I am writing this in hope to get some insight for which religious direction I should go. It is a debate only in the fact that I am going to discuss my thoughts and views but mainly I am begging someone to send me in the right direction for the inner struggle I have been having with myself lately over religion. I was raised, baptized and confirmed in a Luthern family. I grew up believing everything I learned in church and now that I am older and have gotten a ways a way from it, I have been changing my thoughts about how I view things quite a bit. I have been doing tons of internet research and I cant seem to find an actual domination that seems to meet the views of my new found thoughts. I am just hoping that someone could at least help point me in the right direction here or tell me what I need to do to get these views to fit into one religion I can actually take part in.
The first problem I am having is I dont believe neccessarily anymore in God as three, the father, son and holy spirit. I believe him to be just one being who is all knowing. I believe it is very possible the earth and everything in our physical surrounding was formed by the way scientists believe yet, there is one god somewhere out there. I dont believe neccessarily in the fact that he needs us to worship him in a public setting, more that we are in good terms with him ourselves. He is part of us all and he is still all knowing, but maybe not so powerful. I believe strongly in free will and we make our own decisions. We can not pray for this or that because the world around us is only what we are able to make of it ourselves. i believe he is there to keep us going in the right direction by leading us only in our faith of him and the belief that if we do good things, our spirits will live on forever. I dont really believe in heaven as a specific location above us in the clouds. I believe that our souls go to an eternal life where we will meet our loved ones, but not neccessarily God himself, since he is just a giant divine spirit. I believe that those of us with good clean soles will be at piece in our afterlife. I am still undecided what will happen to those of us who participated in evil acts knowingly will not have the same eternal happiness as those who didnt. But I dont believe that has to be damnation to hell. It it isnt due to things the bible may neccessarily say are bad. I believe that is only for people with evil intentions. I believe our soles will not be punished for mistakes we made or attributes of ourselves just because it is written. You have to be evil in spirit to suffer some negative consequence in the afterlife. I know this may sound like a little bit new age but here is where that leaves. I do not believe in Karma per say. I believe that we create our own consequences by the roads we choose to go down in life. Obviously if you are a smoker or drinker (not things to be punished for in my view) you have a high risk for cancer or liver disease. This is not a punishment from god since he does not punish us, he lets us choose our own paths, nor is it Karma. Its just the negative effect from the choices you made. If you end up in a horrible accident, it was your choice to get into the car. Our choices and physical body are what determins how long we are on this earth before moving on to our afterlife. I do not believe in reincarnation or the contacting of spirits through mediums, siances or anything like that. I believe spirits exist but not here on physical earth with us. I dont believe we are able to communicate with them from here. I dont believe in healing through meditation or alternative medicine. I believe god gave us the free will to learn and create all we have in this world. He just hopes we use it for a good purpose, rather than one intended with evil. Such as medication and other medical advances. We are to take advantage of them and take the best care of our phsysical body as possible. Meditation could be helpful for otherthings to feel at peace with yourself and free yourself from the negative around you. You could use it as a way to clear your head and talk to the spirit who is part of everything around us but isnt the only way to talk to him. Prayer or whatever you want to do to feel connected to the higher power will be noticed by him but probably more just so you can feel connected to the spirtiual world that lays aheadl rather than requesting specific things and expecting answers. I do believe he looks after us and trys to guide us to the right desicions to keep us on the right path but there is ulitmitally nothing he can do to change the paths we choose. I also believe at the end of our lives it will not matter what religion you believed in once again as long as your intentions were pure rather than evil. the higher power will not care what you called him or what you classified yourself as religiously. I do believe he and those in eternal happiness are a bit dissapointed about war and hate over religion though. That is the exact opposite of the personal happiness we are all supposed to find for ourselves and help instill in everyone around us. Everyone on this earth is connected through the divine spirit. I dont neccessarily believe in Jesus is a physical person who came to earth but as a symbol as the rest of the bible. I dont believe it all to be taken word for word by anymeans. I believe it is the writings of someone very intouch with there spiritual self to help to guide us. I think the higher power wants us all to just be concerned with loving your neighbor and helping him and spreading as much joy, knowledge and any positive you have to offer. He will not punish based on who you pray to, once again as long as your intentions our pure, rather than evil.
I know this is a lot and you probably wont agree with much of it as we all have different views. All I am asking for is someone to please help me figure out where these thoughts of mine are coming from and where I can find information to follow up on them or what domination or religion of people I can relate to and find common beliefs with. I am very open to any suggestions or thoughts that you have to help guide me. Thank you all for your time and any help you have given.
The first problem I am having is I dont believe neccessarily anymore in God as three, the father, son and holy spirit. I believe him to be just one being who is all knowing. I believe it is very possible the earth and everything in our physical surrounding was formed by the way scientists believe yet, there is one god somewhere out there. I dont believe neccessarily in the fact that he needs us to worship him in a public setting, more that we are in good terms with him ourselves. He is part of us all and he is still all knowing, but maybe not so powerful. I believe strongly in free will and we make our own decisions. We can not pray for this or that because the world around us is only what we are able to make of it ourselves. i believe he is there to keep us going in the right direction by leading us only in our faith of him and the belief that if we do good things, our spirits will live on forever. I dont really believe in heaven as a specific location above us in the clouds. I believe that our souls go to an eternal life where we will meet our loved ones, but not neccessarily God himself, since he is just a giant divine spirit. I believe that those of us with good clean soles will be at piece in our afterlife. I am still undecided what will happen to those of us who participated in evil acts knowingly will not have the same eternal happiness as those who didnt. But I dont believe that has to be damnation to hell. It it isnt due to things the bible may neccessarily say are bad. I believe that is only for people with evil intentions. I believe our soles will not be punished for mistakes we made or attributes of ourselves just because it is written. You have to be evil in spirit to suffer some negative consequence in the afterlife. I know this may sound like a little bit new age but here is where that leaves. I do not believe in Karma per say. I believe that we create our own consequences by the roads we choose to go down in life. Obviously if you are a smoker or drinker (not things to be punished for in my view) you have a high risk for cancer or liver disease. This is not a punishment from god since he does not punish us, he lets us choose our own paths, nor is it Karma. Its just the negative effect from the choices you made. If you end up in a horrible accident, it was your choice to get into the car. Our choices and physical body are what determins how long we are on this earth before moving on to our afterlife. I do not believe in reincarnation or the contacting of spirits through mediums, siances or anything like that. I believe spirits exist but not here on physical earth with us. I dont believe we are able to communicate with them from here. I dont believe in healing through meditation or alternative medicine. I believe god gave us the free will to learn and create all we have in this world. He just hopes we use it for a good purpose, rather than one intended with evil. Such as medication and other medical advances. We are to take advantage of them and take the best care of our phsysical body as possible. Meditation could be helpful for otherthings to feel at peace with yourself and free yourself from the negative around you. You could use it as a way to clear your head and talk to the spirit who is part of everything around us but isnt the only way to talk to him. Prayer or whatever you want to do to feel connected to the higher power will be noticed by him but probably more just so you can feel connected to the spirtiual world that lays aheadl rather than requesting specific things and expecting answers. I do believe he looks after us and trys to guide us to the right desicions to keep us on the right path but there is ulitmitally nothing he can do to change the paths we choose. I also believe at the end of our lives it will not matter what religion you believed in once again as long as your intentions were pure rather than evil. the higher power will not care what you called him or what you classified yourself as religiously. I do believe he and those in eternal happiness are a bit dissapointed about war and hate over religion though. That is the exact opposite of the personal happiness we are all supposed to find for ourselves and help instill in everyone around us. Everyone on this earth is connected through the divine spirit. I dont neccessarily believe in Jesus is a physical person who came to earth but as a symbol as the rest of the bible. I dont believe it all to be taken word for word by anymeans. I believe it is the writings of someone very intouch with there spiritual self to help to guide us. I think the higher power wants us all to just be concerned with loving your neighbor and helping him and spreading as much joy, knowledge and any positive you have to offer. He will not punish based on who you pray to, once again as long as your intentions our pure, rather than evil.
I know this is a lot and you probably wont agree with much of it as we all have different views. All I am asking for is someone to please help me figure out where these thoughts of mine are coming from and where I can find information to follow up on them or what domination or religion of people I can relate to and find common beliefs with. I am very open to any suggestions or thoughts that you have to help guide me. Thank you all for your time and any help you have given.
