my friends at work have been informing me of their religions benifits, i am an athiest, should i follow what these people say?, i have no intention of believing in someone, other than myself, but if i was to listen to them, would it be easy to change?
2006-11-13 19:42:05 · 22 answers · asked by hicapaul 2 in Society & Culture ➔ Religion & Spirituality
Anyone can convert to anything. The important issue is sincerity and only God is aware of true sincerity in people.
Link below of one example of someone who changed his religion.
2006-11-13 20:24:20 · answer #1 · answered by Nothing to say? 3 · 1⤊ 1⤋
People gravitate towards beliefs that suit their predilections and personality.
More often than not people are born into a religious system with no choice in the matter.
Whether they suceed in that religion, then, is a question of luck. If the religion matches their personality type they will do well and their success will validate their religion in their own eyes.
If on the otherhand they do not match, then, they will fail within their religious system. They will either be miserable, they will leave/ignore it if they can, or they could quite possibly meet a sticky end depending on the country they live in.
People who leave a belief system they were born into - lets call them "Seekers" - might find refuge in other belief systems possibly coming from a quite different culture altogether.
In this case they have found a belief system that more closely matches their personal disposition.
So a "Good Christian" is someone who excels within a Christian doctrine, a "poor Christian" is someone who clashes with the doctrine in a number of ways. A "poor Christian" may leave Christianity and find - for example - Buddhism or Taoism. They might find Buddhism suits them better - Buddhism validates who they are, they "excel" at Buddhism, and so they find Buddhism is the correct path.
We can see this pattern emerging of people being drawn from one belief system to another and finding a level of happiness or even greater misery if they make a mistake.
Whichever, they never become completely satisfied. One might be successful within a particular belief system but few if any completely master it. There is always room for improvement, one can always DO BETTER.
So we can see how a selection of religions might suit an individual to various levels on a gradient from failure towards success - 90% failed, 50% failed, 70% successful, 90% successful....but never 100% successful......WHY?
Can we postulate that if all these beliefs suit an individual to varying degrees, that there ought to be a belief system that suits an individual 100%.
What would that belief system be?
Is it not logical to conclude that the system that will give you greatest sucess will be a system that doesn't require you to change from who you are into someone you are not - a system that doesn't require you to IMPROVE.
In essence wouldn't such a system basically be to recognize yourself - your own nature, and be content with who you are without having to live upto someone else's ideals - be it prophet, sage or God?
If there is a God, s/he is either fallable or s/he made you just the way s/he wanted.
A fallable God is no God at all, so don't try to mould yourself to other people's notions of what is right.
Be yourself.
2006-11-14 04:17:14 · answer #2 · answered by Anonymous · 0⤊ 2⤋
If you no intention of believing, then don't bother with the conversion. You could easily "convert" and join a church and religion, but it's not so easy to change a belief. Converting for the sake of putting up appearances or getting them off your back isn't worth it. Believe me, I did it myself and it didn't feel right.
Just tell them you're not interested. One of those "thanks but no thanks" instances. Keep telling them that until they get the hint and if they don't, just tell them once and ignore them.
You can listen to what they have to say, but if you have no intention of believing, then all that comes from a "conversion" is joining a church. No point to joining a church if you don't believe. I tried to go to church weekly to please my family, to get them to shut up about me going, and it felt really hollow and meaningless, so I quit, even though I'm now a bit estranged from the more devout members.
I would convert to a religion only if I truly intended on joining and believing. Otherwise, there's no point, so I wouldn't if I were you. It's your call, but I wouldn't do it to back them off or to make appearances. They don't have to know you're an atheist, but joining and not believing is pointless, so I really wouldn't.
It's like the old horse to water saying. You can take a person to church, but you can't make them believe.
2006-11-16 11:21:53 · answer #3 · answered by Ophelia 6 · 0⤊ 1⤋
Try to take your time, try to learn that religion first, not from your friend only but from the right ones. What I mean is that, if Christian, have a talk with priest, if Islam, have a talk with Imam, if Buddhist or Hindu, have a talk with monks.
It is better to know everything before you convert to that religion. It is much easier for you to be a good follower of your new religion and you could evaluate yourself, either that religion is suitable for you or not.
I'm Muslim and I do recommend you to embraced Islam.
2006-11-14 03:51:20 · answer #4 · answered by yusdz 6 · 2⤊ 1⤋
I recommend Islam. It is a good idea to read about it before you consider converting to anything. Here are some websites you can go on:
http://www.introductiontoislam.org/
http://www.iad.org/intro/intro.html#allah
Please consider researching Islam, I promise it will bring you much happiness in the future. And converting is easy, you say is "La ilaha il Allah, Muhammad-ur-Rasool-Allah" which means
"None has the right to be worshipped but Allah, and Muhammad is the Messenger of Allah" (but obviously you have to believe this)
Thank you. May Allah guide you to the right path.
2006-11-14 17:54:10 · answer #5 · answered by Anonymous · 0⤊ 1⤋
I dont get these people who convert i can see when you are child when your religion is programed into you by your parents and if half of you thought about it if it was not for your parents scaring the life out of you with it you prob would not follow a religion,but to be so easily mind washed to convert as an adult is a bit wrong.I am a catholic i go to churh and i believe in one god i could not just suddenly half way threw my life decide i believe in a different god nooo...
2006-11-14 03:56:41 · answer #6 · answered by emmamo 2 · 0⤊ 2⤋
it is very easy to convert in to a religion, especially Muslim, because you need just say a few words, and then your done, the is no long thing to do. you dont have to even be somewhere special.
2006-11-14 04:54:33 · answer #7 · answered by babyifi 1 · 2⤊ 0⤋
Hi there,I was also an atheist as my religeous upbringing between a mother who was protestant and father who was catholic i got really confused with it all, Until i was of an age to decide for myself, I went deeply into spiritualism and have never looked back once, so yes you can change,good luck to you, witch1
2006-11-14 09:12:43 · answer #8 · answered by whitewitchnite 3 · 0⤊ 1⤋
ok, you say you'e atheist. you've also said you have no intention of believing in anyone other than yourself. dude, seriously, religion is about finding a God and Saviour that will deliver you from the depths of hell. to love Him and adore Him and be a part of His family. if you're not interested in something lke this, then just don't do it. noone can force you to save yourself, Gd gave a choice and it's yours to do with as you please.
2006-11-14 04:24:03 · answer #9 · answered by Veronica C 1 · 0⤊ 1⤋
It is only easy to convert if you truely believe what you are converting to. But even then it will take time and dedication.
2006-11-14 03:49:29 · answer #10 · answered by Tia 3 · 0⤊ 1⤋