Could you describe your religious beliefs?

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"It is the final proof of God's omnipotence that he need not exist in order to save us." [Peter Devries]

Hi.Thanks for sharing this. A response below to a selected quote from your message....will reply to more later today or tomorrow....

I am a Christian and believe that everything in the Bible is true. I try to live by God's word with His help.

Sorry did think my post got through

Both my mom and step-dad grew up deeply religious and have faith, but they've never raised me around it and I don't really think I could put faith in something I consider an idea. So no, I'm not religious.

I respect those who are, though. If they have faith in their religion and are happy that way, I'm fine with it. I don't like having it shoved down my throat, though. None of my family is like that, thankfully.

My beliefs are theistic, but I am opposed to religion.

Sure, go ahead and believe (or not) in whatever god(s) you choose (or not).

Stop trying to convince me that I'm a bad person who is going to Hell just because I don't follow your subjective interpretations of whatever mythologies you consider "Holy".

hey, I'm sure you don't really care what I believe.... maybe you do ^^

if so:

I'm personally 100% convinced that all the God's I've read about in holy texts aren't real but I will concede there may have been some kind of powerful intelligence that had some kind of impact on earth or the universe; although I think it's unlucky and there isn't any evidence that I've seen for this idea.

I'm an atheist but I do think some of the social policies popularised by some faith's like buddhism may be beneficial to mankind, especially going into the future. I also feel the dominant culture isn't the best way for creating a better future, in fact I feel it's doing a huge amount of harm to the planet.

Like some pagan's I believe the earth could be described as being alive, and that trees, plants and some animals are the most wondrous things in the universe. I also think it's our sacred duty to help and support the systems that give us life; and I'm not talking about the man made ones.

I'm also open to debating religious and philosophical ideas, sometimes I've enjoyed demonstrating that some of the 'Jehovah's witness' beliefs to be false; I know they don't want debate but submission; but that's not how I roll.

I also love reading some religious texts (as previously stated). I find many ideas to be fantastic and very interesting; also good ways to live. It's just a shame most are peppered by unsubstantiated God claims. I also love church's and some religious structures for their brilliant architecture and art and I've been to many of Europe's top holy sites.

I was raised Christian fundamentalist, primarily in the Assemblies of God and Southern Baptist denominations. I believed it all, and was even a Biblical studies minor at a Southern Baptist university.

I gave up Christianity nearly 4 years ago, and a few months later came to the conclusion that I am agnostic.

Nothing

I was raised in a very religious evangelical household. We didn't attend church with much devotion, but fundamentalist thought was foundational to my parents' worldviews. I began doubting it around age 12, after doing some reading on Darwin and evolutionary thought. I took that and ran with it, though kept it to myself. About a year later, I became very scared of going to hell, and I relasped into my faith. I tried very hard to be a "good" Christian--praying, reading scripture, "trusting in God," etc. But it was never the same. I knew deep down that only went through these motions because I feared some eternal punishment. Eventually, through my studying philosophy and religion, I came to what I truly believe in: agnosticism. Not only do I find flaws in religious belief's argument, I feel that I could never believe in some cosmic being.

I know many religious people might find it odd, but I found a peace in agnosticism that I never found anywhere else--along with an argument I find valid. I am all right with the unknown and the unknowable. It doesn't bother me at all.

In recent months, I've been reading up on Zen, Nietzsche, and Camus's absurdism. While I find Zen fascinating, I don't think I can believ in it. Nietzsche is also very interesting, but I'm still not sure what I think about his thought in regards to religion and God. I'm finding myself drawn to Camus and absurdism, though I'm still examining it.

As with my earlier disbelief, my family still knows nothing. I would really like to tell them, but I know that it would crush them, making them feel as though they've failed as parents. Also, I don't think they'd ever accept the fact that I made a free choice to not believe.

Well... to be honest, I'm a Christian, but there's some things I can't be sure of, like what the Earth, universe, etc. are in relevance to what we can see. I believe in the Big Bang, and somewhat in some aspects of evolution, and do not agree with the traditional Christian view of how everyone is individually made and I have trouble with the creation story -- mainly because other cultures have one, and science seems to be answering this a bit. I have a lot of reasoning for this; I won't elaborate on it here. But I am otherwise convinced God exists, and am completely a Christian that believes in the gospel, the Bible, the Rapture, revival coming to the world, and unashamedly will mention it.

I think I find the dedication such as in people like Wilberforce to be captivating, and want to follow the true example of Christ through what I do. It's hard when I'm not sure what to say to people or do. I think of how a lot of people wish that Christianity was more reflected on love, and if nothing else, I think that's where my religious beliefs are. Sorry if my post was a little too "religious", but since this thread asks about it, there it is.

Edit: I didn't know about this Dawkins scale, so I looked it up, and I guess I would be a 6.5 or so. I see the probability of God as near-zero. The only thing keeping me from a 7 is the PTSD I describe below.

I am agnostic about everything -- full of doubts -- a skeptic and, thus, an atheist. I weigh explanations and ideas based on probability, and the probability of there being a participant God or spirits or anything supernatural that cannot be explained is very low. I have not personally experienced anything that could not be explained as a product of nature, and while I do not know why I am conscious of only this particular experience in this body, I cannot be sure whether that consciousness is a result of the highly complicated brain and nervous system or if there is some sort of energy that could be called a soul involved -- and what will happen to that energy when the brain ceases to function and then to exist? -- the most likely explanation is that it would disperse, but there is also the small possibility of that energy being inextricably linked together, like in the theory of quantum entanglement, and perhaps entering into another form. I would like there to be some overall reason for my consciousness, but if life has taught me anything it's that things aren't always the way you would like them to be -- in fact, they rarely are. I can't believe something just because I want it to be true.
The Bible and Christianity do not make sense to me because this one, all-powerful, all-knowing God can't seem to get the same ideas across to all of his followers, who taught me so many contradictory and messed up things when I grew up (my mom did not educate me in her beliefs, rather letting the church do it). Due to being agnostic and moreso due to my upbringing, I fear death. If I could know for certain that I will cease to exist when I die, I would not be afraid -- it is the residual effects of being told about Hell over and over again as a child that produces that fear -- more like a phobia. I am slowly unbrainwashing myself, but it will take time and repeated reinforcement of the high improbability of there being such an afterlife as is described in the Bible. It doesn't help that my evangelist mother won't leave me be and frequently reinforces her beliefs when I see her. Unlike many atheists who never really believed or even tried to believe, I feel that I need to shelter myself from religion because it brings back bad memories for me -- I was a very literal-minded, gullible child, and I took seriously the messages that others somehow knew not to take seriously -- the messages of being unworthy, of needing to repent of sins whether or not you knowingly committed them, so that I had an ever-present fear that, if I would die during my sleep and had forgotten about a sin during that night's prayers, I would go to Hell, which was described to me as the worst possible place -- not fire and brimstone, but eternal loneliness and heartache without comfort or distraction.
Now, despite my atheism, when I am exposed to religious preaching or scripture or even Christian music, a sense of dread and then anger passes over me, possibly some form of PTSD. I don't imagine I am the only person with an ASD who took religion too seriously when young since most religions seem to be designed for NTs, with the religious messages being reinforced for the normal people who follow the herd mentality and thus are easily distracted by alternative ideas. I know many NTs who seem to hold several different spiritual ideologies at any given time, and I can't understand that at all. Nonetheless, these methods of Christian teaching only served to torture me mentally and confuse me in my youth.