Spiritual beliefs -

[Niachu]

A place to ponder and discuss your spiritual or religious beliefs.

I'm agnostic, I (try to) adhere to an existentialist viewpoint, and I think reincarnation would be the ideal fate. Basically, I'd like to always exist in some form and believe that humanity and life have some higher, intrinsic value...though I can barely define the term "higher intrinsic value" for myself yet...In short you could say my spiritual life is very anxious and turbulent.

 

[Oglooger]

I believe that if there is a supreme creator, he might mostly won't care about us, he is to busy doing something else to care about some little blue planet.

 

[CatParty]

it is better not to believe in anything just so you don't get let down.

 

[KatsuKitty]

Any deity is subject to the laws of physics just like everything else that exists.

So far, I haven't seen any that would make sense given our current understanding of the universe.

 

[pinkyucat]

I believe in reincarnation.

 

[pickleniggo]

I believe in reincarnation.

If reincarnation is a real thing, then I must've done some really messed up stuff to get to where I am today.

 

[Saney]

I'm a Deist. I like the idea of a God who doesn't interact with his creations. It lets me believe in evolution and free will.

 

[Zap Rowsdower]

Classic disciple of Jesus here: I'm a firm believer in a God, and that Jesus was a real person who did all the things Christians believe, and who died and came back from death.

 

[CatParty]

Classic disciple of Jesus here: I'm a firm believer in a God, and that Jesus was a real person who did all the things Christians believe, and who died and came back from death.

Troy McGreggor = CHRISTIAN Malcolm.......

 

[Rio]

I'd say I'm agnostic. I don't believe that there's currently any way in which we can be sure about a higher power and what it may be. It's a very intimidating idea, but there really is no way to prove one religion as the ultimate truth (which is why faith is a requirement to being religious)

Hell, maybe "God" isn't a metaphysical being, but rather a metaphysical force. Maybe there is no higher power. I don't believe there's a way for us to know for sure.

 

[Zap Rowsdower]

Classic disciple of Jesus here: I'm a firm believer in a God, and that Jesus was a real person who did all the things Christians believe, and who died and came back from death.

Troy McGreggor = CHRISTIAN Malcolm.......

He changed his name to "I believe in something but I don't really go to church" Malcolm.

 

[PrimeCutDiggityDog]

I believe that there is no God and that there is no such thing as a spiritual reality/existence.

 

[Horse Boots]

I'm a Christ follower. I believe in the existence of God, the Trinity, in the resurrection of Jesus, Heaven and Hell, and so on. I follow the teachings of the Bible, and am a regular church attender.

 

[Aiko Heiwa]

Religion is an outdated concept and has no place in modern society.

 

[Golly]

I'm pretty agnostic. I think that if there is something, the universe is so infinitely huge that the chances of a god being any of the ones mentioned in any organized religion is miniscule. It's likely that we aren't even evolved enough to fathom it.
I do like the idea that there's some kind of force/energy in the universe that can affect how things happen to us, but I'd also like the idea that there's an afterlife, and it's really practically impossible to know about either of them.

 

[The Hunter]

I pray 2 sanic 4 the speed i need.

...

Okay, I'm agnostic as far as I know. I don't believe that there is a physical God, but I do believe he exists as an idea, or he's more like a being that exists only in the mind. God is also in other people. God is in your reflection. All that noise. In the end, I think I'd just stick with agnostic or atheist if I ever just stop focusing on it all. I've looked into Buddhism, and that seems like the most interesting spiritual lifestyle to me.

 

[Night Terror]

I'm an atheist, as much as I dislike the term. Too many angry neckbeard connotations.

 

[Grand Number of Pounds]

I'm a very confused person when it comes to spiritual stuff.

I'm a Christian, a conservative Baptist. I disagree with my church on some of issues, though, namely creationism and hell.

I like Gandhi's philosophy. Someone once asked him if he was a Christian. He said yes, and he was also a Hindu, Buddhist, Jew and Muslim. A lot of Asian people have eclectic beliefs like that from what I understand. It seems logical to me. I think religious tolerance is a good thing.

Agnosticism seems logical to me, too, though.

 

[Surtur]

I have posted about my religious views here before, but I though I should perhaps go into detail a bit more, since it can be a bit confusing in a monotheistic society.

Now, I go by a few labels, the most common is Pagan, but I feel the term is too general. Specifically, I am a Germanic Reconstructionist Polytheistic Pagan but obviously that is unwieldly. So I simply go by the term Heathen. Now Heathens (capital H) are folks who follow one of the many Pre-Christian religions, such as Asatru (Norse and Icelandic influenced Heathenry, which is what I practice), Theodism (Anglo-Saxon), Forn Sed (Swedish), Continental (Main Land Europe) and many others. For the most part we worship the same gods, namely Odin, Thor, Frigga, Freya and the others, though perhaops the ceremony is a bit different and the names they give the gods. So fore easy reading, I'll present a small FAQ.

What is Asatru?

Asatru is a form of Hethenry and is probably the most popular, as stated above we honor the Norse gods, but they were, before Christianity the most widley worshiped gods in all of Europe, from Scandinavia, to northern Italy and as far west as England. Asatru itself means True to the Gods, or Trust in the Gods.

What are your beliefs?

Like any group, our views are diverse, I would suggest visiting The Troth's website to learn more.
http://www.thetroth.org

So is this a manly, warriors religion?

No, in spite of what some of the more dense Heathens might think the ancestors were largely farmers and the most popular god, Thor, was a god of the common folk, not a god of war. Many folk who follow this religion are women, bi, queer or transgender and the gods do not view them as any less for it.

Wait, isn't this a Nazi religion?

NO! While Neo-Nazi's have hijacked many Germanic symbols for their hate, there is nothing in the Eddas or Sagas that suggest that race mattered to the ancestors, and archeological evidence suggests that skin tone did not matter to the ancient Heathen.

So, do you have a holy book?

Short answer, no. Long answer, while we do look to the Eddas and the Sagas as a source of wisdom and a peek into the minds of Heathens past, we also know that they are just stories and should not be taken as dogma.

So, I was told that Christianity/Islam/Etc. is the one true religion, seems like everyone feels that way, do you?

Nope. We do not believe that there is one true religion and it is up to everyone to find their own path, whatever it may be. It is more important to me that you are a good person, than what your religion is.

Do you believe in an afterlife?

Yes but we do not focus on it too much. We believe that there are many paths one can take after death, but our place is here in Midgaard and we should do our best to make our lives mean something.

If anyone else has any questions feel free to ask.

 

[Something Vague]

Well, for me, I have been raised Catholic even though even as a kid I was a huge skeptic which drove my Sunday school and catechism teacher crazy. I eventually started accepting the Catholic fate when I was around twelve, but then when I was 18 I began questioning it again after all of the abuse I suffered from my Christian high school, which was actually quite prejudice against Catholics. I wouldn't say I totally walked away from the faith though, even though I experienced some of the most extreme people that were actually very prejudice against Catholics as well as quite sexist and even driven me to suicide and didn't even care much about how I felt. I was somewhat brainwashed by them for a while until my senior year when I began questioning things.

After I recovered, I decided to try and be more involved with my Catholic church, after all, they seemed to be the most loving and tolerant bunch of Christians to the point where the teachers at my high school used to criticize us for being TOO TOLERANT, yeah...

I guess you can say right now as far as my spiritual journey goes, I am sort of "spreading my wild oats" if you will. As in, I'm trying to experience the world and life in general for myself freely and finally free from the influence of my high school and yeah... its great, I felt so repressed that it is nice to actually experience life for once. My parents understand this too which is great and they said that they will always be there for me regardless and I promised not to do anything too crazy either. Even my mother said that she went through this phase at my age before she married and its perfectly normal and there is no need to try to stop me.


My one major philosophy that I live by, however, and I will always live by is the phrase "everything in moderation" like, literally everything in moderation which is and always will be the one thing I know for a fact that I will always believe in. I know many people that would think I am totally anti-religion for saying this, but yes, even religion should be in moderation. After all, too much tends to be counterproductive and you actually start to turn people away from it rather than convert them when you force your beliefs on them like that, I mean, you can lead a horse to water, but you can't make him drink, I mean, they have to be willing and make that decision for themselves how to live your life, you can only guide them. Infact, the way you act and behave is the best thing you can do, for like a well known hymn says "The will know we are Christians by our love" the best form of preaching is being the way you think people should behave and that is loving. Preaching all of these standards and how you should act will mean nothing if you can't do that yourself.