Can you explain your religion?

Question

I was brought up in a strictly Baptist house, with a former pastor as a step-dad, so i was never really taught anything but about the Baptist beliefs. Now i am older and wondering about the other religions out there. I am happy with my religion, and do not want to change, BUT i don't like hearing about friends who are Catholic or Episcopal (sp?) or anything else, and not know what the difference is. For all of you Christians out there, can you pleas explain your beliefs and how it is different from the Baptist beliefs, and can all you non-Christians, please give me a brief explanation of your religion? I know it's a lot to ask, and i actually feel kinda dumb for not knowing anything about this being 18 years old, but i really want to know. Thanks!

Answer 1

i believe that god is one and omnipotent we just see and worship him by different names...

Answer 2

Andii, thank you for asking. I am glad you are happy being a Baptist. As a Catholic I can explain Catholicism to you but probably not adequately in this forum. So briefly, Catholics recite and believe the Apostle's Creed. We believe in a Trinitarian God (One God revealed in Three Divine Persons). We believe that Saints are people who lived and died in God's friendship and are now with Him in Heaven.

We ask Mary and the Saints to pray for us like we ask the rest of our Christians friends to pray for us because we know that the prayers of the just avail much. How much more do the prayers of God's friends who are with Him in Heaven avail!

We do not believe that Mary is a 'goddess' anymore than we believe that the Pope is 'god.' If you wish to know more about the Catholic Church, then ask a Catholic friend or a Catholic Priest. This is true of all Religion, go to the source; do not accept answers from those who hate that particular religion.

Good luck.

H

Answer 3

Yes. I was a Baptist from age zero to age 15. When I learned about the Sabbath and that Christmas was Pagan I became non-religious. After the Vietnam experience, I had a vision that changed the course of my life. I decided to accept God and his Son on the terms spelled out in the Old and New Testaments. I searched out the original Hebrew and Chaldee of the Old Testament and the Greek of the New Testament. I learned that hell was a lie and that the idea of going to the third heaven was also a lie (there is a reward however-being raised from the dead into a body that does not die). Other false doctrines I discovered included Sunday worship, Christmas, Easter, Halloween, wafer-god, Mary worship, cheap grace, baptizing infants, primacy of Peter, trinity, once saved-always saved, high pressure altar calls (false emotional salvation), legalism, turning the grace of God into license, secret rapture, seven church eras, angels having sex with humans, Nicoliatans doctrine, requiring circumcision, worshiping pronunciations (Yahweh, for example), purgatory, worshiping statues, corporate idea of "church".

I learned that what is taught directly from the Bible is the diametric opposite of what standard religions, including commercial Christianity teach. There is no comparison, only contrast.

Answer 4

Very Good question. As a Jehovah's Witness of 15 years standing, certain scriptures were pointed out to me. nes that the main religions had either changed or ignored.
(Matthew 6:9-10) “YOU must pray, then, this way: “‘Our Father in the heavens, let your name be sanctified. 10 Let your kingdom come. Let your will take place, as in heaven, also upon earth.
Just what is God's NAME?

(Exodus 6:3) And I used to appear to Abraham, Isaac and Jacob as God Almighty, but as respects my name Jehovah I did not make myself known to them.
Faith must be accompanied by works.
(James 2:26) Indeed, as the body without spirit is dead, so also faith without works is dead.
What are the 'works'?
(Matthew 28:19-20) Go therefore and make disciples of people of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the holy spirit, 20 teaching them to observe all the things I have commanded YOU. And, look! I am with YOU all the days until the conclusion of the system of things.”
And gong by ALL the scriptures, a lot in the book of John, there is no TRINITY. There is Jehovah God, his son, Jesus Christ and the Holy Spirit is God's POWER, NOT A THIRD INDIVIDUAL. God has always been in existence. Jesus was created. [ Proverbs 8; 22-31]

There is more...

Answer 5

Good that you asked.

I'm Pentecostal.
I believe the Holy Ghost baptism is the born-again experience.
It is a supernatural experience, and has no earthly counterpart.

Modern christianity is a dead religion. Because they have blocked the holy Spirit by not believing in his existence today.

since you're only 18, i'll put it in simple words.
REad ACts 2:38 and 39 and see what it says for yourselves.
The devil will try to hide the important part. so let me tell you that too.

1. Repent
2. be baptized
3. ye shall receive the gift of the Holy Ghost.
4. the promise is unto you, and to your children, and to all that are afar off, even as many as the Lord our God shall call.

No. 3 is the most important part, but avoided by every church i come across.
but unless it happens, nobody is a true christian.

Answer 6

Though I do not refer to it as a religion, the only thing that sets me apart from a general 'christian' is that I see no evidence that Yahoshua (Jesus) changed any of the laws of Torah. What was sin then is sin today. I am also a firm student of the original context the scriptures were placed in, more has been lost in translation than most realize, but there has been a great awakening of knowledge as of late. Though the closest thing to me is a Messianic Jew, I am not this. A servant of YWHW is as close as it gets to titleing me I think. Though Nazerne was the name of the original faith of the apostles, and that is what I pursue.

Answer 7

I'm Catholic.I'm from Croatia and Catholics are 87% of the population.There are only a handful of Baptists.So I don't know much about your religion.But I will tell you what I know.Catholic priests are never married.We believe that man can not fully take care about his people,and on the other hand his family.And that he is to follow one path only.Jesus never married,so it is also for that reason.Also,women can't serve as priests because they don't have inner strength as powerful as man.That is not chauvinistic,women in our religion is the source of life,and all respect we must give to her.But in the history of recorded daemon
possessions never was the case that priest was possessed,but many times Nones were.I know that protestants reject one chapter of Bible that says that man must do good deeds to go to paradise,they believe that believing is enough.But I say if you believe,you will do good things.And if you don't believe,there is nothing you can do,to make up for that.I've been approached many times by many different people,they would try to get me to cross to their religion,but they never were able to out-argument me.Because I have great knowledge about my religion.I like that kind of discussions.I hope i helped.

Answer 8

Friend, it is almost impossiable to tell you our beliefs in this site, Read Acts, 2:36-46 I follow the Apostles Doctrine, If you want to put a name to us , Then it will be Apostolic Pentacost ,I am non denominational, With no head-quarters here on earth But our head-quarters is in Heaven If you want to see what we actually teach, our church web site is www.fachurch.org I am not trying to persuade you to our way, God can only do that, But this is the best way I can explain it in a short & simple version.

Answer 9

Very very briefly I can explain to you that Wicca is a relatively new religion based on old pagan beliefs. Although Wiccans have many different beliefs from each other which would make it nearly impossible for me to explain each belief to you, I can tell you that my coven (some of us belong to a coven which is basically a church family; some of us are solitary practitioners either out of necessity (because there's no one close enough to practice with, we haven't told anyone we're practicing Wiccans, etc) or out of preference) beliefs in Goddesses and Gods. We believe in the duality of all things. We do not place a higher emphasis on either the Goddess or the God but believe both are equal. We don't necessarily worship the Goddesses and Gods but rather show them respect as we believe they live within each of us just as the Holy Spirit lives within many Christians.

Wiccans live by the Wiccan Rede which, among many other guidelines, states " 'An it Harm None, Do What Ye Will". That means we strive to live our lives making the least negative impact on nature as possible. Many of us tend to be "tree-huggers" for lack of a better term. It also means that we don't believe in causing physical or emotional harm to anyone as anything we put into the universe will come back to us three-fold. We also never, ever manipulate someone's free will. No love spells or anything of that nature. Anyone who says they're a "White Witch" probably is NOT a Wiccan as we don't practice "White" witchcraft but simply witchcraft following the Wiccan Rede.

Witchcraft is a part of our religion but is not as scary as it sounds. Spellwork is a form of prayer but instead of asking God to do something for us, we believe that the energies within our own bodies will help us achieve whatever it is we're desiring, whether it be healing or a new job or anything in between. Many of us believe in and use the powers of crystals, incense, herbs, plants, etc. Spellwork and witchcraft is not a necessary component of Wicca but simply an "option" that is there if you want to utilize it. My husband considers himself Wiccan but has never done any spellwork whatsoever... he simply believes in the God and Goddess and such.

We also believe that every soul of Earth has life lessons they are going through. After we die, we go to Summerland, or Heaven, where our souls are able to contemplate and examine what lessons were learned, which need to be relearned, and whether any lessons were overlooked. We are then reincarnated to learn either the same lessons or a new set of lessons. We continue the cycle of life, death, and rebirth until we have finally learned all the life lessons necessary to ascend to the highest plane and are reunited with the Gods and Goddesses.

Finally, Wicca is not a cult nor is is devil worship as some people may claim. Wiccans don't believe in the Christian concept of ultimate evil, Satan or Hell. We are a very peaceful religion, tolerant of all our differences. We don't try to convert anyone as we believe that everyone has their own path to follow and if you want to become Wiccan, you'll find your way to us.

Wiccans are the people you see every day... doctors, lawyers, teachers, clerks, secretaries, housewives... some of us are "out of the broom closet" some aren't. Most of us don't dress or act any differently than anyone else around us. You'll never even know we're Wiccan unless we want you to know.

This was a great question and I hope I answered at least some of your questions. If I've confused you or if you have any other questions, please don't hesitate to email me.

Blessed Be.

Looking at the post above mine, it seems us Wiccans tend to type a lot as well. ;)

Answer 10

A Religion is born after the death of an enlightened being. Religion is group of people following certain practices taught by that being or as interpreted his followers.

Purpose of the enlightened being is to make people rise spiritually. After depart of the enlightened being purpose of religion is as interpreted by the head of its followers.

God is one, enlightened souls are above religions. People from all religions follow them.

Religious heads sometimes wrongly place religion higher than the values of on which it was formed.

Answer 11

I'm Catholic, and the best place to start when reading about the Catholic faith is in the Catechism of the Catholic Church.

Here is a good link to it:
http://www.vatican.va/archive/ENG0015/_INDEX.HTM

Here is a website created by someone who grew up Baptist but converted to Catholic. He explains why he converted. It's a great resource:
http://www.ourcatholicfaith.org/
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