Anyone non-religious here? Please be nice!
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I have one more thought. haha, for those of you who know me, you know that "one more thought" is like that potato chip thing, can't have just one.
Anyway, over the years I have started feeling that religion is something that we have because someone taught us something. They took the time to read us the book, told us the rules, etc. Pretty much instructed us as to how to believe. But spirituality seems like something that all of us are just born with. It's there the day we take our first breath, open our eyes and see what we have around us. Even people that I know who have been brought up with no religious teachings, seem to have that sense of right and wrong, good and bad and can distinguish the beauty from the ugly. No one has to teach us that.
But I see people killing other people because The Church tells them that those people are wrong. People killing doctors for performing abortions, people killing gays because of their lifestyle. On a lesser note, people being ostracised for being a different faith, or called names, or harrassed. They do it because the book says that the people that they kill are wrong. If they really read and followed the book, they would know that it says that God will deal with these things in his own time, he doesn't tell them to take it upon themselves. The Church has taught these people to act this way in the name of Christianity. Christ didn't behave this way. He didn't encourage people to behave this way. The Church has more power than Christ. It's why 'The Church' and religion (no particular religion or denomination inferred here) scares the poo out of me. Why should we be afraid of any other government or country taking us over when we've already allowed the Church to do it.
Sorry if I got out of line, it was really meant to be just a simple thought and got away from me.
Anyway, over the years I have started feeling that religion is something that we have because someone taught us something. They took the time to read us the book, told us the rules, etc. Pretty much instructed us as to how to believe. But spirituality seems like something that all of us are just born with. It's there the day we take our first breath, open our eyes and see what we have around us. Even people that I know who have been brought up with no religious teachings, seem to have that sense of right and wrong, good and bad and can distinguish the beauty from the ugly. No one has to teach us that.
But I see people killing other people because The Church tells them that those people are wrong. People killing doctors for performing abortions, people killing gays because of their lifestyle. On a lesser note, people being ostracised for being a different faith, or called names, or harrassed. They do it because the book says that the people that they kill are wrong. If they really read and followed the book, they would know that it says that God will deal with these things in his own time, he doesn't tell them to take it upon themselves. The Church has taught these people to act this way in the name of Christianity. Christ didn't behave this way. He didn't encourage people to behave this way. The Church has more power than Christ. It's why 'The Church' and religion (no particular religion or denomination inferred here) scares the poo out of me. Why should we be afraid of any other government or country taking us over when we've already allowed the Church to do it.
Sorry if I got out of line, it was really meant to be just a simple thought and got away from me.
Dang!! You were just too smart for your own good, huh?
I was told that by many people
The problem is I have an interesting brain. I am left-handed, ADD, an artist, and tend to notice patterns. My hubby and I can walk in to a room and I will notice everything weird and odd while he will focus on the normal. Having acknowledged the mundane, I will become immediately bored with it and dismiss it giving me time to pick out all the weirdness. Makes for some interesting arguments! LOL
I was told that by many people
The problem is I have an interesting brain. I am left-handed, ADD, an artist, and tend to notice patterns. My hubby and I can walk in to a room and I will notice everything weird and odd while he will focus on the normal. Having acknowledged the mundane, I will become immediately bored with it and dismiss it giving me time to pick out all the weirdness. Makes for some interesting arguments! LOL
Quote:
I was told that by many people
The problem is I have an interesting brain. I am left-handed, ADD, an artist, and tend to notice patterns. My hubby and I can walk in to a room and I will notice everything weird and odd while he will focus on the normal. Having acknowledged the mundane, I will become immediately bored with it and dismiss it giving me time to pick out all the weirdness. Makes for some interesting arguments! LOL
Yep, definitely sisters separated somehow. As for ADD, you have the same 'type' that I have, it isn't a deficit, it's a focus!
I was told that by many people
The problem is I have an interesting brain. I am left-handed, ADD, an artist, and tend to notice patterns. My hubby and I can walk in to a room and I will notice everything weird and odd while he will focus on the normal. Having acknowledged the mundane, I will become immediately bored with it and dismiss it giving me time to pick out all the weirdness. Makes for some interesting arguments! LOL
Yep, definitely sisters separated somehow. As for ADD, you have the same 'type' that I have, it isn't a deficit, it's a focus!
You guys are great, I love reading this! Wifezilla, you rock, I had the same questions and was given the same answers... and I still do not believe them.....
Joebryant, good luck with your endeavors; I would like to be your bookeeper and receive a 3% cut of your tithing members contributions....
I suggest hitting up Bill Gates, Oprah, Steve Jobs, etc.....
Joebryant, good luck with your endeavors; I would like to be your bookeeper and receive a 3% cut of your tithing members contributions....
I suggest hitting up Bill Gates, Oprah, Steve Jobs, etc.....
I think it is called "inattentive sub-type".
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/ADHD_predominantly_inattentive
Maybe I should submit my picture to go next to the description?
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/ADHD_predominantly_inattentive
Maybe I should submit my picture to go next to the description?
Quote:
I was told that by many people
The problem is I have an interesting brain. I am left-handed, ADD, an artist, and tend to notice patterns. My hubby and I can walk in to a room and I will notice everything weird and odd while he will focus on the normal. Having acknowledged the mundane, I will become immediately bored with it and dismiss it giving me time to pick out all the weirdness. Makes for some interesting arguments! LOL
Yep, definitely sisters separated somehow. As for ADD, you have the same 'type' that I have, it isn't a deficit, it's a focus!
I strongly suspect that I have ADD also. My brain jumps from subject to subject.
Like you both, I notice what other people don't. I used to have a pastor(I have been fundamentalists and Catholic-cause you might as well try everything) that had bragged that he had read the bible through several times. No doubt that he had. But everytime I pointed out inconsistencies and problems, he seemed shocked that what I had found was in the bible. I think that he was able to concentrate on what he agreed with and ignore the problem areas.
I was told that by many people
The problem is I have an interesting brain. I am left-handed, ADD, an artist, and tend to notice patterns. My hubby and I can walk in to a room and I will notice everything weird and odd while he will focus on the normal. Having acknowledged the mundane, I will become immediately bored with it and dismiss it giving me time to pick out all the weirdness. Makes for some interesting arguments! LOL
Yep, definitely sisters separated somehow. As for ADD, you have the same 'type' that I have, it isn't a deficit, it's a focus!
I strongly suspect that I have ADD also. My brain jumps from subject to subject.
Like you both, I notice what other people don't. I used to have a pastor(I have been fundamentalists and Catholic-cause you might as well try everything) that had bragged that he had read the bible through several times. No doubt that he had. But everytime I pointed out inconsistencies and problems, he seemed shocked that what I had found was in the bible. I think that he was able to concentrate on what he agreed with and ignore the problem areas.
Quote:
Yes. I was raised in a very religious home (Father was an evangelist) but was allowed to question certain teachings (thanks Dad
), at home that is. The church saw you as a heathen if you questioned their doctrine. I was taught that the only true way was the doctrine we were being taught in sunday school and that everyone else (including other christians) were wrong and were condemned to hell for eternity since they did not believe the same things we did. Well being taught to disdain all other teachings, as wrong, is fine 'til you meet people from these other religions and start to learn what they believe and realize that there are some really wonderful teachings in lots of different religions. That and my eventual major in college was interdisciplinary and included religion as part of the curriculum.
And, yes, letting go of my early beliefs was terribly traumatic and frightening because the religion that I was raised in ruled by fear and horrible, nightmarish threats (please don't ask which religion it was, I still believe they have the right to believe what they believe). Finally I realized that I couldn't let fear rule my beliefs when they made no sense to me!
To make a long story short (I could write a book on this topic) I will suffice it to say that I cannot deny anyone the right to believe what they wish (even when teaching my own children), since I believe that everyone needs to find their own way, to find what works for them. This does not mean I don't have my own set of beliefs. I had someone at work say something to me about my belief in God and, although I don't believe in bringing these discussions into the work place normally, I decided to gently correct this assumption. I stated that I did not believe in a male deity. They asked me if I then believed in a female deity or in the Goddess. I said, "No, I don't believe that spiritual beings have genitals since the need to reproduce is purely a biological function. He had to admit that it was hard to argue with me on that point. It was nice to be able to say, even a little something, about my beliefs without making someone angry.
I recently became an ordained minister so that I could perforn certain ministerial duties and a friend of mine keeps asking when Sunday services are (teasing me in a friendly way). I responded, "Oh my. Can you imagine me trying to teach one doctrine? I would state my beliefs but as soon as someone said, 'That makes perfect sense, I'll believe that from now on...', I would be saying, but you can't believe what one person says! You need to learn all you can and come to your own peace of mind about what works for you!" I don't think that way of teaching would work very well in our current religious system. If I did try to start up a group where everyone was allowed to believe whatever they wished and still belong, we would surely be labled a cult anyway. I am also sure we would be visited often by well intentioned folk that would be very concerned by our lack of direction!
At this point what I believe is a conglomeration of many, many different religions. What I call universal truths. They are what most of the religions out there believe, I believe in taking care of the body that we live in, I believe in caring for others but still being true to ourselves, I believe that we need to feed the spiritual side of ourselves (either through religion, spirituality, art, music, etc.). I believe that we must continue to learn, to grow, or we will stagnate. I believe that we have a responsibility to care for our planet. I believe that we need to continue to strive to be the best human beings we can because what's most important is that when each of us looks in the mirror each day we need to like what we see. And finally, I believe that if I am wrong, and there is one supreme deity out there, that he/she will forgive me if I don't subscribe to any one set of beliefs as long as I try to do my best, as imperfect as that may be.
I guess the gist of it is that I don't believe it's important to have all the answers (or any of them for that matter). It's only important to care about something.
Yes. I was raised in a very religious home (Father was an evangelist) but was allowed to question certain teachings (thanks Dad
And, yes, letting go of my early beliefs was terribly traumatic and frightening because the religion that I was raised in ruled by fear and horrible, nightmarish threats (please don't ask which religion it was, I still believe they have the right to believe what they believe). Finally I realized that I couldn't let fear rule my beliefs when they made no sense to me!
To make a long story short (I could write a book on this topic) I will suffice it to say that I cannot deny anyone the right to believe what they wish (even when teaching my own children), since I believe that everyone needs to find their own way, to find what works for them. This does not mean I don't have my own set of beliefs. I had someone at work say something to me about my belief in God and, although I don't believe in bringing these discussions into the work place normally, I decided to gently correct this assumption. I stated that I did not believe in a male deity. They asked me if I then believed in a female deity or in the Goddess. I said, "No, I don't believe that spiritual beings have genitals since the need to reproduce is purely a biological function. He had to admit that it was hard to argue with me on that point. It was nice to be able to say, even a little something, about my beliefs without making someone angry.
I recently became an ordained minister so that I could perforn certain ministerial duties and a friend of mine keeps asking when Sunday services are (teasing me in a friendly way). I responded, "Oh my. Can you imagine me trying to teach one doctrine? I would state my beliefs but as soon as someone said, 'That makes perfect sense, I'll believe that from now on...', I would be saying, but you can't believe what one person says! You need to learn all you can and come to your own peace of mind about what works for you!" I don't think that way of teaching would work very well in our current religious system. If I did try to start up a group where everyone was allowed to believe whatever they wished and still belong, we would surely be labled a cult anyway. I am also sure we would be visited often by well intentioned folk that would be very concerned by our lack of direction!
At this point what I believe is a conglomeration of many, many different religions. What I call universal truths. They are what most of the religions out there believe, I believe in taking care of the body that we live in, I believe in caring for others but still being true to ourselves, I believe that we need to feed the spiritual side of ourselves (either through religion, spirituality, art, music, etc.). I believe that we must continue to learn, to grow, or we will stagnate. I believe that we have a responsibility to care for our planet. I believe that we need to continue to strive to be the best human beings we can because what's most important is that when each of us looks in the mirror each day we need to like what we see. And finally, I believe that if I am wrong, and there is one supreme deity out there, that he/she will forgive me if I don't subscribe to any one set of beliefs as long as I try to do my best, as imperfect as that may be.
I guess the gist of it is that I don't believe it's important to have all the answers (or any of them for that matter). It's only important to care about something.
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Can I tithe my 10% in eggs?
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