What religion were you raised and what are you now?

Even though I was baptized a Catholic, and the only reason for that was because my mom did it at the insistance of her favorite great aunt, so she did it out of respect. But other than that, I have enjoyed religious freedom my entire life. My mother was one of those forced to be Catholic kids, and she did not want her kids to go through that so she told us to make up our own minds on it. I do have my ideas on it, which I never like to discuss because I get tired of people telling me what I should and shouldn't believe in. I do study all of the religions of the world from mostly an academic point of view because of course religion plays a big part in human history. I personally don't understand why people follow religion, but to each their own. I'm just a free spirit and prefer to stay that way.

Raised as a Catholic, and was educated in the Catholic system.

Had periods of strong belief and strong opposition. The opposition eventually won.

I now proudly consider myself a Humanist. I throw the term Atheist around a lot, but I do believe in a limited kind of spirituality, so that term didn't really stick. Humanism was far closer to what I believed, so it is now my 'label' (don't we humans love to label things ).

Humanism is a comprehensive life stance that upholds human reason, ethics, and justice, and rejects supernaturalism, pseudoscience, and superstition.

Humanism has appeal to agnostics, atheists, deists, empiricists, freethinkers, naturalists, rationalists, libertarianists, scientific skeptics and secularists.

Those who call themselves Humanists are a relative minority—numbering between three and five million people worldwide in 31 countries.

Humanism @ Wikipedia

[edit on 3-7-2009 by fooffstarr]

I was raised Protestant.

Now I'm not religious and I believe the entire universe ultimately consists of consciousness, in all its bizarre implications, and anything that can go eventually will.

I feel like the minority here because I'm still a christian but my decision is kind of a bumpy ride so hold on.

I was born in the western U.S. (New Mexico) and was raised in a baptist family. My father was raised a christian scientist but never bought into it. My parents never forced church on me but as a child I'd go because I loved to. I didn't understand everything. I just liked the music and the snacks they gave us and the funny pastor. I grew up still being a "free thinking" baptist. My younger brother later turned athiest and tried convincing me a few years ago with the film "Zeitgeist" that christianity was a hoax. The film didn't convince me but made me curious. As I joined the Navy in 2000, I found myself as lost. I considered myself a "confused christian" because what I'd been taught and what the Bible actually said didn't line up correctly. I started my own research of religion, starting with prophecy because I was always intrigued by prophecy. Eventually I figured, "what did the first christians believe?" My research took me to "Apostolic Christianity" and how the early christians didn't follow or believe in much of what Modern Christianity believes in. I was eventually led to the United Church of God website and they had an interesting take on christianity. Most people living before 1986 will remember a man by the name of Herbert W. Armstrong, the founder of the Radio Church of God which later became known as the Worldwide Church of God. The United Church of God is the largest of the "Armstrong" sects. As I researched their literature, I noticed that their teachings fell in line with what the scripture truely taught. I learned that Jesus, God and the Holy Spirit were not a "Trinity". I learned that Hell is not everlasting and that the word "hell" is mistranslated in the bible. The lake of fire is a Second Death and permanent.... no everlasting torment. I learned that there is not separation of body and soul but that they are one. When you die, you stay dead until God resurrects you for his government on earth, or for judgement. I learned that the United States and Great Britain are modern descendents of the Isralie tribe of Joseph. I learned that people are being "chosen" by God in this lifetime, and that most of mankind is blind to the truth because of satan and in some cases, because God needs some to be blind for His plan to go forward. I learned that the Laws of the Old Testament are to be followed by christians such as the Ten Commandments including the 4th commandment of keeping God's Sabbath day holy. There is much more but you get the idea.

I denounced the holidays of Christmas and Easter because of their "pagan" origins and now follow God's 7 holy day feasts outlined in Leviticus 23 and followed by Jesus, the Apostles and the first century church.

To those who use to be catholic but are now pagan..... that's not a big jump. Pagans are the ones who founded catholicism.

God bless you all.

I was raised a sort of combination of agnostic/science. My mom respected religion, or rather said she respected folks who practiced religion, even though their believing in God was a little ignorant. At least, that's what I got out of it. Instead there was a strong dedication to science, as well as a belief that everything could be understood with enough, well, for lack of a better short term, science. The fruit of that, I believe, was becoming an antagonistic, evangelical atheist. I pretty much believed that anyone who thought there was a God was an idiot, and didn't have a clue about tested, demonstrated and proven science.

Now I'm a pretty devout Christian, seeing God in His creation in all facets (especially quantum physics... I love quantum physics ).

Pagans are the ones who founded catholicism.


That's baloney considering the councils condemn paganism throughout their writings. They were trying to devert attention from the pagan holidays.

I wasn't raised catholic, but converted through Gods grace.

reply to post by JesusisTruth


I agree JIT...the Christian religion took Pagan holidays and twisted them until palliatable

Hence why I think the Christians stole our tradtions and may not be real...that's part of what led me from Catholicism

-Kyo

reply to post by KyoZero


In World War II, some Allied tank crews captured panzer tanks and made them their own. Did that make them Nazis? Did it make them unreal?

Not a perfect analogy, of course, but something to consider.

reply to post by junglejake


Actually I disagree...they didn't alter the tanks and try to pass them off so the analogy isn't quite what I would use to combat my opinion

The Nazi's capture an Ally tank and keep it. It is an Allied tank kept by the Nazi's

On the other hand...

If the Nazi's took the Allied tank and redressed and altered it and tried to pass it off as a Nazi tank..then yes it becomes a Nazi tank...to those who will believe it

They took the Pagan traditions, reformulated them and said...BAM Christmas...or whatever holiday you want to choose.

That is my point..the tanks weren't altered and then passed off as Panzer tanks

-Kyo

Sorry I said that backwards...I meant the allies stole panzer tanks

Either way my point stands that America didn't try to pass them off as Allied tanks

-Kyo

Originally posted by KyoZero
reply to post by junglejake

 

Actually I disagree

No you don't I said the analogy wasn't perfect. Your critique agreed with that statement.

As to your critique of the analogy, if they left the tanks as they were, instead of adding some sort of indication they were allied with the Allies, not only would the shermans be blowin' them up, but the Germans would be, too (Hey! I'm a poet and I don't even realize!).

A facet of the point was one of attrition. Not of specifics. And the point was that you shouldn't doubt the legitimacy nor the resolve and dedication of your opponent to your cause just because they're turning the resources they've captured to their own use.

Do I agree with the tactic? Actually, no, not at all. However, that doesn't mean I doubt their dedication to God. Why would I? They're seeking every avenue they can find to try to show folks who Christ is.

[edit on 7/8/09/08 by junglejake]

reply to post by junglejake


No I get what you are saying but I see a huge difference in the idea.

Tanks are a concrete thing. It isn't a concept because you can walk to a tank, touch it, drive it, fire it and watch it destroy things. The Allies could take a Panzer and paint it whatevert they want. They may pass it off as an Allied tank but it will still do what was intended.

Spirituality is an abstract on the other hand. I am Pagan and I myself admit that I cannot prove Isis exists. It's impossible to do so. So the early Pagans made a holiday called Yule. They celebrated and had a gay old time. The thing is, Yule is a day just like any other. It isn't tangible and not really real. What is different though is that a Christian can take Yule, call is Christmas and change the entire thing and nobody will know the difference but in essence they attempted and succeeded at passing off something that the Pagan's owned as their own. The issue and where I see a difference is in the intent. Let's say for a very brief moment you could prove Paganism and we celebrate Yule. Then a Christian comes and takes Yule and calls is Christmas. It doesn't make God real because they did that.

Now...with that said, the warping of the traditions is the very least of why I left the Catholic faith. The hypocrisy of the church helped push me but what really struck me was a complete lack of answers from God. Again, you can tell me I didn't look hard enough or that I blindly ignored them but the fact is I looked harder then ever because I was having some severe crises at the time and there was nothing. Now I didn't stop Catholicism from just that one incident. There were so many times that God answered nothing for me. I searched and searched and eventaully I called out Isis' name and she answered in a jiffy.

That's the brunt of it. I was just pointing that out because JIT brought it up

The holidays are maybe a good 1% of why I left.

-Kyo

reply to post by KyoZero


Given what you wrote, I would point out that it was people who caused you to reject God. Not God. People. I am not Catholic, but I am Christian. I believe in the Bible, and what God says about Himself in there. And make no mistake, I have been burned by Christians on several occasions. I expect to be burned again. But... I know I've burned people myself without realizing it. God's followers eventually are to be, and supposed to be reflections on who He is. Yet, they are not. I know I've fallen short, and anyone you find who says they have not is either a liar or delusional. I believe, as the Bible states, that one day the church will be without stain or wrinkle (meaning sin or religiocity), but that time has not come. The church is flawed, just as everything else seems to be. If a person has a crappy explanation as to why 2+2 = 4, it doesn't mean 2 + 2 doesn't equal 4. It means the person delivering the message either doesn't understand or can't express the truth. 2+2 does equal 4, no matter how [expletive deleted]-up the explanation is.

Once again though...look at what I wrote...I went off on the holiday tradition tangent because it was a good intelligent discussion but I also said that was a fractionally small part of why I left. I left due to no answers from God. Those prayers were my own and of my own doing. This wasn't me praying to the priest. I let because God himself never answered but someone else did. Like I said I apologize for going on and on about the holidays but that is the smallest percentage of ths issue. My issue was with the prayer on my own personal time.

Sorry again for that confusion but trust me, I never left for people...always been too stubborn for that

On the other hand thank you for being so kind about all this discussion. I've always said a true Christian or a true Pagan or whatever can listen to someone flat out bash their god or goddess and not concern themselves with getting personal. Clearly you are more than capable of that...you're a good person methinks

-Kyo

I was born a Catholic but neither of my parents were very religiously inclined and it wasn't a big part of my upbringing. By the time I was a teenager I had discovered mystical Christianity and Eastern religions. Oooh boy! Was that a life-changer! To make a long story short, I ended up spending about 4 years in a Jodo-shu monestary in Japan and was also initiated by the Shingon-Shu on Mt. Koya near Kyoto (a very memorable event). I spent a bit of time in Taipei studying Taoist texts as well. I've gone through brief "stints" of intensive study of Islam, Hinduism, and Christianity as well.

These days I've been spending a lot of time with Christianity and also looking into some of the more esoteric aspects of the Western tradition (mystery religions, hermeticism, Rosicrucianism, etc.).

Having absorbed so much information in a way I am a bit lost these days...don't know what to make of it all but every bit is fascinating. I certainly do believe in a higher-order spirituality, whether envisioned as mystical or more along the lines of worshiping a seperate God. The mystics of every religion seem to basically agree at root on the nature of the cosmos and the sacred ("many roads, one mountain," as the Zen people say), and this makes for an extremely compelling argument along those lines. At the same time, something deep within me feels there is an actual "God" or "Lord" above us (not panthiesm) and I pray to Him often. The tension between these two world-views is something I still have not fully resolved.

reply to post by JesusisTruth


They may have denounced paganism but the fact is, they took pagan holidays and gave them christian meanings to lure pagans into christianity. Examples:

Replacing Saturnalia/Yule with Christmas keeping the symbols of evergreens, yule logs, gift exchanging, Santa replacing Odin, the birth of the Son of God as opposed to the birth of the sun god (winter solstice... the sun starts to rise again). All of this was catholics replacing their former pagan religions with a twisting of the original meanings.

Easter replaced the true biblical holy days of Passover and Unleavened Bread, the actual days that Jesus were crucified and resurrected. Easter itself comes from the goddess of fertility, Ishtar. This is where we get easter eggs and bunnies on easter. Bunnies represent the male symbol of fertility and eggs represent the female symbol of fertility. For those christians who don't do the egg hunts, catholics replaced the "resurrection of the sun god" to the "resurrection of the Son of God" and falsely used sunday as the day of Christ's resurrection. How do you get 3 days and 3 nights from Good Friday afternoon to Easter Sunday morning? Note that the Gospel of Mark mentions the women after the crucifixion waiting for the sabbath to pass before buying and preparing spices and oils to anoint the body of Christ. The book of Luke shows these same women preparing these spices and then waiting for the sabbath to pass before anointing the body of Christ on the first day (sunday). Keep in mind that the day after the crucifixion of Christ, there was a yearly or "high day" Sabbath known as the First Day of Unleavened Bread. This is the sabbath mentioned in Mark. The sabbath mentioned in Luke is the 7th day Sabbath (saturday). This means Jesus was actually crucified on a Wednesday and resurrected on a Saturday, 3 days and 3 nights AFTER He was put in the tomb. Good Friday and Easter Sunday are a scam created by catholics of the 4th century.

The replacement of the 7th day Sabbath that Jesus, the apostles and first century church followed with the pagan day of worship on sunday. Nowhere in scripture does it authorize a change for the 4th commandment.

Face it, catholicism is disguised paganism. Don't get me started on the Trinity.

reply to post by JesusisTruth


You definitely need to read the above post and look into it a lot more. Then you will understand where these things have really come from. Very good points Locoman8.

Zetetic_of_Truth

[edit on 8-7-2009 by Zetetic_of_Truth]

reply to post by Zetetic_of_Truth


Thank you. Finally someone with intelligence.

Neither of my parents are religious . Only my late grandfather was a non practising Catholic towards the end of his life . So its fair to say that I wasn't raised in a religious house hold . Today I am an Atheist when I was a kid no one in my family said that a higher power did or didn't exist .

Cheers xpert11 .

"Independent Baptist"

Now mostly Taoism, A little atheist, A little pagan, A little Buddhist and even still a little Christian. I am freeform with my beliefs. If something rings true to me it is for me. When you peel the religion and traditions from the words of Yeshua he had a lot of neat philosophical things to say.