| Apr 15, 2006 @ 9:49 PM |
Can agnostics have a thread in Religion? What do you believe?
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Heaveninawildflower
Posts: 18,606
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After all, that is what we check off in the religion area of our profiles, right?
I freely admit that I do not believe the bible is the word of god, nor do I believe that I'll be spending eternity burning in hell because I don't believe.
I think there's a natural explanation for seemingly supernatural occurrences. I believe there's an interconnection between everything in the universe, and I believe that prayer works because of that interconnection. I just don't think we know anywhere near enough to understand the connections yet.
Fellow non-believers - what are your thoughts?
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| Apr 15, 2006 @ 11:59 PM |
Can agnostics have a thread in Religion? What do you believe? |
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kattsmeow
Posts: 22,628
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Why shouldn't you? Yes, it is a belief isn't it? Very spiritual.
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| Apr 16, 2006 @ 4:01 AM |
Can agnostics have a thread in Religion? What do you believe?
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chinabull2000
Posts: 7,012
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Agnostics, myself included, have every right to have a thread in here. Personally, my knowledge of religion is fairly extensivce because of my upbringing, and just because I don't believe in a God does not mean I don't have opinions on tghe subject. I think that generally I tend to play Devils Advocate (no pun intended!  )
I actually do believe that there are powers in the universe greater than that of us feeble humans, but what those powers consist of I am yet to decide.
I believe that prayers work too, because it gives that person the self-belief, the confidence, that whatever he or she is praying about will actually happen, so they make it happen themselves, and then give their God the credit.
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| Apr 21, 2006 @ 5:56 PM |
Can agnostics have a thread in Religion? What do you believe? |
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kattsmeow
Posts: 22,628
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Heaven and China,,,,,,
Being the religion you were brought up in or the way you were raised,,what was the thing that changed your minds on religion(organized).
My son(oldest) is Agnostic, and he wasn't raised that way. The day I get to see him again, (he lives in Michigan) I hope to sit down with him and ask him. I will not judge him. I am really curious though. Lol,,,I think I still have 9 lives left,,,,
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| Apr 21, 2006 @ 6:02 PM |
Can agnostics have a thread in Religion? What do you believe?
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nightrider3281
Posts: 752
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nothing wrong with anyone being in here whether they believe or not. Last i heard this is a free country
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| Apr 21, 2006 @ 6:12 PM |
Can agnostics have a thread in Religion? What do you believe? |
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Heaveninawildflower
Posts: 18,606
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Hey Katt, join the club...meow (one of my real life nicknames is Momcat)...
I can't say it was any specific thing. Probably the first one that really bothered me was when one of the nuns made a comment about it being a sin to work on Sunday, i.e. the sabbath. My dad had his own business and worked every day, he was a truck driver. I had a hard time getting around how it could possibly be a sin for a man to do what he had to in order to take care of his family. That was the thin end of the wedge...then I started thinking about so many other things that had never felt right to me...now remember I was raised Catholic. When I hit eleven, the other kids warned me about one of the priests, not to ever let him take me anywhere alone. It was open knowledge to us kids, and of course we'd never say anything since we all avoided him so we had no firsthand knowledge. There were so many things like that though, where the religious ritual and dogma was so much more important than a kind heart, that I broke away when I came of age. I looked around at other religions, but eventually I realized that none of them really spoke to me, and the more I thought about it (and I have, a lot) the more I realized that I was sort of evolving my own beliefs that were based more on science than on religion as such. And if there is a God, and he's made us all so alike and till so different, I think he/she or whatever we call God is something we each have to find in our own way.
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| Apr 21, 2006 @ 6:37 PM |
Can agnostics have a thread in Religion? What do you believe?
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waterfire
Posts: 2,946
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religious ritual and dogma was so much more important than a kind heart so true, this is what drove me away from the organized religion at 13.
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| Apr 21, 2006 @ 6:44 PM |
Can agnostics have a thread in Religion? What do you believe? |
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bevrice
Posts: 11,141
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It is not a sin to work on Sunday. Jesus said, God made the sabbath for man, not man for the sabbath. Jews keep the sabbath holy, and this went much against what they believed. It simply meant that God made the Sabbath for men to get some rest. After Jesus came, we commune with God everyday, not just on Sunday. So, someone told you wrong. There is a difference between a religious person and a Christian, you ran across a religious person.
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| Apr 21, 2006 @ 6:45 PM |
Can agnostics have a thread in Religion? What do you believe?
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bevrice
Posts: 11,141
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I did want to say that everyone has a right to choose, to their own beliefs.
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| Apr 21, 2006 @ 6:53 PM |
Can agnostics have a thread in Religion? What do you believe? |
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jim9562
Posts: 620
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It is not a sin to work on Sunday. Jesus said, God made
jesus said..god said,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,do you have any thoughts of your own to answer with?????????????????????????????????????????
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| Apr 21, 2006 @ 7:10 PM |
Can agnostics have a thread in Religion? What do you believe?
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bevrice
Posts: 11,141
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Jim, was responding about the religious person's telling her that. I included my thoughts when I said that the sabbath was given us to rest and the rest of everything I posted.
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| Apr 21, 2006 @ 7:12 PM |
Can agnostics have a thread in Religion? What do you believe? |
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jim9562
Posts: 620
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jamie said!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! 
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| Apr 21, 2006 @ 8:06 PM |
Can agnostics have a thread in Religion? What do you believe?
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kattsmeow
Posts: 22,628
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Thank you Heaven. Haban was raised Catholic too. His brother hasn't went to church in many years, and I am thinking he too is Agnostic. The Schools they went to in Los Angeles were Catholic too.
Actually my husband has been through most of the religions too. Searching he said. He finally found what he was looking for and is happy with it now.
I think we are all searching for something.
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| Apr 22, 2006 @ 1:02 AM |
Can agnostics have a thread in Religion? What do you believe? |
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Greystone1
Posts: 1,677
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Although I remember attending church as a boy, I don't recall ever believing any of it. It just didn't make sense to me. The bible is short on logic and long on magic. No more believable than fairy tales. Frankly, I have never understood how anyone can possibly believe that stuff. I can only assume that for some inexplicable reason, they feel a need to delude themselves.
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| Apr 22, 2006 @ 3:09 AM |
Can agnostics have a thread in Religion? What do you believe?
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chinabull2000
Posts: 7,012
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Katt.... I don't have a definitive answer for you, there was no one-point in my life that I sat down and decided what or what not to believe in (or not). When I was very small I went to church every week with my parents, and when I went to boarding school I had to go to the school service once a week, but I have never seen the point in it, not for me. I have never believed in a God, I have seen nothing on this earth that has definitively proved to me that a God exists. I am a cynic, a realist, and am very difficult to bring around to someone else's opinion on any matter, let alone the subject of God, and it would take something world-shattering to bring me around...
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| Apr 22, 2006 @ 4:07 AM |
Can agnostics have a thread in Religion? What do you believe? |
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Humpe
Posts: 361
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Sure agnostics can have a thread here.
But how about atheists? ;-)
I do not belive there is a god what so ever. I understand some need comfort and find it in religion but basicly I think religion is just a waste of time and energy.
/H
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| Apr 22, 2006 @ 4:19 AM |
Can agnostics have a thread in Religion? What do you believe?
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chinabull2000
Posts: 7,012
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I do not belive there is a god what so ever. I understand some need comfort and find it in religion but basicly I think religion is just a waste of time and energy. That's exactly what I think in regards to myself, but like you, I also know that many folk find comfort and strength in it. There is no reason an atheist cannot post in here, as long as the subject matter is about religion. Whether or not you are a believer makes no difference to whether you post in here or not.
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| Apr 22, 2006 @ 10:14 AM |
Can agnostics have a thread in Religion? What do you believe? |
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Greystone1
Posts: 1,677
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Somebody tells an outrageous whopper of a story, which is totally disconnected from reality as we know it.
Not only do people believe it, which requires shutting down their ability to reason and accepting it on "faith", but their definition of "believe" differs from my definition. When I say I believe something, I am saying that based on the available evidence, I think it is probably true. Religious people, having based their belief on absolutely nothing, will admit no possibility of it not being true.
They are willing to pass laws based upon their belief in the unbelievable, thus forcing their beliefs on others, and are even willing to kill people who do not believe the unbelievable. How irrational is that?
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| Apr 22, 2006 @ 10:33 AM |
Can agnostics have a thread in Religion? What do you believe?
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Heaveninawildflower
Posts: 18,606
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jamie said!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Exactly. It's an all or nothing thing. If I believe the bible is the word of god, that's fine. But as I said, I rejected that notion long ago, so it really doesn't matter what it says.
I have to agree with what Greystone said, that religion is irrational, in the literal sense. It requires an assumption that something (the bible, or the koran, or the torah...etc.) is true, and evaluation of all data in light of that assumption. I prefer to keep an open mind and evaluate data in light of all other facts that are available to me at any given time, always bearing in mind that there may well be other facts that aren't known to me yet. My bottom line on ethics or morality, or right or wrong, is how would I feel if I were on the receiving end of what I'm contemplating doing. If the only one who's going to be hurt is myself, that's my decision...if you want to base your life on fear of eternity in hell, that's yours. Personally, I think we're immortal spiritual beings who have this little eyeblink of time in carnal form, and I feel it's my responsibility to enjoy it as thoroughly as I can (semi-kidding!).
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| Apr 22, 2006 @ 10:54 AM |
Can agnostics have a thread in Religion? What do you believe? |
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Pete73052
Posts: 19,370
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Personally, I think we're immortal spiritual beings who have this little eyeblink of time in carnal form, and I feel it's my responsibility to enjoy it as thoroughly as I can (semi-kidding!).
 Yes! We aren't human beings having a spiritual experience, we are spiritual beings having a human experience. I say, live it up.  
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