Your Beliefs
Cronos
Join Date: 2002-10-18 Member: 1542Members
Join Date: 2002-10-18 Member: 1542Members
in Discussions
<div class="IPBDescription">What are they?</div> What are your beliefs/background?
I was raised in a catholic background. I had to go to sunday school for the entire duration of primary school and I'm in my final year at a catholic high school.
Strangely, I've found catholicism to be rather... Empty as a spiritual vessel (in my personal experience) and developed my own beliefs. I could be considered atheistic, but that depends on your point of view.
The following will be rather difficult to explain.
If there is a "God" entity, then he is in all probability the creative power that runs the universe, if not the universe itself. We are but a small and insignificant part of the greater whole. Galaxies could be considered individual "Cells" in a universal "Brain" of a sentient "Universe" or "God".
This sentient "Universe" is in effect scarcely aware of our existence and we can see why. Are you aware of an individual carbon atom in 6 billionth cell of your brain? No, of course not. So too is the universe scarcely aware of our existence.
When we die, we are never lost, but rather become a small, insignificant part of the universe, just as your thoughts, no matter how trivial become small insignificant parts of you.
It's a strange belief to hold I guess, but it's one that doesnt get in the way of science and does not hinder me personally.
In any case, what are your beliefs and background? Discuss.
I was raised in a catholic background. I had to go to sunday school for the entire duration of primary school and I'm in my final year at a catholic high school.
Strangely, I've found catholicism to be rather... Empty as a spiritual vessel (in my personal experience) and developed my own beliefs. I could be considered atheistic, but that depends on your point of view.
The following will be rather difficult to explain.
If there is a "God" entity, then he is in all probability the creative power that runs the universe, if not the universe itself. We are but a small and insignificant part of the greater whole. Galaxies could be considered individual "Cells" in a universal "Brain" of a sentient "Universe" or "God".
This sentient "Universe" is in effect scarcely aware of our existence and we can see why. Are you aware of an individual carbon atom in 6 billionth cell of your brain? No, of course not. So too is the universe scarcely aware of our existence.
When we die, we are never lost, but rather become a small, insignificant part of the universe, just as your thoughts, no matter how trivial become small insignificant parts of you.
It's a strange belief to hold I guess, but it's one that doesnt get in the way of science and does not hinder me personally.
In any case, what are your beliefs and background? Discuss.
Comments
(that was simple)
(that was simple) <!--QuoteEnd--></td></tr></table><span class='postcolor'><!--QuoteEEnd-->
<span style='color:white'>If you can't say it nicely, don't say it.</span>
(that was simple) <!--QuoteEnd--></td></tr></table><span class='postcolor'><!--QuoteEEnd-->
<span style='color:white'>If you can't say it nicely, don't say it.</span> <!--QuoteEnd--> </td></tr></table><span class='postcolor'> <!--QuoteEEnd-->
...
another one bites the dust. gg Nem
as for the validity of the bible, I have heard no such doubts.
whether the things in it happened exactly as it says they did, or if it was mainly picture language to describe these things to an uneducated generation, i dont know, and i dont worry about it
any real logical conviction. I've just been trained to believe all my life. I also think that when people have nothign to believe in, ligfe becomes unbearable. I believe that there is one all-powerful entity, who creates less powerful deities to do his bidding.
I go unto the Father: for my Father is greater than I.
- John 14:28
concept of Holy Trinity=pwned.
Anyway, as to my beliefs, I am a militant athiest who also happens to lean to the extreme left of politcics, but the most important of my beliefs is that......um..........I'm hungry. <!--emo&::nerdy::--><img src='http://www.unknownworlds.com/forums/html/emoticons/nerd.gif' border='0' style='vertical-align:middle' alt='nerd.gif'><!--endemo-->
........but i like the idea of reincarnation or Gaia the most, since it supports the idea of life having souls, but its a free concept, seeing that there is no canyon between the good and the bad, so i also like the Yin-Yan concept.
i've always seen the idea of Good and Bad wrong, you just cant divide anything in those groups, something may seem to belong very much in one group, but everything is good and bad in some way, there is no perfection or no Pure evil. but then the concept of Gaia and Reincarnation is very much connected to being Perfect, we reincarnate to "learn" something, be this "good" or "bad". but still i say we cant we cant reach the top but we can get close...
........about the Reincarnation theory, i think we humans like things to go in a circle, we like Eternity dont we, and it's "nice" and simple isnt it?
what is the Afterlife, is it just some kind of teaclub where you can discuss you're previous lives or the one you're going to live next, while having some coffee with a fellow being? well, i cant answer it....
hope its this what you want Nem0.
I go unto the Father: for my Father is greater than I.
- John 14:28
concept of Holy Trinity=pwned.
Anyway, as to my beliefs, I am a militant athiest who also happens to lean to the extreme left of politcics, but the most important of my beliefs is that......um..........I'm hungry. <!--emo&::nerdy::--><img src='http://www.unknownworlds.com/forums/html/emoticons/nerd.gif' border='0' style='vertical-align:middle' alt='nerd.gif'><!--endemo--> <!--QuoteEnd--> </td></tr></table><span class='postcolor'> <!--QuoteEEnd-->
That's funny, you quoted me and yet you didn't read what I said. Let me quote myself, "<b>Despite my doubts about the validity of basically a large chunk of The Bible</b>, I believe Jesus is God and the Son of God at the same time."
I go unto the Father: for my Father is greater than I.
- John 14:28
concept of Holy Trinity=pwned.
Anyway, as to my beliefs, I am a militant athiest who also happens to lean to the extreme left of politcics, but the most important of my beliefs is that......um..........I'm hungry. <!--emo&::nerdy::--><img src='http://www.unknownworlds.com/forums/html/emoticons/nerd.gif' border='0' style='vertical-align:middle' alt='nerd.gif'><!--endemo--> <!--QuoteEnd--></td></tr></table><span class='postcolor'><!--QuoteEEnd-->
Even keeping within the same chapter, John 14:10 Don't you believe that I am in the Father, and that the Father is in me? The words I say to you are not just my own. Rather, it is the Father, living in me, who is doing his work.
11 Believe me when I say that I am in the Father and the Father is in me; or at least believe on the evidence of the miracles themselves.
Christ states that the father is greater than He due to the subservient nature of his coming. He, basicly, came to die, to be a suffering servant, to take the punishment for throusands of years of sin. He gave up his godliness, thus making the Father more powerful than he.
Concept of Holy Trinity = un-pwned.
I'm a non-denominational christian, with growing faith in the bible. I believe there is nothing I can do to get me to heaven, save ask Christ to have his sacrifice pay for my sins.
How so? AFAIK, the whole of protestant-ism is just to break from the legalism of Catholicism, and embrace the grace of God as the saving force in their lives.
John 3:16, Ephesians 2:8-9, and the entire book of Galatians are pretty much where I'm coming from.
Ahh, I see.
Wait a minute... you mean purgatory, right?
I was confused as hell when you stated that about Catholics...
<i>Romans 3: 22 - 24 - This righteousness from God comes through faith in Jesus Christ to all who believe. There is no difference, for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, and are justified freely by his grace through the redemption that came by Christ Jesus. </i>
I'm not a Catholic myself, so I don't know the intricacies of purgatory. Anyone Catholices here to elaborate on it?
*Thinks*
*Years of sleeping in Religious Education in high school come back*
*Hmmmm Kylie... World religions project which I just googled... Church...*
Ahhhhh nothing coming back. Bugger don't remember now, I only remember the stuff about religions from around the 16th and 17th centuries. Possibly purgatory is a Catholic idea (one of those modern ones) because it certainly isn't what Christians believe.
I hope someone knows because I don't remember anymore D:
As for my beliefs, well I don't have many.
As stated in the now locked and very dead previous thread, I believe there is a God running about somewhere. Probably the Universe and inevitably us came about as some experiment for whatever reason. Overall is a relatively nice fellow who definitely does NOT bother interfering with Humans (except that one time...).
Do more good than harm, help those who need it.
What more does one need?
Do more good than harm, help those who need it.
What more does one need? <!--QuoteEnd--> </td></tr></table><span class='postcolor'> <!--QuoteEEnd-->
I've often found that something about hamsters goes a long way to getting one out of a sticky situation.
And usually something about relationships <!--emo&:D--><img src='http://www.unknownworlds.com/forums/html/emoticons/biggrin.gif' border='0' style='vertical-align:middle' alt='biggrin.gif'><!--endemo-->
I don't like hamsters, but I've been with the same woman for 16 years. Faithful and true.
You mean "Protestants" - Catholics are Christians too. <!--emo&:p--><img src='http://www.unknownworlds.com/forums/html/emoticons/tounge.gif' border='0' style='vertical-align:middle' alt='tounge.gif'><!--endemo-->
The idea behind Purgatory is that heaven isn't an all or nothing thing. If you sin in life, it leaves a mark on you that has to be erased before you can enter God's presence in heaven. Repenting is only the first step - it shows that you <i>want</i> to scrub that sin off you. After that, you have to actually do the work in Purgatory to cleanse yourself of it. The worse your sins, or the later in life you repented, the longer it takes to purge the sin from your soul.
It's similar in some ways to the Buddhist and Hindu concept of needing to cleanse or enlighten your soul through many cycles of rebirth.
Dunno if Purgatory is still mainstream Catholic dogma, though; I didn't hear it mentioned once during my 13 years of Catholic schooling. I only know about it from people who were in Catholic school a generation or two ago, and from my recent work studying the <i>Divine Comedy</i>, of which Purgatory comprises a full third.
I was baptised a Roman Catholic, went to a Catholic Primary School, and am going to a Catholic Secondary School.
I was taken to a Roman Catholic church every Sunday between the ages of 5-11, and became an altar boy during the Latin service on Sundays. (Before anyone leaps in - nothing untoward happened towards myself or anyone at OUr Lady's Queen of All Creation, Fr Higgins was a good man, God rest his sole)
At the age of 13 I became an atheist, with all the "Christianity is rubbish" things that I have seen many many many do.
I became an atheist after studying advanced science, and learning to question the Bible. I also wasn't too thrilled that my Catholic Primary School had been teaching us Islamic stories and replacing the "Prophet Mohammed (PBUH)" with "Jesus, Mary, and Joseph" and passing them off as Christian.
When I started taking my A-levels, one of my choices was Philosophy and (Christian) Ethics, this showed me an entire world of thought, that I had previously associated with Ancient Greeks with long white beards. After studying the Problem of Evil and such things, I have come to follow John Stuart Mill's teachings on Ethics (Utilitarianism) and God (A Limited God, not the one of Classical Judeo-Christian Theology, but a creator who appears to have done the best job they could, but is not all-powerful)
As for my political views I want a Utopian Society where everyone gets along and all that (like in Star Trek <!--emo&:D--><img src='http://www.unknownworlds.com/forums/html/emoticons/biggrin.gif' border='0' style='vertical-align:middle' alt='biggrin.gif'><!--endemo--> )
However, I know that is unlikely to happen, at least for my life time and maybe not even for hundreds of years, but that is what I would like the world to be.
I went through a phase where I thought that Communist ideals where the way forward, but now I have become an ardent democrat (note small 'd' for the moment) believing that all men are equal, and each entitled to their own opinion which should be expressed through their government.
I believe in the <a href='http://www.historylearningsite.co.uk/first_past_the_post.htm' target='_blank'>British Electoral System</a> (first past the post) as opposed to proportional representation.
I support a United Europe, all controlled by a Federal government, however I do not support Britian joining the Euro now, nor signing the European Constitution, unless there is a referendum, if there was I would vote "No" because I do not feel that Britain, nor even Europe, is ready for such a thing.
I am a card carrying member of the <a href='http://www.conservatives.com/' target='_blank'>Conservative Party</a>, and I have my father (who is an American) give money to the Democratic Party of America.
I believe fully in the ideals of the National Health Service, and in the Welfare State.
I believe abortion is not a right, and should only be offered when either the mothers life is endangered or the mother was a victim of sexual assault.
I believe that IVF treatment is fine.
I believe that voluntary euthanasia should be permitted by law.
I do not believe that drugs should be legalised, except maybe marijuana because it appears that it is no more dangerous than smoking or drinking alcohol which are both legal. I believe that people should have a choice whether or not to use it, however since it is illegal I do not condone the use of it. If someone can find medical research that proves that it is more dangerous than smoking/drinking alcohol.
I personally do not drink alcohol as I prefer to keep control of my inhibitions, and the last time I drunk I sang "Good King Wenceslas" all the way home in the middle of summer.
I do not believe that homosexuality is wrong, as long as they are too consenting adults.
I don't think I missed anything.
Edit: If you want to know what Catholics believe - go to the Horse's mouth. <a href='http://www.vatican.va/archive/ccc_css/archive/catechism/ccc_toc.htm' target='_blank'>The Catechism of the Catholic Church.</a> Purgatory was a Catholic idea that predates Protestantism anyway, and was in part one of the causes of the Reformation (Luther and Indulgences and all that), the bit about purgatory is <a href='http://www.vatican.va/archive/ccc_css/archive/catechism/p123a12.htm#III' target='_blank'>here</a>.
...
At the age of 13 I became an atheist, with all the "Christianity is rubbish" things that I have seen many many many do. <!--QuoteEnd--> </td></tr></table><span class='postcolor'> <!--QuoteEEnd-->
Keep an open mind is all I can say. I was fairly atheistic as I left grade school because Catholic grade schools, on the whole, do a pretty lousy job of religious education. I had the good fortune to go to a really excellent Jesuit high school, though, which gave me an angle on the Catholic faith I hadn't had before, and brought me from "atheist" to "lapsed Catholic," where I remain comfortably today. <!--emo&:D--><img src='http://www.unknownworlds.com/forums/html/emoticons/biggrin.gif' border='0' style='vertical-align:middle' alt='biggrin.gif'><!--endemo-->
I believe that Life is finite and you only get one existence, on this corporeal realm.
I believe that humans are too ignorant to truly believe in anything. They can fake it really well but only a 1/1000th of them actually manage to believe.
I believe that true believers should be allowed to believe what they want and we should support them. Legionnaired is a cool guy, even if his beliefs differ from mine. So long as he doesn't try to convert me (good luck if you try, I kept stringing a Jehova's Witness along for months) I'm fine with his beliefs. I won't try to offend him if I can avoid it.
/edit
We're reading about Martin Luther in History Class, and John Calvin. Luther and Calvin were SNAFU FUBAR and everything else that's bad.
as for non-religious beliefs:
-People have the right to take their own life for any reason at any time
-Good and Evil are relative terms and are based entirely upon an individuals personal beliefs
-Corporations are the closest thing to Evil that exists.... and they don't exist really... thats what makes them so damned evil
-in general eople protect their children too much, or worse yet, don't and expect the rest of society to do it for them
thats all I feel like sharing for now
I'm what you'd consider a logical person. My mind is just geared totally for science, and I have an intense difficulty just believing things on blind faith. I basically turned out exactly like my father, except that he believes and I don't. Both of my parents were Presbyterians, but we rarely went to church, just Christmas, and Easter, and maybe a few times in-between. The focus of family discussions when I was young were about science.
When I got into middle school I joined the Catholic Boy Scout troop in my hometown of Ann Arbor. I really only did this because it was one of the few troops, and because all my friends went into it. As it was an insanely active troop, we went on outings nearly every other weekend. It being a religious troop, we went to church every time that we weren't surrounded by 200 miles of wilderness. I think I've been to more Catholic masses than I have been to Presbyterians. After these I'd nearly always get into a discussion with the Scout Master at the time about God, and what was said during the mass. The Scout Master was this great guy who had this endless supply of physics. It became pretty clear that I didn't buy into the whole religion thing, and thankfully this troop was open enough not to kick me out (I wouldn't have been able to get my Eagle had I tried, but that's a story for another time.). It got to a point where I just flat out asked him to define god for me, because we'd gone round and round about an all powerful deity. He said, "What do you think God is?" I've been stuck on that ever since.
I guess that whole thing can be summed up in simply stating that I can't place faith in something controlling me. If I tell myself to life my hand, I lift my hand. My faults are my own, and my successes are my own.
Free will's a tricky one, haven't quite got that one yet. I used to believe that physics was the answer to this question. I figured that through chemical interactions in your brain, thoughts were created. These controlled your body. These chemical/electrical interactions can be simplified to formulas, which dictate your behavior. Problem there is that once you get a computer powerful enough you can basically tell the future. Sounds cool, eh? Yeah, but once you know what you're going to do, you're presented with a choice. Do I follow the formulas, or do I not? Best answer that I can come up with is our thoughts are a just something that we don't understand yet. Like some way of distorting physics.
If I had to go to one of the American political parties, I guess I'd be a dem, but I'm much more comfortable listing myself as an independent.
I'm defiantly fine with **** rights, marriage, etc.
In a perfect world, abortion would be judged on a case-by-case basis. I've heard too many horror stories from my mother about it (she worked as a Nurses Aid for a couple years). I'm totally against using it as a form of birth control, but there are times where it's a safety issue/sexual molestation. It's much more complicated than a yes/no in my opinion.
I'm against legalization of drugs. One of my close friends is literally tearing apart his life piece by piece. I, with total and complete conviction, can place ALL of the blame on marijuana. It's really painful to watch. With that in mind there's no way I can justify ever legalizing them, in my mind.
It's not a simple matter of good vs. evil. There are plenty of shades of gray about it. Individual circumstances are all important.
I'm going to stop there and try and get back to work. It's going to fail horribly, but I've got to at least try.