Religion

[catgurlars]

it may have started out like that, but i CHOOSE to go to youth and sunday school and church. I want to go to believe. No offense to any other religion, but after studying them all in school, I have no reason to switch. I am sure you of other religions feel the same way about yours.

i 100% agree with u. i go to a jewish school and i want to stick with my religion too. i 100% understand why u want to stay in your religion. i also want to "beleive" like u.

 

[sarbruis]

I must agree that many people are results of their social upbringing (of all sorts, not just Christians), and it really is sad that lots of people don't have a strong foundation in whatever they believe. People are told things and never try to find out why. Your worldview determines your future moreso than anything else; it's best if you understand why you've got the one you've got (and can defend it against anything, thus believing it true).

As for why wars and rape and killings happen, that's a result of Free Choice, like someone previously said. God didn't create rape and murder, but he did create people and people created rape and murder (because people are stupid).

And on an Alex-related note: "If you have any yarbles, you eunuch-jelly, thou!"
(I've only read the book, not seen the movie, but it's still an awesome line.)

 

[ellindea]

i am an orthodox jewish person. we only worship hashem (g-d). we believe that he is the 1 and only g-d of the universe. i go to shul every saturday (for shobbas). we believe that everything happens for a reason whether u like it or not and it is for your own good. we believe in a lot of "werid" things (well, u might think it is weird) and it takes many years to actually understand. i have been going to a jewish school all of my life so i basically understand a lot.
-cat
ps. i see none of u are jewish LOL

cool! I really have a respect for Jewish people. Your devotion and faith is truly admirable.

So...I've been debating on whether or not to post my beliefs/opinions. Religion is such a controversial topic, and I really dislike arguments. But I am very happy w/ my religion and proud to belong to it. So, I will let you know a little about it and my/its beliefs.
In general, I believe religion to be a great and edifying thing in life when in its true and pure form. It gives hope and faith and encouragement. It builds communities of love and support. It gives us purpose.
As you can probably already tell, I am a very religious person . I attend Church w/ my family every Sunday, specifically I go to The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints. We are known as Latter-Day Saints (LDS), more commonly - Mormon (given this name b/c we believe The Book of Mormon to be another testament of Jesus Christ). I believe in everything my religion teaches. Its truths and doctrines have brought me great happiness. If you are really interested in what the Church teaches, www.mormon.org is a great site. It gives a good basic outline of our beliefs that I will post here.
· “God is our Heavenly Father. He loves us and wants us to return to Him.
· Jesus Christ is the Son of God. He is our Savior. He redeems us from death by providing the Resurrection. He saves us from sin as we repent.
· Through the Atonement of Jesus Christ, we can return to live with God if we keep His commandments.
· The Holy Ghost helps us to recognize truth.
· The first principles and ordinances of the gospel are faith in Jesus Christ, repentance, baptism, and receiving the gift of the Holy Ghost.
· The Church of Jesus Christ has been restored to the earth.
· The priesthood authority of God exists in His Church today, just as it did in the original Church.
· The Bible and the Book of Mormon are the word of God.
· God reveals His will to prophets today, just as He did anciently.
· Our life has a sacred purpose.
· Families can be together forever.
· Through serving others, we can experience joy and draw closer to God.”
Now, in reference to MuNKY’s OP about people “shov[ing] religion down each others’ throats”, we certainly do not believe in forcing our opinions on others. One of our articles of faith, which was the first outline of our beliefs, says “We claim the privilege of worshiping Almighty God according to the dictates of our own conscience, and allow all men the same privilege, let them worship how, where, or what they may.” We do believe in missionary work and trying to convert people because we want them to find the same happiness that we have.
Now, there are some common misconceptions about our religion that I’d like to straighten out now. 1) We are not polygamists. Any member found practicing polygamy is excommunicated. 2) Yes, we believe in Jesus Christ. (hence the name of our Church!). He is the Redeemer and the Son of God. 3) We do not worship Joseph Smith. We believe him to have been a prophet of God and a great man and respect him as such.
If you have further questions, feel free to ask. Thanks for taking the time to read my post.
So, any other Latter-Day Saint teens out there?

 

[AmoDolphin]

I am not sure what religion I am. I believe a whole bunch of differant things from a lot of differant religions. Like, I go to a Presbyterian church, but there are things that they teach with which I completely disagree. I believe that women should be part of the church aswell as men, and there should be women pasters/decons/elders. That part is like Lutherenism (which I think I am more then any other religion) I also don't think Presbyterians stress enough one thing over another thing. They emphasize in one or two sermons about how women should be submissive and not be like a doormat (which they then go on to tell women they should be doormats), and they never talk about how men should be submissive to their wives. Personally I think they are more sexist then God (or whatever you want to call Him) had planned. I guess I should stop there before I get to where I start sounding like I'm insulting other religions.

 

[TheBellhop]

Well soooooooooooooooooorry.

No harm in asking the same thing twice.

If you're so interested in the subject, no harm in reading your thread.