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Is it normal to believe in God, or is the belief instilled? Everybody has some form of belief instilled, what's yours?
I think human beings are inherently aware of something greater out there that we feel intrinsically tied to. I believe all religions have some portion of the truth in regards to what God really is, and people are drawn to religion out of a desire to have that better understanding
I’m not religious, but I do think that it’s normal for humans to seek greater meaning in life through a religion. If someone finds comfort in it than I think that’s totally fine, although I definitely hate those who use fear tactics to grow their religion or the hate of outside groups to bring them together (Although you could argue that that’s human nature)
For *most* religious people, it is something that is taught into their childhood. For instance, having religious parents will make you more likely to follow the beliefs of that religion.
Whether or not that belief lasts is a different story and many people "grow out of it" in their teenage years for a variety of reasons. (Most commonly social pressure, moral changes, or trauma.)
By the time a person reaches adulthood, it is neigh impossible to convince someone to change their opinion on such matters. Religion, or lack thereof, makes people stubborn. In their minds they think that the world 100% works that way. That isn't to say that a person's beliefs cannot change, but any one person is unlikely to convince someone to switch religions.
Adults who suddenly start believing (or stop believing) in religion typically have had significant life events happen to them. These events are typically less than ideal but happen nonetheless. Often times people search for reasons *why* these things happened and settle for theology. Or, if the person is already religious, the individual will lose faith.
Murderers often find religion in prison. People who have had someone close to them die with occasionally change their stance on their previously held beliefs. Trauma can shatter a person's perception of the world.
Its the opposite actually. You're programmed to not believe in god. Now turn off the TV, trust your real world experiences too. Would you believe Nazi or CCP scientists? Take what you hear with a grain of salt and do your own research. Look at how their research was done and how they reached their conclusions. Look where they get their money from.
Think for yourself and maybe you'll start believing in a higher power
Yes it's normal for people to believe in God, and it's instilled. Beliefs of mine that are instilled are Puritanism and book one of "Either/Or". Yes I've been programmed to believe in God, and I get to sleep through the night.
We may be taught religion while growing up. That’s not a bad thing. Religion is a human thing and generally has good effects. (I am not religious). Good news is our personalities are not set in stone. So it shouldn’t bother you.
I spent most of my life having religion installed into my brain, I believed it all, even changing churches "jehovah's witness, christianity, catholic churches" and by 2017 I joined a religious cult. Eventually I got tired of Trying to find the purpose in all i Learned and in the end it became meaningless because everyone I knew who lead me to the lord's calling turned out to be hypocrites.
After I left the cult, I questioned so much and even my own faith that I became an Atheist. So now I don't believe in God.
Atheism as we know it popularly is a product of Christendom from the past 300 years or so. Apart from that, the vast majority of if not all known civilisations going back thousands of years have been pretty sure there is a god or gods or some kind of spiritual being, even though they haven't agreed with each other on what it/they is/are about.
Let each of us draw our own conclusions from that.
This is how I see it
People believe in spirituality, as religion's are just fragments of the bigger picture. People believe in a God or multiple and tie a spiritual practice towards it. However, the thing that differs the two is the involvement of rules each religion has; where as spirituality has little to no rules attached.
There are also those who prefer to believe in science rather than religion (atheists) and that's ok too.
I'm at the spectrum of meshing the logic of science and ideals of spirituality (known as spiritual science). The idea of two being separate from each other is complete nonsense to me.
Also before jumping to conclusions, I'm not religious. It is possible to be spiritual without being religious, but not the other way around.
Nowadays people are programmed not to believe in God and to go by our own understanding, feelings, thoughts, and more. Even people who do believe in God still invent their own rules and design their own gods, but God (the only god who created everything and first being to exist) wouldn't make different religions and different rules for people, if you dig deep you'll see all religions are fake not the way. If you read the bible Jesus Christ said he's the way I believe it because he calls us for discipline and self denial (self denial meaning saying no to earthly things that you know are not good for you). I figure without a leader we do not know what is right and wrong difference between other gods is that they have no morals, rules and they are fake leaders and not god material. I know some will say I'm putting "my god" over others but truth is I do not have a god. Yet!.
It's instilled and it's almost brain washing. It should be open to whatever you want to believe as a child not made out to be 100% truth when there's no evidence of it
I rejected my childhood teachings about religion and god as it did not line up with what I observed in the real world; and the ministers (pastures, etc) could not, or would not, answer certain questions relating to aspects of their religion compared to scriptures.
I ended up cycling through a variety of world religions looking for answers.
Finally, I read the bible from cover to cover, along with assorted textbooks and reference books used in seminaries. I also was able to find a copy of the bible that identified certain things that most modern "christian" bibles have hidden (the name of god, that the old testament is filled with about 2500 references to "gods" - which was replaced by the singular "god" in most "christian" bibles, etc.)
That cleared up a lot of things. Then I found that god was all around me and evident in the world. In my case, when I was hiking and enjoying the view (I was really big on outdoor activities - and spent as much time in the woods and on the hills as I could).
I’ve done alot of reading about religions and spiritual philosophy and even identified as some in the past. I resisted the catholic brainwashing of my overzealously religious high school.
The fact is I’m just trying real hard at self belief that’s hard enough as it is lol.
It’s a bit lame, but I’ve said in the past that if I opened a church it would just be a door that opened up into a hallway and at the end of the hallway would be a mirror with “believe in yourself” above it.
I think that best sums up my view on the matter.
I grew up in the church and was taught and believe in God. It depends on the person. It seems like a lot of people either have liberal ideology or Trump as their God now. Hopefully people will aspire to greater ideals than that.