What is your religious history?
When someone states that scientific theories are flawed because we're not sure enough yet about some things (how life originated) because we're still trying to find/provide evidence and then offers an argument which they are completely sure about yet have absolutely no evidence... when I was first addressed with the issue of the creation/evolution debate in biology I actually laughed. I believed in creation when I was in early primary school but dismissed it when I read 'the children's illustrated dictionary' which explained evolution to some simple degree. The idea of creation was simply dismissed as folk tales/mythology like storks bringing babies, and it's only been a few years since I realised people believe it... it's just a little unnerving. I gave up christianity as a whole not long after out of boredom and as I was quite young I made up my own religion with silly things like unicorns. I've been at some times strongly against the idea of the christian god, but retained a fascination in pagan deities and slowly converting from hardcore atheism into wicca. (Yep, that was weird)
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I grew up a christian, but church always bored the hell out of me. Pun certainly intended. About at the age of 12 I started having existentialist thoughts, which brought me to depression and anxiety. The comfort had in having a god and afterlife I had in my youth was then thwarted, knowing that even if a god and his afterlife exists, there's no reason as to why, and god himself exists for no reason. So I just try not to think about it. ahahahahahaha 1
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I was born a protestant Christian, but I never really understood what that implied. I never felt religious, I never really understood the concept of God. So most of my life I have basically been and atheist. At some point I started actually thinking about what I was, came across the problem of evil, and almost immediately became anti-theistic. I then came to the realization that a lot about religion hasn't got anything to do with the theology, and instead was about people trying to form communities with each other. This calmed me down from a this period of anti-theism... Later I discovered Buddhism and after studying it for a bit I came to the conclusion that understanding the four noble truths and living the eightfold path was a very calm and happy way of life. I have huge respects for the Buddhists, and recently I have begun to take more seriously the notion of non-duality and interconnectedness, which I guess makes me religious. 1
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Then why are you still a christian? Science says the universe is billions of years old and was created through (most likely) the big bang, thus leading into abiogenesis and evolution on earth 4.5 billion years ago. If you accept this then you must trash ALL of genesis. And when that is gone it destroys the structure the rest of the bible is standing on. No adam and eve means no inherited sin which fucks the rest of it up as if it wasnt fucked already. As much as christians would like you cannot reconcile your beliefs with science and then not come off as idiots, live in denial, or look like youre totally making everything up. Because if you dont get your beliefs from the bible then they come from your head, and if you believe supernatural claims that you yourself make up then youre crazy. 1
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"you must trash ALL of genesis" No as I've stated many times and thousands of other Christian scholars who realize the correlation between the big bang, evolution, and genesis. I believe two events were initiated by God, the big bang and the creation of man. The reason I believe God created us apart from all other creation is for two reason, one biblical, one scientific. In Genesis their is a complete shift when God goes to create man, "us" is used showing greater interest. Scientifically, their is a gap between the DNA of humans and apes. It is not a close match when looked at other animals. For example, the cytochrome C of a dog is about 90 percent similar to that of a human, and the hemoglobin of a horse is about 88 percent similar to that of a human. In view of this, a 98 percent genetic similarity between apes and humans is not surprising. It is interesting that some sources put the difference between humans and apes much higher, as high as 10 percent. At least for one gene, human and chimpanzee alleles seem to differ by 13 base pairs out of 270, for a difference of about 5 percent. I base my origin beliefs off science that the bible supports. 1
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Our family is odd. We have a ton of religions in our family. When I was in Japan I learned about Shinto. When I came back to America I read the bible and decided to study Shinto and Christianity. Then I purchased a package of Oreos and decided to be an Oreoeist.(Fake Religion) So right now I simply study both Shinto and Christianity. 3
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I was told by my parent that I can chose my beliefs. They let me read Bible(KJV), Torah, Quran, all Vedas, Jaina, Intro book to Buhism and some Kojiki stuff. Even as a 12yo I found them quite ridiculous and in contradiction each with other. More I've got into science, more I saw this thing retarded. 1
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I was born what we ALL were: an atheist. Then i was taught protestant christianity and accepted it because i had no choice or ability to weigh the options, eventually i WAS able to do so and saw quite clearly that it was idiotic so i left. I looked for a new religion, couldnt find one but adopted satanism as a philosophy, and here i am today, atheistic satanist but for all formal purposes im just an atheist . 1
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Random monotheism. Ages 12-13: I wanted to be a Muslim, age 14: I wanted to be a Catholic, age 15: I wanted to be a Greek Orthodox, age 15 and 1/2: I thought i became a Christian but I held stuff back and had hate and unforgiveness, so I really was not, age 31: I wanted to be a Messianic Jew, and finally on 20 May, 2013, I became a true Christian and I am staying. I was raised in a certian religion. Read about several different religions. I am currently a non-practicing undecided. That being said, I think it would be beneficial if young people lived under the belief system of a few different religions for a few months, just so they can have a better understanding of other's beliefs. Believe whatever you want, but try to actually understand other people's beliefs. 1
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I was not raised religious, I went to church a few times, never paid attention to anything that was said because I was too busy focusing on the free doughnuts :D But when I was about 17, I questioned which religion was the oldest, and that got me to where I am which is Taoism. Shamanism is a pretty damn old "religion" the only reason I put that in quotes is because shamanism is more of a calling and an experience than it is a religion, its just who we are deep down. |
