Religion

[Berrichonne shrimper]

Ok question for you chaps and chappesses that have that thing called faith.
1...what do you believe in?.
2...Why or how did you begin to believe in it?
3.could you live without your faith?

 

[TrueBlue]

1. nothing
2. n/a
3. n/a

 

[ian_the_girth]

1: Hulkamania
2: Watching the Hulkster kick ***
3: Yes

 

[Uncle Leo]

1) Really not sure any more
2) brought up a Roman Catholic due to Irish family on my Mum's side
3) Easily. I do enjoy the religious aspects of Christmas though

 

[MK Shrimper]

1) Science.
2) Too much evidence showing that there probably isn't a God, and me deciding that all faith is a man made construct to counteract a fear of death.
3) Could I go back to religion? Can't see it ever happening.

Just like to point it there are some great bits to faith. That Jesus seemed like a really nice bloke with his head screwed on, The Golden Temple in Amritsar is the most peaceful place I've ever been, all Buddhists I've met are lovely warm people, and there's some jolly nice hymns that I'd heartily sing along to.

 

[davewebbsbrain]

1. Jedi
2. 1977 Star Wars
3. The force is always with me

 

[East Green I 83]

Ok question for you chaps and chappesses that have that thing called faith.
1...what do you believe in?.
2...Why or how did you begin to believe in it?
3.could you live without your faith?

1. That it easier to believe in a Creator than not to believe in one....ie we just gradually evolved from nothing over millions of years? a big bang?.....cannot believe it.

2. Despite having had a great life, at the age of 32 realized that no matter how good things had been over the years, I had never been really fulfilled? always that "something" missing?

3. Of course I could live without my faith in God, but life would have no real purpose or meaning...good though it still is I must say (66 years old now)

 

[Dick Bate's Protege]

1 Ron Martin
2 His pitch side strolls
3 Never

 

[Jedi Shrimper]

1. Jedi
2. 1977 Star Wars
3. The force is always with me

1. Sith
2. 1983
3. I can feel the hate flowing through me.

 

[southendkid]

1) Science.
2) Too much evidence showing that there probably isn't a God, and me deciding that all faith is a man made construct to counteract a fear of death.
3) Could I go back to religion? Can't see it ever happening.

Just like to point it there are some great bits to faith. That Jesus seemed like a really nice bloke with his head screwed on, The Golden Temple in Amritsar is the most peaceful place I've ever been, all Buddhists I've met are lovely warm people, and there's some jolly nice hymns that I'd heartily sing along to.

I've never understood why Buddhism is a religion, it's possible to be Buddhist and not believe in any God, why is it regarded as religion and not just a way of life?
Personally I've not ruled out the possibility of a God, even if it's unlikely, I don't see why the big bang theory disproves God, infact there are top scientists that are religious.
That said I personally believe that if God exists and he is truly all-loving I don't see why he would want us to be worshipping him in giant man made structures that cost a lot of money that could have been spent on world problems like poverty, which I'm sure the bible would encourage to do. If God is only going to let me into heaven if I worship him then in my view that would make him a dictator anyway. So I'm just going to live my life without religion and see if anything more happens when I die.

 

[Swiss Tony]

Ok question for you chaps and chappesses that have that thing called faith.
1...what do you believe in?.
2...Why or how did you begin to believe in it?
3.could you live without your faith?

1. God
2.when i realised he was English
3.Never, me and God have a job to do.

 

[Another Surrey Shrimper]

1. Sith
2. 1983
3. I can feel the hate flowing through me.

Fear leads to anger. Anger leads to hate. Hate leads to suffering

 

[OldBlueLady]

1...what do you believe in?
I believe in God, and I also believe in the afterlife
2...Why or how did you begin to believe in it?
I was brought up Church of England, though not very strictly, I spent a while dabbling with Methodism in my teens. I attended Sunday School as a child, and became a Sunday School teacher as an adult. After a long period of non attendance, and moving to Benfleet, I rediscovered the Church of England and took the path to confirmation. At the moment I'm back in the non attending stage, that's out of choice as I much prefer the traditional service and hymns and our church has gone quite happy clappy.
3.could you live without your faith?
No, I don't think I could completely, it's been a massive comfort to me in difficult times.

 

[osymandus]

1. Thelema/Hermetic sciences
2. A few years back , their methods and ideas you can use or not . The basic premise is every human being is "divine" and a "god/goddess" in their own way . You can look at it in a symbolic or a literal manner . Much like Buddhism its not a religion in the sense people know as you don't have to worship anything (Buddhism had God's added later , it was a classed as a religion).
3. Not sure its possible to separate it . If my view of the universe changed so would I .

 

[Reg Martin]

1...what do you believe in?.
That Jesus Christ is the Son of God and He was crucified for the sins of every person who has ever lived. He was raised to life by His Father in Heaven and anyone who chooses to accept Jesus as their Lord and Saviour will spend eternity with Him

2...Why or how did you begin to believe in it?
In my mid 20s I met a Christian who seriously challenged my atheism and made me start to investigate the Christian faith. Much to my surprise I was unable to avoid the conclusion that it was true

3.could you live without your faith?
I cannot avoid the fact that my life has changed considerably for the better over the time that I have been a Christian. So although I could choose to turn my back on my faith, my life would be the worse for it and far more significantly how I spend eternity would be changed to an infinitely worse fate

 

[sufc_tom]

1. Southend United.
2. Because my dad said so.
3. No.

 

[East Green I 83]

1...what do you believe in?.
That Jesus Christ is the Son of God and He was crucified for the sins of every person who has ever lived. He was raised to life by His Father in Heaven and anyone who chooses to accept Jesus as their Lord and Saviour will spend eternity with Him

2...Why or how did you begin to believe in it?
In my mid 20s I met a Christian who seriously challenged my atheism and made me start to investigate the Christian faith. Much to my surprise I was unable to avoid the conclusion that it was true

3.could you live without your faith?
I cannot avoid the fact that my life has changed considerably for the better over the time that I have been a Christian. So although I could choose to turn my back on my faith, my life would be the worse for it and far more significantly how I spend eternity would be changed to an infinitely worse fate

Well said TS....you explained it much better than I did on my slightly earlier reply to this thread (you swine!)

 

[Crabby Shrimper]

Ok question for you chaps and chappesses that have that thing called faith.
1...what do you believe in?.
2...Why or how did you begin to believe in it?
3.could you live without your faith?

1....How long do you have? Like MK I believe in science, but I don't think that is necessarily mutually exclusive to spirituality. Whilst science makes sense, it's worth remembering that there is much science that is as yet unknown to us. I don't think there's a God as a large bearded chap living in the sky, but I believe that there's a possibility of something created by mass belief that we refer to as god.

2.....By asking too many questions that others couldn't answer.

3.....The only thing I have faith in is that I exist in some form (pretty much the Descarte idea), and that existence is pointless as any reason given for it only begs further questions over why. Think about it, if we're here to serve a greater power, then why's that power here? If there was no existence, then there'd be nothing existing to miss it.

 

[Napster]

1- I believe in miracles

2- Since you came along

 

[pickledseal]

1- God, through the RC Church.
2- Brought up as RC including Catholic primary education. Did a lot of questioning during my teens and early twenties as I did GCSE, A-Level and under-grad study. Decided that with high level study of my faith including extensive work on science and region, that I indeed had a string commitment to the Christian faith.
3- It's one of my defining characteristics, I constantly surprise myself about it affects my choices, decisions and priorities in life.