Express Your Beliefs, But No Criticism Of Others

I find threads with members being put down for their religious beliefs.

I would like members to post what they feel in the heart. What do you believe???

I don't want to see any post that puts down any member for what they believe, I just want to be able to talk about religion without fighting about it.


As for myself, I feel that I return lifetime after lifetime and I have no belief in one all powerful God. I am somewhat disillusioned with organized religion, but I do enjoy a good sermon. I read the Bible, and love Job. But I also read the Quran and many other religious texts.

I hope this thread can be a place for people to talk about religion without casting any stones.

Let's just see what ATSers believe.................

I love Jesus Christ and worship him as God manifest in the flesh.




Jim

As might be guessed from my custom titles to the left, I'm a Mormon. I also like trying to learn as much as I can about other religions, because I think that they also have good stuff that I can apply in my life, even if I don't agree with all of their theological points. I've read parts of the Koran as well, but I've never finished that book. I've read the Mormon scriptures several times (KJV Bible, Book of Mormon, Doctrine & Covenants, Pearl of Great Price) and I believe that those books are from God.

I believe that Joseph Smith, founder of the Mormon religion, restored the church to the state that it was in ancient times, with prophets, priesthood, ordinances, etc, as was had in the time of Christ. I believe that he had direct divine guidance to accomplish this task.

I believe in a combination of works and grace for salvation. I think that God expects us to follow His laws and commandments to the very best of our ability. Then, since we are all human and imperfect, we need Jesus Christ to then bring us the rest of the way to salvation, since we cannot make it ourselves.

I believe in three distinct and separate entities for the Trinity: God the Father, Jesus the Son, and the Holy Ghost (or Holy Spirit, as called in most other Christian religions).

I do not believe in the concept of original sin at all. I think that we are born innocent, and go from there. Thus, I do not believe in infant baptism. I believe in baptism by immersion for the remission of sins.

I believe that God still talks to mankind and that miracles have not ceased in modern times.

Those are some of the answers to the most common questions I get.

Originally posted by Machine
I love Jesus Christ and worship him as God manifest in the flesh.

Jim

What was the influence in your life that gave you this conviction???

I have often admired those that know that God or Jesus is their personal savior. And that relationship has always eluded me.

I would be interested in what benefits you feel you receive from your devotion and if you have had an answer to a prayer.

These are honest questions, and I want to understand what makes you believe what you believe.

Ooh, non-flaming? I can deal.

My religion, if any, is that of Jedi Realism. The name most likely brings about images of lightsabers, and 30-foot vertical jumps - but other than that, you prolly ain't too far off.

If you want to discount Jedi Realism as a valid belief system, then, I'm an agnostic.

Anxietydisorder
What was the influence in your life that gave you this conviction???

Okie dokey,

I grew up in a family that believed that Jesus Christ was our Lord and Saviour but we did not attend church often. I can count on one hand the number of times I went to church growing up but we did have a dusty old King James Bible in the house and I use to check it out from time to time. My family was pretty dysfunctional in several ways but underneath the dysfunction we had love for one another.

From as far back as I knew I was a professing Christian but my life showed little signs of my belief. It wasn’t until after my 23rd birthday that I came home from work one weekend and contemplated my existence.

Deep into the night I began to give an honest assessment of myself and came to the conclusion that I was bound for Hell. I based this conclusion on the words I read from a Holy Bible that clearly stated that the things I thought and did were sinful and would separate me from a Holy God. I tried to rationalize my wickedness away but could not do it. A terror filled me during this time that was beyond mortal understanding. As the preacher Jonathan Edwards put it, “I was a sinner in the hands of an angry God”.

I kept telling myself that I needed to turn from my many sins but couldn’t believe that I had the strength to do it. The more I thought about the depth of my sin the deeper my despair grew. At one point during the night I became suicidal and held my duty Glock 21 (I was a Deputy Sheriff at the time) in my hand and wanted to end my life. I knew I had no hope to ever be the man that God commanded me to be.

In the throws of despair and grief over having offended God something sparked in my soul. I looked upward and cried out for mercy. The tears flowed down my face in huge drops and my heart began to ache terribly. I felt the weight of my sin upon my body in an emotional and spiritual way and it brought me face down to the carpet. I begged God not to look at my sin and cried out, “I cannot keep your laws, I’m too weak and sinful to uphold your perfect holiness but you God could carry this burden for me and in turn I give my life to you whatever the cost.”

“I give my life to you whatever the cost.”

I no longer cared about prestige, or money or possessions or even having a roof over my head. I cried out for God to destroy anything in my life that offended him. I begged God to do this work for me because I knew that left to my own ways I would turn back to my sin like a dog to his vomit. I loved my sin. I needed my sin. How could I ever be made right before God?

Then it happened. Like thunder in the center of my soul I felt for the first time in my life that I was right before God. I kept crying out over and over again, “Jesus Christ my Lord and Saviour, destroy my sin, destroy the man I was, crush my will and make me your servant."

I stood up tears no longer able to flow and held my hands high praising and in worship. I cried out a scripture I remembered from revelations, “Holy, holy, holy, Lord God Almighty, which was, and is, and is to come.” The rest of my early morning was spent worshiping and praising God with a joy in my heart that still brings tears to my face when I think upon it.

So that answers part of the first sentence of your question. I’ll answer the rest part by part over the next few days.


James

My belief is naturalism. I see no evidence of anything else, nor do I find faith to be a valid method of obtaining answers to questions that do not have known answers.

I also believe that the very language used to describe anything nonnatural is riddled with contradiction, which is why those who take such positions must resort to loose analogies.

Originally posted by Machine
I love Jesus Christ and worship him as God manifest in the flesh.

Jim

I believe GOD is all knowing and all powerful, and that humans killed GOD 2,000 years ago.

Originally posted by Esoteric Teacher

Originally posted by Machine
I love Jesus Christ and worship him as God manifest in the flesh.

Jim

I believe GOD is all knowing and all powerful, and that humans killed GOD 2,000 years ago.

I believe there are only two real possibilities:

1) There is something within us that connects us to everything throughout all space and time, and makes all things possible.

2) I need psychiatric assistance.

I have faith that it is not the latter.

Originally posted by Machine

Anxietydisorder
What was the influence in your life that gave you this conviction???

Okie dokey,

I grew up in a family that believed that Jesus Christ was our Lord and Saviour but we did not attend church often. I can count on one hand the number of times I went to church growing up but we did have a dusty old King James Bible in the house and I use to check it out from time to time. My family was pretty dysfunctional in several ways but underneath the dysfunction we had love for one another.

From as far back as I knew I was a professing Christian but my life showed little signs of my belief. It wasn’t until after my 23rd birthday that I came home from work one weekend and contemplated my existence.

Deep into the night I began to give an honest assessment of myself and came to the conclusion that I was bound for Hell. I based this conclusion on the words I read from a Holy Bible that clearly stated that the things I thought and did were sinful and would separate me from a Holy God. I tried to rationalize my wickedness away but could not do it. A terror filled me during this time that was beyond mortal understanding. As the preacher Jonathan Edwards put it, “I was a sinner in the hands of an angry God”.

I kept telling myself that I needed to turn from my many sins but couldn’t believe that I had the strength to do it. The more I thought about the depth of my sin the deeper my despair grew. At one point during the night I became suicidal and held my duty Glock 21 (I was a Deputy Sheriff at the time) in my hand and wanted to end my life. I knew I had no hope to ever be the man that God commanded me to be.

In the throws of despair and grief over having offended God something sparked in my soul. I looked upward and cried out for mercy. The tears flowed down my face in huge drops and my heart began to ache terribly. I felt the weight of my sin upon my body in an emotional and spiritual way and it brought me face down to the carpet. I begged God not to look at my sin and cried out, “I cannot keep your laws, I’m too weak and sinful to uphold your perfect holiness but you God could carry this burden for me and in turn I give my life to you whatever the cost.”

“I give my life to you whatever the cost.”

I no longer cared about prestige, or money or possessions or even having a roof over my head. I cried out for God to destroy anything in my life that offended him. I begged God to do this work for me because I knew that left to my own ways I would turn back to my sin like a dog to his vomit. I loved my sin. I needed my sin. How could I ever be made right before God?

Then it happened. Like thunder in the center of my soul I felt for the first time in my life that I was right before God. I kept crying out over and over again, “Jesus Christ my Lord and Saviour, destroy my sin, destroy the man I was, crush my will and make me your servant."

I stood up tears no longer able to flow and held my hands high praising and in worship. I cried out a scripture I remembered from revelations, “Holy, holy, holy, Lord God Almighty, which was, and is, and is to come.” The rest of my early morning was spent worshiping and praising God with a joy in my heart that still brings tears to my face when I think upon it.

So that answers part of the first sentence of your question. I’ll answer the rest part by part over the next few days.

James

You Have Something I May Never Have

You have an outlet for your sin. You can ask forgivness of your God for the sins you've commited. I don't have that........

I live with every transgression, and can't be forgiven.
I only hope that I leave this life with more points in the good tally than the bad.
The best I can do is treat people as I would want to be treated.
And I try to do that.........

If envy is a sin, I'll carry that one as well.
I envy what you have, I envy the solace you can take from your belief.
I think you may be richer for that.



Sorry for the excessive quote, but I thought it was warranted.
The words had meaning to me.........

my belife is that there is no greater power or order

and there is no bfore or afterlife

and that by and large religion, in todays world, is close to obsoleate

i think it is inconequntial the way you live your life, except for your own well being

so if you dont think drinking is good, dont do it

if you think polyagamy is fun, and have some others that do to
then there is no problem

as long as it dont cross the line and distupt any one esle

Anxietydisorder
What was the influence in your life that gave you this conviction???

Continued from my post above:

I awoke that morning in the living room of my apartment filled with joy and assurance. After a few hours I walked over to my large CD collection and began to remove them from the carrying tower they were in. In my old self I loved listening to groups like, Metallica, Megadeth, and street rap. When I first thought about giving up my sin the night before one of my concerns was my love for music. I knew that the music I listened to was an abomination to God but I loved it so much. I stacked approximately 30+ CD’s and walked them out to the trash can outside in my apartment complex. I couldn’t wait to get them into the trash where they belonged and as I threw them in my heart rejoiced within me.

That was the first step. I walked back inside my apartment and searched it like a crime scene looking for anything that might offend God. When I finished around noon I drove to a nearby Christian bookstore and bought my first Bible. The next two years were spent reading the Bible and an additional 200+ Christian books covering many subjects.

This time of learning strengthened me greatly. I was able to address many biblical difficulties and loved to argue in defense of the Bible with anyone who would so desire.

A time came during my biblical research when I discovered one of the greatest scientific evidences for believing that the Bible was indeed inspired by God. Now, this discovery was nothing new but to me, having seen and weighed it for the first time, it was huge. I discovered that several books of the Bible had foretold future events and that those prophecies were fulfilled with perfect accuracy. This wasn’t the part that made the small hairs on the back of my neck stand up however. As I continued to research the Bible I looked for any prophecies that were foretold by a prophet of God that were in error. After looking at hundreds of them I have yet to find one.

I couldn’t believe what I had discovered. This was the scientific evidence that many claim they needed in order to believe the Bible was God inspired. By the science of probabilities others before me concluded that the hundreds of foretold prophecies could not have occurred by mere chance alone. The prophecies of the birth and life of Jesus Christ alone are mind boggling. Hundreds of years before his birth the following events were foretold by the prophets of God and documented in the Holy Bible. The exact day of his birth, where he would be born, which line of descendants he had to be born in, his life and death on a cross, the descriptive details of his crucifixion a form of punishment that had not been invented at the time of the prophecy. It goes on and on and on. Up to that point my heart and soul knew that Jesus Christ was God but now my mind was far beyond any doubt.

My belief in Jesus Christ as God is not simply a heartfelt conviction it is also based on knowledge and scientific fact. No other book on the face of the earth has the power and internal evidence that the Holy Bible has. None of the other holy books dare to predict the future in the direct and detailed manner of the Holy Bible.

And there is a simple reason for this. The Holy Bible was written by Holy men of God who wrote while being directed by the Holy Ghost of God. God lives outside of our time and space continuum and sees the beginning and the end and everything in between all at once. This was one of his signs given to us so that we could know for certain that the Holy Bible was true and everything else false.

Anxietydisorder
I would be interested in what benefits you feel you receive from your devotion and if you have had an answer to a prayer.

Some of your Christian benefits include:
Having people call you, stupid, ignorant, pig headed, crazy, intolerant and just plain evil.
Losing jobs because your resume says Christian on it.
Finding key marks on your new car which extend across the small fish sticker you placed on the rear bumper.
Being placed in prison.
Tortured under the most inhuman means imaginable.
And last but not least, having your head removed because you refused to renounce your faith in Jesus Christ.

Those are only some of the many “benefits” that you may look forward to once you make a decision for Jesus.

There are real benefits to being a believer in Jesus Christ. The most important of which is to live each day knowing that when you die you will not spend an eternity in Hell. You also have God’s Holy Ghost living within you for comfort and assurance when trouble comes. By obeying God you live a clean life free from many of this world’s traps and destructive behaviors. But above all else you have a direct relationship with your creator. God hears my prayers and is quick to move to my defense. I’ve called on God many times in my life when people or events were troubling me and in all cases he has intervened on my behalf. My God strengthens me to suffer trials, gives me wisdom to make right choices and brings ruin to those who would harm me without just cause.

In His power I destroy strongholds of Satan and bring light into darkness. My life is filled with adventure and excitement. Trading my old sin nature for the new life I have now was so hard for me. Now that I have that new life it makes me shake my head in disbelief that I would have ever been a man that preferred my old ways to the new.

If you do continue to pursue Jesus check out this link:
www.livingwaters.com...

There is a very good sermon free to download titled, “Hell’s Best Kept Secret”. This sermon is not directed at seekers of truth but I think you will find it interesting.

You say that I have something that you may never have but God promises you that if you seek his face in truth he will reveal himself to you.

The choice is yours.


In Christ,

James

Well, I honestly dont really know, but I tend to believe that a soul of some sort exists, and that there may be a kind of existance after the death of the physical body, but I do not believe in a deity of any kind, I believe that the universe has always been, and that there are an infinent amount of other universes with an infinent amount being created at a near infinent speed, theres more but it would take to long, and I dont think you all really want to read my theories, as they have to do with quantum physics.

Originally posted by iori_komei
Well, I honestly dont really know, but I tend to believe that a soul of some sort exists........... theres more but it would take to long, and I dont think you all really want to read my theories, as they have to do with quantum physics.

I want to read your theories, especially if it has to do with quantum physics.
The point of this thread was to have an open expression of member beliefs, and not make others wrong for what they hold as a faith.

Please share, even if it takes a long time.
We may all learn something, and that's the point.........

Ok than, I'll copy and paste what I wrote explaining them awhile back onto the thread.


The universe on the inside is infinetly large, the universe on the outside is a finite shape

there are an infinent amount of universes , and an infinent amount being created for every temporal beginning point, inside the multiverse

they are in an infinently large multiverse, which like the universe, is infenent on the inside, but on the outside has a finite shape,

it goes on to higher and higher 'verses to infinity, there is no stop to the higher 'verses


a temporal beginning point is, this:
Imagine that 0 is time stopped completely, not going extremely slow, but stopped, now a temporal beginning point would be 1, with no numbers between 0 and 1


Thats the scientific part of it, its based on the quantum many worlds theory.

When it comes to the soul and existance after the death of the physical body, I think its similiar to "Asending" in StarGate SG-1/Atlantis.

I believe that God dwells within man and nature,all forms of life are the physical manifestation of God.One life many varying manifestations of that life,we should respect and cherish life in all forms.
I come to this belief through observation and life experiences.I don't believe in any form of afterlife,this is to me not observable or something which we can innately feel,it comes from thoughts of fear over our own morality and a failure to accept the rational conclusion that when we die that's it, a concept that helps people avoid dealing with the absurdity of life.
I'm Rastafari because I see in the life and teachings of the Emperor Haile Selassie the perfect outward manifestation of God in man,so I try to live by his example and teachings.As christians will try to follow the example of Jesus,so I will follow the example of His Imperial Majesty,where there are obvious rational historical doubts that can be had over the Jesus of the bible there can be no such doubts about Haile Selassie he is an undoubtable historical figure who died within my lifetime and whose words and actions were recorded as they happened,another aspect which drew me to Rastafari is that it's a powerful force for the upliftment of African people both those at home and those of us abroad whether we are here by choice or through the diaspora.

I believe...

In no supreme being, though I do entertain the idea of a "global energy", if you will. I do not believe that there is a supreme being who rewards and punishes, and thus, there is no supreme being who forgives us our sins.

That reincarnation is not just a possibility, but a probability - though you don't get to choose (it's entirely dependent upon your actions), unless you do attain enlightenment and choose to return to aid others in their quest for same. See "karma" for further info

Because of the above, I do believe that every soul - without exception - is deserving of compassion. You were once my mother, and I was once yours. This life is only one step in the journey towards enlightenment.

That we create our own suffering.

That we're each responsible for our actions - nobody is capable of forgiving us, other than the person we hurt, and ourselves. Karma does not dish out punishment and reward, but is simply a system of cause and effect (oversimplified I know, but it's all I got); every action will have consequences.

That Jesus, Mohammed et al were probably prophets (at the very least, were incredibly great teachers), and had truly wonderful messages. But neither are/were Divine, in the common definition of the word.

That we're entirely too consumed with proving each other "wrong" about religion, and that we might instead want to spend more time concentrating on the similarities between those beliefs, rather than the differences. The former by far outweigh the latter.



I think that's it, in a nutshell.

I believe what I believe is what makes me what I am
I did not make it, no it is making me
It is the very truth of God and not the invention of any man

Third Day, Creed

I believe in an all powerful, personal God. One who is interested in the day to day activities of you and I, and He wants to be our friends just as He did with Abraham. I believe this God created the heavens and the Earth, although a 7 day or 7 age understanding of this I still do not have.

I believe that God sent His only son to this Earth to teach us and be the ultimate sacrifice for our sin here on Earth, fulfilling the prophesy of the Torah. I believe He has offered us this gift of salvation if we simply reach out and take it by believing it to be true.

I believe the story of Noah building the ark was not an allegory. I believe Abram really did leave his land and go to where Israel was to be and reestablish himself under his new God given name, Abraham. I believe he had his first son, Isaac, at the tender age of 99.

I believe Jesus came to this world of the virgin Mary. I believe he was crucified , buried and dead, and that on the third day he rose again, fulfilling scripture and asserting His divinity and promise.

I believe the Holy Spirit is the third part of the God being, is very real and just as active in today's world as He was in the Roman world. The gifts of the spirit have not been taken away, and they're still relevant today.

I also believe communion should be taken when one is in communion with Christ. It is symbolic of Christ living in our lives as we behave as salt and light in this world.

I believe the Bible is the infalable word of God, inspired by the Holy Spirit. I also believe that science reinforces that belief, and does not detract from it.

I believe in a lot more than that small synopsis, but unfortunately I have to run to school in 10 minutes, so I can't continue telling y'all what I believe.