I am a Oneness Apostolic Pentecostal.

Texts: The Holy Bible
It's The Word, other texts are not necessary, The Holy Bible is the final word on any matters.

While I believe Jesus is God (manifest in flesh)and while there are other forms such as the Holy Ghost and Father and Son, God is not limited to the Trinity but has countless modes of manifestation, hence Oneness. They are all God.
I do not expect to see 3 separate entities in the afterlife, just One who is all things good.

We believe we must be baptized of Water and Spirit in Jesus name, not the Father, Son and Holy Ghost as some other Christian sects do.

I attend Church every Wednesday and Sunday.

In my daily life, I think of Jesus/God constantly, and attempt to let Him guide my thoughts and actions.
We are taught to ask. The Bible says so. Everyone's needs are different but I try not to be petty with my requests.

With regards to other religious beliefs?
I view other religions that are not Christian or Jewish as false and and consider them to be false idols. This is part of the 10 Commandments.

Basically, Oneness Apostolic Pentecostal is an attempt to be as close to the early Christian church as we can. Certainly prior to 434 AD.

We do have disagreements with the specific doctrines of other Christian faiths, but do recognize that we are worshiping the same God.
This goes for the Jews as well, same God.

Ok... I will participate:
1st Q: Agnostic. Neither believe nor disbelieve.
2nd Q: Have not now, nor have I ever attended church. My parents were not religious.
3rd Q: I cant say I acknowledge any belief. And I dont disparage others beliefs. Live and let live, unless one of the tenets of your beliefs include killing me for my non participation in them.
4th Q: Out of curiosity, I read the KJV of the Bible when I was in HS. It was a difficult read, but a pretty good story.
Full admission:
Many years of police work, during which I watched the innocent suffer and die for no discernible reason makes it quite difficult for me to accept the idea of a benevolent, loving God. Further, I dont believe I need to atone or beg forgiveness for anything I have done in life in order to be admitted to some Utopia. And my lack of atonement is not cause for some kind of eternal damnation, either. I am what I am and while not a saint, I have done the best I can to lead a decent life. Thats enough for me.

Ok, here goes.

Please share in your first post what your religion is?

I was raised Catholic, but now consider myself agnostic with secular humanistic leanings.

Do you attend church/temple/synagogue/etc. regularly?

No, not since I was a sophomore in high school.

How do you acknowledge other belief systems?

Live and let live. Do what you feel is right, but don’t ask others to agree with or pay for your beliefs. I will extend the same courtesy. That said, I do not force my lack of belief on others nor do I freak out if I see a religious symbol in a public space.

What religious text(s) do you use? I’m familiar with many, but I hold none as sacred. Wisdom may be found everywhere if one takes the time to look and keeps an open mind. I’ve been fortunate to have studied many different faiths as part of my pre-college life (Jesuit schools).

Please share your beliefs and how they influence your day to day.

My journey with religion ended with an auto accident when I was a sophomore in high school. Prior to the accident, I was a fairly devout Catholic and an altar boy. As a scout, I completed the Ad Altare Dei program. I suffered a skull fracture in the accident, and I flatlined in the OR for 3 1/2 minutes. When I woke up, my high school principal was giving me the last rights. Over the next few months, most of my memory returned but I had the most profound sense of nothingness jumbled in that I could not explain. Even describing “nothing” really involves comparing it to something, which is not what I felt. It’s almost as if I was a lightbulb and I was simply switched off for a bit.

When they told me I’d “died” during treatment, and was resuscitated, it all made sense. That incident convinced me that my beliefs in an afterlife had been wrong. Dead was truly dead and gone. This led me down a path of questioning everything as had believed in up to that point. The Catholics could not provide the answers I needed so I looked into other options, but they all seemed to have the same problem - “do what we say today and things will be much better in the next world/life/heaven/paradise/etc. That argument no longer held water for me, as without an afterlife, most religions lose appeal. I turned to science and haven’t looked back. I think my experience with faith served me well in the technical space in later life.

Bottom line - I gave up on my faith, but I still believe that there are some basic rules that we all need to live by in order to function as a society. Don’t murder, don’t steal, keep your promises (especially wedding vows), don’t be greedy, etc., are necessary to me with or without a religious faith to underpin them. Society falls apart without a shared set of behavioral norms.

In the end, I’m just as full of crap as they next guy. In a weird way, I envy people of faith, just as I envy musicians, parents, or anyone who does something that I can’t do. I do try to live a “good” life, and to treat others with respect. I do believe that morality and religion can exist separately, which I’ve found is most certainly not a common belief.

Thanks to the OP for creating such an intriguing thread.

I am a Christian, attend Church regularly, (services Sunday Morning-Worship and Sunday School and Wednesday night Prayer and Bible study).

I try to love everyone, regardless of their religion or lack of one, but sometimes it's a struggle.

I use the Bible, the New King James (NKJV), King James (KJV) and New Living Translation (NLT).

I was raised in Church, but never accepted Christ as my Savior, though I'd read the Bible through once, and large portions several times. Left Church at 15, never returned till after I was saved years later.

I got saved in my late forties simply because I realized that, if the Bible was true, and I did believe it was, that when I died, I'd go to hell because of my sin. I was saved not because I wanted to go to Church, have a relationship with Jesus Christ, help others-only because I did not want to end up in hell.

I sorta felt guilty about that until I found out that everyone I know got saved for the same reason-didn't want to go to hell. Relationship with Christ, Church, etc. all came later.

I'm now 71, teach an adult Sunday School Class, love my Church and really enjoy the freedom of being a Christian.

Bob

quote:

My questions:
Would you please share in your first post what your religion is?

I was brought up Methodist. My Dad was Lutheran until he married, then converted. I honestly couldn't tell you the difference(s) between them. But I've considered myself an atheist for many years now. I guess I believed in a God when I was a child, but mostly because my parents (and others) told me it was so. Later, I guess in my early or mid teens, I began to question it and eventually abandoned it.

quote:

Do you attend church/temple/synagogue/etc. regularly?

No.

quote:

How do you acknowledge other belief systems?

I avoid discussions/arguments about religion because (a) I don't think I'm going to change anybody's mind, and (b) I'm pretty sure they're not to change mine. Those discussions lead to anger and hurt feelings more often than not. I try to respect other peoples' beliefs even when I don't share them.

quote:

What religious text(s) do you use?

I own a Bible, not out of faith but because I've found it to contain a lot of interesting historical insights.

quote:

Please share your beliefs and how they influence your day to day.

As an Atheist I don't really have any religious beliefs, but aspects of it that I was taught as a child do still have influence. How much of it came from the church and how much came from my parents, I'm not sure. But I try to "do the right thing" (treat people the way I would prefer they treat me, help those who need it when I can, be kind to animals, etc.), not out of a fear of eternal damnation but because I just think life is better and a bit easier that way. The Ten Commandments may have had their origin in religion, but they're still good rules to live by.
A lot of what SecurityGeek had to say (with the exception of the manner of his loss of faith) applies to me as well.

Wow what a topic. I usually pass these topics pretty quickly. I have to say that Para's response intrigued me because it does resemble what I tend to believe or at least lean toward. I've never had a name for it. I'll explain in my answers...



"Would you please share in your first post what your religion is?"

I was raised Catholic until I had Confirmation. Although my family never really attended church. We stopped church once our church got involved with local politics (Dad was LEO). I've considered myself atheist (not the militant offended atheist we have today) or agnostic, since then. I've leaned toward thinking there is no god. But in the last few years I've had a few things change my mind. I've always felt that if everything had to come from something then god has to come from something. That, I thought, proved there is no god. But someone said to me that god is outside our realm, outside our universe, and thinking of it my way made no sense. This intrigues me. I've always thought that basically the universe is more strange and magical than we can even imagine and that everything is connected in some way. Perhaps what Para describes is sort of where I'm heading.

"Do you attend church/temple/synagogue/etc. regularly?"

Nope

"How do you acknowledge other belief systems?"

I just live and let live. I don't push my beliefs on anyone. I listen if they want to talk about it (without pushing their religion on me). I think everyone is free to worship as they see fit as long as it isn't affecting me.

"What religious text(s) do you use?"

None


"Please share your beliefs and how they influence your day to day."

Regardless of my ever changing opinion I basically feel that living a moral life is important. It isn't important to me for pleasing God. It's important to me for personal reasons. I've always said I don't need God to force me to be moral. I am a moral person. I think if there is a God, a specific being that is judging us, he is not concerned with our day to day sins such as we would confess to in church. He is concerned that we are good people. Or maybe he doesn't care whatsoever. Maybe he made something and walked away. Or maybe it's not a specific being but a state of being for all of us. I don't really know. But I think it's important to not be a douche. I guess I'm still very confused on religion. One thing for sure, I will find out. Or if there is nothing after, I won't.

1. I am a Christian, subset Protestant, specific denomination United Methodist.

2. Yes. I attend 2 services every Sunday morning. I also attend Adult Choir Practice on Wednesday evenings and a Handbell Choir on Sunday evenings (which play in services every so often). I am part of a group that provides photo services for the church.

3. I am aware that Jesus stated that "no one comes to the Father but by Me" and I am comfortable with that. I do realize that there are other religions that don't share that view, but I don't practice those. I have no problem with others having different beliefs as long as they don't intrude on my ability to follow mine and to live my life without their interference. There is at least one quasi-religion (which I won't name) that is not that tolerant, and I do not credit it with any positive value. To the extent that followers of that creed leave me alone and do not try to corrupt my life (or my country) I am willing to let them be.

4. The Bible. I have used several different translations. I love the King James for its historicity and elegant style, but others have surpassed it in promoting clearer meaning.

5. I believe that Christians are called to love and serve others, and to proclain God the creator of the Universe and all that is in it. Jesus himself said that the First Great Commandment was to love God with all your heart, mind, and soul; and that the Second was to love your neighbor as yourself. I try (try!) to follow the teachings of Jesus Christ, but I realize I often fail miserably.

"All have sinned, and fall short of the glory of God" is true, and worth remembering.

flashguy

quote:

Would you please share in your first post what your religion is?

Do you attend church/temple/synagogue/etc. regularly?

How do you acknowledge other belief systems?

What religious text(s) do you use?

Please share your beliefs and how they influence your day to day.

I am Roman Catholic - I still say that despite all the failings of the Church. Religion is a construct of imperfect men and women. It will never be perfect and some of the rules have nothing to do with faith or belief.

I have not gone to church in many years mainly due to the "rules" that don't make sense to me.

I acknowledge other belief systems. I do not believe that you must be Catholic to go to Heaven. I firmly believe in Karma and many tenants of eastern religions. As a believer in Jesus and what he did for mankind, I embrace the opportunity to help anyone else see that "truth" and experience it. BUT I will not judge them if they dont believe or don't want to believe. I will however pray for anyone who needs help even if they do not believe.

I live every day with the intention of leaving everyone better than I found them. I give more of myself than I ask of others. I try my best to love everyone even if I don't like them. Jesus was the example, original, template and role model; we will always be copies but we can be our best copy and I am confident that St. Peter will measure us as worth of eternal salvation.

God Bless you in your search. From your posts, it seems that God is already in your heart.

quote:

It is also interesting to me that a lot of what has been said could be boiled down to simple things like:
do good
be truthful
etc.

Only tattoo I ever considered was "Do Good" in small letters under watch band. So that no one could ever see it but I would see it many times a day.

Coming from agnostic guy raised in half Jew and half Christian household.

I am not sure what exactly I believe in other than karma and everything didn't come from nothing. At the same time I'm fascinated with big bang theory which says exactly that. Plus a bunch nerdier other origin stuff, multiverse, string theory, etc.

In the end I can't help to agree with fed161's post.

ffips.

Your honest and humble question is much like the other side of lbj's posting of his journey over the past few years.

Both are "risky" in the exposing of one's underbelly.

That is a brave step, and also a bold step.

It both shows the fragility of all of humanity's quest for honest and complete truth, and the strength of stepping forward into an unknown on behalf of many.

I believe your question(s) will be answered, in great part by those who respond, and in part by the very "unknown" you cast the question towards.

-sm

quote:

My questions:
Would you please share in your first post what your religion is?

Do you attend church/temple/synagogue/etc. regularly?

How do you acknowledge other belief systems?

What religious text(s) do you use?

Please share your beliefs and how they influence your day to day.

Roman Catholic.

Up until I turned 20 years old I attended Mass regularly, after that sporadically. But I do pray every night.

I acknowledge all belief systems except one.

I keep a Catholic Bible in the house and read it from time to time. A good friend of mine gave me an "American Patriots Bible" that is basically a New King James Bible with historical connotations that I also keep.

I believe in the Lord Our God. I try to live a life that is worthy of Him.

I was raised in a Jehovah’s Witness household...at around 13 years old I was drawn across the carpet for enjoying shooting, guns and squirrel hunting (opened my eyes on control)...

my wife and I officially left the cult in 1984, loosing all of our “friends” in the process (not just over guns, but their position on their self serving source of “salvation” and teachings)...in 1986 we went through adult Conformation with the local Lutheran Church Missouri Synod (overall very conservative)...I have accepted from my 66 years on this rock I will not question another’s belief ( my history has shown me I’ve grown past this)...

I attend worship as much as I can with my current health issues and my Church has been a strong source of support over all of these stressful few years (my pastor comes by regularly with communion and prayer...it has been a source of strength and support for me)

I do read the Bible (NIV) and take comfort from it...I believe in the power of prayer (it’s been evident in my life through all of the stressful events of the last years)...

My church family rocks

quote:

Coming from agnostic guy raised in half Jew and half Christian household.

I am not sure what exactly I believe in other than karma and everything didn't come from nothing. At the same time I'm fascinated with big bang theory which says exactly that. Plus a bunch nerdier other origin stuff, multiverse, string theory, etc.

In the end I can't help to agree with fed161's post.

If there is a benevolent God who loves us all, and I believe there is, then I believe God would be fair. So if you are born into a majority Hindu, Muslim or whatever country, and you have little or no contact with Christianity, you really never have the opportunity to accept Jesus Christ as your savior. If this same person leads an exemplary life doing good works, most Christian denominations would say that this person is doomed to spend eternity in hell since the person never accepted Jesus Christ as their savior. I don't think that's fair. For that matter, even if you were blessed to be born in the U.S. and live an exemplary decent life, a loving and fair God would never doom you eternal damnation because you are Jewish or whatever and you did not accept Jesus Christ as your savior. In discussing religion with others (which I don't do often) I have found that most people agree with that. That goes against the teachings of the vast majority of Christian denominations.

I was raised Catholic, but became an atheist in adolescence and remained a staunch atheist through college and graduate school. I took the subject of the existence of God very seriously, and read widely: the Catholic theologians, the Bible, the logical examinations of the question, (I was a fan of Bertrand Russell), the Eastern sources like the Bhagavad Gita and the Upanishads.

I saw no compelling logical reason to believe in God, and some compelling reasons not to believe, the "problem of suffering" foremost. How could a loving, and all-powerful God allow absolutely awful, heart-breaking things to happen to people, even outstandingly good people? I remember that two Mormon missionaries came to my apartment in Ann Arbor one morning and after a long discussion, well over an hour, I'm pretty sure that I had one of them turned to atheism.

As I was finishing up my doctorate, my then brother in law convinced me to try Transcendental Meditation. He had become a TM teacher, and since one did not need to believe anything to start-- other than that it was worth a try-- I started meditating. Very skeptically.

The deal we made was that before I passed judgement I would need to meditate regularly-- twice a day, morning and evening for 20 minutes each time-- for one month. If I missed a meditation, I would need to begin the count over again until I had 30 days.

It took me several months to fulfil the commitment. At that point I had to admit that I did feel better. I was more settled, mentally clearer, and not so easily angered or flustered.

I meditated regularly for a couple of years, and was at that point so convinced of the many benefits of TM that I decided to become a TM teacher. I was still, I should point out, an atheist.

My meditations were not dramatic in any way. Typically, I sat and after a few minutes became calm and quiet. There is a specific way that one deals with thoughts in meditation, and it is a very simple and natural procedure. So, I settled into a deeply quiet state, very slow, shallow breaths, and after 20 minutes opened my eyes very refreshed and clear headed. Nice.

But when I was on the teacher training course, we did more than two meditations a day, and longer than 20 minutes each. I was meditating in my little room with the usual experience of meditation, but this time to a much deeper level of quiet. I hardly breathed at all. I think I went for relatively long periods without breathing at all.

And then for the first time I transcended clearly. My mind was on the mantra I'd been given, but it kept fading to finer and finer levels, until it was the vaguest impulse of a thought, hardly there at all. And then it was not there. I was awake, conscious, but with no object of consciousness: no thought, no perception, no feeling-- just consciousness left alone by itself. Pure consciousness.

Pure consciousness is infinite. All at once, I myself, the essence of who I am-- my awareness itself, my consciousness-- was infinite in every direction! The experience of that is described in the Upanishads by the Sanskrit word ananda. Bliss. I was filled with bliss. The bliss of my own nature. The bliss of infinite pure consciousness.

When I opened my eyes, I was crying. Not tears of sadness, but tears from being overwhelmed by this unimaginable experience of the nature of reality. Consciousness is Infinite. Creative intelligence fills the universe. I didn't use the word right away, but there was no getting around it: this was an experience of the divine, of the Creator, of God.

You can believe something because it seems reasonable, or because it is in a religious text you respect-- there are lots of ways to believe. But whatever you believe that way, you can also come to doubt.

You can believe that honey is sweet because you know the chemical formula of sugar, and you know honey is composed that way. So, you believe, intellectually, that honey is sweet.

But there is another possibility: someone can put a spoonful of honey in your mouth! Then you know honey is sweet. You can never doubt it because you don't "believe" it, you know it from experience.

That is what happened to me when I transcended clearly for the first time-- and not the last by any means.

My atheism was not "disproved"-- it was blown away.

I have written this with reservations. It's very personal, and not something I ordinarily talk about. Some here might misunderstand and think I'm trying to convince them, that I want them to believe what I have said. But I'm not trying to convince anybody. You can believe it or not. I'm old enough now that I don't really care so much what others think about what I say.

I think that through TM I came to realise the source of the various religions. Each describes it in their own way, uses a different vocabulary, but it's the reality that is at the core of all of them.

So I've tried to answer the OP's questions as simply and honestly as I could. Make of it whatever you will, but I've told it as truthfully as I could.

This may or may not be the appropriate place to post Carl Sagen's Pale Blue dot. I kinda think it fits in.


Link to original video: https://youtu.be/GO5FwsblpT8

People believe in many things. Only you can decide what is correct or not and make your own judgement. My belief is based on faith, as are others, as no one was around for any longer than a little over a 100 years if you are fortunate. I am a Christian, non-denominational, and have studied a good bit. I understand many things and some I do not but it is a learning process.

Unfortunately today, Christianity is a vague term and should not be lumped together with other religions that do not fit into other categories such as the Jewish faith,Islamic,Buddhist,etc.. Christianity means to be Christ like. That does not mean you are going to have His power,abilities,etc., that would be foolish but instead to live and learn about what He wants for us and follow accordingly. I am not bashing any other religion, as I am not perfect by any means. I understand I should not condemn others as I believe I was forgiven and am told to do the same to others. It can be trying as we are still human and have human emotions and are not perfect.

If you are serious and really want to get to the nitty gritty, you can study Hebrew and Greek. There are many old texts,scrolls,etc.,(whatever you want to call them), we still have today and are translated to almost 96-97% perfection, with some phrases/words not easily translated into English, but still convey the original meaning without change. There are many languages where that happens, not just Hebrew and Greek. I have studied a little bit of that as well. I have studied the King James Version of the bible that was translated from the original Hebrew and Greek texts that were handed down and copied over the years,which all still say the same thing and we still have many old writings to this day. Many religions branched off of them as well.

Granted we all have our beliefs but if you want a website that will give you an understanding of different beliefs, C.A.R.M., is a good one. I use it myself. It breaks down all religions and what their faiths are about.

Many people today say they are this,that or the other religion only because their family told them so or where they were born,raised,etc., but do not know,understand or follow what they are supposed to be. It is hard not to be swayed or have an objective opinion on our own religions because it is a very personal thing. I don't mean to offend anyone as this was not my intent. I will pray for you and your endeavors.

This Jordan Peterson video is about the "Jungian concept of Circumambulation of the Self." I put this in quotes because I don't want to act as if I was familiar with this concept before Professor Peterson introduced it to me. This concept is germane to this conversation because it deals in great part with the pathway to enlightenment. If you're interested in this, you really should watch the entire video, but at the 10 minute mark, Peterson says "...part of the reason people don't become enlightened is because it's puncutated by intermittent deserts- essentially, by intermittent catastrophes, and if you don't know that, well then, you're basically screwed, because you go ahead on your movement forward and you collapse and you think 'well, that didn't work. I collapsed.', and it's like, no, that's par for the course. It's not indication that you've failed, it's just indication that it's really hard."

"punctuated by intermittent deserts"- I love that. Just before this part of the video, he's talking about the Book of Exodus and why the story of the Jews escaping bondage is structured as it is, hence the allusion to 'deserts'.

So, per Jung via Peterson, the pathway to enlightment is not linear. The path is not straight and easy, and if you fall back away from your goal, don't make the mistake of ceasing your quest because of discouragement. Not only should you not let such setbacks or stagnations discourage you, you should anticipate them, and take them as an indication that you are on the path, as paradoxical as that may seem.

quote:

Originally posted by flesheatingvirus:
I'm open to many possibilities that can possibly shed a little more light on the universe or existence...

It certainly doesn't sound that way. Despite the qualifications you made in your statement, it really sounds like you're not interested in searching for the truth and that you have settled for the easy approach, which is to just root around on the this rock until you die.

quote:

... but for the most part, I'm concerned about what is going on right here and now on my planet.

I've said it many times and I'll say it once again- the only real mistake in searching for the meaning of our existence is not even trying to understand the meaning of our existence. The mistake is refusing to ask the questions.

I do not say the following to put anyone down. I say this most sincerely: I pity any person who says that they are concerned only with grubbing around for the short time we have on this rock. This is tantamount to a meaningless existence.
You don't have to believe in the "made-up stories", as you call them. There are other pathways to spiritual transcendence, than accepting the allegory of the Bible. And, quite frankly, I think this stuff about "made-up stories" is tragically short-sighted. If you were interested, which apparently you are not, you could take the time to watch the video I just posted, which discusses- in part- the psychological significance of the Book of Exodus. Y'see, it doesn't matter if it happened the way it plays out in the Book of Exodus. These "made-up stories" in the Bible are absolutely relevant to the discussion of the psychological growth of human beings, and if you're not asking the questions, you are not growing, you're just growing old. And at the end of your life, as you gasp out your final breaths, what comfort might you find in the idea that we are merely sacks of meat in a Universe which has no greater purpose and meaning? Truly, I pity anyone who lives their life, voluntarily wearing blinders.

This is why I find those who embrace the concept of atheism to be smug in this respect, and lost. No one has the unfathomable mystery of our existence figured out, but there are people who actually manage to achieve a spiritual transcendence- 'born-again' Christians are a prime example of this. You may think these people to be phonies, and most assuredly, there are people who claim to be born again who are nothing but frauds, but I've got a buddy that I've known since we were kids and he was a Hell-raiser and sometimes really not a nice guy, but he found Jesus years and years ago, and I see that light coming out of his eyes, and he's the real deal. He's about to be a grandfather and he is a good, good man, devout and kind and a great friend. Y'see, it doesn't matter if Jesus rose from the dead and ascended to Heaven. It only matters that he believes it. You won't understand this, given your attitude on such matters, but what happened to the man was a spiritual transcendence which came from within himself. Again, you won't understand this, because you refuse to even consider such a possibility.

quote:

Originally posted by parabellum:

quote:

Originally posted by flesheatingvirus:
I'm open to many possibilities that can possibly shed a little more light on the universe or existence...

It certainly doesn't sound that way. Despite the qualifications you made in your statement, it really sounds like you're not interested in searching for the truth and that you have settled for the easy approach, which is to just root around on the this rock until you die.

Just because I don't believe in theology doesn't mean I'm not open to possibilities concerning existence. I was open to the existence of a god, so I took in the information, analyzed it, and concluded it wasn't correct. I would examine any new possibility with the same amount of logic. If I wasn't open to any new idea, that (to me) means that I would refuse to even hear it.

quote:

Originally posted by parabellum:
I've said it many times and I'll say it once again- the only real mistake in searching for the meaning of our existence is not even trying to understand the meaning of our existence. The mistake is refusing to ask the questions.

I never said that I didn't ask the question or discuss it. I meant that I'm not going to devote a significant portion of my life, Sunday mornings and/or Wednesday evenings for example, to one of the many options that strives to explain our existence or purpose. If I wanted to spend more time exploring such themes I would:

1. Become an astrophysicist/biologist/philosopher.
2. Get stoned more often.

I'm all up for an interesting conversation when I have the time and energy, but we'll all get the answers some day whether they are the ones we want or not.