The REAL "What Religion Do You Believe" Thread

[DeathevokatioN]

Old school death metal.

[Cire]

Yeah, I agree, life should be enjoyed. It's too short not to. I can be pretty bad at that though sometimes. Sometimes I can forget things such as the beautiful ocean view from my appartments windows. I usually don't think much about how beautiful the environment in the city I live in actually is. Guess it's some kind of "homeblindness", if such a thing do exist.

[Koko Ricky]

When I think of how difficult it can be to enjoy life during times of suffering, I remind myself that suffering is unavoidable, and there is growth in times of discomfort.

[Obsidian]

I was wondering why one of my old asks got a Like on it.

[Avoozl]

.

Edited December 9, 2017 by Avoozl

[Remilia Scarlet]

Wow, what a bump XD

 

Still pagan, specifically Wiccan.

[Chezza]

I think Goatlord believes in Necromancy as he revives threads from the dead. 

 

2 hours ago, Avoozl said:

I don't think "goatlord" really cares what religion you follow, they obviously want you to live to learn and experience, nothing is truly good or bad outside of life itself.

That's heresy talk. *lights torch*

Edited December 6, 2017 by Chezza

[Remilia Scarlet]

1 minute ago, Chezza said:

I think Cire believes in Necromancy as he revives threads from the dead.

Actually I think it was GoatLord :-P

[Chezza]

1 minute ago, YukiRaven said:

Actually I think it was GoatLord :-P

Damn my edit doesn't alter your quote. I shall forever wear this error

[SOSU]

I am catholic so should i click on christian or other?

[SuperCupcakeTactics]

Kind of a mix of Catholic Christianity, Paganism (probably Wiccan like @YukiRaven and I draw a lot of pentagrams and other symbols frequently), and Buddhism

[Blastfrog]

I'm basically an atheist, but I do believe in a much more abstract kind of "god". I've heard many spiritual leaders say that god appears to individuals in the way they most recognize, and I suppose you could say that the universe, its arrangement of matter and energy and the laws of physics that govern it could be considered God in a sense. All seeing, all knowing (the universe "knows" the entirety of its contents, otherwise nothing would exist in the same space to interact) and all powerful (we are 100% subject to the whims of nature).

 

The universe gave birth to life, the stars, the planets, etc. I certainly don't think of the universe as a deity or having any kind of sentience, but most basic definitions of God can be also applied to the natural world if you take it more as metaphor.

 

Also, believe whatever you want, just don't use your faith as an excuse to be a bigot or otherwise act inappropriately toward your peers (stupid fucking bakers...). Also don't let it make you miserable and self-loathing, no point in having faith if it isn't improving your life in some meaningful way.

[VGamingJunkie]

Pentecostal, Assembly of God.

Edited December 9, 2017 by MetroidJunkie

[Remilia Scarlet]

So Call of Duty and Crysis are religions now?  Nifty.

[VGamingJunkie]

Seems I posted in the wrong thread, sorry about that.

[Doomkid]

Praise be to Crytek

[Megalyth]

I personally struggle with thoughts on this subject daily. I sometimes have extreme death anxiety and by extension, a deep-seated fear that I will wind up in hell. I know that may seem irrational but it chills me to the bone when it crosses my mind. I'm not a bad person by any means but I don't exactly live a godly life either. I fall into the luke-warm category.

 

I'm torn between what I want to do and how I think I should live based on my beliefs. It's a difficult situation for me.

[MrGlide]

    I was raised Christian. My chest feels there must be a higher power, My brain tells me all the available options are beyond delusional. I find that there are to many serious flaws in the bible to take it to heart, any to be any kind of law of the land. Also, I don't like that agnostic and atheist are the same option, as an atheist openly and most of the time firmly believes there is no god, or spiritual afterlife, as where agnostic's feel there is a higher power, but do not have strong connections to any existing religion.

 

    What are my hopes? That when we die we don't exist anymore or are reincarnated. Heven and hell both sound like a shit deal to me. Burn eternally, or watch the rest of humanity suffer eternally while there is nothing you can do to help. If you're watching down from abouve, you'll get to watch all of lifes horrors happen to everyone you love and have left behind. That doesn't sound pleasent to me at all.

[Megalyth]

Yeah that's another aspect of it that I can't understand. What if I go to heaven and my wife goes to hell, or vice versa. Do we just forget about everyone we loved in this life no matter what happens to them? How can heaven be an existence of pure bliss if the ones you love in this life aren't there with you?

[Doomkid]

It's times like this where I'm extremely glad I have absolutely no belief whatsoever in heaven or hell. Neither concept makes any sense to me at all, plus the rules are wildly different from religion to religion. No thanks to all the hell and heaven business, I'm much more happy with simply being dead whenever I do end up croaking. I guess we will be reincarnated in the sense that the atoms we're constructed from will be used for something else down the line, that's good enough for me!

[Avoozl]

I think hell isn't supposed to be another place but more of a state of mind if the one who ascended is still being held back by some sort of personal distress, where all the "souls" are in the same place but perhaps the souls without distress gradually help the souls in distress to get out of it.

 

 

[Mr. Freeze]

Greek Orthodox here. Daily reminder that Martin Luther burns in Hell and the Pope is a liar. 

[Battle_Korbi]

(Born and raised, still is Catholic, probably won't stop being)

 

I already had some sort of sermon here, but I had been writing now for half a hour and probably would continue for much, but no one would bother reading it, so lemme short it up:

 

Heaven or Hell, as far as I am being taught, is the final result your soul experiences after death and after the Judgement. If you were lead to heaven, you would feel relief, that goes on and on. Kinda like when you were holding in piss and made it to the toilet, and then letting go. Heaven is like that. Hell however, is the eternal sensation of discomfort and distress. Thing is, you are supposed to automatically acquire either of the sensations as soon as you enter either heaven or hell. In what form it manifests, it is unknown. This might feel like bogus and old man tales, but kinda makes sense once you think of it.

 

Our bodies are oh so temporary, but our souls are eternal. Our soul's input and output was determined by our body, our senses and our thoughts and emotions. Your soul is "watching" you right now, checking on your internal gauges, and decides on how you should feel. Of course, everyone has a different view, everyone has differently attuned senses, and while you might think you are doing the good thing, other guy would call you a villain, and so on and so on. Thing is, your soul is always unchanged by whatever happens, but what it can do to the body is limited, but that varies. That is why you get a lot of people who feel immense guilt over doing something oh so simple and forgivable, yet there are people who murdered left and right and had many nights of innocent sleep.

 

Either way, once you "pass on" by dying, your soul is free to fly. And all of your mortal senses and opinions are gone for now. Upon Judgement, your soul already knows where will it go. Judgement isn't a 15-minute court case like in the movies. Judgement is instantaneous, and it happens soon as your soul flies off into the immaterium. Some souls are stuck on Earth, therefore ghosts (but not the movie kind... nothing about religion is like in the movies), but as soon as they can fly off and receive Judgement, they are dispelled. And so, once you reach Heaven or Hell, you wouldn't be bothered by guilt, depression, pride or anything like that. In Heaven and Hell, your soul receives the same treatment you deserved in the "mortal plane" (we can fly off planets now, so...), because during "your time", your soul was invurneable, but now it can feel pain or relief, and is given so. You wouldn't feel pain in Heaven because your soul knows you don't deserve it, while in Hell, you won't feel anything but distress and discomfort. Where does God come in on all this? Is he the part of Judgement? Yes and no. Thing is, your soul can already tell where will it go, but if the 15-minute court case happens, God is there like a parent to a toddler, able to tell you are lying and bullshitting your way out of your soul's fate. Its kinda useless to try persuading him otherwise. (Abrahamic) God is unlike other pagan gods who were just powered-up people in charge of a certain element, and who could be convinced, seduced, or intimidated. This is kinda why Christianity is kinda awesome to me, when my God can just be like "nope, you are shitting me" :3

 

To resume without joking, whenever you go to Hell or Heaven cannot be easily determined by oneself's senses. As we know, there are people who consider murdering innocent people a necessary thing, then there are spiritual hypohondriacs, this matter cannot be attuned to one person. That is why the old peeps back then thought of and made all the flashy rules like 10 commandments. You guys are certainly not the first to have thoughts of doubt, nor you were any closer. Skeptics existed since the religion itself, its a human thing. So, the elders thought of these "guidelines" which anyone can refer to (while we of Abrahamic faith kinda have to stick to) to a better life. They kinda sound outdated, yeah, but that doesn't mean they require changing immediately. Leave that to the theologists in charge. Religion is all about better life amongst other people, and about individual mental and emotional health.
 

Spoiler

EXTRA: Wonder why there are still Christian brothers and sisters spewing out "God hates fags" and similar crap? Consider that the rules they are refering to were made to guide a very very tiny nation back then in the Middle East which was besieged by all sides. Twas Israel. Yeah, homosexuality and similar things were always a human thing (and was prominent all the times), but imagine being a part of a relatively small nation who are in some sort of kerfuffle with other people, losing lives either to the wars or the conditions itself. How does a nation like that presevere and expand? By multiplying as much as possible. Therefore, "no masturbation" and "no homosex" was a thing because it was neccesary! Why waste your genitals on something that won't bring forth a proud son or daughter, when you can do so and be a example to your kin? People still cling to this because... well, did it failed? I still cling to this, and I am pro-life, since my country is kinda falling apart with all the young people dispersing, so last we need is uncaring young peeps who stay back and don't do anything. I understand there are attractions and all, I am asexual myself, but I still want to have a wife and have a family, for all reasons related.

 

 

BTW, the original reply was ten times as longer, this cannot be more compact than it is.

[seed]

It's so good to see people are still able to sit down and discuss their views and beliefs in a civil manner around here. Past experiences made me highly skeptical of similar threads as most of the time they turned only into flaming and post-disaster Chernobyl toxicity levels.

[stonedbaroness]

I've got the 95 thesis's. 

[DooM_RO]

I'm not entirely sure what I am. I guess I could call myself an atheist who has deep appreciation for mythology and spirituality though I am open to the possibility of gods actually existing. However, their physical, tangible existence is irrelevant to me.

 

To me, a god is the personification of an abstract ideal. Ideals such as honor, strength, beauty and culture are much more relatable if you manage to see them as people. So, they don't have to literally exist, it is enough for them to exist in my imagination.

 

A perfect square, circle, or triangle never have and never will exist in nature but when you draw any of these shapes you immediately and perhaps unknowingly use these ideal, imaginary references as guidelines. The fact that they do not exist in a concrete, palpable manner is irrelevant to me. One should study the lives of gods and heroes the same way an artist strives to make his lines, circles or whatever other shapes as close to their perfect manifestations as possible. 

 

For example, one of my favorite goddesses is Athena, who is the goddess of wisdom, craft and, justice and just war. When I invoke her, I do so so I may align my psyche with these ideals. It is not enough to just invoke, you also have to embody it though you actions: I go to the gym to make my body more physically appealing and stronger so I can defend myself and those I care about, I make Doom maps, I study 3D modeling so I can get a respectable and well-paid job that is also fulfilling and I watch podcasts about culture and art. Finally, I also read books so that I will chisel and sharpen my mind, though I am having a bit of trouble here because I still lack patience in this area. I guess I can thank short-form internet articles for damaging my attention span.

 

For me, spirituality is much more about philosophy and psychology, particularly the Jungian type.

 

This video sums up my beliefs pretty well.

 

 

[TwinBeast]

Still part of christian church, but witchcraft and zen interest me more and feel more likely to be true. Just bought 2kg of salt. Had a weird feeling in my thumb for a long time after someone that I don't like touched it. Grounded sea salt, black pepper and some cloves, then rubbed it into the thumb and sprinkled it around the house. I think it worked, yey! Was good with chicken too.

[Neurosis]

1 hour ago, TwinBeast said:

Still part of christian church, but witchcraft and zen interest me more

 

I think this says a lot about the current state of christianity. People obviously want a spiritual revival and they aren't getting it at the christian church. 

[CARRiON]

Wasn't the concept of Hell ripped off from uh, Hel?

[seed]

4 hours ago, Neurosis said:

 

I think this says a lot about the current state of christianity. People obviously want a spiritual revival and they aren't getting it at the christian church. 

This, it was also my case, one of the main reasons I left it for good without turning back or any second thoughts years ago. All it ever managed to give me were feelings of emptiness and unfulfillment.