Church

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That's what I've always believed. I find it strange that people take Jesus's parables so literally, instead of looking at the actual moral of the story. One of these days I need to sit down and read the Bible on my own.

I think there is a religion that focuses more on Jesus's teachings, some friends were looking into it, Gnostic Christianity...but then I looked it up online, and it sounded nothing like what they were saying, so I'm not so sure.

You should watch this, it's very interesting

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0974593/

Anything more strict/dogmatic/restrictive/religious than a Unitarian Church makes me want to eat my own head.

I just cannot comprehend how any thinking, rational being can believe in the presence of any form of omnipotent being - such a strange thing to believe.

I no longer practice the religion of my family, but when I was a girl we were lucky enough to have a minister who was very intelligent and delivered very well-organized and researched sermons. They always pleased me because I could outline them as he delivered them. There's something aesthetically pleasing about a well-ordered essay/argument, regardless of whether I agree with what's being said.

Patricia

I was raised Catholic, went to a Lutheran primary school, went to my Grandmother's Baptist church, and ultimately (around age 15-ish) became agnostic. I find the pageantry of the Catholic church fascinating; it almost mirrors Obsessive-Compulsive disorder- each of the rituals are completed each mass in order to please a god, and everyone follows them to a T.

Sometimes I go to mass, simply to look at the way the light passes through the stained glass windows, people watch, and to be in a place which is very familiar to me. I don't believe in Jesus as my savior; however, I do agree with most of his basic principles of treating everyone well, keeping the peace, helping your neighbor, respecting the land, ect. I think most religions have very similar ideas; but once you get to the fine details (saviors, prophets, commandments, not eating certain foods) then it seems the point is basically lost in a list of tedious, redundant, meaningless points.

I think the universe itself represents what we call a god... It's existance. No big beard, no son, no gender, no prophets, no angels, just existance. Omnipotent, but no interference. Live and let be. I follow fact, and legitimate, honest science.

I'll second that motion!

I was raised Mormon. I went to church nearly every sunday, youth group in the middle of the week, Early morning scripture classes before school, week-long camp for girls in the summer. I went through their temple and was married in one at age 20. I wore their "sacred" undergarments. At 27, I started doing some research and found out that the church wasn't what it had been made out to be. I researched deeply into it's history and doctrine and was pretty disgusted in what I found out. I resigned, my husband resigned, and we took our 2 kids who were members out with us. Our families still have not gotten over our decision and are very confused and bitter about us leaving their church. To them, it's like a slap in the face that we'd reject their beliefs- they take it as a rejection of them personally. It's such a deep part of who they are. Both my husband's and my ancestors go back to the founding of the church, so Mormonism and all it's little secrets run deep in our families including polygamy, inbreeding, racism, etc.

I was raised in a souther Baptist "fire and brimstone" preaching church, but when I was old enough I branched out and visited other denominations. Nothing really fit, and in general they all treated me and others who were outside of the "socially acceptable" norm very, very badly. I don't really engage in religion, because religion is based in tradition, and most people who follow traditions do so without knowing or even questioning why. Faith is another story. I have my own beliefs, and I'm constantly questioning myself to reaffirm those beliefs.

To answer the OP, I have a real problem with church, mostly because I don't wish to be associated with the "be good on Sunday" people.

I'm the complete opposite...I learn so much about the universe and this planet and how everything has "evolved" (whether or not you believe in that), and I just can't believe that this is all just a happy accident...everything about this world works too dang perfectly to not have some form of intelligent design behind it.

That, and sometimes you get those weeks where Murphey's law kicks you in the face (anything that can go wrong, will go wrong), and it just seems like "Yeah, there's a God, and he's giving me a real hard time right now."



Reminds me of one of my favorite Jethro Tull songs.

So I asked this God a question
and by way of firm reply,
He said -- I'm not the kind you have to wind up on Sundays.

I was raised Catholic, and I have stayed that way. Catholicism suits me fine. I also don't believe that the universe can be an accident.

I wasn't raised religious, and the thought that God existed never really struck me as especially well-founded. I've been in a church a few times, most recently for someone's wedding. Somehow I always manage to forget how much I hate the seats. My back is in serious pain once I try to sit down on them and remains like this until the end of the service.

Isn't it the Bible Baptists (and other King James Only Baptists) that strive to follow the Bible to the letter? A good indicator that a Church is fundamentalist is that they refer to Southern Baptists as a liberal denomination.



I find that fundamentalists take a liking to those who strive to "out-fundamental" them. Showing up at anti-abortion, anti-gay marriage, anti-evolution demonstrations garners solid respect amongst fundamentalists.

I really didn't start going to church until I was 13. I am so glad that I attend church regularly now. I was even baptized in May 2007, just four days before I graduated from high school. I decided that I wanted to be baptized. My parents didn't make that decision. The reason why I didn't go for years was because my ears were sensitive to the music. After just one service at my church, I became hooked. I love it!

I went to church (Lutheran) when I was an adolescent, even remember my baptism. I have a son now and took him to church. The sermon was the one where God tells his follower to sacrifice his son then is like just kidding, here is a goat. If God tells me to do something like that I'd tell him to %#$@ Off! Really I am just too logical to have blind faith anyway. Gnostics always appealed to me but there isn't much left about it after everyone got done burning each others books.

My family's religious background is:

Roman Catholic (before 1910).
Evangelical & Reformed (a German church, now the United Church of Christ)
General Association of Regular Baptist Churches (separatist, fundamentalist)
Southern Baptist
Independent Baptist
Primitive Baptist
Free Methodist
Presbyterian

I haven't gone to church in a long time, mostly because I was all churched-out when I was younger and had a lot of bad experiences associated with church. I was raised mostly in separatist, fundamentalist Baptist churches that believed in second-degree separation. That means that you can't associate with anyone who associates with someone who doesn't believe exactly like the association of churches believes. I got tired of hearing how "We're the only ones who truly believe."

Z

I'm a Lutheran as well.