serious people only please :) religions?

Question

i want to research different religions, not necessarily to change my point of view or adopt a new religion, just learn more about everything that's out there.

are there any of you who, in your own research, found a certain religion, or drastically changed your views?

if so, what were your views and what are they now? what religion do you think makes the most sense and why?

Answer 1

Religions, by definition, don't "make sense". If they made sense they wouldn't be religion. An underlying commonality of all religions is their reliance on faith. Faith is belief in an idea for no good reason. Thus, in order to be religious and have faith, you have to ignore reason.

Answer 2

I have studied Taoism, Buddhism, Christianity, Scientology, Confucianism (not technically a religion), and a smattering of others. I have found them all very enlightening. I have also come to the conclusion that they all describe the same thing. I don't think it matters which path you follow, if you seek the Truth, you will find it. In the end I decided to study them all and follow none of them. I take the Truth where I find it and study the lies to find the wisdom hidden behind them.

I don't think my views have been changed drastically by any of these studies but they have certainly been broadened. I don't think that any religion makes sense by itself. It is the nature of religion that you necessarily accept the Truths of others. I believe that the search for Truth is deeply personal and even though I may eperience something as being true doesn't make it so for other people.


With Love,
Shane K.

Answer 3

It started as a joke, and it is still a joke. But it has caught on far more than the original intention. The initial purpose was to argue with the Kansas City school board in a case involving an attempt to insert religious studies into school. The argument was that if they were going to talk about religion, they had to include all religions, including the Church of the Flying Spaghetti Monster. Since that time, there have been other attempts to rally atheists and agnostics around symbols which are acknowledged to be inventions. I prefer the Invisible Pink Unicorn, myself. I love the paradox of how do you know she's pink if she's invisible?

Answer 4

Well, I am a Christian, I wasn't before but I have been now for over 20 years. I used to be an Agnostic. I plainly didn't know if there was a God or not.

After hitting bottom I finally had no pride left, and then I heard the word of God from a barber in a barber shop. I wanted to learn more so I went there even when I did not need a haircut.

After I became saved, I drastically changed. I remain changing to this day.

If you want to read my testimony, it's here:
http://blog.360.yahoo.com/blog-7rEUJP4lbqSbntikbR2aAw--?cq=1&p=20

Answer 5

I was an evangelical, protestant christian. Now I'm an Eastern Orthodox Christian. Drastically different. Like others, I found many holes in my protestant christian faith. Those holes got filled up in Orthodoxy. But a lot of junk had to get moved out of the way, and still keeps popping up, that needs to be gotten rid of!

The final part of your question:
"if so, what were your views and what are they now? what religion do you think makes the most sense and why?"

... will take many pages. But, you can send me a pm or something, if you're that desparate for reading material... =)

Answer 6

In my own research, I found the those who confess to believe in Jesus the Christ, follow not Jesus, but Moses, the prophets, Peter and Paul.

My view now is that I follow only the words spoken within the testimony of Jesus the Christ and those of His witness John.

In reading and believing in only the 4 Gospels. I eyes were open to the truth, that Jesus brought us, which is the God of Moses is Satan. "I am that I am" is and was Satan, the truth has made me free. I know who I am and from where I came, but most important, I know where the promised land and the holy place are and the Way home.

Answer 7

If you're looking for a faith that is very much about ethics, and leading a good, moral life in the here and now, and which doesn't dwell on the next life, then Judaism might make sense to you. Check out http://www.whatjewsbelieve.org/

http://jewsforjudaism.org
http://jewfaq.org

EDIT TO THE PERSON CALLING THEMSELVES 'messianic jew' - there is no such thing. You are a Christian, and should be proud of your religion. Nobody can be both Jewish and Christian, just as you can't be both Muslim and Catholic. Judaism itself defines who is Jewish and it states that once someone embraces Jesus as messiah etc, they are no longer part of the Jewish community.
So call yourself what you are: a Christian.

Answer 8

I enjoy my Unity School of Christianity (New Thought) church. That is the first time anyone ever said that I am born innocent. What a concept! And I am able to read my Bible again fearlessly now that I can look at it metaphysically. I feel like I am one with the universe. It's what I always wanted. I still don't think I know everything and if I don't agree with them, it isn't going to cause me to spontaneously combust and it helps me be more united with people of other faiths. When I'm in the other churches, I feel like I must be exclusive and am afraid to talk to God because I don't deserve him. When I'm in Unity, I feel him all around me and within me and I can accomplish more. Serving God is easier when all you have to do is give 'em what you got. Feel the love! God is love. Yipee!

Answer 9

i found that no religion was valid and that drastically changed my views on religion of course, i used my logical conclusions on religion to remove the fear of damnation etc and then the conecpt of religion was no longer valid at all, i consider myself a true free thinker, not bound by any emotion or fear to accept a particular idea, what are my views you ask? i think that the concept of god is completely irrational, does that mean i am sure that no other form of intelligence had a role in the beginning of life on planet earth? of course not, do i accept every scientific theory presented, no, i make logical conclusions to all ideas based on probability due to the evidence i uncover

Answer 10

i was raised in a pentacostal christian religion (an enthusiastic religion that focuses on the laying on of hands, and the baptism of the spirit, and speaking of tongues) we were taught that until people recieve jesus ,that they are doomed to burn forever in hell, and so the kindest thing to do is to convert as many people as possible to accept jesus as the personal savior, so they can join us in heaven.... as i got older i found this doctrine to be pretty extremist and elitist for my faith to support it.... then i came upon taoism... which is not really a religion (although some profess it to be) i could talk to you all day about taoism, but you understood it best before you ever heard of it... the more you study it, the further away you get from understanding it... better that i stop talking about it, because i will surely be misleading you... the important thing is that you examine for yourself what god means to YOU. look closely at what is inside you.... the better you understand yourself, the better you will understand god

Answer 11

I used to be a necro-canibalist, we didnt kill people and ate them, we ate the dead people because we believed that the soul of the dead person would live further in our bodies. Later when our family moved into a more civilised environment and i had the opportunity to visit school i became more and more aware that a dead soul couldnt live in another body , i havent been exposed for years to necro-canibalism and now i feel i am more an atheist