Which religion do you practise and how did you conclude it was right for you?

I can't say I practice any religion, but my faith is in Jesus as Christ. I can only say that I did not come upon this decision lightly. I was atheist until about a month ago. The last few years I'd been exploring different spiritual options available based on what they could teach me. I dabbled in magic and ritual in the hopes of gaining knowledge. After a while (maybe the spells worked, I don't know) I started to realize that there could only be one true God and he put knowledge of himself in all of men. After that, I sort of released myself to do what I felt was truly right regardless of what I thought in my doubting mind.

Is there room for other ways? I think so. My god is rather compassionate and quite understanding.

Christian, former agnostic. I tried alot of things but only Jesus could give me inner peace and take away my fears. It really wasn't a matter of concluding wether or not it was right for me, but when i had tried alot of other things and was slipping into psycopathy, no one else reached out to me except a missionary baptist christian and it was like God reaching out to me in my darkest hour. Living a life in despair and hopelessness was taking it's toll and i came pretty close to blowing my brains out. If you're in despair and have reached the point in your life everything seems pointless and hopeless. Jesus can give you new purpose when you find that there is no purpose to this life but to live and die and be forgotten.

reply to post by Dreamkidd

i cant get past the "believe in or go to hell" ideology.

The false teaching via the RCC (and disseminated through most other Christian denominations) comes from the Egyptian Amduat, that upon physical death you go to 'the bad place' forever.

The accurate teaching on Hell which most Christianity doesn't follow is that it is not the punishment that last forever but the consequences of ones actions in this life that last forever because we are not given a second chance at life (i.e no continual reincarnation loop).

Take note of these verses and see if they are consistent with the doctrine of an eternal torment (which makes God out to be a cruel tyrant) that is perpetuated forever.

This is the description of the scene of the receiving of their sentence for those not found in the 'book of life'...

Revelation 20:9 And they went up on the breadth of the earth, and compassed the camp of the saints about, and the beloved city: and fire came down from God out of heaven, and devoured them.

Malachi 4:3 And ye shall tread down the wicked; For they shall be ashes under the soles of your feet In the day that I shall do this, saith the Lord of hosts.

Ezekiel 28:18 You have defiled your sanctuaries by the multitude of your iniquities, by the iniquity of your trading; therefore will I bring forth a fire from the midst of you, it shall devour you, and I will bring you to ashes upon the earth in the sight of all them that behold you.

Psalm 37:20 But the wicked shall perish, and the enemies of the LORD shall be as the fat of lambs: they shall consume; into smoke shall they consume away.

Do these verses suggest God would have someone endlessly burning forever?

We can also see a parallel to greater understanding by having a quick look at the story of Sodom and Gomorrah.

Jude 1:7 Even as Sodom and Gomorrah, and the cities about them in like manner, giving themselves over to fornication, and going after strange flesh, are set forth for an example, suffering the vengeance of eternal fire.

Sodom and Gomorrah is an example given of an earlier case when God performed a judgement sentence on a people, sending fire and brimstone (molten sulfur) from Heaven to destroy them. Note that Jude describes it as an 'eternal fire'.

Genesis 19:24 Then the LORD rained upon Sodom and upon Gomorrah brimstone and fire from the LORD out of heaven

We find similar language used in,

Revelation 19:20 And the beast was taken, and with him the false prophet that worked miracles before him, with which he deceived them that had received the mark of the beast, and them that worshiped his image. These both were cast alive into a lake of fire burning with brimstone.

And then at the final Judgement scene we see the carrying out of the sentence of those not found in the 'book of life'.

Revelation 20:12-15

12 And I saw the dead, great and small, standing before the throne, and books were opened. Another book was opened, which is the book of life. The dead were judged according to what they had done as recorded in the books. 13 The sea gave up the dead that were in it, and death and Hades gave up the dead that were in them, and each person was judged according to what they had done. 14 Then death and Hades were thrown into the lake of fire. The lake of fire is the second death. 15 Anyone whose name was not found written in the book of life was thrown into the lake of fire.

This same 'lake of fire' is now mentioned again but we know from Sodom and Gomorrah that it is not still burning now right.

The Physical Ashen Remains of Sodom & Gomorrah


We also notice that from the above passage in Revelation that their sentence is going to be based on their works or 'what they have done'. The true is that much of those who refuse God but live and let live, without trying to destroy another's saving faith or being cruel to others then they will be consumed to nothing in a blink of an eye. God does not compel people by fear and it is not His character to make people suffer forever, especially when He created them and knew the end from the beginning. People should not try and 'sell' Christianity with a negative stick, not only because it is untrue, misrepresents God and doesn't win people over but because it is better to emphasis the positive, that it would be silly not to follow Him.

He wants us to replace the angels that fell in the rebellion and to live with Him. He that sustains your every breath, that loves you more than anyone, who had you on His mind before you were even born, who will never let you down when you call upon Him, who desires to be our personal friend and know us above anything else and wishes for us to find Him and take us to be with Him in paradise forever, the place where there is no tears, no sickness, no death or discord. With Him there every power will be developed, every capability increased. The grandest enterprises will be carried forward, the loftiest aspirations will be reached, the highest ambitions realized. And still there will arise new heights to surmount, new wonders to admire, new truths to comprehend, fresh objects to call forth the powers of body and mind and soul.

Originally posted by JesuitGarlic
reply to post by Dreamkidd

 

i cant get past the "believe in or go to hell" ideology.

The false teaching via the RCC (and disseminated through most other Christian denominations) comes from the Egyptian Amduat, that upon physical death you go to 'the bad place' forever.

Actually, counter to what "Catholic hater JesuitGarlic" would claim, the Roman Catholic Church is one of the few faiths that denies the "believe or go to hell" position.

Catholics believe that, unless you know that Christ is your salvation, and you intentionally reject him, you are not necessarily condemned. That can be contrasted with Calvinism, which says that unless you're predestined for salvation, you're doomed, or Arminianism, which says that if you don't specifically accept Christ, you are condemned.

I would like to thank you all for your contributions, information, opinions and insights thus far.

I have viewed every post from top to bottom here and look forward to re-reading them again tomorrow in a bid to discover some truths that ring true for me.

I very much appreciate the time you have taken to post and engage for what has become a very important topic for me in recent times.

Thank you.

reply to post by Dreamkidd


good luck!

reply to post by JesuitGarlic


Uh, Gehenna is the second death, thats for eternity man. Sodom and Gomorrah didn't get the second death, they got the first death which was physical destruction. Their second death doesn't begin until the final judgement after the millenial reign. No one who died from Adam to now has gone to Gehenna yet, that is reserved for the very end of time.

Only the wicked get destroyed and those are attested to in Matthew 25:31-46 in that they did nothing for the brothers and sisters of Jesus who are described in Mark 3:33-35, Those who do the will of God are attested to in John 6:40 and those who are wicked did nothing for the brothers and sisters of Jesus and is the same as not doing anything for him. The righteous did for his brothers and sisters and this was the same as doing for him and this is what being the Body of Christ means, that what they do to us they do to him as per Acts 9:1-4. The reward for the righteous is that they will be raised up as nations and populate the earth in the millenial reign for their chance to know Jesus. We are the physical extensions of Jesus into this world, when they stand before us and do these things they are doing it before him so if we forgive them they are forgiven and if we condemn them then they are condemned.

I am not shure but I really like the way the Native Americans lived, how they connected to the spirit world through smoking various substances. I am someone who greatly loves science but I'm also very interested in astral travel and such activities.

Originally posted by WeRpeons
Seeing how wicked nuns and priests acted.

There are bad people everywhere. Just because someone puts on a habit or a church collar doesn't mean they instantly become a saint. Humans are humans.

I always questioned why I had to go through a priest to ask for God's forgiveness.

You don't HAVE to.

Hypocrisy - If you believe in the 10 commandments, the 1st one states "I am the Lord your God: you shall not have strange gods before me." Yet Catholics pray to man made saints and have statues of these saints. What about the old lady down the street that was always helping people in the neighborhood? She was never drafted into saint hood.

- Catholics do NOT worship saints or statues.
- Catholics believe in the Communion of Saints .. meaning that everyone prays for everyone else. The 'dead' and the living pray for each other.
- Not every saint in heaven is recognized by the Church simply because of the fact that there are umpteen million people in heaven and you can't recognize them all. The saints recognized by the church have worked miracles AFTER THEIR DEATH. If the old lady down the street who was so saintly and is in heaven works a miracle for someone then it should be reported to the diocese for investigation.
- Hypocrites can be found everywhere. Where there are humans, there are hypocrites.

The Catholic religion really believes during mass the wine and bread is turned into the body and blood of Christ. It's not just symbolic, it's what you truly must believe. I can tell you for certain, being an alter boy, the wine and wafers don't change composition or taste.

- The Catholic church says straight out that when transubstantiation happens, there is no visible change to the Eucharist. There is no change in taste. However, many eucharistic miracles have happened to verify the Catholic belief in the Eucharist. Google - Eucharistic miracle. I actually saw one once .. in Betania Venezuela.

When they prevented us from taking pictures of my daughter's first holy communion. They wanted us to buy their video and pictures at $25.00 a shot.

Many churches do not allow pictures during the Mass. It's supposed to be a holy event. Some parents turn it into a party and disrupt the church with their intrusive behavior. Taking pictures before or after the event and not during it is common practice and understandable.

Originally posted by el1jah
The closest thing to my view on religion is a quote by Swami Vivekananda

I like to read Swami Amar Jyoti (and Truth of Consciousness magazine)

I've explored and I keep exploring for truth ... keeping bits and pieces here and there ...

I kept the Catholic 'communion of saints'. It makes sense. We are all connected. Those who have been liberated from the human bodies ('died') and those of us still stuck in them. We all pray for each other and help each other.

The concept of Karma or shared 'Sin Debt' .. I'm still working that out. It doesn't make sense to me.

Reincarnation. Unfortunately, it looks like it does happen. Maybe not to everyone, but at least to some people. i dont' want any part of it. I dont' ever want to come back here.

The 'dead' are alive and active and aware of what is happening on earth.
Jesus is God incarnate. I fully believe that.
Prayer .. always. Meditation .. on the life of Christ and his teachings.

I watch the Catholic homily on TV.
It's funny how sometimes I have questions and they seem to get answered in the homily.

My beliefs change as I learn more.
Ask me what I believe in 5 years and it'll probably be different.

Why believe in something when beliefs always change?
Why not take a look at what it is that sees the beliefs changing?
That one is always present.