Here's what I believe. What religion am I?

Question

Preface: We all have our own beliefs, I'm not judging yours so don't judge mine.

*I believe there was a man named Jesus and he DID die for what he believed in, but it really has no effect on my life or my "afterlife."

*I believe the books of the bible were written as fables intended to show people how to live good, decent lives.

*I don't believe that Jesus rose from the grave, I believe his corpse was stolen or lost.

*I don't believe that Mary got pregnant without having intercourse.

*I don't believe in Satan.

*I don't believe in God spiritually, but I do believe there is a possibility that a being could exist in the fourth dimension, a being like that would seem divine to us.

*I don't believe in the afterlife, or Heaven & Hell. I believe that when we die, that's it... the end.

*I don't believe that Jesus could perform miracles, what people witnessed were illusions/tricks.

There's more, but those are the big ones. So, what religion does this match up with?

I was expecting a lot of these types of answers. Look, I already know I'm not an atheist. An atheist is one who denies the existence of a deity. And I DID tell you many things I believe. If I say I don't believe that Mary got pregnant "without" intercourse, it's safe to assume that I DO believe she got pregnany "with" intercourse. If I posted all the same stuff and changed the wording to show what I "did" believe, would it have gotten any different answers? No. Because I believe you're all smart enough to understand what I mean. I did look up the word agnostic, "one who believes it impossible to know anything about God or about the creation of the universe and refrains from commitment to any religious doctrine." Closer, and I thank you for the serious reply. But, I don't believe it's impossible to know anything about God, and I'm fervently seeking to commit myself to a religion... that's kinda why I posted this.

Ignorant? No. If I was ignorant, I wouldn't be asking this question, now would I?

*deep breath*

Okay, now I see a lot more people being accepting of what I believe. I will research this "Deism." Thank you.

to gabriel;

I only have 1000 characters to work with, you know? I would have LOVED to have gotten into more detail but I simply didn't have the room.

I believe that it's important, in determining the state of one's beliefs, to find out where the line is. How far could one go towards a certain belief? I am a very digital person you see, it is either founded and based in reality, or it is not. In determining what is founded in reality, you automatically establish what is not, and in my optimism, I choose to give every possibility a chance until I distinctly feel otherwise, and those distinct feelings are what I assume should lead to an ultimate realization regarding a "label" for my beliefs. Why do I think that? Because, Jesus may be an elephant, but I do not believe that he is. That is something I don't believe, as are most of the other things on my list.

And as far as why I would want to label my beliefs? To make it easier to find a community I belong to.

Answer 1

agnostic

Answer 2

at first, check out it this way. Buddhists and different religions are serving non-residing gods. Christianity is the only faith with a real and residing God. As for discerning between JW's, Methodists, Baptists, etc...you're gonna could examine the Bible and make certain that your self. John 3:sixteen - For God so enjoyed the international that He gave his basically begotten Son that whoever believes in Him won't perish, yet extremely have eternal existence. Basement cat: how are you able to assert everybody is right? there is not any such undertaking as absolute reality. How can one individual be good and the different individual incorrect. as quickly as I say 2+2 is 4. that's 4! only because of the fact my 5 twelve months previous nephew says the respond is 5 would not make us the two perfect! There should be a very good and incorrect answer!

Answer 3

You've told me a lot about what you DON'T believe and not a lot about what you do believe.

Do you believe in a God? How do you define the word God? What is the nature of God? What is your purpose in being here? What is your connection, if any, to God? What are your spiritual goals? (religions are tools for reaching those goals). You don't believe in an afterlife so when you die that's it, the end. End of what? This assumes that bodily life is a begining towards an end. What is the purpose of having a religion to you? Do you approach this God philosophically, rationally, devotionally, through ritual, through chanting, through meditation? How do you connect to God? Can you connect to God? What is the nature of the universe? How did the universe come into being? What is the nature of nature? Who are you? Is there good and evil or just ignorance or merely the appearance of good and evil? Does God have the capability of incarnating? What can God do? What can God not do? You mention a fourth dimension? What is the nature of this dimension? Does this dimension shape God? How is God in this dimension and we in another? What are the other three dimensions? Are there more than four dimensions? How does one pass from one dimension to another? Is this your goal to pass from this dimension into another dimension? Is there spirit? Is there soul? (I seperate spirit and soul because in some religions they are seperate things).

I can say only with any certainty that you are not a Christian. Other than that what you told me about your beliefs are generally shaped within Christian thought. Outside of this I gain no more understanding to what you actually do believe...just what you mainly do not believe. One might say that you are Atheist or Agnostic. Atheist is a bit harsh since it implies there is no God, regardless of the defination of that word. Agnostic implies that whether there is or is not a God is impossible to know so why bother trying to find out, bother trying to prove or disprove, because whethere there is or is not a God is not important, it doesn't change anything so why bother dealing with what is impossible to know absolutely.

I can't really say what religion you, atleast not with any certainty.

Does it matter if you hold a label to your beliefs? Would such a label change how you feel about what you beleive?

I am a Hindu, it is just a label. It only narrows down the defination of what I believe, but not to any real help considering how diverse Hinduism actually is. Even amongst Hindus we still have to clarify what it is we individually believe to each other. Based on what you said above I could easily say that I believe much of the same thing :
I believe there was a man named Jesus who was a good guru who taught people and who died unjustly by those who were threatened by him. I believe the Bible, like all sacred texts, holds some truth in it, that the overall stories are myths and legends and like all myths and legends they may have some historicity to them, but that the stories were embellished to teach the lessons that they do. I am not sure whether Jesus rose from the dead or not. I am not certain of the degree of divinity of Jesus. I don't think it matters either way. Whether Mary was pregnant before or after having sexual intercourse is irrelevant to me. I don't believe in Satan or the embodiment of evil. For that matter I don't believe that evil exists. There is no evil, there is only ignorance. Good and evil are dependent on the perspective of the observer. My defination of God is best summed up in the Hindu word Brahman. Brahman is a combined Sanskrit word from the Sanskrit words Brah Manah which means "expanding consciousness". Paratman and Ishvara are two words that could sort of explain my defination of God, but I'd have to really explain my own philosophical and theological understandings for it to make a lot of sense. Paratman means "Great Atman" (soul, spirit, Self) and Ishvara means "Personal Lord/Deity". I believe that the goal in life is moksha/mukti. That we strive to free ourselves from samsara (the cycle of birth and death) to to merge our consciousnes back into God (the Source). There is no hell and heaven is merely a temporary state of consciousness between incarnations. Whether Jesus did do miracles is of no importance to me either.

Thus even though you know I'm a Hindu without knowing more about my beliefs, philosophical and theological understandings and perspectives, you gain no further insight into what I actually believe. You can conclude that I am not a Christian but cannot say anything else. If I told you I was a Ganapatya Hindu that might help a bit, but not much.

Try the Belief-O-Matic at Beliefnet, perhaps it can help.

Sorry I couldn't help. Hope perhaps someone else can be even more helpful for you (if you really need a label). Maybe you're a Unitarian-Universalist.

Peace be with you!

Answer 4

Sounds like 'Deist', which is a non-personal god. You might want to look further into the reality of Jesus, though... modern biblical scholarship makes a very compelling case for the idea that Jesus never existed... that he was, in fact, entirely fictional.

The Jesus Puzzle
http://pages.ca.inter.net/%7Eoblio/jhcjp.htm
http://jesuspuzzle.humanists.net/home.htm

Answer 5

Maybe you're a deist, but I'd like to suggest you take a look at the evidence for the resurrection of Jesus. If that most impossible of all scenarios did in fact take place, then it seems like all other supernatural occurrences would also be possible. Check out the first link below for an analysis of Jesus' crucifixion and resurrection.

Feel free to drop me a line at [e-mail] if you'd like.

Answer 6

A False Religion

Answer 7

I believe Agnostic, since you say that you believe there is a possiblitiy that a being could exist in the fourth dimension, a beinglike that would seem divine to us. It sounds similar to Deism, except we believe God does exist, just not the Biblical God and we also believe in reason and science.

Answer 8

Your religion is called Common Sense. Religion = foolishness and falsehoods. You are a person who simply see's the facts for what they are, and still a good person. These religion fanatics on here will tell you that your the antichrist if you don't believe everything the bible tells you, so be careful.

My advice is to keep on living in the persuit of knowledge, and to know that only YOU can direct your path of destiny. Don't leave it up to some fake old man in the clouds.

Answer 9

You don't believe in any religion. You can still believe in God in your own way. You believe what you believe, there doesn't need to be a label or name for it.

Answer 10

Pretty much atheist with a little agnostic thrown in

Answer 11

You qualify as an agnostic. I must confess that I too share your views. Although my parents are devout Muslims I like to remain a free-thinker.

Religion has done more harm than good to mankind! You should be thankful that you're not one of them!