Other What's your religion?

[Windsock]

I have in my time been a Roman Catholic, a Church of England Protestant, and a Jehovah's Witness.  I read voraciously on philosophy, sociology, anthropology, and psychology with some small university education in these fields.  You are certainly welcome to make the attempt, friend, but I am committed to good deeds for their own sake and so unlikely to be converted. 

Pretty sure he was talking to me bub.

 

[Talon]

Two years ago, I relinquished my faith in God and decided to be an atheist. I hated God at the time because of the unfortunate circumstances in my life. I recently got kicked out of Job Corps for some bullshit but I managed to find a job. I was a cart pusher at Wal-Mart.


My life-style at the time was basically: Work, Eat, Workout, and Get Laid.


I was living in a homeless shelter because I couldn't afford my own apartment yet. I was frustrated. I worked hard and did everything right, but I was still in a homeless shelter.


So one day, out of spite, I went to the bathroom of the YMCA that I go to and decided to sell my soul to the devil. I didn't take it seriously as I was atheist back then. I simply wanted to give God the middle finger in case he actually existed. So in that bathroom, I roleplayed. I used my imagination and spoke to an imaginary devil.


Basically, in my conversation with the devil, I told them he could have my soul if I can have lots and lots of money. And I signed an imaginary written contract.


That night, when I was about to sleep at the second floor of the homeless shelter (I earned the privilege to be at the more comfortable second floor), I felt a presence. I didn't know what it was at first, until I hallucinated.


In my room were a bunch of floating heads. All of them women with pale gray skin and black hair. They were all staring at me with the eyes of a shark. They looked like zombies.


I immediately assumed that I was hallucinating, but I wasn't sure what. I wasn't crazy or anything. So I ignored what I saw and slept.


I had a dream...


In this dream, I was staring at a mirror. Behind me was one of the women that I saw, with her full body. She touched my shoulder and all of a sudden a sky and a forest appeared. She was dragging me down to the forest while I was desperately trying to get to the top. Then I woke up in a sweat.


I rushed back down the shelter to talk to the people who ran the place. They were religious people and someone I could trust. I told them everything. And then one of them asked me a very compelling question...


"Do you pray," he asked.


"Yes, I do. I pray to God," I told him.


"What was the name of the God that you were praying to?"


At that moment I froze. I didn't know what to say. The hairs at the back of my neck stood up.


The next morning, I went to work, and I hallucinated again while at work. It was the woman that I saw in my dream. I asked her what her name was, and she said, Akarya.


I looked up Akarya on the internet and it turned out that it was a Sanskrit word, meaning Forbidden Activities.


I stuck to Christianity ever since...

This is interesting bro!¡!¡ Im a christian myself, but more into the spiritual side of things. 

 

[The Mechanist]

Can't we all just shut up and respect everyone's beliefs without having to argue about it? Isn't hard to do

 

[TeaMMatE11]

Can't we all just shut up and respect everyone's beliefs without having to argue about it? Isn't hard to do

We're not arguing - we're debating.


There's a difference.  Debating is learning what both sides have to say about a a particular issue/religion.  Arguing is more informal and can get heated.  In no way is this getting heated (Actually, quite surprised at that).

 

[Windsock]

@Windsock


Very well. Here are my beliefs... And then after that, the reason why I believe them.


Here's why I believe them.

That's an interesting experience, but I'm not sure why it made you believe what you believe in.


Reminds me of my experiences, but this is you talking to me about yours, not the other way, so if you have any more please do continue. I'll talk about mine if anyone gives a damn.

 

[Zombocalypse]

This is interesting bro!¡!¡ Im a christian myself, but more into the spiritual side of things. 

Yey for Christianity!


Welcome to the club, my friend.

 

[Windsock]

Can't we all just shut up and respect everyone's beliefs without having to argue about it? Isn't hard to do

Arguing is fun.

 

[Talon]

Yey for Christianity!


Welcome to the club, my friend.

lol ya!¡!¡ 

 

[Zombocalypse]

I have in my time been a Roman Catholic, a Church of England Protestant, and a Jehovah's Witness.  I read voraciously on philosophy, sociology, anthropology, and psychology with some small university education in these fields.  You are certainly welcome to make the attempt, friend, but I am committed to good deeds for their own sake and so unlikely to be converted. 

Sorry about that. I wasn't talking to you. I had an error in quoting.


The thing is, you're very convinced about your delusions. I can't convert someone as deluded as you.


lmao.


I'm kidding.

 

[Grey]

Still, you are a very knowledgeable and well spoken.  I can't say the same for myself.  I just feel like the evidence I have in my brain would be very, very  weak to use, because I am not an apologetic, in fact, nowhere near one.  


But I would like to say this:  Christianity is a faith-based religion.  You can throw out as many facts as you possibly can, but a lot of people will stay as believers.  A lot of people had incidences that they cannot explain what they saw or happened other than it being divine and God-like.  Christianity raises more questions than it answers, and we may never have the answer to everything.  I know there is some evidence linking science and Christianity together.


I would also like to point out that one of the heads of  NASA, Robert Jastrow, said that the Biblical accounts and the scientific accounts of the beginning of the universe may be different, but the story is the same.

Ah, I understand.  Please, don't be intimidated - I've merely got time on my side, and I promise I would not disregard your arguments or their importance to you simply because of presentation.  I will frequently point to incidences of hypocrisy in religion, to factual inaccuracies and outright atrocities, but I hope this is not mistaken for true antipathy towards people of faith.  As I said in that long, long post - I believe that people are biologically predisposed to kindness, and have value, and though I probably will not fully agree with you I have no intention to demean you for good intentions simply because they are not identical to my good intentions.


I understand the principle of faith, but where facts will not convince true believers, a paucity of facts will not convince me.  I think in the end all we can do is agree to a mutual desire for goodness, no?  I won't scorn you for pitying my hellbound-heart if you agree not to rub it in my face.

 

[Talon]

Arguing is fun.

arguing is how things get decided... kinda... *shrugs* idk its fun, as long s its calm arguing and not people blowing up

 

[Windsock]

Seriously though @Zombocalypse I wanna hear more about your belief if you got any. Why did that dream convince you?

 

[Talon]

hmmm good Q

 

[TeaMMatE11]

Ah, I understand.  Please, don't be intimidated - I've merely got time on my side, and I promise I would not disregard your arguments or their importance to you simply because of presentation.  I will frequently point to incidences of hypocrisy in religion, to factual inaccuracies and outright atrocities, but I hope this is not mistaken for true antipathy towards people of faith.  As I said in that long, long post - I believe that people are biologically predisposed to kindness, and have value, and though I probably will not fully agree with you I have no intention to demean you for good intentions simply because they are not identical to my good intentions.


I understand the principle of faith, but where facts will not convince true believers, a paucity of facts will not convince me.  I think in the end all we can do is agree to a mutual desire for goodness, no?  I won't scorn you for pitying my hellbound-heart if you agree not to rub it in my face.

I cannot possibly think about calling someone out for not being a believer or a sinner.  It is out of my power.  


As the pope has said, "Who am I to judge?"


I cannot go and spit into a person who is homosexual and call him a sinner - I too, am one.  We are all broken in our own ways.  Skillet has a lyric in one of their songs that stood out to me.  It goes: "Sometimes I find it hard to believe/that someone is messed up as me."


As I realized these facts, I cannot judge others for their religion, or lack thereof.  The Bible tells us to spread the word, and my youth pastor put it in this fashion:


Good news, bad news, good news, you choose.


Good news - God created everything we know and love.


Bad news - Humans sinned and fell short of God, and could never achieve perfection.


Good news - God sacrificed his only son for our sins.


You choose - you choose to accept this belief. 


The last part is VERY important.  People have a right to choose what to believe.  I cannot sit here and force my religion down another person's throat, because that is just straight up wrong.

 

[Talon]

I cannot possibly think about calling someone out for not being a believer or a sinner.  It is out of my power.  


As the pope has said, "Who am I to judge?"


I cannot go and spit into a person who is homosexual and call him a sinner - I too, am one.  We are all broken in our own ways.  Skillet has a lyric in one of their songs that stood out to me.  It goes: "Sometimes I find it hard to believe/that someone is messed up as me."


As I realized these facts, I cannot judge others for their religion, or lack thereof.  The Bible tells us to spread the word, and my youth pastor put it in this fashion:


Good news, bad news, good news, you choose.


Good news - God created everything we know and love.


Bad news - Humans sinned and fell short of God, and could never achieve perfection.


Good news - God sacrificed his only son for our sins.


You choose - you choose to accept this belief. 


The last part is VERY important.  People have a right to choose what to believe.  I cannot sit here and force my religion down another person's throat, because that is just straight up wrong.

very well said

 

[Zombocalypse]

Seriously though @Zombocalypse I wanna hear more about your belief if you got any. Why did that dream convince you?

Wasn't it obvious? I strayed away from the faith and God shook me up. It was His grace that made me go back to the faith.


Plus, I've done my research. Jesus was a real person who really died on the cross for all of our sins. Arguing about the historicity of his story is pointless. His story was the truth.


Also, Chuck Norris is a Christian. lol.


Seriously though. I read the Bible voraciously and found many great moral lessons from them that coincide as truth in the real world.


For example, Jesus once said, Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they shall be satisfied. How true is that? Those who have kept their resilience in life and hoped for a better tomorrow have almost always come out on top. Good always trumps evil. This is a theme not just in religion but in pop culture as well. In the end, the bully is beaten.


Plus, there is beauty in the world. One of the things I learned from the great Christian apologist, Ravi Zacharias, is that wherever there is intelligibility, there is an intelligence behind it. It's hard to convince myself that a supreme being like God didn't design such a balanced and perfect world. The odds of random occurrences culminating into our life today is one to the many-eth power. That's one plus thousands of zeros after it. In other words, the odds of life being possible in our planet as a random occurrence is very, very small.


There is good science behind religious faith if you look deep into it. The point is, the truth is out there for the taking, and it is up to us whether or not we embrace it or reject it.

 

[Saccharine Cyanide]

I see debating and not arguing going on. It's nice.


Yeah, I'm in the same camp as @Grey, Sure, I want people to think critically about their beliefs, but I don't necessarily want to convert anyone. Religion makes people happy, and I'm glad for people to be happy as long as they're not infringing on anyone else's happiness in the process.  : P

 

[Zombocalypse]

I cannot possibly think about calling someone out for not being a believer or a sinner.  It is out of my power.  


As the pope has said, "Who am I to judge?"


I cannot go and spit into a person who is homosexual and call him a sinner - I too, am one.  We are all broken in our own ways.  Skillet has a lyric in one of their songs that stood out to me.  It goes: "Sometimes I find it hard to believe/that someone is messed up as me."


As I realized these facts, I cannot judge others for their religion, or lack thereof.  The Bible tells us to spread the word, and my youth pastor put it in this fashion:


Good news, bad news, good news, you choose.


Good news - God created everything we know and love.


Bad news - Humans sinned and fell short of God, and could never achieve perfection.


Good news - God sacrificed his only son for our sins.


You choose - you choose to accept this belief. 


The last part is VERY important.  People have a right to choose what to believe.  I cannot sit here and force my religion down another person's throat, because that is just straight up wrong.

That's a cool story. Thanks for the insight.

 

[Windsock]

Wasn't it obvious? I strayed away from the faith and God shook me up. It was His grace that made me go back to the faith.


Plus, I've done my research. Jesus was a real person who really died on the cross for all of our sins. Arguing about the historicity of his story is pointless. His story was the truth.


Also, Chuck Norris is a Christian. lol.


Seriously though. I read the Bible voraciously and found many great moral lessons from them that coincide as truth in the real world.


For example, Jesus once said, Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they shall be satisfied. How true is that? Those who have kept their resilience in life and hoped for a better tomorrow have almost always come out on top. Good always trumps evil. This is a theme not just in religion but in pop culture as well. In the end, the bully is beaten.


Plus, there is beauty in the world. One of the things I learned from the great Christian apologist, Ravi Zacharias, is that wherever there is intelligibility, there is an intelligence behind it. It's hard to convince myself that a supreme being like God didn't design such a balanced and perfect world. The odds of random occurrences culminating into our life today is one to the many-eth power. That's one plus thousands of zeros after it. In other words, the odds of life being possible in our planet as a random occurrence is very, very small.


There is good science behind religious faith if you look deep into it. The point is, the truth is out there for the taking, and it is up to us whether or not we embrace it or reject it.

I still don't see how your dream is precisely related to the fact that you went back to the faith. It motivated you, but what correlates to what? Why exactly did you see that it was religious in nature?  I can see it's fairly 'trippy' and 'heavy', but it seemed otherwise somewhat random like other dreams.

 

[Zombocalypse]

I still don't see how your dream is precisely related to the fact that you went back to the faith. It motivated you, but what correlates to what? Why exactly did you see that it was religious in nature?  I can see it's fairly 'trippy' and 'heavy', but it seemed otherwise somewhat random like other dreams.

Because the ghost who talked to me had a name. And that name had meaning in the internet. Akarya.


http://jagadisha-dasa.cba.pl/Prabhupada Nirukti ABC/akarya.html

 

[Windsock]

Because the ghost who talked to me had a name. And that name had meaning in the internet. Akarya.


http://jagadisha-dasa.cba.pl/Prabhupada Nirukti ABC/akarya.html

That's all it boils down to?


Strange train of thought, but I'll respect it. I'm still atheist though.

 

[Wixard]

too long to follow. too many people talking. PM me if you want to talk about this with me

 

[Windsock]

too long to follow. too many people talking. PM me if you want to talk about this with me

Why'd you post in the thread just to say 'I'm not gonna post in this thread; pm me'?

 

[Wixard]

Why'd you post in the thread just to say 'I'm not gonna post in this thread'?

Because it's long enough that you don't know I've already responded to this thread numerous times. I'm just letting people know I won't be continuing the discussion that I've been part of up to now.

 

[TeaMMatE11]

Same...if anyone has any questions about Christianity, I'm open.  However, I do not have all the answers - no one does.  I will try my best to answer them as fully as I can.  Don't spam me, pls!