The Official GC Religious Discussion Topic

[NewGamePlus]

Over at the old board I was at, we used to have a lot of intense discussions and debates about religion. I was a part of some of them, but at one point the whole thing took off without me and it was fun to just sit back and watch the fireworks. Great thing about it is that the original post didn't have to be much. Just asking about religion would spark something in people.

Well I don't know what these issues are like here, and it doesn't really seem like there'd be a clear place for that kind of stuff at this board, but the "Politics / Current Events" section seems like the most debate-friendly place, so I'd like to start things off and see what people have to say, however much or little that may be.

So how many of you people are religious, and how? Anybody have any ideas of what God is like? Any personal experiences? Any feelngs whatsoever about religion and religious issues?

Just for fun I think I'll make this into a poll.

 

[SamusAran86]

I was brought up "cathloic" but I havent been to church (except for weddings) since I moved to AZ, which was about 15 years ago

Other than that, Im not a religious person. Never have been never will be

 

[Doc]

I was brought up Catholic, and eventually said screw that. I hate the way Catholics portray Christ, and I believe that God is God, not that Christ was God.. God may have given him some pretty neat tricks, but he wasn't God.

Oh, and I consider myself Christian and don't align myself with any denomination.

My vote went to mainstream, by the way. Personal God didn't quite fit as much as I expected it to.

 

[SystemMetrics]

I'm in the agnostic/atheists area, but I'm more the latter than the former. I just can't help feeling like the notion of a God is pawning off something you don't know on something supernatural.

 

[Pianobone]

Steve- how do you call yourself a Christian but not belief that Jesus Christ was God?

Anyway, I chose an option, but not of them truly described me to a "T". My beliefs are Protestant in nature, I believe in Jesus Christ's Lordship and I believe in the trinity of God the Father, God the Son (Jesus) and God the Holy Spirit.

However, I do not consider myself "religious." When Jesus was on earth, the very institutions He attacked most were the religious people of His day. The ones who were "holier-than-thou" types. I believe that religion is a set of rules and regulations made by man in an effort to reach God. I believe that a relationship with Jesus is God's way of reaching man. So to that extent, I believe that religion is a man-made thing that amounts to little.

I stand firm on my beliefs, but I am not an extremist. I think that abortion is murder and a crime against God and the unborn child, but I am not one who burns down abortion clinics or shoots doctors who practice it. I am not easily swayed by society, but I do not force my views on others. I simply present my views for what they are and let the truth speak for itself. Others can choose it or not, what matters is that I have presented them with the option.

Alright, not to make this into a thesis or anything... I'm more than willing to talk openly about my views if people have questions, otherwise I'll leave it at that.

 

[NewGamePlus]

Pianobone, you sound like either "personal God" or "mainstream religious". I guess it depends on how open you are and how much you connect yourself with a partucular religious type of worship, including Christianity as a whole.

And with the "Jesus is God" vs. "Jesus is not God" thing for Christians.... well some of us prefer to believe that they were two different entities, and others equate them. I suppose they are two different entities of the same divine force, but then that would mean that they are technically different. I don't know... I myself think it's a little bit of an overstatement to say they are exactly the same and it kind of helps all those Christian religions feed into this idea that their version of God is the only right one. Besides, given that Jesus and God talked to each other in the bible AS different people, I kinda have to go with thinking that they are fundamentally different in some significant way.

 

[Shooting_Palanx]

I'm Christian and I'm proud to be one. I believe in Jesus Christ.

 

[Doc]

Steve- how do you call yourself a Christian but not belief that Jesus Christ was God?

I belive that he was more than a prophet, which is primarally a Jewish belief. I'm open to many forms of religon right now. My belief is that IF there was a Jesus, then he had something given to him by God, but he wasn't God himself. By that he could even have God's powers.

 

[NewGamePlus]

I just can't help feeling like the notion of a God is pawning off something you don't know on something supernatural.

That's the problem with the whole religion thing. A lot of people who claim to have strong faith in a God often appear to have a faith that is to some extent blind to reason and in the process end up pushing others away giving them reason NOT to believe, whereas most atheists who don't believe in any form of God because of our inability to completely know him end up pushing others towards faith giving them a reason to believe way too blindly. The result is that you end up having a world filled of people that have strong tendancies to side with one of the opposite extremes. In fact if you look at the 6 choices on the list, the choices are almost perfectly symetric to each other as opposites.

atheist <-> hardcore fundamentalist
agnostic <-> strict religious
personal God <-> mainstream religious

 

[SystemMetrics]

Personally I don't care what other people's beliefs are. They have the right to believe what they want. The only problem I have is when people try to force their beliefs on others. Many religions have this problem, both in the past and in the present.