Religiously Stuck

[WriterofWords]

You need to follow your heart, and in some cases that is not by following a set and named religion. Your belief is in your heart, not in the name of a church you attend. IMHO, you do not need to attend a church in order to express your beliefs; they are private and personal and it's up to you to decide how to follow them.

 

[PineBurrowPeeps]

It has taken me months to talk to anyone about this. I'm totally in tears reading all of the replies. It's just been something I have thought about so often in the last few months, multiple times a day, how I don't feel like I belong anywhere in particular right now. Going from feeling very secure in your religion to feeling like you don't quite fit is scary and I wasn't sure anyone would get that. I have felt very alone.

Thank you all so much for responding to me and for everyone keeping it polite.
I walked away to go do some work in the kitchen and came back to 3 pages of replies! Who knew?

 

[Rusty Hills Farm]

I haven't read all the responses but find I do have to say something that often does not seem to go down too well with others.

There are a bizillion kinds of butterflies. Have you seen how many different kinds of roses there are? Or how many different kinds of roaches, fish, birds, and puppy dogs? He LIKES diversity. He must, since he created us short, tall, fat, skinny, pretty, plain, black, white, brown, red.

I find it impossible to accept that there is only one way to worship Him--not with THAT flare for diversity! I firmly believe that whatever way you believe, all that really matters is that you DO believe. So whether you are Methodist, Baptist, Buddhist, Pagan, Jewish, or Muslim, as long as you are true to your heart, you are welcome in His house.

If you are Pagan or Christian or a little bit of both--He sees inside and knows you better than you know yourself. Trust Him.


Rusty

 

[Guitartists]

Only you can know what is best for you. You have certainly walked at least two different paths of a multi-directional journey. You'll figure out what works for you

 

[Wifezilla]

I walked away to go do some work in the kitchen and came back to 3 pages of replies! Who knew?

I think this is something everyone struggles with at one point or another. We don't always come to the same conclusions, but we sure understand the struggle.​

 

[HiDelight]

The older I get the more questions I have and most of them lead me away from organized "religion" per se

and back to nature and faith in my fellow beings

I call myself a "confused agnostic" and feel no shame or self doubt in it at all ..it is just how it is!

I really do believe as mentioned above that if there is a God then how could diversity not be a huge part of the plan?

have fun with this and try not to take it too seriously and by all means do not be afraid to talk about it ..after all look at these pages of answers! there are so many!

my feelings are people put off living too darn much waiting for things to be perfect..life is after all about the here and now and if there is something good in the afterlife ..even better ..but right now counts

take pleasure in your new found journey

 

[lockedhearts]

I think everyone goes through this at some point in their life. I have and am still struggling. I was raised a Christian, I profess to be a Christian. I pray, I try to live a good life, but I do not go to Church. Because of some things that happened years ago in our Church, I walked away from it. It is hard, sometimes doing the wrong thing is easier than continuing to do the right thing.
I think you will have to find what gives you peace, no matter what religion it is.

 

[Krysstyllanthrox]

Apologies ahead of time for what I fear might end up being a rambling response...

I grew up Methodist. Dabbled briefly in wicca during my teen years, never very serious about it. Went back to being a weekend Methodist. I'd go to church with my mom or family members but off at school on my own I'd stay home and sleep.

I felt pretty secure in my Methodist upbringing. Then I got to know a close friend of mine that is not "the norm". One of the sweetest human beings I ever met. And I couldn't believe that God would deliberately makes my friend (and so many others like him) flawed. But according to my religion, my friend was flawed. Badly flawed.

I started to question. Those I would ask questions of couldn't answer them. So I ended up having my own ideas about religion.

I believe that there is a giant, cosmic force (if you will) that helps guide our world and existence. This force is multi-faceted. Like a cut diamond. Or a d20 (this imagery works well for me, a D&D geek). Each "god" whether it be God, Buddah, Mohammad, Ra, Hecate, etc. is each one facet of this force. Meaning, in essence, that no matter how you arrive at the destination it is the destination that ultimately counts. To me, that means that christians are just as "right" as buhddists, as muslims, as pagans, etc.

I find that for ease of use I tend to fall back into my upbringing. I pray to God, I'll attend church with my mother still. But for the day to day living of my life, I simply try to put good things out there in the belief that it will bring good things back to me.

I'll also admit that I am still searching. And have been. I keep intending to research other religions, to see if I can find a fit or if I am just intended to continue my search.

 

[soonerdog]

 

[1acrefarm]

I grew up as a Southern Baptist. Later in life I grew away from it and figured out none of the religious stuff was grounded in what I consider logic. I am sorta stuck in the middle of atheism and agnosticism. You just have to follow your heart. It may lead you back to your old religion or a new one. It may even lead you totally away from religion. Only you can make that decision. Good luck.