Who thinks Gods exists but religion is manmade and pointless?

Question

I really wish I could join a religion but they all feel so fake, man-made and cult like. How can I develop my own personal god within me and feel the joy that those in religion experience?

Answer 1

you need to find the right church
it took my family years to find the best church ever

Answer 2

I feel similar to the way that you do, I believe in a higher power but I don't feel comfortable blindly following one set religion. I don't believe that one religion is better or has more validity that any other.

I do disagree with you that religion is pointless however, as it has helped many people just get through the day, and gives people a reason to help others and generally be all round good people.

If you want to feel the joy that others feel through God, just look inside yourself. You are God's creation, enjoy the gift of life and love that has been granted to you.

Recognize that God must have a plan if the world has been in balance for this long without tipping one way or the other. There may be people who disagree with this, but even when Hitler was being so destructive, there was an outpouring of love and kindness and fight for the right coming from people. So it WAS balanced. There is a reason for there being good and bad...and for there being a lot of grey area. I say this a lot, but read the Giver...it willl help you see why things can't be set one way all of the time...maybe Hitler should have read it too...Without the bad, there is no good...Which leaves the question, then if whatever good you do makes available space for bad, what is the point?

I hate to end this with a quote from "Charmed", but "It's better to be good that is sometimes bad, than bad which is never good."

Hope this helps some, good luck on your journey!

Answer 3

Do you not feel the joy that those in religion feel? If not, maybe going to a community of like-minded individuals will help you to understand your God better, to share your ideas, and to hear those ideas of others. To practice the teachings of a religious life and to support one another. There should be a joy in knowing God, and that is enhanced by the community who shares that joy with one another.

Even if some of the church members and practices seem rehearsed, or fake, or worse - that does not mean that you can not gain other things by joining in.

Talk with many churches and find the leadership that feels the best, and build your religious beliefs from there

Answer 4

Go may be a personal God, but you can't just make Him your genie. I hate the term religion. I label my self a Christian because it is easier than to list all of my beliefs. If you live your life the way God tells you to in the Bible, a lot of what makes religion feel like a cult will be understandable & sometimes unnecessary.

I guess you can make up a god, a god that will feed your sinful human nature, and only be given temporary happiness. I say temporary because ALL earthly things will perish. Or you can choose a righteous God, one that offers forgiveness & love when we ask for it. A selfless God who gives His only Son so that our sins may be covered, by His blood, and live our life the way that God wants us to, so that we may store up heavenly treasures, spiritual treasures that will not perish with our earthly bodies. A God that will teach you to be content with all that you do or don’t have, because you know that all those possessions will also perish one day.

I could never make up a personal god, which can compare with the real God. Which would you rather have?

Answer 5

I agree, all formalized and some non-formalized religions are cults, man-made, and pointless.

You don't want the joy that those in religion have because it is short-lived and most time they put on a facade because they wish to look like they have it. Why do you think so many people say things like, "I needed to go to church because...?" It is because they don't have real joy and their lives manifest that truth. They have a short lived spirit of satisfaction that does not even last to the next day.

If you truly want to develop righteousness within you, I suggest you study the bible and obey what it is teaching. To cease from sin is the only way to find joy in this life because the guilt of disobedience will never allow you to have true peace and joy.

This is a good starting point

Jam 1:27 Pure religion and undefiled before God and the Father is this, To visit the fatherless and widows in their affliction, and to keep himself unspotted from the world.

Start here with helping those in need without desiring attention or boasting of your good deeds, read the Scriptures, and Yah will provide understanding on what you must do. Because you must learn what your sins are and cease from them, but only Yah knows your heart.

Answer 6

God, The Creator of all things, is real. Someone who says he doesn't exist is asked one question, by me: The breath of life was breathed into Adam by God. Who did you breathe all night, as you slept?

Religion IS man-made, as each religion has a different belief on something vital. Catholics believe that Mary is a channel to reach the audience of God, where the Bible says " No man cometh unto the Father but by me."(Jesus)

Satan has produced many false teachings, and has used these teachings to separate the believers. Satan has used the best way to make people believe in false teachings: mix truth with a lie and it becomes believable.

If you need a guide for finding the belief you seek, use the Bible. This is the foundation for most religions...even the Muslim faith!

Answer 7

Protestantism, especially in its Bible-thumping fundie version, creates people who are isolated, their relationship with their God being merely individual. The Catholic communions, whether Roman, Anglican or Orthodox, understand that Christianity is to be experienced in community. You are part of a community which is the Body of Christ, and your worship is perfomed in the company of not only others now living but also including the communion of all the saints of the past. Note that prayer is encouraged within community, using the Book of Common Prayer, where "common" is what we mean today by the word "communal".

Christianity was founded as a communal experience centered on actions, particularly the sacraments: baptism and the eucharist. The modern fundies have lost their way, cut off from their roots in communal Christianity. Their religious practice is isolated and individual - the "me-and-Jesus" way. They have completely lost contact with the apostolic succession of bishops established by Christ and continued to this day through ordination with the laying on of hands. The fundies are adrift, a fringe movement in Protestantism which has contributed nothing to human advancement or well-being. (No frozen fundie mind has developed a polio vaccine or discovered a new galaxy.)

So if I were desirous of attaching myself to a religion I would seek out a *community* with some sense of continuity linking it with the original apostolic Christian church. The earliest Christians were at Antioch, and the Antiochan Orthodox communion still exists and has websites. In the English-speaking world, the High Anglicans preserve the traditions of the original Christianity as they have since 602 A.D., when Augustine founded the Church of England at Canterbury, on orders from Pope Gregory the Great. Then there's the Roman communion, with churches everywhere, but somehow they seem to lack the depths of thought and communal experience that the Orthodox and the High Anglicans maintain.

Best wishes to you in your search.

Answer 8

I, like you, am not truly involved with an organized religion. I believe there is a God most definitely; I also believe that organized religion is a good thing if that's what floats your boat. But the religion is not the belief...being a part of a church or sect or whatever they chose to call themselves isn't 'believing in God'. The joy and peace of believing in God comes from your everyday life and your interaction with Him not others in a building. I sincerely feel that you do not need a building around you for God to listen to you or to come into your soul and make your heart sing.

I read my Bible...smell the roses when they are in bloom...and I feel God in my life and the peace is in my heart that you gain from the knowledge of not being alone.

Answer 9

I'm agnostic but your question is excellent. I have asked the same question. You don't need religion to have a relationship with God. My boyfriend is Catholic, well mostly =). He was raised in the Catholic church and was an alter boy for many years; however there are many practices in organized religion that he doesn't believe in. For instance, he doesn't think he should have to confess his sins to another human being - only to God through prayer. I know many people who have relationships with God and are in no way associated with any religion. Church is for the most part a social gathering of like-minded individuals who desire to practice their faith and expand upon it with others who believe as they do (this statement is not meant to be offensive). It's perfectly okay for some people, for others it doesn't work. Pick what works best for you. Or try small bible study groups perhaps with close friends or family, whom you are comfortable discussing your views with, but who will not require anything of you, but merely a belief in God. Good luck.

Answer 10

I believe God exists, and I believe religion is man-made, but not pointless. Practice your own way of worship alone and by yourself. You don't need a minister or church to connect with God. See God how you will, and speak to Him/Her as you will. Do your own thing, using your intuition and just do whatever feels right. You'll feel a lot better.

Blessed Be.

Answer 11

you can have a direct, personal relationship with God without going to church. i know it can seem kinda cult like in some churches. religion is a man made term that is used to divide people. God and spirituality can be found within. you dont need a preacher in the pulpit telling you what to do.