Dont blindly follow religion

Im christian but, i have studied many other religions and taken them into consideration, I also took philosophy which basically made me question everything I and other religions believed in. I'm still christian though. Yeah some people follow the religion without ever really thinking about what they believe in, but not everyone does.

But in the end your free to believe whatever you want.

Here's why I don't either:

1. People who lack confidence in themselves use religion as a crutch: Something bad happens and they say "God is trying to teach me something" and no lesson is learned. Look at what you did wrong and larn.

2. How many wars are fought over organized RELIGION???

3. Following a religious moral code tends to make a person self righteous and arrogant.

4. Trying to live up to this high moral code creates LOTS of guilt and repressed emotions which makes this person just seem "strange" to others. They tend to lie more to cover things up.

Just some reasons I don't follow religion!

Be free!

To meet God, logically it would be in heaven through the saints, and some of the nuns that are happy to live there. A saint has a large book written about your entire life, he or she must've added to the book to make sure he keeps a record of you. God wouldn't make you live in heaven forever unless you agree to it. God understands. But don't blindly follow religion by calling it spiritual "science", or claiming you're the only one who's right, etc. Am I the only one who understands this?

Scientology ftw!!... hah jokes. Yer i can see where your coming from, the diehard religious people are annoying. Hehe honestly i think the worst religious people come form America, i remember watching a documentary about some lady who painted posters and condemning homosexuals to hell and made her children hold them up on the side of the road, it was rather funny to watch the lady was funny to watch also those fundamental religious tools who deny the existence of dinosaurs because they weren't in the bible i find the hilarious there video of a massive theater and this guy was teaching 5 year olds that dinosaurs don't exist rather amusing to watch.

Best damn advice on the entire internet!!!!!!

badmanalive, have you heard of the Greek philosopher Plato? He would agree that you study your Bible, but woe betide any of you who read "suffering is a blessing", this is most unfortunate. I prefer the Old Testament to prevent this, and a religion with more thought and more physical reality.

No one is interested in you, Hooviva. I say I'm not raised a Platonist/mythologist/ascetic, I experimented until something finally clicks, religion is only as true as philosophy, I thought about this and I found the root of the problem, but I'll tell you the solution: don't just follow a religion, do your research until reality becomes 100% real. I tried atheism a few times, and the Satan feel can't possibly be a reality for me, I don't know if this atheism is subjective, but I'm pretty sure the consequences for the atheist who posted his/her story will be for the best, a grave where she/he has nothing to worry about, comfortable with her/his possessions in her/his pocket and having clothes, the thought of not thinking works for the best because if you don't think once you're dead, you can't suffer. Satanists would be happy to go to hell though, that doesn't make it wrong. You're in my prayers, atheist, with the hope that the no heaven/no hell concept happens in a way in which you die with dignity, a perfectly normal desire.

@eccentricweird, you got it in a nutshell. YOU NEED TO MEET GOD

Zeus I pray for you to strike all these non-believers down where they stand!!!!

sorry for the typos. i don't write very good in English.

i hate religious people my dad and grandparents try to shove it down my throat to pray to Jesus and go to church, because i have exams coming up. "Seriously is that your best argument to why I should pray ?Weel then if it is you got another thing coming to you!!"people who believe in God ARE Morons!!!!But i guess it give them a sense of security, but to be in other's people face is just with your dumb religion is stupid.Some of them are f***ing obsessed and insane I tell you!

Very interesting thread! Interesting comments.

I go to church fairly regularly, though actually I find it a crashing bore.

Have been a member of several different religions in my life. Did not find much satisfaction in any tho.

Came close to becoming a Jehovah Witness. Also, once nearly joined the Catholics. Was not raised very religious, tho my Mom was always telling people we were Baptists. (Oh, yeah, in what sense? We never went to church.)

Have considered myself to be an agnostic. I really do not know what I believe, if in fact I actually believe anything.

I think the JWs are probably right about Hell - that it just means the grave and nothing more. No place of torment in the Great Beyond.

story of my life!
TOTALLY normal. sadly, everyone in my life condemns me for thinking the way you think.
i would consider myself a christian... but im definitely not your TYPICAL christian. i thrive on questioning it.
and organized religion has corrupted everything.
i just do my best to live by the bible.
i think its actually ridiculous to be expected to "know the complete truth" if you're not ever questioning it. that's not faith. that's ignorance and religion as a crutch/ excuse.
but i must say, living out the bible... it just fits. but that's getting into the whole "is there really good and bad?" "what DEFINES good and bad?" etc.

I am a Christian, but not the most devout. I am from a very right-wing, heavily Christian community, and I hate it . I was brought up to respect all religions, and seeing the "true" Christians of my community making fun of the Muslim family that attends my school, I feel ashamed. It is people that live around where I live that give organized religion a bad reputation. It is because atheists and agnostics generally have respect for everyone that I respect them.

Atheism isn't proven either. I'm Christian, but I find agnostics more believable than atheists.

I fail to see how this post asks if something is 'normal' or not. I myself have had several posts rejected because they did not ask this question, so I must conclude that the creators of this site are either: 1)atheist or 2) agnostic.

this coming from a humanist...Religion is simply blind. I hate when the catholics (born Irish Catholic) tell me that Im going to hell when I die. Does hell exist? Where did the people go before Christianity was placed? Fun Fact: The world has been scientifically PROVEN (fact not a guess) that Earth is 4.5 BILLION (thats 9 zeroes) and the Christian mathematician James Ussher only calculates (according to Genesis) that the Earth is 6000 years old...hmm makes you think dont it?

religion is just a cover up for when people couldn't explain they way things happened. its all stupid.

I three quarter believe you, one quarter don't. I am a religious Christian and have a strong set of beliefs. However I could NEVER say that any other Christian person beliefs are wrong. To do so would be to claim to know everything about the Bible, which is impossible.

Regarding other religions i.e. Sikhism, Buddism, Islam etc, I don't believe they have it right but it's up to them what they believe, God gave us free will. The only kid of religious beliefs that I do not agree with are those that cause pain and suffering to others with no happy end result. And all religions have people who believe in things like that, be it Christians, Muslims, Sikhs, atheists, agnostics etc.

I consider myself a Christian, and I totally agree with everything you said. In fact, I have reasoned my way out of any one denomination, and have a somewhat patchwork belief system in place. The most important thing is tolerance and love for fellow man. You can't go wrong treating a person like your friend.

sweatheart_635 (21452),you are wrong. There are NEVER going to be varying degrees of fact, sweetheart.

My imaginary friends are better than your imaginary friends. Jesus died and then rose again. would you believe that he had an erectile dysfunction??

I absolutely agree. Why would "God" give us minds with the ability to question and analyze and form conclusions if he wanted us to blindly follow a book full of illogical, outdated ideas. I really am not trying to offend anybody. Most of my family is very religious and I was brought up Catholic. Everyone has the right to believe what they want to, and I respect that, but seriously, just think about it. So much of that stuff does not hold up to questioning. Oh, and if you are going to tell me that Jesus loves me, one day I will find faith, I'm going to Hell for what I'm saying, or any such nonsense, save it. You're entitled to your opinion, and I'm entitled to mine.

to the person complaining about Jehovah's Witnesses... I am not one, but my husband and his family all are... the only reason they would keep coming back to your house is if you let them know they are welcome there. If you say don't come back, they won't come back. They respect if you don't want them there. If you gave them hope that you would listen to their message, then yes, they will come back... And about the exorcism thing, I have no idea what you are talking about, Jehovah's Witnesses don't do exorcisms, Catholics do exorcisms.

Amen to that. I'm religious but I do not think people in my religion would say I am because I have my own beliefs too, I understand other religions and I understand non-religious people. I think its OK to be religious but that doesn't mean everyone who doesn't belong to that religion should be classed as evil or whatever. Religion is such a comples topic I can't be bothered huff

i concur.... i was raised atheist, but i'm now spiritual. i don't expect other people to believe what i do though. i mean, i wouldn't have when i was an atheist, and it pisses me off when people tell me that i need to follow their beliefs.

i totally agree that many religions serve only to keep people from any sort of personal or spiritual (if they chose or believe) growth. it is nothing more than a crutch for people too lazy to think for themselves. there are, of course, some exceptions in every religion.

"Think as I think Or your are Abominably wicked. You are a toad" And after I had thought about it I said "I will then be a toad" - Stephen Crane

(To whoever wrote the story :P)
I get where you're coming from, and i can completely relate...well almost. I happen to live in a very, shall i say, "God - faring" community, and because of the way i dress and act i often get rediculed. I dont do anything to disrupt the religious nutjobs' way of life so why do they insist on drawing me into a religion - ANY branch at that. Its rediculous. I personally dont belong to any religion, and proudly. In my experience, religions are far too similar to cults.
Growing up, my father's side of the family was mormon and my mother's christian, they fought constantly. See, i was the f**k up. I was the little girl who questioned everything, and got beatings as an answer.
Once, i was in sunday school where we all had to read aloud a verse in the bible. after hearing all the other kids and realizing that they preached of treating all people nicely and such, but just before the service (as i recall) they had not let a homosexual mother's child join. "ITS WRONG," they said, "HOMOSEXUALS GO AGAINST NATURE"
I was baffled. So when the thought of that morning suddenly sprang into my head, being the type to leap before thinking, i blurted out "Hey why cant that kid come and read with us? i thought we treat EVERYONE nicely."
That little, innocent comment landed me in the closet for the remainder of the school day. I was left in there cold, scared, and alone, all because i raised one simple question.
Now, I realize of course that not all religious people are radical like that, but that is just a good example of what happens if you question religion. People just DONT LIKE IT. thats fact. anyway i need to be leaving now, bye for now everyone. :)

Dude, Who cares? Nobody is charging you on your thoughts or forcing you to take part in an organized religion. i take some time to think about organized religion, which i am a part of, but that for me and atheism is for you there is no fighting or arguing over anything, apples and oranges....

as for hating organized religion, its just nobody likes when they are being told that they are wrong, neither you nor me, (so we are both right and wrong,) so maybe thats why you are against it, cause leave it up to the extremist to represent each religion, even the atheist have their extremists. but just know that not every person in every organized/(unorganized?) religion shares the same ideas.

The best thing to do is just take the good out of each religion and ignore the rest!

(I am a christian) I thank u 4 writing this in a respectful way.- U are an athiest right. Ur believes are based on what u consider fact correct? What different religions consider to be fact is not nessecarily wat u consider to be fact. Some scientist believe that the big bang has been proven but others dont think that is real proof so when it comes down to it even scientists are relying on faith.

I just wanted to say that I have the same problem being tolerant of religion. The damned Jehovah's Witness kept coming to my door every Sunday for 5 months. The Christian group my parents used to take me to till I was about 17 had way too much damnation and hell for me to appreciate it at all (Evangelist and Born Again Christian Bible Study Group). I find however that the Eastern Religions like Bhuddism have never had wars fought in their name and they don't try and shove their religion down peoples throat like many of the western religions today.
P.S. the Jehovahs witness are starting to come back to my neighborhood does anyone know how to get rid of them. Last time I had to perform a faux Satanic Ritual that they could see from my front door to scare them away and then they brought an entire convent to try and exorsize my house at which point I called the police to arrest them. Please post if someone has less of a drastic method of sending them away. Thankyou

scientology was created for the rich to get tax free money it is laundered in the churches, they give almost all there money to the church and then get it bak!

the problem with us atheist were entirely too tolerant of religious people even though they some of them completely hate us.i dont understand why people think they are such good Christians because they go to church once a month and oppose abortion and gay people. it would seem to me the organized part of the religion kills the actual message of the religion maybe if there was a god he would be against abortion but if he was im sure he would be against pipe bombing a clinic and killing off all the people inside. protect a fetus and send a living child into foster care because you just killed off their single mom working as a nurse at a clinic. praise Jesus for their hypocrisy

I agree!

I totally agree. :)

Haha, You Sound Just Like Me. I Hate Organized Religion. And Well, If Your Not Normal, Then, Well, I'm Weird Too. I'm Agnostic, But I Grew Up In A Christian Household. Don't Worry, Your Normal.

I don't.

But oi, you sound like a charming lad. Your head is firm on your shoulders. I'm glad there are still people thinking with their own minds. x

i agree with you, what you've said is basically common sense, but the whole point of faith is that it's unquestioned. most mainstream religions demand unerring belief in their God, so people feel guilty when they do have doubts and feel unable to express them.

HAVE YOU MET THE LORD YET? YOU NEED TO BE SAVED.