Religious beliefs that confuse you? Or if you've ever questioned your faith?
Just as the title says. What are some religious doctrines that you don't get, or just don't believe in.
Personally, I have never been able to understand the idea of the Trinity. The way I've always seen it, If Jesus is God, than who raised him after he was crucified? And why did he say right before his death: "My God! My God! Why has Thou forsaken me?" - Mathew 27:46.
The way I see it, a man who asks God why he has forsook him is not God himself. Or, if he is God and needs to be resurrected by somone else, then he is not Almighty.
I once asked my minister about it, figuring he could answer it for me. My Dad always told me: "Don't just accept that something is a certain way, or just what someone says, but try to figure out why it is that way, or why someone would say it?"
Anyway, I was very polite and respectful about it when I asked my minister, and he couldn't answer me. He even accused me of being possessed because of asking such a question! It was after that that I left the Church, and will never go back.
I consider myself an Anti - Trinitarian Christian, as do Mormons - who also don't believe in the Trinity. I believe in God, but I believe him and Jesus are two completely separate persons. I believe that the only way "they are one in the same," is that they are in agreement on thoughts and ideas - if that makes any sense.
Comments
Yes, I do say, leaving that Church was probably a good idea...
What is the connection between Christianity and Judaism, the latter of which developed from a polytheistic religion to a monotheist one, and, given that history, how can that which proports to be divine revelation rely on historical development?
Sometimes I don't understand Catholics--and I'm Catholic. I don't know they seem hypocritical. For example,on the ten commandments it states love thy neighbor as you love yourself, but they are always judging people and rebuking them everytime someone does something they do not agree with and call them sinners. I mean behind closed doors they do things that are not exactly "holy", but they have the right to judge others.
Well actually "love thy neighbor" is the new commandment Jesus gave. And sinners are supposed to be apart of the Kingdom of God...
It's confusing, but everyone judges everyone, don't we? For example, do you judge the terrorists that did, say, 9/11, as sinners/evil men? Because going back to doing stuff they don't agree with, is judging someone for their actions, like murder or rape, really a sin? But nonetheless, the Church are sinners, as they are human, so yeah. It's confusing if you really think about it.
Yeah, I forgot that that isn't in the ten commandments. My mistake. But what I mean with the sin what Catholics for some reason really care about is something like homosexuality. They go crazy mad about that. Baptists too. I've seen it and I'm just thinking that there are problems way worse than that that you should be angry about.
"Do not judge, lest ye be judged." We are all sinners in Christianity, and as Jesus said to Mary Magdalane, "Go Forth and Sin no More." At least from the Protestant perspective, there is no sin too great to overcome, as long as it is truly regretted, repented, and the sinner goes forth with a true faith in God. That can too easily become a 'get out of jail free' card, but the principle is that in accepting Jesus as the Son of God, and trying to truly and earnestly live by his teachings, is the key to salvation. Loving thy neighbor includes recognizing that, only letting those without sin (nobody) cast the first stone, and casting out the mote in thy own eye before commenting on the beam in another. In the horrible examples mentioned above, much as a slap upon your cheek should be met by offering the other cheek.
I figure I'll also re-welcome the question of evil by Epicurius - by simply placing free will and the fall of man as the source of evil frankly doesn't cut it, where there is temptation, there is a drive to temptation, one which is inherent in humans and, if humans were created by God, one which would subsequently have to be have been created by God. There is a German movie called Antikorper (Antibodies), and it's about a serial killer, and one point the serial killer says "God put the tree in the Garden, God knows everything, he know what was going to happen." - God cannot be both all good and all powerful, if God is all powerful, than He must have created evil, and if he created evil, He cannot be all good. And if evil exists where He is all good, than He cannot be all powerful.
Where Epicurius is esoteric, I'll let Al Pacino explain:
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Or, on a more negative note, Stephen Fry.
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Btw, I'm not meaning to troll this thread A) I'm up right now, and
it's a topic in which I'm generally interested and what to have my ideas criticized as much as I criticize those of others.
Love thy neighbour isn't actually in 10 Commandments but yes, a lot of people are like that. At least in the place I live where people are really traditional. At the end of the day it's not like any of us here has never judged somebody else before, whether we regret that decision now or not, so it's nothing new. I like to think that judging people out loud makes them feel better, like they are a better person or a believer in this case. It all comes down to either insecurity or ignorance. It can even look like those people are really blind, if they do not see their own hypocrisy.
To love someone, as Jesus' command of love asks us to, is to accept that person's flaws, way of thinking, their own personality. That does not by any means require us to agree with that person but instead, every time you hear someone judge somebody try to make them see that it is wrong. But do it peacefully, they should be able too see it eventually, but there's no guarantee, of course. They are also humans, therefore imperfect. Don't burn too fast when hearing someone do it, the best you can do is tell them WHY is whatever they are doing wrong.
The trinity makes no sense, because how can a father be the same person as his son?
So Kenny/Lee, does that mean you regard Jesus as more of a Mohammed figure? A prophet like elijah rather than God themself?
The beliefs I don't get is the belief that the bible is the actual word of god. Linguistically it was all clearly written at different times by many different people. It's at the very most a message of god written and diluted by hundreds of people, so bears extremely little relationship to his word even if it were real.
The Bible is full of contradictiosn because of multiple authorship, and when people try to pretend each and every part ofit is the word of god it's just infuriating.
Also I don't understand how the Catholic Church could possibly think it's ok to keep their vast fortunes when there's so much suffering in the world. Very un-Christian.
It's just an excuse to claim that you worship one god, while actually worshiping many. Christian's worship Saints in the same manor that people Worship individual gods. All Religions before Christianity often had one King God and many smaller ones. Christian's have broken their Mono views a long time ago, in fact almost since it's creation. I mean look at Death, heck look at Christian Saints. They're pretty much viewed at in a Divine light. Christians ironically took Hades and split him into two beings, one Death, and the other Satan, both referred two in writings and mythology in the same light as a God, but Christians refuse to call them Gods.
Hades wasn't a bad god as far as I remember.
The idea that God made all of us and has a plan for us makes no sense to me and eventually caused me to reject religion. To explain why, I'll repeat a story I told in the last religion threat we had.
About 5 years ago, a friend of mine was killed by a speeding car. She made the mistake of listening to music during a run and never saw the car that hit her. She was dead by the time I got to the scene. This sent me reeling on many levels, including the spiritual. I already had my problems with the faith, but I fundamentally believed that God created us out of love and that somehow he had a plan for us all.
I started asking myself questions. It's seemed needlessly cruel of God to let this kind, beautiful girl reach the cusp of adulthood, and then instantly end her life in such a violent, random and completely meaningless way. I found myself angry and bitter at God
Over time, the grief mostly went away and I accepted what happened. Reading 'The Open Boat' sparked an interest in naturalism which eventually caused my shift to Atheism. I decided that the universe doesn't play favorites and doesn't set our path in life. It's a combination of our actions and random chance. The universe simply doesn't care about us, which is why it's so important that we care about each other.
Name the religious belief, that one confuses me.
Aww, that was actually quite touching
Didn't say he was, but they took the job of the ruler of the under world which was Hades and replaced him with Satan. Unlike Hades Satan is a bad dude. hehe
I am Buddhist, so no offense to Catholics/Christians, but when I think of other reilgons I think;
In some myth he is, but that's of course true of loads of gods like Hera etc.
As a Christian, you have no idea what you are talking about. We are monotheistic, don't take the Bible so literally.
Also saints? No one worships saints lol.
There's a lot of double meanings and metaphorical language used in it. Satan does not necessarily exist. You clearly lack education on the topic.
Sorry for your loss.
It's interesting to see how people find or lose their faith, thanks for the story.
I dont understand druids( tree nature people, google it) and star wars force religion
I have a druid cousin, otherwise i wouldnt know that that was even a religion
I grew up in a Catholic family and because of my overly controlling nature that my grandparents possessed, my mother kept me away from their faith and I'm perfectly fine with that. However, I'm beginning to look back into religion once more and I'm unsure where I want to go. I guess with that being said, my lack of religious beliefs confuse me only slightly.
In short made up garbage that means whatever someone wants it to mean at that particular time to fit the particular situation or lie they're trying to manipulate into a naive fool? Being Satan is one of the most mentioned characters in Christian Mythology it's insanity for a Christian to say that "Satan doesn't necessarily exist." lol
Star Wars Force Religion? I didn't know that existed, learn something new every day!
I have never heard a Christian say that before.
I'm kind of in the fence when it comes to religion, i want to believe but there's many things that don't let me fully do it.
I've never understood why God made Ramses so renuent to let Israel leave Egypt.I haven't read this passage in a long time but i remember it said that God himself hardened Ramses' heart (I've read it in spanish, it might say something differen in english) so he wouldn't make them leave.
If God has a purpose for everybody, i don't see what's the purpose of people who suffer poverty, war etc.This also implies that evil people are part of his plans, does this mean that he's deliberately sending people to hell?
A priest told my sister a story about how people who suffer deserve heaven more than those who don't. But i can't understand why these people deserve more or less than others for things that are out of their control.
About that minister, if God or any deity truely exists, i don't think humans will ever be able to fully understand them.Especially since the mere existance of such beings breaks the rules of human logic.That said, i don't know if i would be willing to follow a religion were the leader doesn't know how to answer my question.Questioning things in part of human nature,and these people should be prepared for that, and i believe than something is truely worth believeing in until you have quetioned it.
I am also Christian, but i don't like how everything in the Bible is literal until it doesn't make sense, then it's a metaphor,
I'm not proving or disproving this but Satan means enemy in Hebrew? I'm not sure which language, and there's a theory that says that it's not a being, but a way to represent evil itself.When they're saying Satan they mean anything that is against Christian believes.Again i'm not saying this is how it is, just trying to explain this theory to you..
Not at all. You are definitely uneducated. What even made you assume any of what you said?
You make no sense, Satan is representative of our sins, he's representing temptation, the bad in this world, in people's minds etc. Learn a bit about theology before you spout pointless comments that don't even make sense. The whole book of Revelations is about world destroying monsters, whores and so forth bringing hell onto earth. Is it real? No. Is it meant to be? No. It's a representation, it's a story. But all of it is relevant in it's own scenario. You are simply saying because someone is 'mentioned' in the Bible it means we are all saying it definitely exists. The only people that think that are crazy nut jobs like the Westboro Baptist Church...and NO sane Christian agrees with any of the shit that comes out of their mouth.
And no...it has nothing to do with using certain phrases and twisting them to become real or unreal based on particular situations, although i'm not denying people do that (just as ANYONE, even atheists, can do with certain texts. History will tell you how many times people have used texts to twist views to their favour), but it's simply not the case with the examples you are pointing out.
You can have your views, believe what you want. But at least educate yourself on the topic first instead of just pointing fingers and incorrect stuff.
I'm not sure where you learnt your faith, but i've never been taught that it's all literal, nor brought up to believe it so.
Big world, everyone grows up with different religious backgrounds.
Theres a small group of people who follow it or what not, probably something about it on google somewhere
I was always taught that God inspired his prophets to write the Bible. Ones like Moses, Isaiah, Danial, and others. And later on the apostles Peter, Paul, and John.
And as I already mentioned my disbelief in the Trinity, I personally believe that Jesus is the son of God, but NOT God himself.
Bible conatins 73 books written at different time and by different author and different genres. You can't just read it, you also have to study it, read every word and see its original purpose since meaning can be lost in translation.
I'm very sorry for you friend. I wonder the same thing very often, although being a believer.
Sometimes it's easier to accept it all as some kind of a plan but there are times when it's easier to think of everything as a random thing, "it just happens". If God intervened every single time something bad happened, our lives would be perfect so I like to think, at least that much, that bad stuff's going to happen because the world is just designed like that. Good and bad. I personally wouldn't have appreciated a lot of things like happiness and satisfaction with self if I hadn't gone through it. It's very difficult to accept all of it at once, I am still a bit confused.
These quotes are nice :
"When do you think people die? When they are shot through the heart by the bullet of a pistol? No. When they are ravaged by an incurable disease? No. When they drink a soup made from a poisonous mushroom!? No! It’s when they are forgotten."
-Dr. Hiriluk, One Piece
"The world is not beautiful, and that is why it is beautiful."
-Kino, Kino no Tabi: The Beautiful World
I found this intereting article, you might read it :
The Problem Of Pain
Just quoting here :
“God created things which had free will. That means creatures which can go wrong or right. Some people think they can imagine a creature which was free but had no possibility of going wrong, but I can't. If a thing is free to be good it's also free to be bad. And free will is what has made evil possible. Why, then, did God give them free will? Because free will, though it makes evil possible, is also the only thing that makes possible any love or goodness or joy worth having. A world of automata -of creatures that worked like machines- would hardly be worth creating. The happiness which God designs for His higher creatures is the happiness of being freely, voluntarily united to Him and to each other in an ecstasy of love and delight compared with which the most rapturous love between a man and a woman on this earth is mere milk and water. And for that they've got to be free.
Of course God knew what would happen if they used their freedom the wrong way: apparently, He thought it worth the risk. (...) If God thinks this state of war in the universe a price worth paying for free will -that is, for making a real world in which creatures can do real good or harm and something of real importance can happen, instead of a toy world which only moves when He pulls the strings- then we may take it it is worth paying.”
― C.S. Lewis, The Case for Christianity
So is Jesus half God half man? Genetically related to Mary?
Something I also don't get. If Jesus knew after he died he'd go to Heaven, which is better than Earth, then why is him dying a 'sacrifice'? Sacrifice is giving up something good for the better of others - he is exchanging something good for something way better.
I'll look that up after school and track!
So it's somewhat unfair to call someone uneducated because their religious tradition taught something that contradicts your own.
I think I will avoid this thread because I get triggered easily
No? I don't understand. This is a different person commenting. The one I am saying is 'uneducated', clearly isn't religious at all, and is just pointing out things that aren't true, putting all Christians under the one banner and making statements (such as the one about 'Satan') that don't even make sense. I may have worded it wrong but it's not what I mean at all. People can believe whatever they like, but it isn't fair to throw stones on other beliefs when what you say is incorrect.