Are my believes drilled into my head because of my enviroment?

Question

I'm just curious, NOT LOOKING FOR ADVICE, just curious.

I grew up going to church, sunday school, and youth group. The older I got, the more I started to grow personally and spiritually. I made up my own mind that I don't have to go to church, and I don't have to read the Bible to go to heaven. I also started to wonder, how accurate is the Bible? God didn't write himself, people wrote it for him, so how do I know it's true? The only way to be denied eternity is if I don't accept Jesus as my savior (which I already did accept him), and if I deny God. I know I myself would never deny him. I would die before I would deny him. My parents are basically the same way, but they didn't teach me this, I found out on my own. Do you think I've strayed and my beliefs are this way because I surround myself with Gay friends, Harry Potter fans, and what not? Just curious on people's opnions.

Answer 1

I don't see anything wrong with exposing yourself to people with different ideas. If your beliefs are strong there is no threat to them. I also don't see anything wrong with your relationship with your God being more personal and less ritualistic.

"It is a sad fact that so many place so much importance on the Word of God, and so little on the experience."
--Neale Walsch, Conversations with God

Answer 2

Of course they are. Our society is created by protestant christianity. If one goes to church or not, they are still, from the time they are children, fed the idea that there is a god, and Jesus is real. Mohammad was wrong, Jews were misled, and all Eastern religions are crazy. Anyone who has watched a movie has seen this. At the very least, everyone in pop culture is a believer even if they are not religious. No one is an atheist, except communists. This is the reality of our culture. Even if one hears the word "family values", this brings up thoughts of religion, rather than family. It is very difficult for anyone to imagine a world without a god, and Jesus. Even though if one uses logic, it is impossible to think of a world with a God and his son that comes to earth and dies for people who are doing things that are totally in line with our nature. Your beliefs are a result of cultural influences. However, the question that people need to ask, is if their beliefs benefit them in some way. We all need to find a way to live in a crappy world full of death and disease, starvation, and children being taken as slave. If your beliefs give you some feeling of peace, then great, because it is as good as any other. If not, find something else, like Philosophy. You will find it far more difficult to answer these questions using logic, however, at least then you will know that your thoughts are your own.

Answer 3

1) The Bible does not say that the "only way to be denied eternity if I don't accept Jesus as my savior." That shows that the environmental aspect has affected your beliefs. The Bible never says that! Instead, Jesus says "If you love me, you will obey me." And how do you obey God? You follow scripture.

2) If you love God, why would you not want to read scripture? How else can we know about God? If He just said, "you're on your own," then its not Jesus and God you are worshipping...you've created your own religion.

If you are a "Christian" and the Bible is not your guide...you are following a "God" that is not the One of Moses, Elijah and Jesus. You've created your own idol.

Answer 4

What ever one associates with they take on those qualities. Depending on how much you surrender your consciousness to others and TV Billboards advertisement. etc. It is good that you questioned because there is much that is not true in the bible due to king Constantine changing the original new testament. I never gave up believing in God but I did let go of mainstream Christianity because much of it just doesn't make sense. But the essence does. Love God with all your heart mind and words. Love thy neighbor as thy self. And certain basics. For the original New testament before Constantine google gospelofthenazirenes.com Jesus originally taught karma, reincarnation, vegetarianism, and no one goes to hell eternally. One has to understand these things to really understand Gods unlimited love and mercy.

Answer 5

You are living in conflict. Your religion tells you that your gay friends, Harry Potter fans, etc. will burn in hell. However, your rational mind is telling you that this does not make sense. If you want to be a true Christian, you need to read the Bible and live by it. However, if you want to be a rational person, do what you feel is right.

Answer 6

no. you choose to believe what you believe. most of the people around me are nothing like me. bad company corrupts good character yes, but it works vise versa: good company betters bad character; you can't blame everything on your environment.

personally, I don't think God cares who your friends are, I think He cares what YOU believe and what YOU do and what YOU let influence YOU.

YOU....ehem....you got it? I believe that the Bible is God's word and of course, is basically life's instruction manual. I don't care if men actually wrote it, they were inspired by God and I believe God chose what could be included and what doesn't belong in there. church is relative. if God called you to be an evangelist or a missionary, then you may not need to go to church. but of course, God's word can be confusing, and your Family is important.

Answer 7

Yes

Answer 8

I used to think i'd rather die than deny god.

But once you realize that he doesn't exist, dying for your imaginary friend seems kind of silly.

Answer 9

No and yes. For those of us who choose to be conscious, we live and act on what we have determined to be right and wrong. Not by what people tell us we should. :)

Answer 10

Only you can answer that.