I know this is a controversial subject and I will get some crazy answers but..i wanna know if there is anyone who feels the same way i do about this subject.
I was raised christian and married a man who taught me to think for myself. Now i found myself wondering how am i supposed to know what religion is true or real after research. its like growing up i was taught if i didn't accept christ as my savior bc a book told me to that was written by a bunch of men who wrote what they were feeling that day..or what god himself supposedly told them then i would be thrown into hell. scary thought..i guess what i am trying to say is how do you know whats right. what if there is one god and he loves all ppl and there isn't one specific religion that you should live by. what are your thoughts..
2007-10-30 05:04:20 · 41 answers · asked by Anonymous in Society & Culture ➔ Religion & Spirituality
There are a lot of people who are going to disagree with you.
But I (and many others) think you're correct. God, assuming one or more exist, is too big for any one religion.
2007-10-30 05:07:17 · answer #1 · answered by Anonymous · 8⤊ 6⤋
You need to search your heart and spend some time in deep thought. Have you read the Bible? What do you know in your heart to be true? If you husband disagrees with your faith, then there are other issues you need to work on. The Bible is not something that "a bunch of men wrote..." It is the inspired Word of God. No one can make you believe anything. The choice is yours and yours alone. Many people will disagree with your decision, others will congratulate you on it. In the end, you are the one that has to live with your choice.
There is only one God. The Almighty Father in heaven. Jesus Christ was His only Son, born of the Virgin Mary, to come and fulfill the law of the Old Testament. If you research, you will find that the Bible is the only religious text that has been proved to be historically and archaeologically accurate. No other religious book can claim that.
Being a Christian doesn't mean you can't think for yourself. There are many religious groups that brainwash people. There are even some that call themselves Christian that do that. However, true Christians are loving and caring people. We encourage you to find out for yourself what is true. We pray for you, and hope that you will find the truth and love of Jesus for yourself.
2007-10-30 05:16:56 · answer #2 · answered by notarycat 4 · 0⤊ 1⤋
Ooh, you've been brought into postmodernism. It's good and bad, isn't it? Good in the sense that you have been elevated from tribalism, you can now see life from multiple points of view and see the truths in several of them. Bad in the sense that now it makes it awfully hard to live with and accept the way you were raised because that way claims to be the one right way and makes some pretty difficult to swallow claims about God. So now you are caught in the traditional postmodern problem: I can't believe the way I used to, but I can't adjudicate what IS true except for myself!
I spent many years in that place. I found the answer in the book Beyond the Postmodern Mind by Huston Smith, in which he presents the answer as found in Aldous Huxley's book The Perennial Philosophy.
Basically, postmodernism allows us to see what is true from every point of view and thus to come to some conclusions about objective reality. And those conclusions are that Love is good. Loving someone involves subjugating ourselves and putting their needs ahead of our own. Hate is bad. Hate largely involves being selfish at the expense fo another person. This general current is the way of the universe, and this way is something beyond all thoughts and words, a recognizable part of something divine that lives outside and inside me. All time-tested religions are expressions of this truth, including Christianity.
If I were in your shoes, I'd check out Huston Smith's book and see how you react to it. If you connect with the problem he lays out, and wit the solution, you might also consider Smith's Why Religion Matters and Marcus Borg's The Heart of Christianity. All of these books are directed at someone exactly in yoru shoes. They argue that faith has very little to do with what you believe intellectually as factually true and far more to do with how participating in a certain faith and acting as if it were true affects your soul.
Good luck on your journey!
2007-10-30 05:24:52 · answer #3 · answered by Anonymous · 0⤊ 0⤋
As an atheist, I haven't seen any evidence to indicate that there is any deity and there certainly is no evidence that any holy book is a trustworthy source of information about their deities.
As you search and research, keep in mind several things:
1. You do not need a religion to be moral and to do the right thing.
2. Be objective about what you read, any group or individual will try to paint their beliefs in the best light.
3. Personnel experiences sound like good evidence until you realize that believers in all religions have the same or similar.
4. Your beliefs will color how you interpret information (this goes back to being objective.)
5. You can believe whatever you want, but belief does not change the facts.
Good luck and keep an open mind.
2007-10-30 05:14:01 · answer #4 · answered by Pirate AM™ 7 · 2⤊ 1⤋
Huge subject.. I know you don't want to read a book on this subject.. I'll just say that the Bible has been shown to be prophetically true. Read Psalms 22 and Isaiah 53.. While you read there you can see that Jesus is the person the scripture is talking about.. Life Eternal Life is a gift from God.. He doesn't ask you to join a church, He doesn't ask you to do any good work.. Just trust Him to do for you what he says he will do... If you do that you will be His child... and have life given to you.. It's not being good it's not church it's relationship.. Are you ready for that? IHS Jim
2007-10-30 06:10:13 · answer #5 · answered by Anonymous · 0⤊ 0⤋
You can never know for certain.
However, reading the holy texts of the main religions the gods that they offer up are cruel, uncaring and contradictory.
Either the description is accurate and god makes no sense. Or the description is inaccurate and so can not be trusted.
Either way I see no reason to follow any of the major religions based on their texts, and many reasons not to.
Also, why believe in a god if ther is no evidence to do so? Why not believe in dragons? Or mermaids?
There are good reasons to believe in these things. Build you house out of stone. It will cost more, but you will be the one that survives when the dragons do turn up. Do not go to the sea, because then you can never get lured to your death by the mer-people.
These are as valid arguments as Pascal's wager. Yet people laugh at those that believe in dragons and mermaids. At the same time they are quite happy to believe in the great sky pixie and give 10% of their money to the people who claim to represent him.
2007-10-30 05:20:38 · answer #6 · answered by Simon T 7 · 0⤊ 1⤋
Hello,
Good question, i´ll give a link about this matter is a serie of videos about it, whether you ´ve a little bit of time check this out....http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ho5pmVJM1SY
"what god himself supposedly told them then i would be thrown into hell. scary thought"....
If we compare that though which could be that what most people believe with that with Christ came to show about the character of our loving Father you might see some supposed contradictions between the OLD and NEW Testament, because God as revealed in Christ if isn´t studied at the light of the cross in the OLD testament would look as another God...
Greetings
2007-10-30 05:15:21 · answer #7 · answered by Anonymous · 0⤊ 1⤋
13 don't stress yourself out over this. Have you found a path in life that makes you happy and gives you some peace in life. If you have, no matter what that path is it is the right one. If you haven't yet then just keep looking for yourself. Remember that the only person on this planet you can MAKE happy is yourself. Don't let anyone bully you into something that doesn't work for you just 'cause they think it is the right thing.
Good luck with your search.... and if you ever want any research thoughts email me.
2007-10-30 05:13:39 · answer #8 · answered by Yup it's me! 2 · 1⤊ 0⤋
I always thought that there are two kinds of religious people. Those who believe what they are told and those who believe what they feel is right. Doesn't matter what religion. I always identified with Thomas. "The one that asked for proof." He felt ashamed that he needed that proof, but was convinced when Jesus freely gave it to him. Jesus didn't cast Thomas away after that. So I went through exactly what you are going through. I poured over dozens of religious texts from Buddhism to Catholicism. I took theology and world religion classes in college. I looked everywhere. Eventually, I found my proof. And that was the end of it.
I hope you find what you're looking for. Wherever it is!
On a side note: Faith of any kind is proven to help people live through diseases and hard times in their lives. Mind-over-matter? Placebo effect? maybe. But I need all the help I can get.... :)
2007-10-30 05:16:57 · answer #9 · answered by Darksuns 6 · 1⤊ 0⤋
The Bible claims to be truth "...thy word is truth".
Should you be surprised when someone who doesn't believe in the Bible claims it's not true? What evidence do they have? Answer: slim and none.
Fulfilled prophecy is one of the surest evidences. Archaeology has also proved many things that secular folk claimed weren't true, such as Hittites present in Canaan when Israel moved there. Some Archaeologists have even been accused of being Christians or Jews because of this!!
Peter also says they were eyewitnesses of Jesus ministry (2 Peter 1:16).
"...no prophecy of the scripture is of any private interpretation. For the prophecy came not in old time by the will of man: but holy men of God spoke as they were moved by the Holy Ghost."
2007-10-30 05:15:31 · answer #10 · answered by zeal4him 5 · 1⤊ 1⤋
God is speaking to your heart. I pray that the Holy Spirit will lead you to the appropriate church - Jesus established the Catholic Church over 2000 years ago and I heartily recommend you contact a priest and find out what Catholics are all about. Everything that I am is a gift from God. Faith comes from believing in Jesus Christ - that he is our Savior and died for our sins, arose from the dead and ascended into Heaven where He is preparing a place for us. The Word of God was inspired by God - Read the Scriptures daily and be drawn to God. I will keep you in my prayers. God Bless you. You will meet many obstacles along the way but keep reaching out to God and He will bring you close and give you the faith you need.
2007-10-30 05:14:29 · answer #11 · answered by Carolyn T 1 · 2⤊ 1⤋