The Official What Do YOU Believe?

I was baptised Lutheran in the small SD church where my parents were married. My parents raised me as an atheist. My mother is now a Buddhist and my dad is a nonreligious married a second time to a preacher's daughter.

I am now- what? A free thinker? I pray at times though uncertain to whom (mostly prayers of thanks but some requests for safety), I sing hymns and experience a burst of joy when singing 'How Great Thou Art' while enjoying the beauty of this lovely planet (ie while walking the dogs), I do not go to church but meet with freethinkers a few times a month more to complain about prejudice or discrimination against us by local fundies than to be spiritual, direct my children to make their own decisions with lots of information, do not really believe in a deity.

I believe with Marx that religion is the opiate of the masses, and I can see what a comfort true belief could be to me. But as with opiates I deny myself that comfort- I have left the garden of Eden and can not return. I also feel unwilling to join any club which would torment or exclude some or excuse villains with a few words of professed faith.

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US Army veteran, military retiree spouse, and military; civilian; British NHS; and VA doctor.

I am a Christian and am mighty thankful that Jesus Christ loved me enough to die for me, and that He shed His blood to wash my sins away.

I have attended Baptist churches most of my life.I don't agree with everything that the Baptist denomination says.I do believe in the Bible,and believe it to be God's Inspired Word.I believe it from the first word to the last word, and everything is, as it says it is.

Sure, there are many things in the Bible I don't understand.Things like the sun standing still for a day.If God said it stayed still,it stayed.

Oh and the earths age not seeming to be quite as old as scientists think it is,you know with all those zillion year old rocks, and almost as old dinosaur bones,I don't worry about that to much, because this God we are dealing with, brought everything into existence in less than a week,and a few zillion year old rocks and bones for laughs:smiley-laughing013:would have been a breeze...Adam an Eve?..Grown?..Go figure.

1Corinthians 1:27 (King James Version)

27But God hath chosen the foolish things of the world to confound the wise; and God hath chosen the weak things of the world to confound the things which are mighty.

MERRY CHRISTMAS FOLKS,AND HAPPY BIRTHDAY JESUS!!!!

What Eddie Buck said!

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"I will not be afraid of ten thousands of people, that have set themselves against me round about." -- Psalm 3:6, KJV

Freedom Advocates: Recognize Unalienable Rights

I myself am, shortly, a Christian. I take the bible literally (in context) and I am a creationist. I am an environmentalist because I believe that it is the best way to express my loyalty to God... Call me a hippie if you will, but heck, what's wrong with caring?
My favorite Books of the Bible include proverbs, Psalms, and Romans. I wonder if that is because the are the ones I read most... Heh. Anyways, not much good at writing about this... Also I noticed that this thread has had 8 deleted posts in it's 4 pages...
~HF

Ahh, but along the way, science has given us microprocessors, and global positioning systems, and artificial human hearts ... it hasn't all been pointless stumbling around in the dark!

I acknowledge that errors have been made and will continue to be made (I collect old medical texts, and find them amusing) but I also think we'll continue to amass knowledge, unless our species manages to annihilate itself!

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"I love all of this mud," said no one, ever.

It's been so long since I have posted here that I'm taking the lazy way out and posting under husband's name. I am also an atheist...if someone insist that I believe in something I humorously state I'm a Meist...someone who believes that all power, or the lack thereof, comes from within self.

There are no options to living on a shared planet, it is best to do our best to respect others, this should include their beliefs or lack thereof. Making the Golden Rule idea sound. History shows that there are no wars until one group of people decide another group of people have gone against a set of beliefs. History also shows large masses of people believe their beliefs are worthly of the fight, personally I see that as a guarantee that there will always be wars.

As others have stated in this thread, I'm okay with the idea that living this moment as if it is all life will ever have to offer works well for me, and when life has those moments when there is fear for the next moment...yes indeed, I can see the advantage to turning it all over to a "higher power" -- and I have the envy of those who do...that would be soooo very much easier than the knowledge that sometimes I just do not have all the answers and will hopefully choose to live with the consequences of that knowledge.

Marlene

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"I don't want everyone to like me; I should think less of myself if some people did."
— Henry James

Elegant.

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Wherever you go, there you are. Buckaroo Banzai

I believe that knowing the unknowable is impossible and having a "belief" in something that one does not know is silly.

I would describe my feelings about God as "hope", not really belief. I suppose I would characterize myself as an agnostic with strong hopes that a God exists. I am also 'pro-religion' because I do believe that having faith and following the tenets of christianity has a positive effect on people and on society as a whole.

I am hoping one day that my 'hope' can become something more substantial.

I've only read some of them. I liked The Way of Zen and Tao: The Watercourse Way.

I've read The Book. It was O.K., maybe missed the mark a bit.

Lot's of interesting out takes from his old talks (he died in the early '70s) on Youtube put to video/music.

I like these:

What do you find sad about it? I can't see how realizing we live in a continuous series of moments and that the past/future are simply concepts in our mind that don't exist as reality is sad.

It would be equivalent to being sad because the sun rises in the East or the stars are configured as they are in the night sky or that we need to breath oxygen to exist, etc.

Being sad about the unalterable way things are is utterly pointless.

I'm not sure we are talking about the same thing. You seem to be referring to the future as in "life after death".

I believe in the Christ almighty...as the son of God. I don't however, prescribe to any particular religion .

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PROUD MOM TO A US MARINE

National Organization for Women

Whereas knowing the knowable and believing in Someone whom one DOES know is wonderful.

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I think you would like the weather vane I just picked up about a month or so ago.. Instead of the typical horse , chicken, etc on top of it, this one has a dragon.
I will eventually post pics for you once I get the copper and brass cleaned up. It is in pretty rough shape at the moment.. But it may take me a while till I get to it..

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Pennsylvania Constitution, Article 1 Section 21 "The Right of the Citizens to bear arms in defense of themselves and the State shall not be questioned"
www.pafoa.org
http://www.45thpacok.com

I believe in God and salvation through Christ. I believe in the Bible as a literal text, and I believe in a personal relationship with Him through prayer. I'm a long time member of the Methodist church but currently attending a Baptist church. I don't get all that hung up on doctrine because I believe religion is absolutely the polar opposite of true spirituality. I enjoy church for the sake of fellowship only. I wasn't raised in any particular church but did attend sporadically with both sets of grandparents as a child.

I'm raising my children in church and with prayer at home but I encourage them to ask questions. I still ask questions. I home school with a Christian curriculum but teach also the "alternative" theories of creation and evolution. I do tell the kids that I am a Creationist but I don't want to deprive them of the opportunity to scrutinize all the info available to them and choose for themselves. I don't believe (this is just me personally) that a child benefits from never having to test his or her own faith as they grow older. I think those tests only make one stronger.

For me, everything, everyday, boils down to "faith". Faith that there is a God. Faith that he has already bought my salvation and granted me everlasting life. Faith that I can't explain all the details, but faith to know - without a doubt- that I don't have to "get" all the details. Much like my kids don't have to understand how payroll taxes work in order to know that they will be fed and clothed. My Heavenly Father will provide all I need to know, as I need it. Child-like faith is something I didn't really have as a child, but do now. I truly, whole-heartedly BELIEVE.

I'll look forward to seeing those pics!! I found one that's on my wish list for down the road. It's this one:

http://swen-products.amazonwebstore....1JJaU0lw3L.jpg

~Drak

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Good judgement comes from experience. Experience comes from bad judgement. ~ Unknown

Nope, this is a full body, not a silhouette. Hopefully I can get pictures of it over the holidays. But it won't be polished/cleaned up by then..

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Pennsylvania Constitution, Article 1 Section 21 "The Right of the Citizens to bear arms in defense of themselves and the State shall not be questioned"
www.pafoa.org
http://www.45thpacok.com

Ooooohhh!!!! I have GOT to see that!! Sounds great. Oh, and you know, before and after pics are always good.

~Drak

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Good judgement comes from experience. Experience comes from bad judgement. ~ Unknown

I believe in and live for Jesus Christ.

In the end, I'm betting that we are very surprised by how much we got 'wrong'. We'll probably be smacking our foreheads saying "OH! the Catholics were right about X, and the protestants were right about Y and.... oh man... we all got Z wrong!"

Ok, I posted them in another thread titled Dragon weather vane

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Pennsylvania Constitution, Article 1 Section 21 "The Right of the Citizens to bear arms in defense of themselves and the State shall not be questioned"
www.pafoa.org
http://www.45thpacok.com

This is a very nice thread and I have enjoyed reading it.

The very strange thing is, I can agree somewhat with everyone - wonder what that makes me?

Although, I attended a small Baptist Church as a child, it was mostly because that and a Church of Christ was all we had. We attended both for revivals, and the Church of Christ folks came to the Baptist for night church, as they seldom had a preacher so only had Sunday morning Sunday school. The only difference was the Church of Christ didn't have a piano - of course, we seldom had anyone to play our piano.

My family didn't have a church life, as such, God was just a fact of life. It wasn't something we had to believe in to make real - it just was. We all questioned many things about established religion - but we have always been a questioner of things. My daughter gave her Christian school headaches sometimes.

I do not take the Bible literally - especially the Old Testament. I think it is a collection of stories to tell the history of the Hebrew people and their relationship with God, you know things may have gotten a little skewed. Also, I'm thinking being men, they did some things they should not have done but then said, 'God told me to do it'. All in all, I do believe in the essence of the Bible and I take the teachings of Jesus very seriously - have my doubts about Paul's agenda.

I do not hold God responsible for the evil men do in his name.

I don't bother God with requests for material things - I pray for strength and wisdom. I once read the Jewish people have a saying to 'enjoy the good days and endure the bad days' - I try to do that.

I believe in magic - not only the magic of Christ - all kinds. I know people have special abilities - some say it's being a witch, some just recognize it as an ability. I believe God will hold us accountable for what we do to this earth. I believe in old souls - I have known too many of them. I don't believe now, or one life, is all there is to it. Hopefully, the hereafter is not streets of gold - that sounds boring and too materialistic for me.

I came to my concrete belief in a force of Good - I call God - by a round about way. Being the old curmudgeon I am, I am very concerned about the way things are going in this country - the world at large - but especially this country. At first, I thought all the things I considered hurtful to our society was just done for financial gain, but after thinking more, I decided it wasn't just about money. It was evil - and if there was evil, there has to be Good.

One thing I thought while reading all these posts is that most of us do believe in being kind, honest, respectful - so why isn't our world better? Maybe we could begin working together with the things on which we do agree rather than letting the points of disagreement divide us?