I'm confused about religions/spiritual beliefs?

Question

Ok, so I would love to know everyone's personal beliefs about their religion/spirituality and why they believe in it. I am really confused about how I feel about various religions and I would like to know other peoples thoughts and perspectives so if you could just write a little bit about your religion/spiritual beliefs and why you believe them I would be really grateful.

are there any people who believe in Hinduism, or Budhism, or Jainism out there? I'd like to lear a little more about those. Thanks to everyone who has answered to far! Can anyone explain Taoism to me a little more?

-Sorry for any misspellings in here-

sorry, I mean't LEARN, not lear and SO far, not to far.

Sorry!

what exactly are Brahmans? I think I've read about that somewhere before but I'm not sure. If you would be willing I'd love to hear more about your beliefes in depth, I understand that it could be confusing but I can try to understand it!

Thanks to everyone! I'm not going to chose a best answer because every answer is really good so I wouldn't be able to choose one anyway. I'm going to let the voters decide!

Thanks Slothy! I knew a lot of that before, the Hindu religion is very interesting to me. It is my understanding that the whole cow thing mostly came up because cows were important in Indian economics and daily life a long time ago (but that's just what I've read, i don't really know for sure)

I however did not know that castes were introduced later or that it originally started out without the commonly known Hindu gods. That bit of info is kind of comforting to me because I have found Hinduism to be the most "logical" religion that I’ve learned about. (logical doesn’t seem like the right word but, I have less questions about Hinduism and less doubts. (like with Christianity I have many questions that seem to be un-answerable and other religions as well, just giving Christianity as an example because I live in a very Christian community so it's the first thing that comes to mind, ANYWAY, back to what I was trying to say..)) Hinduism always seemed logical to me, but I never really agreed about the gods and the caste system. Sorry if my thoughts are not clear there. I have a hard time expressing my thoughts in a way that others can understand them.

Wow. Thank you so much! I hope I can continue to learn even more about Hinduism, thanks for everything you have explained to me so far! It's really helped! Thanks to everyone else also. I'm glad I asked this question, it's helped me a lot.

Answer 1

The shortest way I can tell you about everything a Catholic, as myself, believes in, is through the Nicene Creed which we recite at church:

We believe in one God, the Father, the Almighty,maker of heaven and earth,of all that is, seen and unseen.

We believe in one Lord, Jesus Christ, the only son of God,
eternally begotten of the Father, God from God, Light from Light, true God from true God, begotten, not made, of one being with the Father. Through him all things were made.
For us and for our salvation he came down from heaven:
by the power of the Holy Spirit, he became incarnate from the Virgin Mary, and was made man. For our sake he was crucified under Pontius Pilate; he suffered death and was buried.

On the third day he rose again in accordance with the Scriptures; he ascended into heaven and is seated at the right hand of the Father. He will come again in glory to judge the living and the dead, and his kingdom will have no end. We believe in the Holy Spirit, the Lord, the giver of life,
who proceeds from the Father [and the Son]. With the Father and the Son he is worshipped and glorified. He has spoken through the Prophets.

We believe in one holy catholic and apostolic Church. We acknowledge one baptism for the forgiveness of sins. We look for the resurrection of the dead,
and the life of the world to come.

I believe because through opening my heart just a little bit to God, he gave me the grace to walk by faith and not by sight.

With Peace In Christ

Answer 2

Where do I even start, without making this 2 long. Looking back, and it hasnt been that long, I can that when I was confused that God was and is calling for me. I can tell you that he will reveal himself 2 u in all kinds of ways. I dont necessarilly believe in 1 certain religion. I beleive in God's grace, his love, his patience, and his faithfulness. My journey hasnt always been easy but very much worth it! Go 2 a bookstore & pray b4 u go in. Ask him 2 lead u & guide u in the way u should go. Even if u dont seem 2 find what u feel u r lookin 4 right at first, there will b a lesson 4 u 2 help u along the way. I hope that i've helped u in some way. In Spirit

Answer 3

I would be delighted to share my belief system with you. I feel that "religion" is man made. Man made rules for the church to follow. My church is wherever I am. Wherever you are, there is GOD, HIS sky, HIS trees, HIS animals, HIS birds so why not just be in HIS church........which is outside. Even when you are inside.......who do you think invented the TV? A person that GOD had given the WISDOM to do so. All of everything that you see is GOD'S. Now, if you don't go to a church then you should read the Bible. I suggest that you start with the book of Matthew. I suggest that you find time everyday to pray. GOD made us for HIS pleasure and HE wants to hear from us everyday. Whether you know it or not when you are reading the bible you will take into your heart alot of what you read. I would suggest that you buy a bible that is friendly to read, not the King James Version as that is too hard to understand the first time reading. Get the New International Version Bible, it reads like a novel and you will learn so much more from that bible. I too personally watch a Christian TV station everyday. I wake up at 2:30 AM most mornings and I watch the pastors in thier own churches and listen to them. I take away from thier teaching what I want and the rest I let go of. So.........being spiritual is not complicated, it is not meant to be complicated, it is meant to be easy so all of humanity can be spiritual. You have to believe that Jesus died on the cross for our sins and arose on the third day and that HE will be coming back for us. He has done some wonderful things for me in my life and I tell you the truth if I did not have HIM in my life I would be dead by now. I hope I have helped. Blessings.

Answer 4

I say Pagan, but that is just an easy way to get people to leave me alone. I believe in the concept of a Brahman. I believe there are many Brahmans (string theory supports this). I also believe in the concept of a higher self. Basically I am not me. I am a shadow of me. The real me lives outside of time and space. My higher self extends out to many different Brahmans to experience life in time and space and to learn as much as possible. When I die my energy will become new life (you cannot destroy energy). It's sort of like reincarnation, but my knowledge, spirit, whatever goes back to my higher self. I may return to this Brahman or another one. I may not.

It's a little hard to discuss in any more depth. Time and space are illusions, but we humans understand the universe in time and space. In other words it's a little difficult to paint a picture for people. I could go on about my higher self being in different times on this Brahman and others, but that gets confusing.

Answer 5

Pagan Taoist (atheist) ;-)

I'm a pagan because I celebrate the Celtic pagan holidays. It's a way of celebrating life. I do it because it's fun and it makes a lot of sense to me.

Taoism describes my spiritual view. I came into it after redefining what thought of 'god' until it became such an abstract concept I couldn't describe it anymore. Then I read about Taoism in a world religions class and was really struck by how I already thought that way.

I no longer believe that deities are real, but that they are symbols, metaphors, and archetypes.

Answer 6

Ok, so you are confused with religions and spiritual beliefs... As you know there are different kinds of religions all around the world.... They have different names of their God and they have different rituals, cultures and way of life and the way they celebrate their beliefs and faith in their God... But you will notice if you sudy and look very closely to all of these religions that they have similarities.... First, the golden rule... Do you know the goden rule? "Do unto others what you want them to do unto you.".... They all believe in that and of forgiveness and they all have God, just different in names... The reason why this happened is because some of the people of the religions have different ideas, beliefs or perspectives of the religion and decided to alter and make their own religion but with same ideas just changed some of the names and termas they use and dome of the ceremonies that are usually done....

hope i helped you with my answer.... my advice is just keep on reading articles about these topic or go to the library or search the net.... You will find these very interesting and if you have knowledge about these things, you will have different notions and maybe have ideas about the reasons beyond these topic... Good luck!

Answer 7

The Bible is the infallable and inerrant (without error and complete) words of God. It is clear and complete and perfect (Psalms 19). The only Book exists in the past, today and will continue in the future...because it has no sins in it so His words will endure forever.

Jesus is the subject Messiah and Savior of the Bible. He became man and dwell among us as been predicted 440 times in the Bible. The remaining 220 predictions are about His second coming. He who believes in Him and receive Him as God will have eternal life (John 1:12 and John 3:16) and will never perish, but to those who will reject Him is already condemned and will surely judge and will perish eternally.

You can receive Jesus by faith (Ephesians 2:8-9), belieiving in Him and His words. Pray and ask Him to come in to your life right now and repent all your sins to Him and He will forgive you. He will come and dwell with you (Revelations 2:20).

And start reading His word in the book of John and Romans. Attend to a Christian church where the only Word of God is teach. Learn the Fundamentals of Faith teach in the Bible so you will not be mislead with the power of this world that blinded the eyes and cannot see and seek the true God.

Remember that Atheist do not believe God and but they are not ashame borrowing God's creation and never pay rent to God because their feet are still standing in the world He created even their lives. And gnostic (the enemy of Atheist...for sure atheist do not know this?) believes that their high minded knowledge is the only answers to the truth and they also believe that God did not exists. Atheist should get this...that those gnostics are their earth's idealogical arch enemy not the Christian. I know they will awake right now when they read this... 'coz lots of atheists are ignorant and never study others ideological beliefs.

Read the Bible...

Bible

Answer 8

There's a lot of religions/belief systems out there but the major ones are the Abrahamic religions. Abrahamic religions are Judaism, Christianity and Islam. Judaism is the oldest of the three. Then came Christianity and finally Islam. I myself am muslim. My mother was born christian and my father born muslim. Through studying and a lot of reading, I came to the personal decision/conclusion that Islam was the best choice for me. The Quran (which is Islam's holy book) explains the evolution of the Abrahamic religions very well. It does not deny Judaism, nor does it deny Christianity. It states that God (Allah in Arabic) sent his first message to the human kind through the Jewish Scriptures. That is when Judaism was born. God then sent us the Gospels (think of it as the Bible) and finally sent us the Quran which is God's last and final message. All of the messengers in Judaism and Christianity are validated in Islam: Moses, Jesus, Isaac, Abraham, Muhammed, etc etc. The main difference between christianity and islam (Trinity aside) is that Christians do not believe in God's last messenger: Muhammad (PBUH); just like Jewish people do not recognize Jesus Christ. In the Quran, God states that he sent this last message to men because through our flaws, we managed to distort and corrupt his words . In other words, his final message is a way for him to make things clear to the human kind. Although the Quran is the only holy book that has been untouched by mankind (Only 1 true version, no modifications), some Islamic governments and organizations are still managing to interpret or twist god's words to their advantage (i.e. innocent killing by extremists, mistreatment of women, etc). Thankfully, this does not represent a majority of muslims. A lot of people have misconceptions about Islam and that's really unfortunate. You must read the Quran (you'll need people to help w/ the reading process because it's a very complex book) in order to understand its intentions. But if I could sum it up in a few words.... it would look something like this: Have true faith in God, be righteous, Pray, help the needy, Treat people kindly and fairly, maintain peace, Fight against the evil within yourself, help the oppressed, make no distinction between races, etc etc (I could go on for a while). This post is long enough... I'll let others have some room. lol. sry.

Just one more thing, for anyone who's looking to get clarification about some misconceptions of Islam, check this page:

http://www.usc.edu/dept/MSA/notislam/misconceptions.html

It's well organized and not a lot to read.

Jewish, Christian or Muslim... we must learn about each other to Coexist. Peace.

Answer 9

Christ was first of God’s Col. 1:15; Rev. 3:14
creations

Christ died on a stake, Gal. 3:13; Acts 5:30
not a cross Bible is more reliable Matt. 15:3; Col. 2:8
than tradition

God’s name is Jehovah Ps. 83:18; Isa. 26:4; 42:8, AS;
Ex. 6:3 one of jehovah witnesses

Answer 10

I'm a Christian who believe in the fullness of the gospel. I believe that the gifts of the Spirit are still available today. I have felt the presence of the Lord in many church services. Usually during praise and worship service, revival or when God gives a message in tongues and the interpretation. Its wonderful to be saved and on my way to heaven.