How did you end up with the belief system you have now?

Question

Tell me about your faith journey.

Answer 1

No faith at all.

Parents took us to church every week and during the first service I attended, I knew something was out of whack. Never did believe in the paranormal, so I have been a lifelong atheist.

Having a scientist father and literary mother helped keep my mind active and curious, so logic and reason over-rode any beliefs in gods.

I later attended a conservative Baptist theology school to see if I missed anything, but it just further entrenched my atheism by showing the political and historical facts of the times leading up to the myth of the crucifixion.

Answer 2

The WHOLE story? : )

I was raised Catholic. But when I was in my mid teens, a priest revealed something that all my life I had been told something quite different. It was obvious to me that the Catholic Church had not been honest in disseminating the truth.

I started investigating other religions. And then I took some philosophy courses in collage. I heard repeatedly "the Bible says...", and they all conflicted. So, I had to read the Bible to find out for myself what it really said.

I believe that it was God who led me through these experiences and to this point (and beyond).

As soon as I started to read the Bible I found that NONE of the things people were saying about it were true. When I had read sufficiently to have a grasp of what the Bible really said, I took to rating the Sunday TV evangelists.

Most were WAY off. But two were close. I think one was Seventh Day Adventists, the other was The World Tomorrow, with Herbert Armstrong. But when Armstrong mentioned something that I had studied and concluded the same thing, I had to investigate this one further. I started reading their literature and found most everything in accord with the Word of God.

Though I fellowshipped with that group for about 10 years, when Herbert Armstrong died, that church was taken over by an apostate group and no longer teaches biblical doctrines. I find today that Living Church of God teaches much the same as Herbert Armstrong did. Their Web site can be found at:
http://www.livingcog.org/
.

Answer 3

Sometimes you have to question things with intelligence.
I never agree with harming or hurting anything and the fact that there are religions out there that assist and condone the slaughter/abuse of innocent creatures is simply wrong enough for me to know they're not the real truth.
God would Never allow for any of His creation to be unnecessarily damaged like they are right now.

Secondly human beings are supposed to be humaine. Most religions don't instill very basic and important common -sense morals and principles into followers. if the basic foundation is improper how can it be scrupulous.

Third: people who are being deceived allow themselves to be cheated when they want to and when they fail to use logic and reason. there is no such thing as blind faith, unless it's the absolute truth.

So how do I know I am in the right, simple: I found a movement that explains everything sensibly.
Everything I believe in is encompassed.
The knowledge source is 100% authentic, unchanged, fact based and extremely logical. All questions can be answered and tested with logic.
It is not biased and teachings, altho intricate can be explained with simplicity. Categories dealing with God are also scientific. There is allot of information and this is by far the only movement that has direct conversation between God and desciple: and remains original.
Also this movement has no human founders, it is eternal and has many branches to other religions and sects, Such as Bhudhism, Christianity, Shivaites, etc, but it is the only one that contains all the truths, and answers people seek, It's the only one that had been passed to selected people for millenia unchanged and it is only now that the world has been given an opportunity to learn the facts and go back to Godhead. No one is forced to believe and it surely doesn't beg people to follow when it's all plain to see facts, truths, the real thing!

What is it: Vedic philosophy and is being practiced by ISKCON. (International Society for Krsna Consciousness).

Answer 4

Well I was raised with Hindu/Jain beliefs. It was all too confusing. Hinduism just did not fit with my views because I was doubtful about the existence of God. So I read a little more about Jainism and found that to be way too extreme although it's a great philosophy. I am kind of warming to Buddhism right now. But that doesn't mean I am going to be Buddhist. I'll take inspiration from all of them.

Answer 5

Voodoo has a stigma to it and people don't know what it is truly about. I have read a little as I go to Haiti once a year on mission trips. We are against voodoo as it is not Christ centered. Period. I don't need to educate myself entirely to know that I don't want anything to do w/ it if it is not Christ centered. I am not going to try to have a logical discussion w/ you about voodoo because I don't know enough about it. Voodoo in Haiti can get pretty weird. We are there to represent Christ. We don't shove God down their throats. We mostly work w/ Christians but will be showing "the jesus film dubbed in kreyole" in a little village called Bertrand where there are a lot of people who practice voodoo. I am a little nervous as I don't think our presence will be totally appreciated there. We all have free will. Some may appreciate the message and others will decline it.

Answer 6

I was raised Catholic, and had too many questions that could not be answered. I was getting tired of being told I had to just "have faith" and stop asking questions. How do we grow if we don't ask questions and seek knowledge? So I went on a spiritual journey, and researched many differnet religions over about 8 years. I finally arrived at Paganism, as the beliefs in Paganism really felt right to me. I have been a practicing Pagan Witch ever since.

Answer 7

Hello there!

I have been a Jehovah's Witness my entire life. But even though you are raised as a JW, there comes a time when you have to decide if this is the life you want to live. You have to make the truth your own. I was baptized as a JW when I was 11 years old. We do not believe in baptizing babies, as it is their choice to make if they want to worship Jehovah. I am now 30 years old and have no regrets. I would do it all over again. Here in the last few years, my hubby and I have really enjoyed researching deep questions of the Bible. We have many Bibles here at our house. We do use as our Staple the New World Translation as it is easy to understand, but we use many different ones in our studies. We have alot of fun researching and studing the Bible. So there you have it! :) Thanks for the question.

Answer 8

Long history in religions and colleges plus writing to people all over the planet. I knew Christendom was just pagan stuff glossed over and reworded.

I prayed for a penpal to show me if there was a true religion actually serving the true God (found his name in the KJV Bible at Exodus 6:3 on my own). Shortly thereafter, an elderly JW lady in California wrote to me. A year later, I became a JW. That was 20 years ago.

I collect references, Bibles, original language works, interlinears, etc. for research now and to help my Bible students see the origins of teachings/who made them up, when they were made up (Rev. 22:18, 19), etc.

Debbie

Answer 9

My childhood faith was Christians, but then I was agnostic ( without the decision of it, I rather slipped away from Christianity ). Then as an adult I found Jesus in a personal way and I accepted Him as my Lord and Savior. I got baptized again as an adult. I currently attend the church regularly, non-denominational.

So I am born again Christian.

Answer 10

I read CS LEWIS's comment that the Messiah was not a fine man, and a great teacher. He either was the Son of YHVH or He was a raving lunatic. That told me that the position I was on was untenable (self contradictory) so I started studying. As I studied scripture, there were things I could not understand, and things I didn't like, but I could find no reason (excuse) to throw it all out. I choose to accept the authority of the book, and it's author. Thus I left "Christianity" to become a believer.

Answer 11

I was raised baptist. I went to church every Sunday as a child. I never understood anything the preacher was saying. After church we would get french fries at mccdonalds so I basically thought I had to sit through this boring part to get to the fries, lol.

I got interested in science around 15 years old and it just seemed to make more sense than religions. I just never believed that an invisible thing or being created everything. I always thought there were more logical answers. At the present, I'm an atheist.