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Have you ever converted from one religion/belief to another, and if so, why?
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BruceDLimber
Well-Known Member
>Have you ever converted from one religion/belief to another, and if so, why?
Greetings!
I was originally a mainstream Christian, and became a Baha'i.
Why?
The short answer is, great good fortune!
This was the result of extensive reading, prayer, research, investigation, and observation.
And this decision has since been reinforced by over 34 1/2 years as a Baha'i, during which I have NOT ONCE had any reason to regret it!
Plus, of course, as a Baha'i I very much remain a Christian in that every Baha'i world wide accepts both Christ and the Bible! . . .
Best,
Bruce
Greetings!
I was originally a mainstream Christian, and became a Baha'i.
Why?
The short answer is, great good fortune!
This was the result of extensive reading, prayer, research, investigation, and observation.
And this decision has since been reinforced by over 34 1/2 years as a Baha'i, during which I have NOT ONCE had any reason to regret it!
Plus, of course, as a Baha'i I very much remain a Christian in that every Baha'i world wide accepts both Christ and the Bible! . . .
Best,
Bruce
MaddLlama
Obstructor of justice
I have converted, and more than once. Without going into details, I spent a good 5 years flip-flopping because someone convinced me that religion would cure my depression. Apparently I was not only dumb enough to believe said person, but so dumb that I believed her for 5 long and horribly confusing years until finally coming to my senses and declaring my atheism (actually, very recently).
It's a really long story, and I should probably write about it one day.
It's a really long story, and I should probably write about it one day.
MaddLlama
Obstructor of justice
Generally, yes. However the term Pagan encompasses a very wide spectrum of beliefs, and technically even though I don't believe that any sort of God exists I still fall within it.tlcmel said:I didn't think Pagen's were athiests, just curious...I thought they did believe in some divne being or beings.
http://www.religiousforums.com/forum/showthread.php?t=33809 should explain it more in-depth. =)
Shadow Wolf
Certified People sTabber & Business Owner
I was born and raised a Baptist. Baptised, born again, saved, going to heaven, and enjoyed many after service lunches in the churches basment. (I've heard from several Baptist Pastors that you can't be Baptist if you don't like to eat.)
After living through many hardships, studies, and other faith-shaking events, I began to question not only what the Pastor said, but the Bible itself. When I was 16, I did something I swore I never would do, and never dreamed of. I quit calling myself a Christian, and stoped having anything to do with the Bible. For about a year, I searched for a religion that seemed right. A book about Druidism seemed to almost literally jump out at me. I looked at that, Wicca, Shamanism, and others before turning back to Druidism, and eventually I found myself combining Nocturnalism, which gave me a since of peace I've never known, with Druidism, which has many believes I strongly agree with.
After living through many hardships, studies, and other faith-shaking events, I began to question not only what the Pastor said, but the Bible itself. When I was 16, I did something I swore I never would do, and never dreamed of. I quit calling myself a Christian, and stoped having anything to do with the Bible. For about a year, I searched for a religion that seemed right. A book about Druidism seemed to almost literally jump out at me. I looked at that, Wicca, Shamanism, and others before turning back to Druidism, and eventually I found myself combining Nocturnalism, which gave me a since of peace I've never known, with Druidism, which has many believes I strongly agree with.
Booko
Deviled Hen
Snowbear said:Hehehe! It seems so many members of the anti-God crowd try to use science to discredit those who believe in a Creator. It had (has) the opposite effect on me
When I was atheist, science didn't cause me to try and discredit the idea of a Creator.
As a theist, science can be very awe-inspiring. Since I already believe in a Creator, it just evokes a certain feeling of thankfulness along with the usual wonder.
Booko
Deviled Hen
Snowbear said:
No, the Baha'i Faith is it's own thing, but you can't really be a Baha'i unless you believe in Jesus.
Think of it this way: Can you be a Christian and not believe in Moses? But that belief in Moses doesn't make you a Jew...
It's the same kind of parallel.
Urm, but if go on any further with this, we're off topic.
Feel free to pop into the Baha'i area or start another thread in this one.
Doktormartini
å°è
Question time: If you were born a Catholic and now are an Atheist (me) is that considered converting to Atheism, or just dropping religion?
Thank you.
Thank you.
I don't mean to be a party crasher or a jerk but from the perspective of not believing anything at all. It seems that by agreeing and supporting each others contradicting beliefs, we are ignoring alot of truth. I understand "agreeing to disagree". But it seems like this blog is ignoring the contradictions between all of our religions. If we want to get to the core of truth (which i believe there is one) we need to recognize our contradictions and different beliefs and earnestly pray and seek what the truth is. By saying we all agree is just saying that we don't want to look into to it or maybe searching became too confusing or difficult. I know how hard it is and confusing it seems to be when looking at all these religions; you want to just say that all of them are their own paths and just leave it at that. But it makes things alot easier when you take a step back and look at is simply. The feel good attitude of believing we are all on our own paths i don't think necessarily works because everything in this world shows us different. These are only my opinions so you can take them with a grain of salt but i greatly care about averyone and i wish that everyone finds truth. I would just like to say one final thing. Don't give up in your search. Before you make the decision of "everyway is correct", make sure you earnestly pray and seek and ask God for help in your decision and you must do it humbly knowing that you are not perfect. Pride is a central problem that misguides us and misdirects us. Sorry if i angered anyone, i was not trying to, it was just a little blurb.
ayani
member
Doktormartini said:
that's an excellent question... i guess you could see it either way, but from what i hear on this thread alot of people's takes seem to be the former.
i was raised lutheran and attended roman catholic mass with my grandparents when i stayed with them. i loved the lutheran hymns and enjoyed the beauty of the catholic church's interior.
i've "been" buddhist, quaker, and a fringe catholic.
all of these traditions still hold a place in my heart, and the path i now strive to live by has, i feel, been influenced by the noble truths i've felt present in all of them.I have been just about everything. I was born into a non-denominational christian household. You know, one of those families that says that they are christians but never talks about religion or goes to church. Well when I was about 13 I decided to go to church with a friend. It was a babtist church. I went there for awhile and then one day the Pastor and my friend pulled me into the pastors office and started asking me questions on what I believed after about 30 mins the pastor said "well you meet the requirements do you want to convert now or at church next week." Well I guess I should clerify I said I went to church with him but in fact all I did was go to the Sunday night class that most of the girls I went to school went to. So, the pastor and my friend trying to convert me really scared me and I stopped going because I wasn't sure what my beliefs were. So I just didn't go to church for awhile. The whole time I always believed in a higher power I just didn't have a religious affiliation. Then I met my wife and she is a Roman Catholic. After dating for a few months she invited me to go to church with her, and I really liked it. I attended her church for around 6 or 7 months and was really happy because I felt like I found a religion where I belonged. Then I went to a different Catholic church than our usual one. And realized it was just the very charismatic teaching of that particulor priest and not the actual religion that I liked. So I began searching again. Thats when I joined the Navy. My first deployment with the navy was in Bahrain in the middle east. Thats where I was really introduced to Islam. Some of their beliefs really interested me, so when I got back from deployment I read up on it and read the quaran. I almost converted because I really started to believe that Muhammed was a prophet, which I still do. Then for some reason I just stopped going to the Mosque and started searching again. Only about a few months ago while looking into the history of Shia islam I read about the Bab. Then I learned about Bahai. Since then I have been very interested in Bahai because even though I have viewed my self as many different relifgions in my life, none of them have perfectly matched my own personal beliefs in god. Bahai comes very close. So right now I'm still researching and studying bahai.
Sorry that was so long I didn't realize I had typed that much until I was done
Sorry that was so long I didn't realize I had typed that much until I was done
Snowbear said:
yes I have read the bible, and I've read the quaran, I am not searching for god, because I already feel like I have a good relationship with him in my heart. What I'm searching for is a way to express that love and worship of god externaly in the form of religion with other people who share my beliefs. But so far all the religions I've looked at havn't been close enough to my beliefs for me to feel comfortable enough.