Did you do any research on any other faiths or religions, before you picked yours?

Question

Did you you choose you faith solely (or soul-ly) because your parents, or the people near you believe these things.

I ask this, because I find that the people that ask answer questions in the forum tend to be quite ignorant to the teachings and beliefs of any faith except for their own, (sometimes they are even ignorant of their own).

Have you ever considered your parents were wrong, and the only reason they follow (or followed) that path, is because their parents did, and so on and so on.

With something as important as your beliefs, wouldn't it be wiser to take the time to do a little research, educate yourself, and find out what makes the most sense, and feels right, to you?

I direct this question to all faiths, and so called unfaiths (like atheisim).

Please be honest

Roman Warrior - Not to be insulting, but I find it hilarious that you wrote "lying the foundation" and not "laying the foundation".
If it was intentional, Thumbs up

Oh, he corrected it ... I guess it wasn't intentional .... sorry pal

Answer 1

yes i did....still doing it

Answer 2

So I was raised mostly Catholic without the Catholicism, ( I know that makes no sense, but that's how it was) From there, my mother decided all I needed to know about faith, right and wrong, good and bad, all that, I could learn from Starwars and the Chronicles or Narnia. We moved to Salt Lake City, I was surrounded by Mormons, and treated by them very poorly for not being of their faith. As a project in school I had to write a report on some aspect of ancient life. I chose religions and found my own.

Answer 3

Your question is very fair and deserves an honest response. Thank you. My religious upbringing was hit or miss until my teens. I studies a lot of religions and philosophies but stayed with the religion of my youth. But I'm glad I studied those religions; they held many beautiful truths and knowing the religions helped me appreciate the followers of those belief systems. Also, by looking past just what I knew, when I came back to my beliefs, it was with a much surer faith. I didn't believe because it was all I knew; it was a choice of the head and the heart.

Answer 4

I am a member of the Church of Christ. I have not explored in detail any other religion, initially b/c this is the church I was brought up in. But, as I got older and started visiting different churches with friends I saw that I was not getting the teachings of the bible like I was used to. This religion ‘makes sense’ to me. We are taught out of the bible, any questions that I have I am shown an answer in the bible. And the words ‘I’m sure God would understand if….’ have never been used to excuse the behavior of mad today.

Answer 5

As a child, I adopted the values and faith of my parents. As an adult, I questioned it and did research on various ideologies. I came to the conclusion that the "Word of God" is best found in Creation (like getting the message of a painter through paintings). In other words, I became an empiricist, believing what I see regardless of what others say. Then during a salvinorin experience I was able to see the non-ordinary domain, which led me to research shamanism. I learned that, like me, the shaman is commonly an empiricist who gets his own spiritual experiences instead of relying on others' testimony. So I found a book "Travelling Between The Worlds" by Hillary S Webb, which contains interviews from shamans of many different paths. After reading this, I realized Core Shamanism as practiced by Michael Harner best fit the character of my experiences and values. I learned self-induced shamanic journey as a non-entheogenic methodology for divination.

I continue to research methodology in order to try it out myself, but I still avoid blindly adopting ideology. Also, i am researching shamanic connections with the Bible in order to illuminate the path towards mutual respect, for I live among Christians.

Answer 6

I was raised Orthodox Christian in a strictly religious household (My father was an Orthodox Priest), but there were some things about the religion that did NOT work for me. Although I still have respect for the religion that I was raised in, I currently do not practise it.

In point of fact, I do not practise ANY form of Christianity but rather am a Hellenic Polytheist. My current religion is one that I came to after several years of searching and study. For a time I considered myself to be Wiccan, but even that did not "fit" as well Hellenismos does.

I did the research, and even though I plan on raising my children as Hellenic Polytheists, they WILL be exposed to Christianity as well so that when THEY get older THEY can freely decide if my religion is right FOR THEM.

Answer 7

I was raised Methodist. My dad was a preacher (he has 12-13 degrees and now and antireligion website). I worked in Presbyterian, dated their preacher, attended Assembly of God briefly, ran church programs at a local radio station, have 2 degrees (one from a Baptist seminary, 1 from a state university), I studies non-Christian religions in college, American history a lot in school and college (a lot is religion based for freedom of religion etc)....I've also penpalled since age 17 and written to practically every religion there is....I found God's name in the Bible at Exodus 6:3 KJV (it is also at Psalm 83:18, Isaiah 12:2, 26:4)....I already knew churches were pagan, not Bible so set out to find the religion that served Jehovah and ONLY wanted a penpal to talk religion...only one I got was an elderly JW lady in California years later.

I collect Protestant and Catholic and other references, have read 2 copies of the Quran, have a website of references, continue to talk to anyone sincere and reasonable, well mannered, etc. Use my dad's 80,000 plus volume library whenever I want....

I've been one of Jehovah's Witnesses for 20 years this past July 4.

Debbie

Answer 8

I have been searching for most of my half century of life, and do believe that I have finally found the right church to match my beliefs.
Oddly enough, it was one that I was interested in as a child, but my parents did not agree. Go figure. I have read the bible, studied at University level, and took a course titled "Religions of the World". I have been an active member of a church that my ex-husband belonged to, and now am finally happy.
What is great is that children cannot be baptised into the church until they are of an age to agree to it. And they do not "pass the plate", as only members support the church run by volunteers, via tithing. Awesome.

Answer 9

Yes.
I was raised Catholic. They never used to answer my questions during Catechism, always told me it was a "mystery" or something.

I had a list of potential religions (all "Christian")

Whenever I met someone of a particular faith, I'd ask them a few questions. I had read a lot, so I could tell which beliefs were Biblical or not. If they were not, I'd cross them off my list.

Finally, I remained with the SDAs. I learnt a lot about Bible prophecy from them, and also the condition of the dead. I thought I had found the true religion until I came across an article in the magazine "Signs of the Times" entitled "Like Other Christians, We Believe......" and then they went on to list beliefs they had in common with other churches- the very same beliefs that made me cancel those off in the first place!!!

To cut a long story short, I met the Witnesses (who hadn't been on my list due to prejudice against them) who answered all my questions from the BIBLE and hence I found all I had been searching for all my life.

Answer 10

My mother gave me no religious upbringing per se, though she only permitted expressions of Xianity because it was 'normal'. I tried a number of Xian churches by going with other families for many years, but I knew what my beliefs where. I really tried and felt the power of Xian faith, but I knew it was not for me.

By the time I was 12, I was already Initiated as a witch. (Not Wicca, which is different, btw...) I had the visions, connections, and experiences since I was very young, and it was, and is, the only communication with the Divine that can satisfy me. Never turning from my own true experiences has given me the joy of never 'questioning' my faith, never wondering if I'm on the wrong path, except maybe that I don't do enough to celebrate and devote myself in my life. But who doesn't feel that, no matter what their religion...

Research only goes so far, and intellectualism does not help anyone 'pick' a path. One can only feel satisfied in a spirituality that reflects one's own values, vision of the world, and validates their interaction with the Divine. Research can help find what to call it, and how others who believe mostly the same things practice it, but ultimately no personal spiritualities are identical, as no two ppl can see the Universe the same way.

Whether you need to believe in rationality and individual intelligence, or total surrender to emotion, you create your own religion, like your own life, through your experiences, conclusions, and visceral contact with the Universe. If you're lucky, then they'll be plenty of others who are going the same way with you, and you get to share with them to learn better methods of self-enlightenment, and it's acceptable in polite company. If you're like me, you lose your jobs and get stoned. And not in the nice way...

But I'm still raising my daughter a witch. If she finds that form of interaction to be unsatisfying, I encourage her to discover what works for her. That's one of the lovely benefits of paganism...

Answer 11

A true Christian can answer, yes, if indeed they have followed the directions of the Word of God. Because we are directed to, "prove all things..." (I Thessalonians 5:21).

In fact, I have looked into several other major religions; and prompted by discussions in collage philosophy, I started studying the Bible. One of the first things I found out from the Bible is that the religion of my parents (Catholicism) was doctrinally in error -- it didn't follow the doctrines of the Bible at all. I discovered the same things about Judaism; both prefer their manufactured traditions to the teachings of the Word of God. Buddhism was indeed empty. Ek is contradictory. Islam is a kind of melting pot of confusion. Mormonism is a (very sad) farce. Wiccan is vain and void of validity. And Atheism is blind.

Of course the world is full of variations on these and other beliefs, and it would take many lifetimes to examine each one in very great detail. But that isn't required to find out if they are true and consistent.

I found biblical Christianity to be true, verifiable, wise, hopeful, good, consistent and valid.

And, BTW, I didn't choose God, but God chooses his people. One cannot believe unless he has the spirit of God working with or in him.

My parents remained Catholic, my brothers and sisters have gone away from that and not toward Biblical Christianity: one brother is Atheist (as a result of collage indoctrination), one agnostic, one sister Protestant, and one wishy-washy Catholic.