Why change your religon?

Question

why change your religion to begin with? and something I the good doctor forgot to say last time, no rants or answers like "because it's the will of (the name of your deity)" I want the answer that comes from your heart or mind or even both it makes it that much better!

Answer 1

I can tell you why I left Christianity to become Pagan. But it wasn't a leaving, it was a coming home.

My sense of sacredness didn't live in the churches I attended or in the words that I read in scripture, or in the sermons I heard.

My sense of the sacred lived outside those buildings, in wordless awe. And my understanding of the world was, I knew early, far different from what I was being taught in Sunday School.

The best part of church for me was always the music. But when I listened to that music, I didn't hear angels singing, I SAW forests, and mountains with clouds pouring down their sides like liquid cotton.

I recall telling my Dad (the ex Evangelical minister) at around ten years of age that he had it wrong - that God hadn't made everything, but had become everything, had taken on material substance not only in the person of Jesus, but in every plant and animal and mineral and element that was.

I also began to think seriously about the process of thought, and how thinking affects what we experience, and wondering if how and what we thought could make material changes in the world around us.

I don't want to turn this into a novel, but suffice it to say that for years I felt that I was the only person in the world who thought or felt the way I did. My family told me I was crazy - and not in a teasing way. After a while I just shut up about my thoughts. But I never stopped trying to find out the limits of what focused thought could do. And I never stopped knowing that God couldn't be contained in one religion, or one substance.

Years later, at a party, I was listening to a conversation between two women and it was eerily familiar. After a while I joined in and the three of us talked late into the night. At one point, one of the women asked me about some book or other, which I had never heard of, and then about some other books I had never heard of. She shook her head after a while and asked me where I had learned what I knew, and I told her and the other woman about this way of being that I thought I had made up completely on my own, and about the difficulty in being around people who treated me as if I were nuts.

both of the women smiled at me, and one said, "But you're not alone, and there's a name for what you are. You're a Witch".

That moment was one of joy so profound that I wept.

I am a Pagan and a Witch, and I always have been.

Answer 2

Having gone from Presbyterian to Atheist to Agnostic to Pagan, I can tell you that I changed my religious beliefs because the path I was on didn't make sense to me, didn't offer solace or comfort, and didn't answer the questions I had.

I found I couldn't like - let alone love - the Christian concept of "God", who would damn people for eternity and allow so much suffering in the world.

Atheism felt empty, because while I do believe in evolution and the Big Bang, I can only go back so far with science before I ask "But where did the matter and energy come from in the first place?" And to be honest, some of the theories that are coming out now (M space and string theory, for example) rival some creation myths in their fancifulness...

I was Agnostic for a number of years - I didn't know if there was a God, couldn't prove it one way or another. I have always been a voracious reader, and eventually found information on Paganism (specifically Wicca) that made sense to me and helped me come to my own understanding of the universe.

Am I right? Who knows. But I know that my path is the right one *for me*, and that's what matters.

Answer 3

I was raised in a southern baptist church. there were many things that I did not agree with, even as a child. For instance- why would a god send the people he claims to love to hell, even if they did not know "the truth"?

In my early 20's, I investigated the LDS church. Many of the questions were answered by the doctrine of this church. Many of the things that I disagreed with in the baptist church were not a part of this church. I think if I were to remain christian, I would definitely remain a member of the LDS church.

However, I am now agnostic. Questioning minds never stop questioning, and I have not found a religion that makes sense and stands up to all the questioning I put it to. I want there to be a truth that people actually know about, but the more I search, the less I believe that it is out there. I think we just make up stories that feel good.

Answer 4

1) (a) Reason: stick to what makes more SENSE.
(b) What is consistent in and out with reality.
(c) whose Scriputres were proven by time (ie prophecies).

2) Emotional. It's been said that God works through church.
Good church is highly attractive.

3.) Logic. This is the HUGE one. There is either ONE true religion (I'm not talking about different denominations within Christianity) or none. There cannot be "different paths to God". Some poeple say "Hinduism, Buddism, Christianity, Islam lead to the same God". But that's nonsense.
If Jesus said "I am the truth the way and the light, no one comes to the Father but through Me" He must be either true or false. no middle ground.
I think that Christianity is true. If interested, check links provided below:

p.s. LDS (Latter Day Saints [?]) - is not a Christian church man.

Answer 5

extra suitable, do your person examine. circulate refer to a non secular imam then circulate refer to a non secular rabbi. In the two circumstances head to head. they're going to furnish u with solutions you're able to desire to evaluate. And from yet another perspective, it relies upon who you wanna style your self after :) i don't know plenty approximately the two yet from memories I heard here and there i know that (finding at issues almost) ** Mohammad might have been a brilliant guy, and he had a brilliant many followers. some stable and a few undesirable. And comparable with the Jewish early leaders Moses replaced right into a brilliant guy, and Solomon's information is mythical, and their followers have been stable and undesirable besides... ** Now, From what I see right this moment interior the information, the forged Jews made a good number of innovations, have low crime rates, and are all attorneys or docs. The undesirable ones are crooks and swindlers like Madoff and are freaking wealthy. the forged Muslims are incredible hosts (I heard a lot of memories approximately Arab hospitality!) they actually admire their parents and administration each and all of the oil... The undesirable ones are terrorists or wealthy dictators... this is all subject-unfastened experience, i think of. Our way of existence has been inspired via religion for hundreds of years. What we grow to be is what we style ourselves after. yet... howdy, it is your existence and your soul... do your person examine and stable luck

Answer 6

okay i just recently changed my religion. I was Mormon for a big portion of my life. When I got older I began thinking for myself and realize it wasn't the right religion for me. I didn't feel at home at all and felt like i was being judge with a whole lot of hypocritical people telling me how to worship and pray. I felt like most of the people weren't there to worship the Lord and learn of his teachings, but their to judge and to brag about how much money they have. There were so many things I didn't understand or things that didn't make sense to me so i research, studied, asked questions, and talked to people from different religion made this change about a year ago. I couldn't be happier!

Answer 7

Have you ever walked into a room, yet not felt at home?
I seek that home. Sometimes I find it, sometimes, not.
Sometimes I think that there is no place for me anywhere
Sometimes I think that my own body is the only home I'll ever have.
Will I ever find that perfect mate/home/community/church? Or will I make it mine? The force of my will is strong, but in the end, I fear the responsibility of it. It is better to bow to the stronger, wiser force. I've come to trust it. A sword in my hand, a shield on my arm, a friend at my back. That's all I need.

Answer 8

If there is only one God, how can there be more than one religion? If there is only one religion--progressively revealed--how can one change one's religion, if they all come from the same source--God. It's just like grades in school. If you wish to remain in the 1st grade, you can; or you can progress through the grades until you have the most recent revelation from the Head Master--God.

Progressive Revelation

A great stumbling block to many, in the way of religious unity, is the difference between the Revelations given by the different Prophets. What is commanded by one is forbidden by another; how then can both be right, how can both be proclaiming the Will of God? Surely the truth is One, and cannot change. Yes, the Absolute Truth is One and cannot change, but the Absolute Truth is infinitely beyond the present range of human understanding, and our conceptions of it must constantly change. Our earlier, imperfect ideas will be by the Grace of God replaced, as time goes on, by more and more adequate conceptions. Bahá’u’lláh says, in a Tablet to some Bahá’ís of Persia:—
O people! Words are revealed according to capacity so that the beginners may make progress. The milk must be given according to measure so that the babe of the world may enter into the Realm of Grandeur and be established in the Court of Unity.
It is milk that strengthens the babe so that it can digest more solid food later on. To say that because one Prophet is right in giving a certain teaching at a certain time, therefore another Prophet must be wrong Who gives a different teaching at a different time, is like saying that because milk is the best food 123 for the newborn babe, therefore, milk and nothing but milk should be the food of the grown man also, and to give any other diet would be wrong! ‘Abdu’l-Bahá says:—
Each divine revelation is divided into two parts. The first part is essential and belongs to the eternal world. It is the exposition of Divine truths and essential principles. It is the expression of the Love of God. This is one in all the religions, unchangeable and immutable. The second part is not eternal; it deals with practical life, transactions and business, and changes according to the evolution of man and the requirements of the time of each Prophet. For example. … During the Mosaic period the hand of a person was cut off in punishment of a small theft; there was a law of an eye for an eye and a tooth for a tooth, but as these laws were not expedient in the time of Christ, they were abrogated. Likewise divorce had become so universal that there remained no fixed laws of marriage, therefore His Holiness Christ forbade divorce.

According to the exigencies of the time, His Holiness Moses revealed ten laws for capital punishment. It was impossible at that time to protect the community and to preserve social security without these severe measures, for the children of Israel lived in the wilderness of Tah, where there were no established courts of justice and no penitentiaries. But this code of conduct was not needed in the time of Christ. The history of the second part of religion is unimportant, because it relates to the customs of this life only; but the foundation of the religion of God is one, and His Holiness Bahá’u’lláh has renewed that foundation.
The religion of God is the One Religion, and all the Prophets have taught it, but it is a living and a growing thing, not lifeless and unchanging. In the teaching of Moses we see the Bud; in that of Christ the Flower; in that of Bahá’u’lláh the Fruit. The flower does not destroy the bud, nor does the fruit destroy the flower. It destroys not, but fulfills. The bud scales must fall in order that the flower may bloom, and the petals must fall that 124 the fruit may grow and ripen. Were the bud scales and the petals wrong or useless, then, that they had to be discarded? Nay, both in their time were right and necessary; without them there could have been no fruit. So it is with the various prophetic teachings; their externals change from age to age, but each revelation is the fulfillment of its predecessors; they are not separate or incongruous, but different stages in the life history of the One Religion, which has in turn been revealed as seed, as bud and as flower, and now enters on the stage of fruition.

When man allows the spirit, through his soul, to enlighten his understanding, then does he contain all creation. … But on the other hand, when man does not open his mind and heart to the blessing of the spirit, but turns his soul towards the material side, towards the bodily part of his nature, then his he fallen from his high place and he becomes inferior to the inhabitants of the lower animal kingdom.

Answer 9

The religion one has to start with is the one learned as a child. Although that kind of commitment is powerful, one had no conscious deliberate choice in the matter. As one ages and matures, it's entirely possible that new spiritual paths could appear to be more suitable, which would lead to a changine of religion.

Answer 10

I was Baptist now I'm agnostic. I fully believed in God because of the people around me, not because I was old enough to think for myself, or reason that He might not exist. The older I got, the less sense religion made. I am now borderline atheist. I don't know whether there is a God or not, but I am hoping that eventually, I'll be able to feel 100% one way or the other.