Where do you get your beliefs from?

Question

Anyone, Christians, Catholic, Mormons, Jews, Islams, Buddhists, Atheists, Agnostics. Why did you become this? It seems a lot of people just take and accept their parents religion, almost as if it was a biological trait handed down. Is it wrong if someone says that they are "half-anything" just because one of their parents is one religion and the other is a different one.

Did you ever take the time to read up on other beliefs and other stories of other religions, just to see if maybe their version of "it" makes a little more sense to you than what you were "handed down"?

This is honestly a question, and not an accusation

Im glad a lot of people have read about other religions. I wish i could say ive read them all, but i cant, its still a work in progress. Since everyone else has shared, i will too: I was born with Catholic and Protestant parents. I went to church occasionally, and read the bible along the years. I read about Buddhism, briefly covered Hinduism, read Judaism, and am currently learning a little more about Islam. I have been for years on the border of Atheist and Agnostic, and have no "religion" but i like the messages each religion shares, which all basically are the same.

Answer 1

I was raise Christian and was a very staunch one for most of my life. I started investigating what Christianity told me was a lie: evolution, and then investigated what it told me was a truth: The Bible. In the first case I found out that evolution was true and creationists were lying through their teeth about it, and in the second I found out that there was no evidence for any miracle or miraculous event (flood, exodus, etc).

The conclusion was simple, there are no gods - all others had been previously dismissed.

Edit:
Just a comment on being raised, I was raised on a farm, and I am much more of a farmer than anyone raised in a city. The point is that how you were raised will have a large effect on how you view reality.

Answer 2

I believe I would have to say from books one of which is the Bible.I had a dysfunctional home so I went to church to get away,I read all kinds of books for the same reason.I am pretty much self taught,have dabbled in many religions and decided Christians was best for me,maybe because my passion is history and they were so stamped on as other religions flourished,for centuries.Do I believe everything in the Bible?100% Do I believe the Bible we have today is out of context and incorrect? Yes.I think it is a great history and quite interesting for every branch of religion seems to interpret it differently.That in itself is an amazing fact if you stop to consider it.Inquiring minds want to know!

Answer 3

I was raised in a non-Christian home. My mom was raised Methodist, so she dropped me at Sunday school, but never went to church. My dad was a Catholic who never went to church. As a child growing up, nobody told me anything about God, except what little I heard in Sunday school. Somehow, as a child, I just knew He was there. Later, when I became a teenager, a friend shared her faith with me in a letter and how it had changed her life. I began attending a church down the street, which also taught the same things she had shared, and became a Christian as a result.
By the way, just because someone was 'raised' Christian does not make them a Christian, anymore than being raised on a farm makes you a farmer. We make our own choices- we are not Christian or Muslim or Buddist by default.

Answer 4

I was raised catholic and after a lot of soul- searching and reading and listening to others talk about what they thought and believed, I've kinda got my own belief system. It's a lot of different religions mixed together. I don't think it really matters what you believe as long as you live a good life and try to live life the best possible way you can. There is something else out there, but none of us will know until we die.

Answer 5

The Bible is not primarily a rulebook:
"... what doth the LORD require of thee, but to do justly, and to love mercy, and to walk humbly with thy God" (Micah 6:8) Those are the only rules. All the other rules such as the Ten Commandments follow from that.

The Bible establishes the authority of God and it establishes the purpose for our existence. Isn't it written on your heart that you OUGHT to be just and you OUGHT to love mercy? I think almost everyone would say yes. But where is the authority behind your justice and your mercy? Is it mere sentimentality? Just some feelings?

Our beliefs about God cannot begin with the assumption that we will remain independent of God.

Answer 6

I grew up the son, grandson, nephew, and cousin of Methodist ministers. I was a Christian as a child, teenager & early adult. But after studying religion in college and briefly attending seminary, I came to see such belief in the supernatural as simply self-soothing fantasy.

(I've also studied Baha'i, Buddhism, Hinduism, other Protestant denominations, Judaism, and some of the more new age religions.)

^v^ ^v^ ^v^ ^v^ ^v^ ^v^ ^v^ ^v^

Answer 7

I was born Christian, and I am still Christian. I have heard about the Mormon religion, and Atheist, and other religions too, but they do not appeal to me. This works for me, I believe this is right. Other people may have a different belief and that's fine, I respect that.

Answer 8

I am the offspring of a Catholic kook mom and and an extreme athiest dad and came out what some call "a fricken Wiccan" (but really I am not) I just do my own thing, drawing on various systems. I have read up on all of them.

Answer 9

I make them up as I go along. Sometimes I'll read something interesting in a book, and decide to incorporate it into my beliefs. Sometimes I just feel like it would be fun to believe something new for a change, like worshipping the color blue, or considering it sinful to eat peanuts.

Answer 10

My life, And yes, I have read alot about other religion and beliefs.