Meaning when you were deep in thought one day about your specific beliefs and all of a sudden it all seemed to make sense, the "Aha! moment" if you will. What caused you to have your breakthrough?
Was it an experience that solidified your current beliefs?
Or did you change your beliefs after that moment (and what were your beliefs before that)?
Thanks in prior for your answers
2007-09-13 02:05:31 · 18 answers · asked by Southpaw 7 in Society & Culture ➔ Religion & Spirituality
When after meditating for 6 months and spending my time alone - I mean really alone, ie; foreign country, no friends, no family - my mind reached the moment of emptiness and I could see clearly that the answer does, indeed, "lie within" and that all the religious books were written because someone felt the same thing but instead of saying: "I am responsible for my life", they wrote strange stories to hold their communities together.
I suppose for those people, it was much easier to weave a yarn than it was to teach people that we each create our lives and that we are all connected. It is a big concept and interestingly, the closest explanation I have seen after researching many religions is Buddhism, barring the symbolism of the man himself. I mean the way the information is relayed. I am not referring to any symbolism, only the content and the way it is written.
I can see why people created a "god" outside of themselves because it is very intense to empty one's mind of all doctrines and chatter and information. It is also very powerful and it is where freedom lies. What happens is, your mind starts receiving "pure" information. James Clerk Maxwell was aware of this and even described it as "that which I do is not done by me but something outside of myself". The reference, "the truth shall set you free" so often quoted by religious people is truer than anyone who actually follows a religion could understand. To get to "the truth" one must give up the very religion they rely upon so heavily. The truth isn't found within any religions, it is beyond them but it is what every religion has attempted to base it's teachings. Every religion. Another reason why I think books had to be written is because to know thyself and to know others is dangerous to those who would like to control a society. If people are free to love each other and accept their own paths, then how in the world would society work?
People are comforted by having a tangible "God" they can relate to instead of understanding the actual workings of life and nature.
To sum it all up, I would say I don't have a "belief". I experience life as it comes and not try to control it by projecting what I think it should be onto it.
I felt this "eureka" moment without the religion. Now what does THAT say?
2007-09-13 02:31:55 · answer #1 · answered by KD 5 · 2⤊ 0⤋
The change from religious to non-religious didn't really have an a-ha moment. I got frustrated enough, with the trinity concept and the ability of Christians to say one thing and do another (among other things), to look at other faiths.
My period of searching among other faiths lasted about seven or eight years. In this time I got to grips with what I really believed. The real a-ha moment was when I found the term animism. At last I had a handy label that described my beliefs.
2007-09-13 02:13:11 · answer #2 · answered by Valarian 4 · 1⤊ 0⤋
I guess it was when I was baptized when I was 9. They said that I was going to be a new person in Christ, but after I came up out of the water, I was the same old me. Nothing changed at all. I knew then that that stuff just didn't work. Of course, that didn't stop the Pastor and congregation from telling me it did.
It failed to solidify belief because it didn't deliver on it's promise. I tried to believe afterwords, for my mom's sake, but I just can't stop being analytical about things. When something is supposed to happen in a certain way and it doesn't, I'm just not satisfied to pretend that it did. I consider that dishonesty. Others consider it "faith".
2007-09-13 06:55:37 · answer #3 · answered by Anonymous · 2⤊ 0⤋
A freind of mine said "I just don't believe virgins give birth."
And I thought "OMG! YOU DON'T??? Wait... neither do I. Wow. Hmm."
But that conversation came after reading Pauls letters to Timothy and dealing with the feeling that, if the Bible was actually God's words to us, then God must hate women... or lat least consider us 2nd class... and it made me feel really crappy. I mean, why would God give me intelligence and wit and reason and then forbid me to share it with half the earth's population. I concluded that He wouldn't.
Edit: another was when I was 14 and had to write my religious beliefs and I expressed that I didn't believe in Hell but that you were supposed to be good because you should deserve what you get. My parents and teacher both said that it didn't make any sense, but I didn't know about karma and I wasn't able to effectively communicate that morality and ethics need not be dictated by a vengeful God, but it was what I believed. And still do.
2007-09-13 02:24:29 · answer #4 · answered by ZombieTrix 2012 6 · 2⤊ 1⤋
For me, it was the idea that the only way to get into heaven was to believe in Christ as savior.
I remember thinking (I was about 10 or 11) what about everyone who believes in another religion?
The answer was, they go to hell.
What about those who never even heard of Christianity?
The answer was, they go to hell.
And then I asked, what happens if a person lives a good life, is respectful to others, helps out his community, and have a strong set of moral values, but does not believe that Christ was God?
The answer was, they go to hell.
At that very moment I realized that this so called God of love was nothing but a lie. Christianity was no different that Norse or Greek mythology, except they prayed to one, not many gods.
2007-09-13 02:19:04 · answer #5 · answered by most important person you know 3 · 2⤊ 0⤋
The moment I realized God was dead, is when I started looking at this website:
www.whydoesgodhateamputees.com
Before that, I was agnostic. This site proves beyond the shadow of a doubt that there is NO God. I felt a little sick inside, but it was a great day. I was liberated of my beliefs. Yes liberated: my God was one that controlled through fear alone; the Christian God.
2007-09-13 03:40:11 · answer #6 · answered by Anonymous · 0⤊ 0⤋
I don't think I really had one. I was back and forth for years before I finally shed belief in a god for good. I do remember,though, soaking in a bath one time when I was kid, wondering why 'God' would torture someone forever. I don't know how old I was. When I first seriously and deeply questioned was after a family tragedy when I was 23.
2007-09-13 02:14:57 · answer #7 · answered by /\v/\TARD 3 · 3⤊ 0⤋
I was struggling with the fact that a lot of my protestant friends were talking about the warm 'n' fuzzy feelings they got from Jesus. I knew I believed, but I didn't know why I didn't get a "spiritual high" from God. I thought I was doing something wrong.
Then a wise Catholic nun told me something I never will forget: God's grace is not a feeling. It manifests itself in us as a knowledge, and if you get a feeling along with that, it's only a psychological response to a spiritual reality.
I realized I was confusing God's Holy Spirit with adrenalin.
My spiritual life has been on the upswing ever since then.
2007-09-13 02:09:25 · answer #8 · answered by Acorn 7 · 5⤊ 1⤋
I've had a lot of mini-"Aha!"s that have brought me further along in my understanding of things, but whenever I thought I had a huge "Aha!", it was usually an emotional feeling that didn't last.
I think that deciding what you really, really believe about God and spirituality is a lifelong process--I don't expect to ever "arrive" or be 100% certain that I've figured it all out...
...but the mini-"Aha!"s are pretty nice, too.
2007-09-13 02:14:02 · answer #9 · answered by Anonymous · 2⤊ 1⤋
i grew to become into probably by myself in my cubicle yet there have been others interior the room. i grew to become into examining Microsoft documentation approximately a thank you to manage collections yet i could not discover something that pronounced a thank you to *create* a set. The "aha" 2d grew to become into whilst i found out that all the collections have been already in existence.
2016-10-10 12:09:00 · answer #10 · answered by nicklow 4 · 0⤊ 0⤋