Do you believe in God?

I am a spiritual person. I believe that there is an afterlife and I believe in spiritual matters like astrology and astral planes .

I do believe in a god , but of compassion and love rather than hate and destruction. anyone who shows peace and love to ones brother will go to the afterlife of their own mind while the other side will be vice versa.

 

I believe in a single, one person God who created the Universe who governs the world through his Providence. God gave each person the capacity to reason and love whomever they wish. I believe the Bible, especially the Hebrew Scriptures, provide us with a look into what the ancient Semitic people believed in. The English Deists, American Unitarians and American Universalists all contributed to my religious thought*.

*I am in no way associated with the Unitarian Universalist Association or related organizations. My beliefs are much more aligned with classical Universalism.

 

I don't believe in God, or anything special out there. It's just us in an empty universe, and that's okay.

 

Dieu et mon droit, eh? :lol:

 

I am an Agnostic
Christian (I have slightly more belief than a Agnostic Theist).



It is my
firm belief that we cannot try to know who or what God is. We have one book as
reference. As a Magician and Folklorist it is considered wrong to have only one
text to follow, you need more data, so why as a Christian do I look at only one
source. This is why I think we must analyse the history of the Bible further.


The texts chosen (all 66
books) were chosen because they were considered important. There was something
in them that benefited the Christian community. The Old Testament (prior to the
birth of Jesus) is there to show history, and to explain things. Are we really
to believe that two of every animal in the world was put on a boat, and that
the reason we all speak different languages is because of a failed tower
building project? No, but they are the myths, legends and history that help
explain where and how we and (more importantly) the early Christians got to
where we are. We must also remember each book, was written to different
audiences. They were not originally designed to be read all together. They were
individual books/letters to different people. Not a continuous saga like Harry
Potter.


But I think the most important
thing to remember when reading the Bible, or being a Christian (in any way
shape or form) is, when Christianity first started, just under 2000 years ago,
there was no concept of being Gay, Trans*, Bi or Intersex. These concepts
didn't exist. You were straight and cis-gendered. That's it. This was a world
where slaves were common place, no mass transport, limited technology, and
significant lack of education. We can't try and place old fashioned, and
indeed, out of context thinking, on new and different context concepts.


They only thing that in consistent
through every book is Love. As far as I am concerned, God (whoever he/she/it
may be) is the embodiment of love.


(Probably. I'm not quite
sure!)

So yes, I am Gay, Demifluid indervidual who (trys to at least) belive in the Christain God. But I don't, and won't ever, claim to compleately understand him (or her, or it).

 

I am a firm believer in God. A God that loves all of us and wants what is best for us. that doesn't mean just spoiling us, because then we are just ignorant and can't think for ourselves.

As for the one tiny Earth on one massive infinite universe is wasteful. I believe that many planets exist with humanoids such as ourselves. That doesn't take away God because He/Her is not wasteful.

Thomas mentioned the 66 books. A lot was decided in the Nicean Creed sometime after 300 A.D.. So, some books were thrown out or lost because these different sects were trying to agree on what defines Christianity. I will say homosexuality is definitely in there, and I am sure there were challenges, but I don't know that they had things defined like today.

He certainly forgives and is the only righteous judge. People often want to judge and feel better about themselves. However, there are many examples in the Bible that state to quit judging your neighbor, worry about fixing your problems and love your neighbor. God's greatest commandment is to "love thy neighbor as thyself". Many struggle with that one.

 

Absolutely believe in God. I've seen things that leave no doubt.

My child is transgender and is a Born Again Christian as well.

It's difficult for me... what I've read on the subject but then I turn my sights to the New Testament and realize that none of us are perfect... not one of us. We all sin and fall short of the Glory of God. The only only only way to Heaven is by belief that Jesus paid for our sins, in advance, with His own blood. You can't buy your way in. You can't be a do gooder and get in. You can't even think you are obeying every Old and New Testament rule and get in. The only way in is to accept Jesus as your "PERSONAL" Lord and Savior.

The other thing I've come to realize is that not one sin is greater than the other and no one convicts us except God! Your neighbor can't convict you, your church, your mother, your friend.. no one. Ok, so since not one sin is greater than the other gossiping is as bad as murder is as bad as adultery is as bad as stealing... etc etc etc. No human is better than I am and I am no better. The Bible tells me to go to my room, shut the door and confess my sins to God alone who already knows what's in my heart.

Now... I've been a Christian for a long time... since I've been 17 and I'm 54 now. I've sinned a lot in that time. I still sin. My flesh is weak. I found the biggest change in me is my attitude towards others. I believe in love, respect, acceptance, charity, not judging and following the only commandment that Jesus gave us. "LOVE ONE ANOTHER".

The Old Testament does read like a Stephen King novel. There's a lot of killing and bloodshed and war. There are a lot of impossible to follow rules about what plates you can eat off of and when you can have dairy.... right down to what women are supposed to do when they get their period! The thing is, those rules and laws are a burden that those who do not believe that the Messiah has come have to follow in order to be saved and there are a lot of rules.... very difficult, probably impossible to do. I am saved by the Blood of Jesus.. no other way. I pay attention to the commandments and try to follow them and I remain conscious of the one command that Jesus gave us. Other than that, I have no right, nor any invitation by Jesus, to condemn anyone for anything they do. That's between them and God.

If a crowd lifted rocks to stone my child for being transgender, I would stand in front of him and after I tell them to start with me because I had sex out of marriage (which requires I get stoned to death), as well as other sins, I would repeat what Jesus said when the lynch mob gathered to stone a woman who was caught committing adultery. "He who is without sin may cast the first stone". John 8:7

My son is a child of God who loves Jesus. I can't say if it's right or wrong... I simply do not know what God is thinking or if this situation was put into my life to open MY EYES.. I don't know. all I can say is that my child is covered in the blood of the same Christ that covers everyone else, no matter the situation. All are welcome who come to Jesus!

Be blessed!

 

I use to be a hard core believer. Than I turned agnostic because all the LGBT hate and I didn't quite believe in some dude making a boat big enough for not one, but two of every. single. animal. And it still floated, and than all the animals just left some having to travel half way around the world and across oceans to get back to their natural habitat. And than very recently I became an atheist, what put me over was reading the bible. It very clearly supports slavery, It is homophobic, a lot of passages are pretty random/useless/stupid. I also just don't think ANYONE could possibly EVER "deserve" hell. Think about it, it's described as boiling in a river of blood. Imagine being in a boiling pool of water, that's a RIDICULOUS amount of pain. I could never handle that for even a minute, let alone eternity. It's so cruel. Plus you're lonely, I mean there's others but you certainly aren't talking to each other. So an eternity of loneliness, that itself could be a hell. Than you get no food, so if you're hungry if you haven't eaten in the last 24 hours, imagine how you'd feel about it in 24 thousand years. With absolutely NO hope of EVER escaping. You're in a pool of eternal burning, loneliness, hunger and I assume you can't sleep so that's maddening. Even Hitler himself wouldn't deserve that kind of punishment, not even for a day. Let alone an eternity.
Also it's like, according to the bible we're all immortal. Wether you go to heaven or hell, you will indefinitely live (or "exist") for all of eternity. I personally do not believe that I am some important being that shall never ever ever ever end. I believe I have an ending. But that's just my opinion I guess

 

although ive said before (i think in this thread?) that i cant believe in something i cant prove as i just cant grasp it, is it weird that i find religions absurdly interesting? not on a mocking level or stuff like that, just i like learning what their beliefs are, what their holy book says, the history of the religion. particularly christianity (i went to a religious primary and high school, so ive mainly been exposed to Catholicism.....its weird, i always feel almost offended when people dis catholics.....even though im not one myself) because of its rich history and i like the atmosphere and flair they have (even though alot of that history is "kill the heretics and take the holy land" kind of things)

 

I don't believe In God...

 

I am Jewish in culture and practice but my personal theology is somewhere along the lines of deism or agnosticism. Basically I don't think that there is a Supreme being who watches us or makes decisions that affect our lives. God is just a personification of something more akin to karma or The Force or fate...basically the sum of all actions and all things. Prayers are more wishes that things will work out--and that's totally fine. And since only the most fundamentalist Jews (aka not me) tare the Torah literally, I can believe this and not be a heretic.

 

I was raised Catholic and I still do believe in God.

 

I'm an animist... so I would say that no, I don't believe in the 'traditional' God.

I feel close to 'God' (whatever that is) walking in the woods, touching the earth, being kind to people, feeling sad, exersing, cooking, sleeping, BEING ALIVE.

I can only undertand God(s) being human-shaped if all the other animals and plants also had their own Gods maybe..

I can perhaps see there being many, many thousands of God and Godesses attched the specific places like a genius loci.

The scientific theories that claim to displace religion and spirituality make no more sense to me than world religions. Neither help me to live a good and productive life, helping my family, community or the Earth; my home.

As for if God thinks homosexuality is bad, I think humans make those rules. It's because the Bible, Qu'ran etc. are written that they have kept stuff like that. If they were oral traditions, then opinons, laws and rules would flow and change a lot.

I believe there is nothing such as definitve 'right' or 'wrong'. Things that are 'right' today may be 'wrong' tomorrow. It all depends on the situation. Take lying for example: generally bad, but what if someone asked you your opinion on their new dress, and you said (not wanting to lie) "Damn, you look dreadful!!". Well, then you'd be hurting their feelings... so isn't lying in this instance actually OK? I dunno...

Any other Pagans, Heathens or Wiccans on here?

 

No.