Explain Your Religious Views or Lack Thereof

[The Silence of Night]

The whole bible is dark. My super fundamentalist, Catholic school expected kids as young as 9 to read the entire. bible, and I was one of those kids. It was pretty dark and it made me wonder how god could be all knowing and perfect but allow stuff like that to happen.

"BECAUSE IT'S ALL OUR FAULT."

And thus we should be punished for all eternity unless we believe is Jesus as our savior. Seems pretty dark.

[Seitonjin]

... So... math right?

Chirp.

*Sigh*
No. Just no. My religion is an actual religion.

Oohhhh.

Okai. *still clueless*

[Grenartia]

Same as if I'm right.



And I love you, too.



That's precisely what purgatory is, according to my beliefs. If you were generally a good person in your last life, or if you were generally a bad person, but you learned your lesson and got released from hell, you get reincarnated on Earth.

Then where does paradise come in?

Those who accept Christ.

[Blasveck]

"BECAUSE IT'S ALL OUR FAULT."

And thus we should be punished for all eternity unless we believe is Jesus as our savior. Seems pretty dark.

Depends in the denomination.

Some think it is forever.
Others say you can repent in hell.

[Southeastern Xiatao]

My Point of View in my religious beliefs

I am Catholic and was baptized a Catholic ever since I was a baby. But now I'm fifteen years old and now I'm starting to think more like this then unlike most Catholic would think about the afterlife, God, etc. Currently I'm beginning to think that when you die, your reborn again in a nonliving or living thing, and that you don't go to the afterlife.

My Current Views and Beliefs

After Death
I used think, when you die you either go to Heaven, Hell, Limbo or Purgatory. But now I do not think that there is no afterlife. I now think that when you die, depending on what you did in your life you be reborn into a living or nonliving thing. For example if someone was a wise, smart and kind person who cared for others in his/her life they will be reborn into another human being, with a great positive personality. If someone was a "bitch", evil, cruel, racist and thing that is negative and bad they will be reborn into a lesser living thing like a parasite, or a rock. I think Hitler the most evil dictator in human history, was reborn as a tapeworm for his punishment of his cruelty against the Jews in World War II.

Is there a God?

I do not know whether if God does exist or does not exist. It is something for someone to believe in, just the way children when they were young believed in Santa Claus, Easter Bunny, or the Tooth Fairy. But when on believes in God will mostly never stop believing in him, but it is common for people to stop believing in him. If those who stop believing in God, then that is not really a bad thing at all. My mom would say this, "If anyone stops believing in God, then that is okay, God doesn't mind because God will still believe in you.".

Homosexuality- Love is love, you can't stop love. That is what I think.

Gay- To me I do not think gay men are bad, or disgrace to the world like most Catholics and Muslims think. Gay men are just normal people, that only love other men. Gay marriage is now recently becoming legalized in other countries like Canada, Brazil, United Kingdom, and most recently New Zealand. I know many people at my high school I attend to who are "gay". And I support Gay Rights. Gay men adoption children is totally fine for me too.

Lesbian- Same thing I think about gay men, I support Lesbian Rights as well. In fact my cousin who is currently 28 years old, is a lesbian. And I support Lesbian Rights for that too. Lesbians are normal people, but people who are women who like other women. And they are perfectly normal people just like gay men are.

Bisexuals- I think of them the same way for gay men and lesbians. They are just men or women who like people of opposite and same sex. They can become gay or lesbian and that is also perfectly fine and is in fact a great way to start out. I support Bisexual Rights and I in fact know a girl at my high school who is bi. They too are normal people to me.

Transexuals- Transexuals are kind of the same way I think about bisexuals, gays and lesbians, but they are people who are born looking like either a female, with a penis or a male with a vagina. Or they can be people born with both sexual organs. But transgenders don't go through puberty. Transexuals can love a man or a woman or another transexual. Either way Transexuals are to me also normal people.

Asexuals- Odd to wonder why is Asexuals in the list of Homosexuality? Well I just felt like putting to this category so I don't get myself confused. To me asexuals are totally different people. They are people who do not believe in human dating relationship, sexual intercourse, etc. They do love their parents and their family. They can be of both genders. They can adopt children if they choose to. Asexual Rights is something i also support, and asexuals are still normal people to me.

[The Silence of Night]

And thus we should be punished for all eternity unless we believe is Jesus as our savior. Seems pretty dark.

Depends in the denomination.

Some think it is forever.
Others say you can repent in hell.

An eternal hell doesn't sound very loving, does it?

Although I guess hell in general doesn't either.

[Occupied Deutschland]

And thus we should be punished for all eternity unless we believe is Jesus as our savior. Seems pretty dark.

Depends in the denomination.

Some think it is forever.
Others say you can repent in hell.

Hell, others say there is no hell or that 'hell' is a misnomer for a state of being not actually involved with the traditional 'pitchforks and fiery bumstone' hell.

Edit: Heh, you like how I started out this sentence? Yay wordplay!

Edit 2: And by 'fiery bumstone hell' I mean 'fiery brimstone'. Though having fiery bumstone would probably be unpleasant as well.

[The Grey Wolf]

My religion is atheism with symbols and an eternal quest for knowledge.

Math?

Buddhism is not sexed up atheism. Neither is Pantheism.

No gods only human ethics.

I think Sakra, Brahma, and a few more deities would disagree with you.
In the Buddhist cosmology, there are gods, although they're impermanent. Some sects teach belief in God, while others do not.
It's possible to be Buddhist and atheist. But Buddhism is not atheism any more than orange juice is grape juice.

[Vareiln]

The entire new testament is fairly dark. It's all about a man who gets totally crucified, and then almost all of his followers get brutally murdered or executed.

The whole bible is dark. My super fundamentalist, Catholic school expected kids as young as 9 to read the entire. bible, and I was one of those kids. It was pretty dark and it made me wonder how god could be all knowing and perfect but allow stuff like that to happen.

Even then, Christianity's obsession with hidden knowledge was truly dark.

[Shaggai]

However I think the concept of heaven and hell was mostly developed as a scare tactic.

That is also true. It is far easier to impose moral codes on an uneducated populace through the promise of divine retribution.

On a somewhat related note, I always admired the fact that Greek gods were never portrayed as perfect, omnipotent, omniscient, emotionally stable or even morally superior to humans.

Zeus is a horny pansexual prick, and that is never sugarcoated.

Odin is way cooler than Zeus. Zeus is what you get when you give a pompous jerk immortality and thunderbolts. Odin is actually cool.

[Blasveck]

Depends in the denomination.

Some think it is forever.
Others say you can repent in hell.

An eternal hell doesn't sound very loving, does it?

Although I guess hell in general doesn't either.

It's supposed to be punishment for sinners who don't repent.

As if punishment teaches people anything.
Just look at prisons vs rehab centers.

[Vareiln]

*Sigh*
No. Just no. My religion is an actual religion.

Oohhhh.

Okai. *still clueless*

My flag is actually a huge clue in and of itself.

[The Scientific States]

An eternal hell doesn't sound very loving, does it?

Although I guess hell in general doesn't either.

It's supposed to be punishment for sinners who don't repent.

As if punishment teaches people anything.
Just look at prisons vs rehab centers.

So eternal hell is like a life sentence in prison.

[Vareiln]

-snip-

You do know that transgenders and intersex people are not the same thing, right? Please tell me you know that and you typed what you did without thinking.

[Blasveck]

It's supposed to be punishment for sinners who don't repent.

As if punishment teaches people anything.
Just look at prisons vs rehab centers.

So eternal hell is like a life sentence in prison.

Again, depends on the denomination.

Some believe there is no hell at all.
Others believe that hell isn't "fire and brimstone", that's it's just not being with god.

[Torcularis Septentrionalis]

My Point of View in my religious beliefs

I am Catholic and was baptized a Catholic ever since I was a baby. But now I'm fifteen years old and now I'm starting to think more like this then unlike most Catholic would think about the afterlife, God, etc. Currently I'm beginning to think that when you die, your reborn again in a nonliving or living thing, and that you don't go to the afterlife.

My Current Views and Beliefs

After Death
I used think, when you die you either go to Heaven, Hell, Limbo or Purgatory. But now I do not think that there is no afterlife. I now think that when you die, depending on what you did in your life you be reborn into a living or nonliving thing. For example if someone was a wise, smart and kind person who cared for others in his/her life they will be reborn into another human being, with a great positive personality. If someone was a "bitch", evil, cruel, racist and thing that is negative and bad they will be reborn into a lesser living thing like a parasite, or a rock. I think Hitler the most evil dictator in human history, was reborn as a tapeworm for his punishment of his cruelty against the Jews in World War II.

Is there a God?

I do not know whether if God does exist or does not exist. It is something for someone to believe in, just the way children when they were young believed in Santa Claus, Easter Bunny, or the Tooth Fairy. But when on believes in God will mostly never stop believing in him, but it is common for people to stop believing in him. If those who stop believing in God, then that is not really a bad thing at all. My mom would say this, "If anyone stops believing in God, then that is okay, God doesn't mind because God will still believe in you.".

Homosexuality- Love is love, you can't stop love. That is what I think.

Gay- To me I do not think gay men are bad, or disgrace to the world like most Catholics and Muslims think. Gay men are just normal people, that only love other men. Gay marriage is now recently becoming legalized in other countries like Canada, Brazil, United Kingdom, and most recently New Zealand. I know many people at my high school I attend to who are "gay". And I support Gay Rights. Gay men adoption children is totally fine for me too.

Lesbian- Same thing I think about gay men, I support Lesbian Rights as well. In fact my cousin who is currently 28 years old, is a lesbian. And I support Lesbian Rights for that too. Lesbians are normal people, but people who are women who like other women. And they are perfectly normal people just like gay men are.

Bisexuals- I think of them the same way for gay men and lesbians. They are just men or women who like people of opposite and same sex. They can become gay or lesbian and that is also perfectly fine and is in fact a great way to start out. I support Bisexual Rights and I in fact know a girl at my high school who is bi. They too are normal people to me.

Transexuals- Transexuals are kind of the same way I think about bisexuals, gays and lesbians, but they are people who are born looking like either a female, with a penis or a male with a vagina. Or they can be people born with both sexual organs. But transgenders don't go through puberty. Transexuals can love a man or a woman or another transexual. Either way Transexuals are to me also normal people.

Asexuals- Odd to wonder why is Asexuals in the list of Homosexuality? Well I just felt like putting to this category so I don't get myself confused. To me asexuals are totally different people. They are people who do not believe in human dating relationship, sexual intercourse, etc. They do love their parents and their family. They can be of both genders. They can adopt children if they choose to. Asexual Rights is something i also support, and asexuals are still normal people to me.

You clearly do not understand trans* people.

[The Silence of Night]

So eternal hell is like a life sentence in prison.

Again, depends on the denomination.

Some believe there is no hell at all.
Others believe that hell isn't "fire and brimstone", that's it's just not being with god.

Which would Classify my life now as hell. Which is accurate, really.

[Grenartia]

My Point of View in my religious beliefs

I am Catholic and was baptized a Catholic ever since I was a baby. But now I'm fifteen years old and now I'm starting to think more like this then unlike most Catholic would think about the afterlife, God, etc. Currently I'm beginning to think that when you die, your reborn again in a nonliving or living thing, and that you don't go to the afterlife.

My Current Views and Beliefs

After Death
I used think, when you die you either go to Heaven, Hell, Limbo or Purgatory. But now I do not think that there is no afterlife. I now think that when you die, depending on what you did in your life you be reborn into a living or nonliving thing. For example if someone was a wise, smart and kind person who cared for others in his/her life they will be reborn into another human being, with a great positive personality. If someone was a "bitch", evil, cruel, racist and thing that is negative and bad they will be reborn into a lesser living thing like a parasite, or a rock. I think Hitler the most evil dictator in human history, was reborn as a tapeworm for his punishment of his cruelty against the Jews in World War II.

Is there a God?

I do not know whether if God does exist or does not exist. It is something for someone to believe in, just the way children when they were young believed in Santa Claus, Easter Bunny, or the Tooth Fairy. But when on believes in God will mostly never stop believing in him, but it is common for people to stop believing in him. If those who stop believing in God, then that is not really a bad thing at all. My mom would say this, "If anyone stops believing in God, then that is okay, God doesn't mind because God will still believe in you.".

Homosexuality- Love is love, you can't stop love. That is what I think.

Gay- To me I do not think gay men are bad, or disgrace to the world like most Catholics and Muslims think. Gay men are just normal people, that only love other men. Gay marriage is now recently becoming legalized in other countries like Canada, Brazil, United Kingdom, and most recently New Zealand. I know many people at my high school I attend to who are "gay". And I support Gay Rights. Gay men adoption children is totally fine for me too.

Lesbian- Same thing I think about gay men, I support Lesbian Rights as well. In fact my cousin who is currently 28 years old, is a lesbian. And I support Lesbian Rights for that too. Lesbians are normal people, but people who are women who like other women. And they are perfectly normal people just like gay men are.

Bisexuals- I think of them the same way for gay men and lesbians. They are just men or women who like people of opposite and same sex. They can become gay or lesbian and that is also perfectly fine and is in fact a great way to start out. I support Bisexual Rights and I in fact know a girl at my high school who is bi. They too are normal people to me.

Transexuals- Transexuals are kind of the same way I think about bisexuals, gays and lesbians, but they are people who are born looking like either a female, with a penis or a male with a vagina. Or they can be people born with both sexual organs. But transgenders don't go through puberty. Transexuals can love a man or a woman or another transexual. Either way Transexuals are to me also normal people.

Asexuals- Odd to wonder why is Asexuals in the list of Homosexuality? Well I just felt like putting to this category so I don't get myself confused. To me asexuals are totally different people. They are people who do not believe in human dating relationship, sexual intercourse, etc. They do love their parents and their family. They can be of both genders. They can adopt children if they choose to. Asexual Rights is something i also support, and asexuals are still normal people to me.

You clearly do not understand trans* people.

I think that he/she/they is merely misinformed. Nothing wrong was said out of malice, but merely ignorance.

[Tlaceceyaya]

My Point of View in my religious beliefs

I am Catholic and was baptized a Catholic ever since I was a baby. But now I'm fifteen years old and now I'm starting to think more like this then unlike most Catholic would think about the afterlife, God, etc. Currently I'm beginning to think that when you die, your reborn again in a nonliving or living thing, and that you don't go to the afterlife.

My Current Views and Beliefs

After Death
I used think, when you die you either go to Heaven, Hell, Limbo or Purgatory. But now I do not think that there is no afterlife. I now think that when you die, depending on what you did in your life you be reborn into a living or nonliving thing. For example if someone was a wise, smart and kind person who cared for others in his/her life they will be reborn into another human being, with a great positive personality. If someone was a "bitch", evil, cruel, racist and thing that is negative and bad they will be reborn into a lesser living thing like a parasite, or a rock. I think Hitler the most evil dictator in human history, was reborn as a tapeworm for his punishment of his cruelty against the Jews in World War II.

So basically, screw developmental and evolutionary psychology, screw neuropsychology, screw neuroscience, screw neurochemistry, etcetera.
And Hitler was not the most evil dictator in human history. Under the definition of a ruler who does not rule through democratic means, Genghis Khan was far worse, because he actually succeeded. Comparable death toll to world war II, but a massive chunk of the world's population instead of a small percentage dead.

[Seitonjin]

Math?

No gods only human ethics.

I think Sakra, Brahma, and a few more deities would disagree with you.
In the Buddhist cosmology, there are gods, although they're impermanent. Some sects teach belief in God, while others do not.
It's possible to be Buddhist and atheist. But Buddhism is not atheism any more than orange juice is grape juice.

Buddhism at it's core says there are gods and devas but no creator god. It makes no claims of a supreme deity either. Buddhism calls for the logical means of solving things, in this case, renders the idea of godly influence null and void. Instead it suggests that the basics of life itself is cause and effect, a law of the universe. For every action, there is an equal reaction.

In a way Karma at its core is just that.

By this measure it is a more amped up and slightly spiritual version of atheism. After that, it is interpreted by other sects and the like.

[The Silence of Night]

My Point of View in my religious beliefs

I am Catholic and was baptized a Catholic ever since I was a baby. But now I'm fifteen years old and now I'm starting to think more like this then unlike most Catholic would think about the afterlife, God, etc. Currently I'm beginning to think that when you die, your reborn again in a nonliving or living thing, and that you don't go to the afterlife.

My Current Views and Beliefs

After Death
I used think, when you die you either go to Heaven, Hell, Limbo or Purgatory. But now I do not think that there is no afterlife. I now think that when you die, depending on what you did in your life you be reborn into a living or nonliving thing. For example if someone was a wise, smart and kind person who cared for others in his/her life they will be reborn into another human being, with a great positive personality. If someone was a "bitch", evil, cruel, racist and thing that is negative and bad they will be reborn into a lesser living thing like a parasite, or a rock. I think Hitler the most evil dictator in human history, was reborn as a tapeworm for his punishment of his cruelty against the Jews in World War II.

Wait, rock? Rocks aren't just made, not like that at least.

[Seperates]

BULLSHIT

Judaism is a god where the relationship is like a really benevolent ruler of a vassal. The (vassal) people may cheat and will be punished, but God does love them and will always accept them back because he loves them and cares about them. He works to serve the people so the people work to serve him. It's like a marriage... a really fucked up marriage.

Christian God is more like a Roman god, who re-incarnated on Earth in human form (or through human form) and then committed a blood sacrifice to appease himself for the sins of the world, thus sanctifying humanity though all those that believe in the God-man.

Islam is a God who is an absolute ruler. You must follow his rules absolutely as they are dictated (though the translation changes, unsurprisingly) but God does not serve the people. The people serve God, because he is the father who created them.

Clearly you read it the wrong way.

Take it up with those of the faiths, most now agree that the Abrahamic God is similar. All powerful, all knowing, all seeing.

Also, in that case we should throw in Zoroastrianism in the fray because they started the idea of good vs. evil.

No... That is like saying that Protestants and Catholics believe the same thing. Sure, they generally agree when they are separated, but throw their top theologians in a room together, tell them to come to a single consensus, and just watch the fireworks.

[The Scientific States]

My Point of View in my religious beliefs

I am Catholic and was baptized a Catholic ever since I was a baby. But now I'm fifteen years old and now I'm starting to think more like this then unlike most Catholic would think about the afterlife, God, etc. Currently I'm beginning to think that when you die, your reborn again in a nonliving or living thing, and that you don't go to the afterlife.

My Current Views and Beliefs

After Death
I used think, when you die you either go to Heaven, Hell, Limbo or Purgatory. But now I do not think that there is no afterlife. I now think that when you die, depending on what you did in your life you be reborn into a living or nonliving thing. For example if someone was a wise, smart and kind person who cared for others in his/her life they will be reborn into another human being, with a great positive personality. If someone was a "bitch", evil, cruel, racist and thing that is negative and bad they will be reborn into a lesser living thing like a parasite, or a rock. I think Hitler the most evil dictator in human history, was reborn as a tapeworm for his punishment of his cruelty against the Jews in World War II.

Wait, rock? Rocks aren't just made, not like that at least.

Exactly. Plus rocks aren't living beings so...

[Seperates]

I think Sakra, Brahma, and a few more deities would disagree with you.
In the Buddhist cosmology, there are gods, although they're impermanent. Some sects teach belief in God, while others do not.
It's possible to be Buddhist and atheist. But Buddhism is not atheism any more than orange juice is grape juice.

Buddhism at it's core says there are gods and devas but no creator god. It makes no claims of a supreme deity either. Buddhism calls for the logical means of solving things, in this case, renders the idea of godly influence null and void. Instead it suggests that the basics of life itself is cause and effect, a law of the universe. For every action, there is an equal reaction.

In a way Karma at its core is just that.

By this measure it is a more amped up and slightly spiritual version of atheism. After that, it is interpreted by other sects and the like.

Except that Karma doesn't work... some people (not myself) always get the short end of the stick. Karma only works if you assume that there is an afterlife through which punishment or reward occurs, which is essentially extremely basic Judaic afterlife philosophy.

[Avenio]

That is also true. It is far easier to impose moral codes on an uneducated populace through the promise of divine retribution.

On a somewhat related note, I always admired the fact that Greek gods were never portrayed as perfect, omnipotent, omniscient, emotionally stable or even morally superior to humans.

Zeus is a horny pansexual prick, and that is never sugarcoated.

Odin is way cooler than Zeus. Zeus is what you get when you give a pompous jerk immortality and thunderbolts. Odin is actually cool.

Odin's boring. The Olympian gods are flawed, three-dimensional figures that act in profoundly human and meaningful ways.