What do you believe?

Question

What led you to where you are in your beliefs?

Believers: Were you always a believer, or did something happen to make you believe?

Non-believers: Have you always not believed or did something make you not believe?

Just curious and would like to know your thoughts and opinions on the matter.

Answer 1

I’m 46 years old and spent a large part of my life, studying and searching for a religion that both made sense to my mind and spoke to my soul. I have always believed that the soul of an individual continued on after death. In my search I have studied Christianity, Hinduism, Buddhism, Daoism, and Neo-Paganism.

About 15 years ago, while I was still searching, I had a life changing experience. (A near death experience.) The doctors tell me I should have died, but I didn’t. During this experience a woman with red hair and dressed in green came to my aide. It’s very hard to explain, she never spoke but she communicated so much to me. She held my wounds closed standing next to the doctor, yet never seen by him. Once my wounds were treated end I was out of danger she turned into a large crow and flew away. But I knew she was always watching over me.

A few years after the experience, I was introduced to the Irish Pre-christian Gods and to their stories. My spiritual connection to them was instantaneous. From the time of my introduction to them I have worshiped and given honor to them. How I worship them has changed as my understanding of them have changed. But I have not and do not question my belief in them. They are as real as myself, or the computer I am sitting in front of. The Gods are real and so is Magick

Answer 2

I was raised as a Catholic. By my early teens I had taken on board the supposed beliefs and come to the conclusion that God wouldn't like me.I spent the next 30 years as an atheist.

At the age of 41, I ws persuaded to go to church one day by a friend "as something to do". It wasn't long before I instinctively felt that I was doing the right thing.

I'm no longer a Catholic, but I have come to realise that what I had been taught was wrong; I believe in the Love of God and the give of everlasting life through Jesus. Lately I have become more involved in my church, and again feel instictively I'm doing the right thing. I think God is telling me something!

Answer 3

I think that when when something bad happens to us that can help us move forward towards God. I was a non believer until I nearly died three years ago, the fear was so much that I was in a lot of turmoil. I thought about death and what happens afterwards and the thought of going to hell helped me want to learn about God and become a Christian. I have made the right choice and now I believe that when I die I will see my family and I will go to heaven. :) Sometimes you gotta go through the bad stuff to get to the good stuff!

Answer 4

Well I am a Baptist. Right now I am out of fellowship with Christ and God. Not because I am mad at them but because of me. I am the prodigal daughter right now. I didnt get saved till March 4, 1999. The only thing that happened was the Holy Spirit knocked on my heart and showed me I was a sinner headed for a devil's hell.

Answer 5

i was raised a strict catholic. i strayed a little bit from age 15 to 26. just a few months ago i began looking for a church to attend when i noticed my son knew more about santa claus and easter bunny than God. I am now a Baptist and I enjoy my church and my son attends Sunday school and he enjoys that very much and has learned alot.

my opinion is that u should put God first because everything is created by Him and happens because of Him.

Answer 6

Looking at 1 of the other answers, I think one thing that helped me is my parents never lied to me as a kid. I was never lied to about christmas, halloween, easter, tooth fairy, stupid lies about God, things getting here by accident that man could not do on purpose, etc.

Instead, they told me the truth, as far as I could understand at that age. As I grew, I learned more complex explanations. God has a name and qualities much like the best of human qualities only to a perfect degree. Much later, I learned this is something most adults did not know. I learned to read well early and read mainly reference books. I learned of other religions, mainly those near me. I saw problems with them as far as just being reasonable first then, other beliefs that were not in the Bible.

I accept God would want to communicate what He wanted for humankind and it would have to be special. The Bible fits those requirements. As I studied what God requires and desires, it helped me rule out different religions.

To be a Christian is to literally follow the Christ. To believe as he did and do what he told followers to do. He used the books of the Bible already written and personally knew the men who wrote the rest. The true religion could only follow closely the Bible. If it taught anything else, it is wrong.

Trinity doesn't make sense to begin with and it isn't in the Bible. It did exist in pagan religions before false christians took it in. Jesus told followers to stay away from unclean or pagan things. To be clean, stay away from dirty things. Well DUH!!! That does make sense! If a religion finds they have beliefs that are dirty, get rid of them or get rid of the relgion.

What happens when you die? It doesn't make sense for a loving God to torture people or for them to go on in another life. If it did, why not cut out the middleman and just go from birth to spirit. The middle on earth has no purpose. The Bible tells at death, man is asleep with no thoughts. That makes sense. That is a loving God. Most religions do not teach that. Most people deny that and are scared to look because they might have to change. This means those religions are false.

The only religion that does teach only the beliefs of the Bible and has people living according to Bible principles are Jehovah's Witnesses.

Answer 7

Hbr 4:6 Seeing therefore it remaineth that some must enter therein, and they to whom it was first preached entered not in because of UNBELIEF:

Hbr 4:9 There remaineth therefore a sabbath for the people of Yahweh.


Hbr 4:10 For he that is entered into his rest, he also hath ceased from his own works, as Yahweh [did] from his.


Hbr 4:11 ¶ Let us labour therefore to enter into that rest, lest any man fall after the same example of UNBELIEF.


Hbr 4:12 For the word of Yahweh [is] quick, and powerful, and sharper than any twoedged sword, piercing even to the dividing asunder of soul and spirit, and of the joints and marrow, and [is] a discerner of the thoughts and intents of the heart.

Answer 8

I'm an atheist - there's no reason to believe in any gods more than there's a reason to believe in any superheroes.


Nobody can prove any gods, much less a specific god, exist; many people will tell you their god exists but no others, but will never be able to prove it, even if they think so. Some will threaten you with eternal pain or promise eternal joy to get you to believe in their god; these are all stories, created for people who were scared long before we understood the universe. Now we have no more reason for these superstitions.

How terrible the bible in particular is:
http://www.skepticsannotatedbible.com/
http://www.evilbible.com/

What's the origin of the Jesus stories?
http://www.religioustolerance.org/chr_jcpa5.htm
http://www.near-death.com/experiences/origen048.html

How silly and horrible religion in general is:
http://godisimaginary.com/
http://whywontgodhealamputees.com/

The alternative:
http://www.religioustolerance.org/
http://www.infidels.org/
http://www.positiveatheism.org/
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Unitarian_Universalism
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Secular_humanism

Answer 9

I believe that when :

We arrive it is called birth.?

We hang out here for a while and we call it living.

When we are no longer living we call it death.

After death is nothing




Really why should there be anything else?

Answer 10

Such a narrow, implied, field of choice.
Believer implying I'm an American Protestant, a fundamentalist Christian.
Non-believer, implying I'm an atheist, and quite likely fundamentalist in my views.
Do I take questions like this seriously?
Not in R&S.