to say something like, "God has brought upon us a disaster. I can't do anything about it, because it is fated that way," but I would rather adhere to the idea that humans have the power themselves to move with a will. That may sound arrogant as the human race, but I think it is the only method of efficient progress as an evolving life form.

Note: I have no experience with what God is according to the various religious entities that exist today. This is my perception of God's existence, and how God came to be in this world.

[heezay]

I've had those thoughts but it's saying that their life, not their way of life, as religion should be their life, is quite harsh. I won't treat them as inferior by having that "weakness". Maybe it's something that I just don't have, like the ability to touch my nose with my tongue. Maybe it's good that they have the ability to blame atrocities on a supernatural God. Makes it easy for them.

[Xx{Midday}xX]

My arguement is that people become indolent when they have the ability to make it easy for themselves. Such indolence will only impede the progress that the human race has achieved. Making it easy for humans to accept various truths doesn't necessarily result in a justifiable conclusion. Blaming God, and not blaming oneself for a certain loss caused by that person, is the most common use of God that I see today.

Also internal conflict between the various religious entities has been a part, if not the whole reason, that caused many of the wars that history has experienced up to today.

[heezay]

So, have you always been an atheist? I remember I used to go to church at school when I was around 11 and always confessed my lack of belief as if it were a bad thing. Kind of funny.

[Xx{Midday}xX]

I asked my parents, and I seem to be buddhist in family orientation. However, (maybe because we moved to Japan, i'm not sure.) we have a very loose connection with religion. I developed my idea about religion mainly from history, anime, and science. The most influential factor was probably science. The laws of physics, as well as the given and accepted theories of our modern mechanism have brought me to various conclusions about the existence of God, in very twisted and incomprehensible manners (even to myself). Most of the time, I find myself wondering how this conclusion came to be inside my mind. Religion and the existence of God is a very interesting topic.

[EAGAMES]

I'm a Jehovah's Witness and we believe in only one god and abide by what the bible says.

Pretty much.

[Grandiagod]

I'm wondering what the point of this thread is about.

To find out info about religion you can just go to wiki.

To convert people to atheism find another venue, this forum isn't for preaching.

Debating religion never works here and always becomes a circular argument.

[heezay]

Originally Posted by Grandiagod

I'm wondering what the point of this thread is about.

To find out info about religion you can just go to wiki.

To convert people to atheism find another venue, this forum isn't for preaching.

Debating religion never works here and always becomes a circular argument.

I have no intention in converting people into atheists, it's my "belief".
I rather hear about more personal views about religion. I consider this a very extensive topic and I'd gladly learn from it. Wikipedia is too objective about a completely subjective topic like religion.

Originally Posted by EAGAMES

I'm a Jehova's Witness and we believe in only one god and abide by what the bible says.

Pretty much.

Does your bible have more than one version? Transcriptions and such.
And what is that 144,000 people that have a spot into "heaven"?
I've vaguely heard about your religion since my school isn't really open to teach stuff from other religions.

[Izzy]

Why do people follow their religion in the first place. When did they start following it? It really confuses me.

[Xx{Midday}xX]

Originally Posted by Izzy

Why do people follow their religion in the first place. When did they start following it? It really confuses me.

I have the notion that it is mostly enforced by the parent, and is not by the will of the child. I'm a kid. I don't know what parents have to say about this.

[chunky_cheese]

Originally Posted by Grandiagod

I'm wondering what the point of this thread is about.

To find out info about religion you can just go to wiki.

To convert people to atheism find another venue, this forum isn't for preaching.

Debating religion never works here and always becomes a circular argument.

The OP wants to know more about different religions from a follower's perspective, as opposed to factual information. But yeah, as Grandia pointed out, this isn't exactly a very good place for religious discussion when things go crazy.

Here are a few places you can try to hear views from real people:

Christianity Christianity Wiki
Islam Islam Wiki
Atheism Atheism Wiki
Hinduism Hinduism Wiki
Buhhdism Buhhdism Wiki

Above I've listed links for english discussion boards for the world's 5 most majorly religions along with their corresponding wikipedia pages.

This aswell Glossary of Religious Terms
Hope it helps.

[EAGAMES]

Originally Posted by heezay

Does your bible have more than one version? Transcriptions and such.
And what is that 144,000 people that have a spot into "heaven"?
I've vaguely heard about your religion since my school isn't really open to teach stuff from other religions.

Ok, before I go around explaining, let me just say that I preach in Spanish so it's kind of hard for me to translate it since I never do. xD

I don't really understand your first questions but our bible is exactly the same as everyone's in the sense that it has the Hewbrew and Greek scriptures, etc.. except that we have translated it so it's easier to understand. You don't find words like "thou or thee" (sp?) but it contains the same information and has the same meaning.

You're correct that the 144,000 do have a spot in the heavens. Until all 144,000 have been "sealed" (Revelations 7:4-8), or until they're all up in heaven, armagedon won't come (Revelations 7:2, 3).

Now, though the part about the 144,000 is simple but there's a lot of information involved to understand it clearly. Going into the book of Revelations (Apocalypse) is a little complicated but not mysterious.

Hope you kind of understood what I meant. My Spanish > English isn't so great.

[heezay]

Originally Posted by Izzy

Why do people follow their religion in the first place. When did they start following it? It really confuses me.

Everyone is born an atheist. Maybe they teach their young to save them from eternal damnation, where I wouldn't like my sons or anyone to go, if I truly believed in it.

Thanks for the links Chunky, I'll be sure to check them later. Its quite late.

[EAGAMES]

Originally Posted by Izzy

Why do people follow their religion in the first place. When did they start following it? It really confuses me.

Pretty self - explanatory:
http://wiki.answers.com/Q/When_did_religion_start

[[TeRa]]

As an atheist also, I kind of believe in a god, if that's really what to call it. I don't believe that god is that person that helps everyone out, and that we pray to, in fact, I think praying is the most stupid thing about religion almost. The universe had to have started at a certain point in time, and I'm nearly positive science has proven this. Therefore something had to have started it all, and whatever that thing was, I refer to as god. So as I see it, god is dead, if it was ever even a living being, and praying to this god is pretty stupid of people.

Now I tolerate everyones religion, as this I live in America, and that was one of the reasons of this country, but I don't understand how so many people can believe in so much BS and live their life by it.

About praying, I watched a video on youtube a while ago called something like "The Greatest Optical Illusion", in the video it was pretty much mainly commentary saying that praying to god has the same value as praying to a milk bottle. The video pretty much says god is fake, and praying has no meaning at all. I agree that praying to god is pointless, you will not benefit anything from that at all, you will just waste some time. However, I don't exactly understand how religion is still so big, and how so many people still believe in whatever they believe in. Why do so many people go to church or temples or various other things I don't know the name of. I see religion sort of as an addiction.

[Izzy]

Originally Posted by EAGAMES

Pretty self - explanatory:
http://wiki.answers.com/Q/When_did_religion_start

Not what i meant but ok.

[windsurfer-sp]

For God so loved the world that he gave his only son so that anyone who believes in him will not perish but have eternal life.

So please ignore Jehovah witnesses if you believe this basic biblical principle.

[Izzy]

Originally Posted by windsurfer-sp

if you believe this basic biblical principle.

Well i guess that about narrows it down to exactly the same thing anyways.

[EAGAMES]

Originally Posted by windsurfer-sp

For God so loved the world that he gave his only son so that anyone who believes in him will not perish but have eternal life.

So please ignore Jehovah witnesses if you believe this basic biblical principle.

Why would John 3:16 make you say to ignore J.W. if you believe in that basic principle?