Losing my Religion

a reply to: ProfessorChaos

It is indeed a cult religion. But, after searching many others, Im convinced that all Religions are cultish. All seem to be grandchildren of the Catholics. Thinking of the pope as my father, makes me puke a little.

a reply to: misskat1

I must say OP I do believe JW is terrible place to be introduced
to Jesus Christ. I absolutely agree that they are very cultish for lack
of a better term. The biggest mistake you could make is not
realising you don't need any religion to follow Christ. No other
name on earth changes lives for the better. I would argue any
point you can make against him. He is the absolute BOMB in my
book.

The first time I told myself I didn't believe in God or Jesus anymore was interesting. I had reservations about it even though I was already of an agnostic mindset at that point. It had been a long process and I thought I was ready to cast it aside. So I did. A few weeks later while searching YouTube for podcasts related to extra-terrestrial theories I discovered a zealous Christian. He reignited my faith. I did some pretty foolish things during this period. I prayed various ridiculous prayers. Having at least two Freemason grandfathers, I begged forgiveness for my "sins of the father". I was terrified I would accidentally have an OBE or spontaneously astral project (or worse, have a go at it intentionally) so I begged any ethereal tie to my pineal gland be severed. I did this, I did that... In those weeks of trying to reconnect with God, I experienced absolutely nothing. Not a single iota of reciprocation. So I came back to reality. I didn't attach any labels to myself at that time, but went back to being agnostic.

One day about a year or so ago I discovered the Atheist Experience. It was after watching some of the informal debates that I realized I identified with atheism more than anything else. I cannot say there are absolutely no gods, or a God. However I am confident in stating any of the gods claimed to exist absolutely do not. Maybe that puts me somewhere between agnostic atheist and strong atheist. I'm not sure. I've learned a lot about Christianity (this post brought up some excellent points), and religion in general. I just can't buy into any of it. Religiously or personal relationship wise. I do think there may be more to our reality than we know, and have readily accepted I will never know until I'm dead.

Edit to add: Hell Know

a reply to: KidOK

Awesome Reply, I totally agree.

a reply to: misskat1

Don't be to hard on yourself.

Religion can be a good base to start things off in life, if it didn't involved so many manipulative people and stories.

I went through the same thing.

Forgive yourself, and those that ignorantly spread the BS, then move on.

Congratulations kat! I went through the same process a few years ago, it was a dark period in my life, no direction or hope. And just as with you, I was terrified of the thoughts I was having, how I was blaspheming against God and how I'd be sent to hell for those thoughts. The biggest hurdle I faced was getting rid of the concept of hell and eternal suffering. Once you rid yourself of that belief it's smooth sailing though, it opens you up to seeking truth without fear of punishment.

If you want to find that higher power I'd advise you to start looking within yourself and pondering your very own existence and the miracle that it truly is. Look at videos on the nature of the universe, it is there that you will find what you're looking for.

God said "let there be light" and it was good. Find the light within you and you will find God. You see the light right now, but do you recognize it for what it truly is?

S&F

originally posted by: ProfessorChaos

The very fact that they're commonly thought of as 'Christian' (which they certainly are not), is something that I've always found upsetting, so good luck in your seeking. I hope you find the truth.

Wait! What?

Of course they are Christian. Who are you to tell them they are not Christian?

Jehovah’s Witnesses—Who Are We?

We come from hundreds of ethnic and language backgrounds, yet we are united by common goals. Above all, we want to honor Jehovah, the God of the Bible and the Creator of all things. We do our best to imitate Jesus Christ and are proud to be called Christians. Each of us regularly spends time helping people learn about the Bible and God’s Kingdom. Because we witness, or talk, about Jehovah God and his Kingdom, we are known as Jehovah’s Witnesses.

www.jw.org...

Religious Tolerance

We receive an enormous number of complaint Emails critical of our description of the Jehovah's Witnesses as a Christian denomination. Many Christians have a much more restrictive definition of the term "Christian" than we do. Before sending us a complaint Email, please read our essay on the diversity of definitions of the term "Christianity"

www.religioustolerance.org...

edit on 20-4-2015 by Annee because: (no reason given)

Welcome to reality, the truth is always the way.

a reply to: randyvs

Im having trouble reconciling that Jesus' Life Death and Resurrection is an echo of a lot of other Gods. Believe me I would rather believe in Jesus. But, I have been contemplating this undeniable fact, so Im starting to look at what the common symbols are. Im wondering if Spiritual Truth is located in the places where these God stories converge in sameness?

Maybe there is truth in the symbols that were passed from one religion to another, I am using the example of Mithrasim, but the story is the same through a vast amount of BS (Belief Systems).

These random points are from this article: jdstone.org...

1) Hundreds of years before Jesus, according to the Mithraic religion, three Wise Men of Persia came to visit the baby savior-god Mithra, bring him gifts of gold, myrrh and frankincense.

2) Mithra was born on December 25 as told in the “Great Religions of the World”, page 330; “…it was the winter solstice celebrated by ancients as the birthday of Mithraism’s sun god”.

3) According to Mithraism, before Mithra died on a cross, he celebrated a “Last Supper with his twelve disciples, who represented the twelve signs of the zodiac.

4) After the death of Mithra, his body was laid to rest in a rock tomb.

5) Mithra had a celibate priesthood.

6) Mithra ascended into heaven during the spring (Passover) equinox (the time when the sun crosses the equator making night and day of equal length).

To anyone:
The above points are just random, and used as an example. But I am wondering if anyone has taken these core similarities and striped away everything that is different, and found meaningful spiritual insights? I know a lot of the commonalities are relating to the equinoxes, the Sun born everyday and dies at night, resurrected the next day, the connection to astrology, etc, is there something more in their common symbolic meanings? Or do you think its all a made up story that is just plain BS (#$%$#)? Did your search for truth, create an atheistic opinion? Or has the stripping away of dogma led you to a better understanding of "things of the Spirit?

All I see here are a bunch of self-important "truth seekers" sneering with their self-accredited mass intellect. Yeah we get it, anyone who believes in Jesus or the Bible is a close-minded redneck who is "living a lie." Wow, so smart - what an amazing "truth journey" you took yourself on there. You know what amazes me? The first instinct when people come to this realization is to put down others. It isn't the religions fault, it is yours for being a zombie your entire life and failing to think independently. A large amount of scientific advancements, cultural, artistic, literary, etc. etc. were made under the guise of religion, it is a driving force in our society and has been since almost since its inception - regardless if it's true or not. Thank goodness religion exists, because if it didn't we'd have a world of faux-intellectual whiners like yourselves looking down on everyone else.

I don't care what anyone believes, but the condescending tone of everyone on here makes me cringe - it's a common thread on all these conspiracy websites. If "the truth" is being an asshole to those who believe differently, then you can go seek it yourselves. Using words like "cult" to describe the church makes me sick - these are communities of people united under a common belief who help each other grow and find happiness in a God they worship - if that makes some of you angry then i'd start by questioning your own sanity.

a reply to: LiberLegit

Religions are cults by definition:

Cult: a system of religious veneration and devotion directed toward a particular figure or object.

Just saying.

Anyway, as far as it goes. I agree there are many positives to religious communities. There is also the negative. But that kind of goes with anything.

originally posted by: wasaka
a reply to: Klassified

What are your thoughts Ugaritic Text which use the name EL for God.
It seem clear, the Hebrew use of the term change it's meaning from the
father of many gods (i.e., the 50 son's of EL) to one true God of Israel.

The discovery of the Ugaritic archives in 1929 has been of great significance to biblical scholarship, as these archives for the first time provided a detailed description of Canaanite religious beliefs, during the period directly preceding the Israelite settlement. These texts show significant parallels to Hebrew biblical literature, particularly in the areas of divine imagery and poetic form.

I think the discovery of the texts helped us understand a lot we didn't before about the origins of some of the Hebrews beliefs, where they came from, and why. It also helped that the two languages had many commonalities. Aside from that though, I do find it interesting that over and over again, the prophets are chastising the people for worshiping the old gods. Including a debatable, but possibly feminine version of El Shaddai.

I think what this tells us is that Monotheism wasn't originally the norm. The Hebrew people had to grow into it over generations, and frequently fell back into polytheism. The Ugaritic texts paint a different picture from what the bible paints by itself. But this is a topic for another thread.

a reply to: misskat1

Astrology in religion is all about cycles: birth, death, and rebirth.

Everything in the universe is connected to cycles: the cycle of the seasons, the ebb and flow of the tides, the day/night cycle, birth of stars and supernovae that lead to the birth of even more stars, the precession (cycle) of the zodiac and other constellations, fruit bearing seeds which give rise to new fruit/seeds, etc.

Taking this all into account, why would life itself be any different? Maybe this life is only one among an infinite cycle of lives that you will live for eternity. Jesus says that he is the door and that people will "go in and out and find pasture", a reference to reincarnation in my opinion. Maybe eternal life is already here and we are living it right now? Maybe this is God, existence itself. It's a pretty amazing thing when you really think about it, the universe and what you experience right now.

Just a few suggestions to get you thinking.

I never understood why or what religion is. I love my family and friends, I try to do the right thing and don't need a reason to do it. If you are religous then good for you just don't know why you would waste your time going to church and spreading the word when you should live everyday like that.
What reasons did you get into religion in the first place or was it just there from your parents since birth?

a reply to: LiberLegit

Did not mean to offend. Just asking hard questions.

I agree there are positive things about organized religion. But, the truth does matter to a lot of people. Its OK if a person chooses to believe the Jesus story, that is where faith comes in. Also, in my op I clearly stated that Christians might want to put their fingers in their ears and stay deaf.

a reply to: jlafleur02

Religious Programming from childhood.

a reply to: LiberLegit

Scientology is a community of people that help one another grow as well, that doesn't mean it isn't a cult though. Heavens Gate was a community of people that helped one another grow, that doesn't mean it wasn't a cult either.

Sometimes truth hurts. Christianity is a cult, it's no different than any other religion.

originally posted by: misskat1
a reply to: boymonkey74

I was defending my religious faith one time, and a good friend said "Arent you glad you were born into the right religion? I feel really sorry for those who were born into the wrong religion".

That simple statement started the whole examination process.

I think this explains it best.

My journey started when a priest said to me, " The way to hell is paved with religion".

Believing is not the problem. It is what you believe that causes the problems.

originally posted by: LiberLegit
All I see here are a bunch of self-important "truth seekers" sneering with their self-accredited mass intellect. Yeah we get it, anyone who believes in Jesus or the Bible is a close-minded redneck who is "living a lie." Wow, so smart - what an amazing "truth journey" you took yourself on there. You know what amazes me? The first instinct when people come to this realization is to put down others. It isn't the religions fault, it is yours for being a zombie your entire life and failing to think independently. A large amount of scientific advancements, cultural, artistic, literary, etc. etc. were made under the guise of religion, it is a driving force in our society and has been since almost since its inception - regardless if it's true or not. Thank goodness religion exists, because if it didn't we'd have a world of faux-intellectual whiners like yourselves looking down on everyone else.

I don't care what anyone believes, but the condescending tone of everyone on here makes me cringe - it's a common thread on all these conspiracy websites. If "the truth" is being an asshole to those who believe differently, then you can go seek it yourselves. Using words like "cult" to describe the church makes me sick - these are communities of people united under a common belief who help each other grow and find happiness in a God they worship - if that makes some of you angry then i'd start by questioning your own sanity.

"Me thinks thou dost protest too much".

a reply to: whooknows

If you hang around people who have no faith you will lose your faith. Many here have agendas, or personal grievances, many times with good reason.

But there is solid evidence that the Bible is God's inspired word. Studying history, the archaeological record, and even prophecy that has come true can give you faith again that it really is more than man's word.

Nice try.

But, no.

If you hang around educated people, and those who are 'spiritual' (but NOT 'religious), you will see your horizons expanded, and be even more free to ponder the wonder of the universe(s) and our place in it/them/the cosmos.

There is NO solid evidence that the Bible is "God's inspired word."