Thread: Faith

Anyone with a faith/religion/life philosophy (Atheism and Agnosticism included), please explain why you follow/believe it in something around a sentence.

If someone says something, then it is considered that it is truth for them and they have thought it out.
NO BASHING. This isn't a debate, just a topic where people can post what belief they hold, and express why they have chosen to follow that.

Mine: I'm a christian because I was born into it and have seen peoples lives be transformed through it and have heard firsthand of some crazy things happening through God. I'm currently reevaluating my faith, and am trying to figure out how/IF things like astral projection and psychic abilities fit into christianity, because I have experienced them as truth for me.

giv'r

I'm an atheist because there is almost no chance that a god exists and because my former religion condoned evil ideas and presented them as morals.

Atheist. Wasn't presented any philosophy, religion, in my youth. Just values like equality, peace etc. and communism . So my view coincided with what I learned in school. Thus I couldn't be anything but an atheist.

I am an atheist because I don't believe in deities, but more importantly I am a humanist because I believe in rationality and empathy. I also believe rights come from lack of rights. As in, no one has the "right" to do harm to other people, thus we all have the "right" to be free of harm if we haven't impeded other peoples rights. I also believe that by giving people rights they don't "deserve" such as being kind to them in the face of their unkind actions, you further promote rights, thus it is more rational to be kind to unkind people when this kindness will not impede others rights. (no letting murderers run free to be kind to them hehe.)

I am an atheist because I see no evidence for a god to have designed/created/been required for this universe.

I reject all religious beliefs on the grounds that there is absolutely no evidence for them, and there are huge flaws and contradictions in the beliefs, completely inconsistent with the idea that they were created or inspired by a perfect divine being.

I object to faith as a belief system because it is irrational, encourages inaction and weakness (praying for a cure for instance, or begging for strength from someone else instead of standing up and dealing with it yourself), and ultimately allows people to perform many evil acts because it is prone to extremism. I'm not saying that people who have faith are all extremist, but when you hold sincere beliefs about how people outside your circle are bad and if you hurt them you will be rewarded, it's not hard to go downhill from there.

I object to essentially all religions (Buddhism is one I don't mind, and believing in a god isn't even a requirement!), both on the grounds of their irrational beliefs, but also because these beliefs encourage hatred, division, and conquering and can halt social and scientific progress. Without religion there would still be problems to be sure, but there would be one less barrier to peace in several parts of the world, at least.

I am an Atheist because although i was exposed to religion at school, both primary and secondary but especially secondary(11+), i felt that the God described in the Bible was simply a human creation, he has human emotion both positive and negative, seemingly human flaws with them. Then the fact i saw so many religions made me question why any had truth, they all seemed to have such different ideas and dismissed each others at the drop of a hat, there are so many religions that no longer exist, in a thousand years or so i am sure the mainstream religions now will no longer exist. Religion is a human creation to fill gaps of knowledge and to provide comfort in death.

I am atheist because it requires no faith.

COMMENCE FLAME WAR

Originally Posted by Songbird

faith/religion/life philosophy (Atheism and Agnosticism included)

Is atheism a life philosophy?

I am an atheist because I was raised to be one. My parents taught me the good word of atheism and all of its values. Every Tuesday I attended the atheist center to hear sermons about all the things god didn't say. I take god's non-existence on faith. Knowing that god isn't there brings great comfort to my life. Knowing that an eternity silent nothingness awaits me at death helps makes dying seem less scary. I have a strong emotional connection to my atheism which manifests itself in every aspect of my life. When someone I know dies, I am happy knowing that no god will take care of their everlasting souls, which also don't exist. When there is uncertainty in my life, I just turn to not god and don't have a conversation with him. It reassures me that even though I don't understand the direction my life is taking, I feel as though I am being guided and that I'll be okay as long as I just keep trusting that god isn't there. When I go to vote, I wonder which candidate believes in god the least, and who agrees the most with my interpretation of that god didn't say when he didn't write the Bible. This (as well as how all-American he seems) is pretty much the sole determining factor in the way I vote. My faith that god isn't there helps me through each and every day. Just knowing that he isn't there is good enough for me.

I have stuck to being christian because I like to take comfort in knowing righteousness shall pervail in the end.

Originally Posted by NeoSioType

I have stuck to being christian because I like to take comfort in knowing righteousness shall pervail in the end.

You mean your version of righteousness. I've seen a disturbing pattern among people of faith, and that is that none of them believe they themselves are going to the hell to which they condemn so many others. It's almost as if the very concept of hell was invented by mankind to reconcile the fact that people do bad things to us and often don't get punished.

Originally Posted by drewmandan

You mean your version of righteousness. I've seen a disturbing pattern among people of faith, and that is that none of them believe they themselves are going to the hell to which they condemn so many others. It's almost as if the very concept of hell was invented by mankind to reconcile the fact that people do bad things to us and often don't get punished.

Please categorize faith correctly.

Christianity. Is the faith you speak of.

Not really others.

Originally Posted by NeoSioType

I have stuck to being christian because I like to take comfort in knowing righteousness shall pervail in the end.

Originally Posted by drewmandan

You mean your version of righteousness. I've seen a disturbing pattern among people of faith, and that is that none of them believe they themselves are going to the hell to which they condemn so many others. It's almost as if the very concept of hell was invented by mankind to reconcile the fact that people do bad things to us and often don't get punished.

of couse, abuse in this line of thinking has caused great suffering.

Originally Posted by Sandform

???
To be honest I didn't watch past the first minute. So this... whatever it is has fallen on deaf ears mr. Sandform.

Originally Posted by drewmandan

You mean your version of righteousness. I've seen a disturbing pattern among people of faith, and that is that none of them believe they themselves are going to the hell to which they condemn so many others. It's almost as if the very concept of hell was invented by mankind to reconcile the fact that people do bad things to us and often don't get punished.

Originally Posted by Songbird

NO BASHING. This isn't a debate

oh

Originally Posted by Songbird

NO BASHING. This isn't a debate

For Photolysis. But just quickly:

1. It seems like the ultimate sacrifice, and how strongly it does seem. But really, you are giving up nothing. You have nothing to lose.

2. Spiritual understanding, in its context, is Love.

Originally Posted by really

1. It seems like the ultimate sacrifice, and how strongly it does seem. But really, you are giving up nothing. You have nothing to lose.

What are you still doing here?

I used to be a very skeptic and scientific close-minded atheist all my life (eventho I was raised in a Christian family) until I saw a small fraction of the truth around age 22. Now I believe in all religions, and now I finally understand what those prohpets were talking about! Nonetheless, religion hasn't helped me to realize the truth, in fact, the way current religion is being interpretted is only going to take you further away from the truth.

Meditation was the key to free my mind.. I only got into it recently, and I still have a long way to go, but it improves every aspect of my life, including lucid dreaming.

"Emancipate yourself from mental slavery; None but ourselves can free our minds" -Bob Marley

Wow, quite a few rational people here...

I'm an atheist. I'm one of those lucky people who wasn't subjected to any delusions from birth, because my Mum was never a Christian and my Dad lost faith as a child. I don't believe in any religion because they're all as ridiculous as each other and none has any evidence.

When you have finally died* and comprehended Reality, you are immersed in the Love of God, therein lies a peace beyond all time and description. No suffering thereafter is possible. This is my inspiration, and all the best if it is yours too.

Clearly you don't have any true belief in this stuff, or you'd have killed yourself.

Now I believe in all religions, and now I finally understand what those prohpets were talking about!

1. Religions are mutually exclusive.

2. There are too many religions to know all of them.

3. What distinguishes a religion from some shit someone made up, like Scientology?

...and many other contradictions...

Religion is shit someone made up. That's the whole point... or did you think the Bible magically appaered out of thin air? The Koran manifested out of nothing? The Torah grew from a tree? LOL! No. All religious scriptures have been written by people like you and me, who have seen something, and have tried to put it in words. Sure their words suck, but what they saw, was the truth.

Religion is shit someone made up.

I know.

That's the whole point...

So why do you believe in religions??

or did you think the Bible magically appaered out of thin air? The Koran manifested out of nothing? The Torah grew from a tree?

Uh no.

LOL! No.

LOL i'M rLY gUD aT dEM sTRAWMENZ!!!!!!!!!!1!!!!! No.

Originally Posted by ChaybaChayba

Sure their words suck, but what they saw, was the truth.

have you read reports of English and American explorers claiming they saw huge dinosaurs in Africa, one said he saw a T-Rex eating another animal or something, they obviously saw no such thing, they just wanted to add excitement to the tales of their likely fruitless journeys. Or all those who say they have been abducted by aliens, do you believe them all? They seem convinced, even the ones in insane asylums still swear those things happened to them, did they?

I'm just trying to say not everything in history people have written down is true.