how did you come to believe or follow a religion?

[susiesnooz]

Hello peeps

my name is susie and i'm a photography student. I am currently working on a project about religion. more specifically how did oneself become to believe in god/ follow a religion. was it through an experience or an event. I wanted to hear stories or experiences off people who were non-believers at first and then came to believe. or even who were believers but became non-believers anf the reason why.

this came about when my dad died a few years ago. my mum turned to buddhism to help her cope and become at peace with it and she was a non-believer before.

I myself am a non-believer but have an interest on this subject but would love to hear them.

@mods i'm not sure if this was the right section to discuss this matter, so if its in the wrong section please move. thank you

 

[A-ManESL]

You may find this thread relevant.

Regards

 

[Penumbra]

or even who were believers but became non-believers anf the reason why.

I transitioned from a believer to a thinker when I decided to examine my own beliefs. At the time, it was an attempt to learn more about my religion and other religions, so I could become closer to god.

Becoming more knowledgeable about religion led me to atheism.

 

[EverChanging]

My journey is rather complicated. I was indoctrinated into a cult as a young child, not by my parents, though they allowed it to happen. I finally got away from it as a young teenager, around 14 years old. I maintained a kind of New Age spirituality for a while and eventually transitioned into agnostic-atheism by thinking and studying. By some definitions, I am still an atheist.

Over time, when I had healed sufficiently -- which took several years -- I re-explored Christianity from a more scholarly perspective, as well as other religions. I've been introduced to neo-paganism from friends and have had the privilege of celebrating the sabbats with them and learning.

I now have respect for my Christian roots, but I'm more of a Marcus Borg type Christian. I also love Karen Armstrong and have respect for Spong. I've been very influenced by Buddhism and my personal consciousness studies, which color the way I see Christianity and everything else.

I don't approach religion and religious rituals as a statement of facts, but as mythology, metaphor, and archetypes. (I use the word "archetype" in a loose sense, not exactly as Jung defined it.) I don't believe in magic, the supernatural, spirits, or an afterlife. I don't believe in God as a being or literal creator. However, I've found re-connecting with Christianity -- and other religions -- helpful to me. Meditation and various forms of prayer and ritual are a part of my spiritual practice and help me stay balanced and peaceful.

I've also been influenced by a number of (often) spontaneous experiences that could be described as spiritual or mystical. I don't interpret these in a supernatural way, but rather than brushing them under the rug like many skeptics do, I value them for what they have taught me. It is hard for me to believe anyone could have such a deeply moving experience and simply dismiss it afterward. Still, I do believe these experiences have a physical basis; aspects of mystical/spiritual experiences can be replicated in the lab, although I'm not sure such powerful experiences can be completely reproduced that way. The new field of neurotheology is exploring the scientific evidence for the physical basis of these types of experiences.

 

[Wombat]

I wanted to hear stories or experiences off people who were non-believers at first and then came to believe. or even who were believers but became non-believers anf the reason why.

Hi Susie!
I'm Rod in Oz.

I was 'Confirmed' in the Church of England...but it didn't mean much to me or the family. Real religion was Left Wing politics and Social Justice. I remained
intellectually curious about but personaly indifferent to religion untill my late twenties. It was about then that I was confronted with the realization of just how much work/care the various religions and denominations do in the community. As a Welfare Worker dealing with psych disabled adolescents I realized that the State (even with all its funds and good intentions) could not provide all the care and support that was required. It's not just a matter of meeting peoples material needs- food, clothing and shelter...the Churches provide community and surrogate family for old, young, disabled and lonely.
This, sense of community/belonging, is something I have never seen the Government provide for any group.
It was this that sparked my rewnewed look at religion. I re read the Bible and joined in fellowship with Christians, I investigated Hindu, Buddhist and Islamic teachings and found a great deal of common ground to draw on from each.
Eventually I came across the Baha'i faith and, being an artist as well, was instantly attracted by this-

The Baha'i Temple Sydney.


On further investigation I found my core principles and beliefs already matched those of the Baha'i...but...I still had a hang up about organized religion and the supposed 'authority' of priests/bishops etc. So....I went along to my second meeting with the Baha'is (who claim no priethood) determined to spot 'The Grand Poobah'/the guy in charge. I spent the whole evening watching the 30+ people for some indication of who 'the boss' was...eventually someone mentioned that each Baha'i community elected a 'Chairperson'...

Ah huh! "Who is the Chairperson in this community"?

They indicated an elderly Iranian gentleman who (was not in a seat of honor pontificating ) but rather quietly serving tea and biscuits to others.

Further reading/investigation swayed me...but his humility won me.
I joined the Baha'is and remained in the community for thirty years. I have since left the community (another story;-) but remain a Baha'i.

I hope this helps your investigation in some small way.
All the best and hapy hunting ;-)
Rod.

 

[Thesavorofpan]

I think I was bored and wanted to get out of the house. Yes thats pretty much it.

 

[BruceDLimber]

Greetings!

I'm a member of the Baha'i Faith.

As to how I became a Baha'i, the short answer is: Great good fortune!

The longer answer:

As the direct result of extensive reading, prayer, study, investigation, research, observation, and evaluation.

Since coupled with over 39 years' experience as a Baha'i during which I have NOT ONCE found any reason to regret this decision!

Peace,

Bruce

 

[ChristineES]

I became a theist before I became a Christian. I was raised with no religion, so it was a strange journey. I went through various ideas of God- such as reincarnation, Deism (I didn't know what it was called back then, but I realize now that is what I thought of). I suppose the only thing you could call me is an agnostic, I guess, but I had no real thoughts about God. Since my mother was an atheist in my early years, she made fun of Christian preachers (mostly) and told me that she believed that Jesus was "just a good man". Until I was a teenager, I had no reason to question her (my father wasn't a part of my life, and he was raised catholic and my stepfather was raised as a Buddhist).
I finally read the New Testament at age 17 and I felt moved; a couple of months later we started going to a Baptist Church.

I never talked of religion with my family as a child, so I had to go it alone. I am not much of a talker anyway. My family became Christians, too, even my stepfather (he is Japanese descent).

 

[susiesnooz]

thanks for your comments.. its been interesting reading your comments and will help with my research

keep them coming..lol

xx

 

[arthra]

Well I suppose since Bruce and Rod have supplied their stories I will offer mine..

I was raised in Christianity ..especially the Baptist Church (Northern Baptist) and also Episcopalian.. Believe in God and was baptized at twelve years .. later began to test what the minister said and began exploring religions.. Read the Gita and met Swami Prabhavananda of the Ramakrishna Order..staid in an Ashram for awhile.. left the Ashram and studied Theravada Buddhism.. Took the vows.. Radicalised in the sixties I demonstrated for civil rights and the peace movement.

Began studying the Baha'i faith and found it incorporated the needed social teachings for the age as well as recognizing the past Manifestations of God Zarathustra, Krishna, Buddha, Christ and Muhammad, the Bab and Baha'u'llah.. so declared my faith in 1965.

 

[ellenjanuary]

I was happily agnostic until "the creator of the universe" showed up on the jobsite with the line, "I have need of a prophet..."

Five years of research later, coupled with my "Gwynnie thing," has left me to write a book tentatively entitled "Number Made Flesh;" having itself three components: Mathematical theology - charts, diagrams, graphs, geometry, and artwork. Quaternion, a synthetic religious substitute based upon my life's journey; and how I have used the tools of MT to personally understand a god beyond understanding. I separate those two parts because the toolset is already better than the words I use to describe it.

The third part... well, it's a bunch of religious nonsense based on my Gwynnie thing - my absurd, never-ending infatuation with Gwyneth Paltrow. I'd lose the third part, but the examples she helps illustrate - and I have gotten this far through using the scientific method - are worthy of retention. Besides, I do not seek to disregard anything that exists in the world - ignoring religious nonsense by creating more religious nonsense is just nonsense.

 

[Levite]

Well, I was raised Orthodox (Jewish), but in my early teens, I stopped practicing, and became either an agnostic or an atheist (depending on what day you talked to me). I had read a lot of science, and a lot of Nietzche and Sartre and suchlike, and my experience of Orthodox education was very very unpleasant....

During college, I studied a lot of different religions, a lot of different mythologies, and a whole lot of systems of mysticism and magic. I had some experiences with the supernatural at that time, along with my best friend, who was a formerly secular Jew, then a Buddhist in practice. Finally, toward the end of college, I had a moment of revelation, where I experienced the presence of God.

I still felt strongly that I could not go back to being Orthodox, but I realized that if God did exist, and if I wanted to live a good life, it was going to be much harder without a structure of ethics and a mythopoeic worldview. I started looking around at different religions, and how their societies functioned, and how I felt about their texts and myths, and which of them seemed capable of being a sustainable, living, evolving system of theology and morality, without elements that were irretrievably hampering the system when it came to both preservation of traditional wisdom and capability of interacting and functioning in the modern world.

I came to the conclusion at that time that the system that seemed most capable of sustaining such a balance and such a potentially evolving living tradition was Judaism; and the aesthetic of theology, practice, and values were as congenial to me, if not more so, than any other religious culture I studied. But I felt that these things were to be found not in "traditional" Orthodoxy, but rather, in Modern Orthodoxy or Conservative Judaism. I did some studying, and came to the conclusion that it was Conservative Judaism that seemed to best fit the parameters that I was demanding, even if very imperfectly. So I began to practice and observe again, this time going to Conservative synagogues, even if not always identifying as a Conservative Jew.

Eventually, I became a Conservative rabbi, though I still don't necessarily consider myself a Conservative Jew per se-- just a committed, observant, and practicing Jew....

(My college friend who became a Buddhist also eventually returned to Jewish practice, and he is now studying for Modern Orthodox rabbinical ordination....)

 

[EverChanging]

I still felt strongly that I could not go back to being Orthodox, but I realized that if God did exist, and if I wanted to live a good life, it was going to be much harder without a structure of ethics and a mythopoeic worldview. I started looking around at different religions, and how their societies functioned, and how I felt about their texts and myths, and which of them seemed capable of being a sustainable, living, evolving system of theology and morality, without elements that were irretrievably hampering the system when it came to both preservation of traditional wisdom and capability of interacting and functioning in the modern world.

I find this a very insightful description of what healthy religion is supposed to do. Thank you.

 

[dogsgod]

My mother told me about God when I was 4, prior to that I was a non-believer. After a few decades I am once again a non-believer. Reason extinguished my religious beliefs.

 

[St Giordano Bruno]

I was taught by very orthodox Catholic Mercy nuns and they fuelled a fear of a dread of dying and burning in Hell. I just wished I was not a Catholic because I was told there was a nice place called Limbo for them. But the nuns kept telling us the Heaven was far better, but my neurological condition of autism made it impossible for me to hold my rage with frequent meltdowns and tantrums, so I believed I was a lost cause to be a candidate to heaven so I felt doomed to spend an eternity in hell when I died, and I lost count of all the sleepless nights my parents had for my screaming nightmares and night terrors about going to spend and eternity burning in Hell. Then about the time an earthquake hit Peru on May 31st 1970 I began to doubt the existence of an all merciful God. I felt who is really the bad guy, Satan or God? He tortures poor old "Satan" in Hellfire and punishes us Earthlings with earthquakes. Then after subsequent earthquakes famines and other so called acts of God it was pretty much all downhill from there as I rejected both of them. I even rejected the existence of a Hell as not more than an tool to frighten us from ever daring to deviate from our faith. And on that score it sure has the desired effect.

 

[dogsgod]

I was taught by very orthodox Catholic Mercy nuns and they fuelled a fear of a dread of dying and burning in Hell. I just wished I was not a Catholic because I was told there was a nice place called Limbo for them. But the nuns kept telling us the Heaven was far better, but my neurological condition of autism made it impossible for me to hold my rage with frequent meltdowns and tantrums, so I believed I was a lost cause to be a candidate to heaven so I felt doomed to spend an eternity in hell when I died, and I lost count of all the sleepless nights my parents had for my screaming nightmares and night terrors about going to spend and eternity burning in Hell. Then about the time an earthquake hit Peru on May 31st 1970 I began to doubt the existence of an all merciful God. I felt who is really the bad guy, Satan or God? He tortures poor old "Satan" in Hellfire and punishes us Earthlings with earthquakes. Then after subsequent earthquakes famines and other so called acts of God it was pretty much all downhill from there as I rejected both of them. I even rejected the existence of a Hell as not more than an tool to frighten us from ever daring to deviate from our faith. And on that score it sure has the desired effect.

Religion can be cruel and in your case it certainly was. Keep losing that sort of faith and you will be better off for it.

 

[Muffled]

Hello peeps

my name is susie and i'm a photography student. I am currently working on a project about religion. more specifically how did oneself become to believe in god/ follow a religion. was it through an experience or an event. I wanted to hear stories or experiences off people who were non-believers at first and then came to believe. or even who were believers but became non-believers anf the reason why.

this came about when my dad died a few years ago. my mum turned to buddhism to help her cope and become at peace with it and she was a non-believer before.

I myself am a non-believer but have an interest on this subject but would love to hear them.

@mods i'm not sure if this was the right section to discuss this matter, so if its in the wrong section please move. thank you

I think that most people are like me that tey believe what they are told and only start to question that when they start to think for themselves in the teen years.

I was brought up Baptist so my belief was in God. However either the teaching about Jesus wasn't there or it never got through to me. My parents took me to Sunday school but I never got to go to church except on Christmas and Easter. My first encounter with Jesus came when I was a teen and could attend church on my own. When communion was served, the ususal words were said "this is His body that was broken for you, this is His blood that was shed for you." In this I realized that Jesus loved me but I still didn't know who He was.

When things in my life started to go wrong I blamed God and questioned whether He was good. When I was tempted to commit a sin, I realized that I needed a savior and the only one I knew about was God. He saved me from the sin and resolved my question of whether He was good or not. I beleived at that point that God is good.

My next encounter with Jesus was when I was tormented by grotesque images when I went to sleep due to guilt brought on by watching the Exorcist. A song about the blood of Jesus washing away my sin eliminated the guilt and the tormenting spirit and I could see the saving grace of God in Jesus.

It has taken a while for many Christian beliefs to become real to me such as the divinity of Jesus and the reality of the Paraclete.

I suppose someone could ahve caracterized me as a deist in my early years because I had so little understanding of Jesus but I certainly carried the trappings of a Christain attending a Christian church. Even now I have had other Christians question my Christianity because I don't believe in the Doctrine of the Trinity. Then it boggles their mind because I call myself Trinitarian, beliving in the Trinity.

 

[Dezzie]

I'm kind of all over the place. When I was younger, I was baptized into the Mormon Church. I only did it for my family because it was what they wanted... Plus, I was only 13 at the time. I didn't know much of anything about Religion, nor did I really care for it then. I never really believed the things my church said. I believed in the possibility of a God but I wasn't certain. I quickly moved away from the Mormon Faith because I felt so out of place every time I went to church. I had piercings back then and I was always looked at like I needed to be saved or something. People looked at me like I was the Devil himself. The Church also ex-communicated my Mother because she got pregnant with me before she was married. She never went back to the Church. I didn't really agree with them ex-communicating her. It was extremely judgemental in my eyes.

Anywho... after that I jumped from Wicca, to Buddhism, to Unitarian, to what I am now... Someone that doesn't have the slightest clue. I still believe in the possibility in a God(s) but I don't know. There are a lot of questions that can not be answered. I just can't explain where God came from. Did God just appear out of thin air and create us? I just don't get it. I'm on the fence about everything because there is just no explaination. Things have gone so perfect in my life... every action seems to fit together with another. It seems like fate. Like a God is watching over me. But is God really there? Or is it my own physical energy that is making these things happen? I just don't know... :help:

Life is truely a mystery... none of us know the truth, and we may not know after death.

 

[lilmama1991]

my mom is a jehovah witness and my dad is a baptist but i was brought up and taught about jehovah witnesses, as i got older i have tried to get more closer to jehovah i love this religion and i know the teachings is right

 

[Engyo]

Hello peeps

my name is susie and i'm a photography student. I am currently working on a project about religion. more specifically how did oneself become to believe in god/ follow a religion. was it through an experience or an event. I wanted to hear stories or experiences off people who were non-believers at first and then came to believe. or even who were believers but became non-believers anf the reason why.

this came about when my dad died a few years ago. my mum turned to buddhism to help her cope and become at peace with it and she was a non-believer before.

I myself am a non-believer but have an interest on this subject but would love to hear them.

@mods i'm not sure if this was the right section to discuss this matter, so if its in the wrong section please move. thank you

Hi, Susie -

I decided to try practicing Buddhism after I learned that no belief is required, and that I could test the practice to see whether or not it worked. I did that, and 30 years later it still works.