What Religion are You and Why?

So, I got a couple of books from Books-a-million in my curiosity.
One actually goes through all the religions, cults, and practices so it's pretty neat...

the only problems are 1. It has Wicca listed...but not Paganism I don't know what that's about. So I'm sure it's missing more that I just don't know about.
and 2. It is written by christians...so it's biast.
Granted, I will say that I do believe in a God, but this is just ridiculous.
It gives a bright yellow caution note under Satanism and says this:

"The Church of Satan is a powerful and dangerous religion. As Christians, we believe that the devil is real and is a force of evil. He will be defeated in the last days, but for now he has limited power on earth. We recommend reading this chapter only after praying to be covered by the armor of God found in Ephesians 6 of the Bible."

Which is fine from the christian standpoint...but christian viewpoints aside, I rolled my eyes when i read it cause i was just thinking "are you serious?"

If you go further to read it tells you some facts about it..and gives you a tiny insight on their beliefs, but then bashes it

"They're all about materialism and hedonism. So when they say it's all about the spiritual world, its a crock."

So now christians are speaking for satanists? no thanks...I want to hear all this information from someone who actually believes in it, please.

BUT keeping in mind that it's a biast text, it is decent to get a basic idea of what a religion is about.

If you want to know about Satanism, read Anton LaVey's books. (The Satanic Bible, The Satanic Rituals, The Satanic Witch, The Devil's Notebook, Satan Speaks!)

If you can set aside all of the gothic mumbo-jumbo that goes along with the rituals, you'll find the core beliefs to be rational and practical.

The bit about materialism and hedonism are dead on, though. That's one thing which LaVey (founder of the CoS) pulled no punches on. He believed in living an indulgent, abundant life.....which is a sharp contrast to the ascetic teachings of some Christian denominations.

And one other thing about Satanism: It's more akin to a "secret society" than a religion, particularly at this point. Since LaVey died, and his widow Blanche Barton took over the day to day operations of the CoS, you needed a sponsor to even get in touch with other people in the church (that may not be the case now).

They also have a website which is interesting reading.

Bunnie, if you are interested in reading about various religions,
Go here:
http://www.sacred-texts.com/index.htm

And if anyone wanted to buy me the CD from there, I'd love you.

Diest though kinda mix way between robotech master and lanzman description of their beliefs fits mine.

Ya.
I mean, I don't want to read a whole book on it I just wanted a quick overview on what they believe in, how they live, and a little history...that isn't biast.
Deep down I still think satanism is bullshit and just an excuse to live life the way you want to without feeling guilty about it.

No offense to anyone who might have those views here. That's just what I believe.

AHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAH!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

That isn't it at all.

Central to Satanism is the concept that Right and Wrong are functions of the intellect, and shouldn't be dictated by a man-made construct like Religion. The system of belief isn't simply a license to do what you please, damn the consequences. You decide to do the right thing because it is the right thing to do within your culture or social group. If you do the wrong thing, you made a conscious decision to act in such a way, and you should own up to the consequences. There is no one tempting you, compelling you. Your behavior is solely an act of will.

But you are correct in one thing: Satanism is the antithesis of Christianity which often controls it's charges by applying guilt.

It is an extremely selfish religion.

Friend of mine seems to subscribe to Yoyoism. He was raised Greek Ortodox, then when his parents died he declared himself atheist out of anger. Then a few years later he took up heavy drugs and alcohol, and for some reason this made him born again. After a few years of that he calmed down to merely agnostic. Recently he lost his job and marriage because of severe alcoholism, and has decided to see the light again.

He's become quite tiresome.

ummmmmmmm...

I grew up in a Southern Baptist church. When I was about 20-ish, my faith was severely rattled and I found myself going through what may be a similar phase as you. I never totally lost my faith, but it was badly shaken.

Then, events happened in my life that I can only describe with the phrase "divine intervention". My faith emerged stronger than ever.

I don't look at religion with the same blind acceptance I had as a child. I've learned to examine and question my beliefs. I'm also very non-denominational as a result.

I believe you'll be back.

You are right, LaVey preached Pseudo-Satanism. "Real" Satanism, a.k.a. "Worship the devil", is nothing more than a Christian persuasion. A perverted view of Christianity, but Christian notheless. Real Satanism is nothing more than a Christian sect. AFAIR, LaVey never believed in the "Devil", his "Satan" was never part of Christianity at all, despite the rituals. He was an atheist which used "Satan" as a vehicle to spread his message. "Real" Satanism can be found in youth culture or music styles like Black Metal, but it is rare, because it is so stupid and contradictory.

Aleister Crowley is often described as a "real" Satanist, but his teachings are closer to a perverted form of nitzschean thoughts. Nietzsche would have hated him, and Nietzsche would have hated the Nazis, which perverted his teachings, too.

It's 4 in the morning here, and perhaps I shouldn't talk about such things when I'm completely wasted. Happy new year to all Christians, Pagans, Wiccans, Satanists, agnostics and atheists.

I attend Unitarian Universalist services when I don't have to work Sundays. You can believe anything you want with them. Raised Roman Catholic. Believe Jesus of Nazareth lived but that he was man, a very good well meaning man, not a human incarnation of a divine being. I suppose you could say I'm a deist. That's the most accurate description--I have a belief in some sort of creator than I can't shake, but is that creator the God described in the bible? Is it involved in our daily lives? I cannot know. Most times I suspect not. If He is God....he's beyond our small human understanding. I can't call myself an atheist. I just can't. The universe in all its complexity is too vast and too wondrous. Something had to spark those first few atoms or protons into existence to start the process. Maybe He just sits and watches. A grand experiment.

I dont devote myself to any specific religion. I chose to devote myself to GOD!!

I went from fairly standard christian, to relaxed agnostic (didn't give a shit one way or the other), to wiccan (one month shy of being initiated, which, in the coven I trained, would have caused me to become a legally ordained priest, which still makes me laugh), to finally atheist.

I consider myself a reformed Southern Baptist.

Atheist.

9/11.





No, seriously.

This phrase is almost infuriating. I mean no offense, but why does every Christian I meet have to tell me that I'll be back to Christianity in no time? That as soon as I grow old, I'll be on my knees and praying again? I don't mean to sound offensive, but now that I've stepped away from religion, it looks really different. No longer does this "god" look powerful. In fact, the bible is almost comical now. Every time I pick one up, I feel like I should be respecting it, but one quick glance at the words and I feel silly for ever believing it was true. All I see now is a badly-written book and false hopes keeping the weak running on imagination. All I see is the lies people throw at each other every day in a desperate attempt to gain power, money, or both. It's a completely human book so similar to every other religious text! I could go on for hours. Believe me, once you go all the way atheist, due to reasoning and logic, you can never go back to fairy tales. (Now, if someone becomes an atheist due to emotional problems, they need to really think about what they're doing - that is possibly the dumbest way to lose your faith, since you have no way to back up your new beliefs).

recovering catholic

I think questioning religion is almost like a developmental stage. Some move beyond it and some don't. My experience taught me to abandon the status quo of Christianity and examine my faith more deeply, and to not accept the crap that is being preached and taught in many churches by those who are in it for power, money, etc.

Many churches are too caught up in their self creation of the rules and regulations of Christianity, and have perverted the religion. The Muslims have done much of the same thing. They're like the Westboro Baptist Church with bombs and AK-47s.

Once I casted off all this manmade doctrine that's being taught, I realized that when you get back to the basics, faith and Christianity are really very simple and beautiful.

It is interesting that you had a crisis of faith yourself. I had the same, a few years before I reached the conclusion that God simply does not exist. What you went through, you "recovered". I did not. Instead, the more I studied and split apart passages to explore their meaning, the further away I moved from faith and religion. I do not believe I will be coming back, so you can have my stereo.

True for me as well. I no longer see the Bible as any kind of holy book. It is a book created by men, for men. After looking through many "holy books", scouring through translations and corollaries, commentaries and revealed scriptures, I had a greater view of the whole picture, but not in the way a person of faith would hope. Rather, I saw it for the poorly made patchwork quilt masquerading as a golden fleece that it was.

For me there's no animosity toward people who believe, only people who try to force others to believe, but fortunately that's been the case for some time, even when I believed, I didn't like people trying to make others follow. So, once more, I doubt I'll ever be back. While that statement doesn't bother me at all (I understand what motivates it in MD's case, unlike others who are arrogant about it, I don't think he means it in any such way), there has been a fundamental shift in how I process such things, and I would have to willfully give that up, knowing what that would mean, to ever accept a religion again, and there's no way that's happening.


J.

Yes, I did have a crisis of faith. As a teenager, I was comfortable in my Southern Baptist church, but I had already begun to wonder what was the deal with having Baptists, Methodists, Catholics, Presbyterians, Episcopals, Catholics, etc., etc., etc. The Bible I read said that there was one chuch: Jesus.

Around that same time, some members of the Church of Christ (Hi Dayton!) got ahold of me and started telling me that everything I had been taught all my life was wrong and that would go to Hell because I didn't belong to the CoC.

Combining that with many churches efforts to portray science as a blasphemy, I distanced myself from religion and began to take on a more atheistic opinion and attitude. I sense that something similar may have happened with you.

As I said earlier, there were events in my life that I can only believe were divine intervention. Not all of them were good, either. (At least, at the time. But they served their purposes.) Those, along with a reconciliation that science and religion can not only coexist, but compliment each other, I came back.

I didn't rediscover God in a church. I rediscovered Him in myself and everything around me. I will never return to the conventions of the churches; to me, they're the problem. The churches have created a complexity in religion that should not exist. Once I divested myself of their self-serving crap, I found that religion and faith are really quite simple and I am closer to God than ever.

No, I would never be arrogant about my faith or my belief that you will find God again. There's no place for arrogance in it.

I believe it because you had a strong faith once. As such, you have been a very powerful influence on me and my faith. Of all my internet friends, you and Asychritis are the 2 people that I have always looked to for spiritual guidance.

Something has rattled your faith to the core, as mine was, but I don't think God is through with you.

Hmm, I understand now. That's different than when most people tell me I'll be back just so they can stop trying to convert me.

Strangely enough, though, I was as devout as they come. My childhood was extremely religious. I believed everything I was told until it hit me - this is just dumb. Everyone's lying to me, just shouting out their own opinions.

However, instead of finding beauty in religion, I began to read up on others. I began to read up on debates about religion, science, life, the universe, and everything. And I came to the conclusion that man created God out of loneliness. I read the Bible again and realized how human and how sick it really is (the chaos and suffering in that book should be rated R! It's one badass book! ).

In the end, science and logic became my main focus. I now try to see everything that happens as "X happened because of Y. What's your response to this?"
It makes life so much easier. I have no need for a divine purpose, deeper meaning, or hidden reasons. Things just happen, and I choose how I respond. This level of freedom was something I never had even when I backed away from organized religion, but still had my faith.

Now the world looks completely different. I have fundamentally changed the way I view everything, even my closest friends, and myself. I learned more about myself than I ever thought possible. I am more capable of dealing with a crisis or even small problems. I am able to reason through everything. And I am filled with a renewed sense of awe and wonder at the universe, studying its complexities one step at a time in my lab.

Ever since I lost my faith, I've been happy. Unbelievably happy and in control. And this is why I can't go back.

If John here has had a similar experience, he can't go back either. It doesn't matter how devout you were in the past. What matters is how you change. If he's really had a fundamental change in his view of life itself, there is no going back.

You say that like it's a bad thing.

My faith was very strong, hardcore, firm foundation, God wasn't just a faith, God was a part of me, was in me, made up the core of who I was. Rock. Solid. The thing about it is that my faith wasn't shaken, my faith didn't crumble, it simply stopped existing. It was gone. I underwent a profound fundamental shift. For me, I took a step, and the world changed. Reality took on a wholly different form, and there was this sense of being freed from the rainforest and standing in the desert and realizing that outside the jungle growth, there were boundless horizons.

By the way, I find it interesting that once more someone has found me to be one they have looked to for spiritual guidance. Several other people told me the same thing when they found out I had left the faith. I just wonder why? What was it I offered that was so appealing? I mean that as a real question, by the way, not as some snarky thing. I ask in all honesty what made me fit that need?

Bingo. I think my mysticism was a fight between my heart and my brain to maintain control over how I viewed the world. What I found out and what I have discovered now is that my heart is still me, but I don't need to rely on spiritualism to cope with life and all that it entails. I am happier, much happier now, than I was even at the apex of my faith. My view has fundamentally changed, everything shifted. It's like going from black and white to color. Knowing what I know now, there's no way I could go back. Like a black and white movie I can look upon it with love and nostalgia, but I am much happier in my colorful world.

J.

Because you got it right.

You mean the whole "less dogma, more personal faith and God starts within" POV?

J.

That among many things. It's hard to describe.

I was raised Catholic and was very involved with the church through high school, but I've been an atheist since a very young age.

This interview with Bertrand Russell sums up my feelings pretty well.