How did you decide which religion is correct?

reply to post by valiant


I have one simple but very important question for you: Do you believe all of, some of, or none of what you read in the Bible, and why? (I guess that's two isn't it?)

reply to post by KRISKALI777


Here is where most people go wrong: all religions are not the same. There are two religions in the world. 1)Those in which man does something to get to "heaven." 2)The one in which Jesus has already done everything needed to make us right with God. This is Christianity.

Every other religion in the world requires us to do something. Except Christianity. Everything is already done for you, the only thing is to believe.

reply to post by Brocky34


Painting with a rather broad brush there aren't you?

I'm not sure if theres a god or anything. I do believe anyone who has claimed to talk to a god, the god, or any god, is nuts and should seek help. Anyone who claims to meet god, jesus, or see them in a vision, is just lying. It's called a dream. I have dreams I'm flying with the birds, that doesn't mean I can.

If there is a god, then I don't think you have to do anything. Seems everyone wants to please 'god' for the afterlife. Well then great, just don't kill anyone and you'd be fine. You don't have to pray to him, that's just really kind of odd. Whoever made up prayers must of had a boring life. Just wake up and do what you do, and don't kill anybody, or hurt anybody along those lines. Seems pretty simple to me.

Originally posted by Freeborn
Being an avowed agnostic I find the whole question irrelevant.

There is absolutely no way anyone know's 100% for certain that their God, or a God exists and that there is an afterlife until after they die.

As such it is totally irrelevant wasting time on who believes in the right god.

I live my life by a set of moral values that I have set myself including trying my best not to cause unnecessary harm to anyone else.
Of course I fail frequently, I am but human.

I believe that if there is an all knowing, omniescient, omnipotent God then 'he' won't be that conceited that he demands that I worship him and proclaim his divinity at every opportunity.

It is acts and deeds that count in this life, not pompous piety!

However I have mountains of evidence which discredits almost everything the bible has ever claimed - especially seeings the church has even abandoned there own first testament - I mean...pretty damning.

However why should I consent to not knowing whether something is true or not means I should accept that it is a possibility - any claim anyone makes is therefore a possibility - this type of logic was dealt with in the 17th century by descarte and has been completely abandoned -

There is a possibility that we are living in a bowl of jelly, yes, but there is no point in considering it as reasonable until there is some evidence, there fore it is completely untrue.

For someone to make fantastic claims, that a supreme being created and rules the earth, is so beyond the realms of possibility that it test the limits of even the maddest souls in our lunatic asylums - and yet you are simply willing to accept it as a possibility because some loon has merely suggested it ?

One of the things I like about my self is intellectual rigour, dedication to logic, understanding, reason, compassion, ethics, loyalty and truth - this type of base acceptance of deliberate deception for personal gain at great cost to humanity lacks any sort of personal fortitude - it is simply lame.
Try standing up for once. Sorry to offend, but atheism is the least trusted minority to group in the US - at a time when the rest of the modern world has moved on from this type of thing....sad.

It's illogical for a creator to judge his creation for how he made them.
So if such a god made us, he would have created our logic to deny the logic of such a pointless judgment, thereby making it even more pointless.
Either that or god made us for the purpose of not using logic or reason...

Originally posted by Brocky34
reply to post by KRISKALI777

 

Here is where most people go wrong: all religions are not the same. There are two religions in the world. 1)Those in which man does something to get to "heaven." 2)The one in which Jesus has already done everything needed to make us right with God. This is Christianity.

Every other religion in the world requires us to do something. Except Christianity. Everything is already done for you, the only thing is to believe.

Your understanding of religion and Christianity is lacking.
Matthew 7:21
21"Not everyone who says to me, 'Lord, Lord,' will enter the kingdom of heaven, but only he who does the will of my Father who is in heaven.

reply to post by Miraj

Your understanding of religion and Christianity is lacking. Matthew 7:21 21"Not everyone who says to me, 'Lord, Lord,' will enter the kingdom of heaven, but only he who does the will of my Father who is in heaven.

"The will of my Father" clearly indicating that Jesus was not claiming to be Yahweh .

And the will of the father is ? Let's see -

If your son becomes rebellious = Stone him to death

If your wife was not a virgin when you got married = Kill her also

If someone works on the sabbath = Kill him

If your son is gay = Kill him

If you eat blood Yahweh will kill you

If someone doesn't believe in Yahweh = Kill him

If your slave should misbehave = Beat him till he's just nearly but not quite dead.

If you invade another country= keep the little virgin girls as sex slaves.

Etc etc


Yahweh has to be the finest example of good parenting that has ever not existed !!

Seems like Islam is doing it's best to stick by Yahweh rules, boy are you xtians in trouble when you die.

reply to post by TruthParadox


Too bad that is not essential to the idea of a higher power. As those who particularly seek to refute the idea based on that seem to forget.

[edit on 28-4-2009 by Watcher-In-The-Shadows]

Originally posted by Watcher-In-The-Shadows
Too bad that is not essential to the idea of a higher power. As those who particularly seek to refute the idea based on that seem to forget.

Forget?
No. I wasn't generalizing, I was talking about a specific belief.

reply to post by TruthParadox


As response to a thread entitled: "How did you decide which religion is correct?"

Originally posted by Watcher-In-The-Shadows
As response to a thread entitled: "How did you decide which religion is correct?"

It certainly helps to rule out the religions which are completely illogical...

reply to post by TruthParadox


Well even when you get down to it how do you know those are correct and not added in by those who came later? Like a jealous catholic church that wished to control everything?
And it's illogical to simply zone in on one particular set of beliefs and refute them and call the whole thing refuted.

[edit on 28-4-2009 by Watcher-In-The-Shadows]

Originally posted by Watcher-In-The-Shadows
Well even when you get down to it how do you know those are correct and not added in by those who came later? Like a jealous catholic church that wished to control everything?

It probably is added.
Hell may not be a belief that was intended for Christianity, but it is regardless.
And the specific belief of an omnipotent & omniscient being creating something and then judging it for how he himself created it is the height of irony.
So either God does not exist as such, or he's a bit loony...

It's food for thought either way.

I'd say most (if not all) religions have similar quirks.. You just have to be willing to look at them and not ignore them.

Originally posted by Watcher-In-The-Shadows
And it's illogical to simply zone in on one particular set of beliefs and refute them and call the whole thing refuted.

But that's not what I'm doing.
I was criticizing a belief. That's all.
If you (not you specifically) believe in a God that doesn't judge his creation, awesome. More power to you.


[edit on 28-4-2009 by TruthParadox]

reply to post by TruthParadox


I simply took exception at your addressing a question about religion such. As there is the obvious inference of generalization after all. Cheers if that is not what you meant. And I find the quirks funny at times but we all have our quirks do we not?

[edit on 28-4-2009 by Watcher-In-The-Shadows]

My Answer
From the bible, that is the starting point, God has a manual for humanity and this is it. Did you know that ALL other religious idea's spawn from something God did? When he confused the languages at Babel new religions began to be formed based on these new groups that were united culturally by language. These people had already defied true religion by disobeying God and building the tower of Babel under Nimrod's direction.
When they left off building the tower they then spread out over the earth, bringing their language culture and religious idea's with them. Of course God had already acted against them so we know there religions are false.

So if you can agree the bible is the starting point for true faith in the one truth of reality then you have found the correct path.... a very short way in from that you then again find multiple paths or ideology and doctrine about the bible.
Such questions that must have yes or no answers, it can't be both ways.
For example

Is the soul Immortal? Yes or No
Is Hell a real Place? Yes or No
Is Heaven a real Place? Yes or No
Is God a Trinity? Yes or No
Does Purgatory exist? Yes or No
Will God Destroy this planet because of evil? Yes or No

And the biggest one of all, what is symbolic and what is literal in the bible???
Once you can answer the last question you can answer all the other ones correctly to.

It' not so much a religion as a certain set of beliefs that cause God's Holy Spirit to activate on you. This happened to my grandfather who disliked organized religion because he saw bad and evil things going on in the churches and knew it had to be a false spirituality, but he loved God's Word the bible and and would read it regularly. Because he wasn't poisoned with the false dogma of the clergy from the churches, he actually figured out many truths on his own. Because he did this God's Holy Spirit activated towards him and brought him closer to what he already knew about the truth of the bible.

And God's Holy Spirit can do that for you too, all you need to do is break free from the emotional attachments of false dogma.
Some may ask how. Saying a prayer to God, that focuses on asking God to show you the pure truth of the bible. It must be 100% sincere(he knows), and it must be repeated numerous times. Then don't be too surprised if somebody comes into your life that wants to show you what the bible really teaches. Alright be surprised then because it will mean God answered your prayer, and that has a huge WOW factor.


[edit on 28-4-2009 by Blue_Jay33]

reply to post by Blue_Jay33


"Is the soul Immortal? Yes or No"

How would we know? There's no evidence for it.

"Is Hell a real Place? Yes or No"

The Torah doesn't mention Hell, just the absence of God's presence. Interpret that as you wish.

"Is Heaven a real Place? Yes or No"

How would we know? There's no evidence for it.

"Is God a Trinity? Yes or No"

Why would God trifurcate itself? Just to confuse us? If so, it's working.

"Does Purgatory exist? Yes or No"

The voice of God on Earth, the Pope, officially canceled Purgatory, so that's a "no".

"Will God Destroy this planet because of evil? Yes or No"

Destroy everybody on the planet because some people are evil. You would worship such a creature?

Originally posted by Brocky34
Here is where most people go wrong: all religions are not the same. There are two religions in the world. 1)Those in which man does something to get to "heaven." 2)The one in which Jesus has already done everything needed to make us right with God. This is Christianity.

What about those religions then that don't have any concept of afterlife?

If you want to divide all religions into two categories then perhaps a better division would be:

1. Religions which use scare tactics (hell, sucky next life, etc.)
2. Religions which do use of scare tactics. (no punishment for going against God's or some other authority's will)

Which are better? I'd say all that belong to category 2. Category 1 religions are just crowd control tools.

[edit on 28-4-2009 by rhinoceros]

Originally posted by Gawdzilla
reply to post by Blue_Jay33

 

"Is God a Trinity? Yes or No"

Why would God trifurcate itself? Just to confuse us? If so, it's working.

LOL, I had to laugh at that statement because it is SO true on the confusion side of it.

And I agree, these types of discussions arise see www.belowtopsecret.com... , but it's not God that "trifurcated itself", I will let you guess who did it.

I was raised in the Christian religion, but I no longer believe the way I was raised. My first memories of this religion is NOT love, but fear, fear of hell, fear of god fear fear fear.

I have studied many religions, some more than others, and have come to the conclusion that each person has their own path to follow, and what is right for one person, may not be right for another person.

I follow, as much as possible, and I admit to not being perfect at this, I do make mistakes, the Wiccan creed.

Bide The Wiccan Law Ye Must,
In Perfect Love, In Perfect Trust.
Eight Words The Wiccan Rede Fulfill:
An Ye Harm None, Do As Ye Will.

Harming none means just that, not the planet, not animals and not humans. I do my best to live in a way that lessens harm upon others and this planet. Other than that, I don't think that their is ANY way for humans to know one way or another.

An Ye Harm None

Peace