How to search for truth when there are *so many* belief systems

[ThePainefulTruth]

Hi all!

So glad we have this forum where I could ask this.

I was raised religious, but came to realize in adolescence that other children are raised in other faiths / belief systems , and the fact that I was handed down my tradition doesn't automatically mean it's true.

So I want to know which religion / belief system / world-view is true, if any. My natural instinct is to look into the various belief systems in the world. But Wikipedia tells me there are more than 4,000 religions in the world! And I'm guessing that doesn't necessarily include the non-theistic belief systems.

Just to clarify what I mean by "true"... I think that all world-views have truth in them - eg all religions properly practiced can give a person peace and harmony with others and happiness. But which one or ones, if any, are historically and ontologically correct. Which one is not just a bunch of myths, but is historically factual, and which one(s)' portrayal of reality is commensurate with the way reality really is?

To go through the more than 4000 systems seems very daunting, and yet, how else?

So my question is - how to approach all this, and how to proceed?

(and if ultimately the truth is inaccessible to me, I'd like to at least get the best understanding of reality that I can).

Thanks!

I was frustrated by the pantheon of religions, including the Christianity I was raised in, seeing all the hypocrisy and reliance on blind faith that permeates all of them. So after wandering in the wilderness, so-to-speak, for decades, I determined that all revealed religions (which is essentially all of them) relied completely on hearsay...and ancient hearsay at that. So I finally determined to worship Truth and equate that with God. (I thought it was original, but I learned Gandhi beat me to the punch before I was born.) I developed a pretty reasonable theory for Truth where it has four aspects (knowledge, justice, love and beauty--moving from pure objective into pure subjective).

Anyway, I think there are only two reasonable positions on the existence of God, atheism and laissez-faire deism. The only difference between the two from our perspective in this life, is in the hope the latter offers for a possible hereafter; and that's the belief I adhere to.

But, the many religions ask, what about morality? What about it? Are we supposed to believe the ones that made up all those other stories and myths, when they tell us what is moral? The moral codes of most religions is a huge panoply of non-immoral behavior that the religions use for control of their flocks. But most of them do have, at the bottom of that pile of moral dogma, a version of the Golden Rule. Assuming only a near universal desire for good order, I came up with a version that's rationally deductible from that assumption: Universal, objective morality is honoring the EQUAL rights of ALL to life, liberty, property and self-defense to be free from violation through force or fraud. That's it! All other codes of behavior are individually determined. I call them virtues, which are subject to social pressure, but should never be legislated. And from this, it becomes obvious that there is only one source of immorality/evil--not money, or power or fame etc., which many people handle with honor, but a moral/legal double standard.

....EQUAL rights of ALL....

 

[ronandcarol]

How to search for truth when there are *so many* belief systems
Wow, where to start. There has to be someone or some thing in every 'religion' that is worshiped. So I guess you would have to decide who you believe in, who do you want to follow; is it Buddha, is it the Sun god, is it Jim Jones, is it Allah, or maybe it is Christianity, Jesus Christ. I read something once that helped me make up my mind who I would believe in and follow. If you went and looked in the tombs of all those other religions founders, you would find their bones, they are all dead and gone. If you went to look in the tomb where Jesus was buried, you wouldn't find anything because He rose from the dead and He is coming back for all of His followers. Only His followers will find eternal life, so that is who I have chosen to follow.

ronandcarol

 

[ThePainefulTruth]

How to search for truth when there are *so many* belief systems
Wow, where to start. There has to be someone or some thing in every 'religion' that is worshiped. So I guess you would have to decide who you believe in, who do you want to follow; is it Buddha, is it the Sun god, is it Jim Jones, is it Allah, or maybe it is Christianity, Jesus Christ. I read something once that helped me make up my mind who I would believe in and follow. If you went and looked in the tombs of all those other religions founders, you would find their bones, they are all dead and gone. If you went to look in the tomb where Jesus was buried, you wouldn't find anything because He rose from the dead and He is coming back for all of His followers. Only His followers will find eternal life, so that is who I have chosen to follow.

ronandcarol

The something we should all worship is Truth. There is no higher ideal, it is the one God.

And it's 99% certain that Jesus' bones were found in a bone box (ossuary) in this family tomb on the outskirts of Jerusalem (Talpiot), a few yards away from the likely family tomb of Joseph of Arimathea.

Jews then and now don't believe in bodily resurrection--that, along with ritual, symbolic cannibalism, which would be blasphemy to any Jew, were pagan beliefs that Paul melded into Christianity in order to find acceptance with Gentiles.

 

[psychoslice]

Study all of them and only take what you need.

 

[ThePainefulTruth]

Study all of them and only take what you need.

That sounds muchly like an empty platitude, but it's much more simple than you imply. If you come across one lie, contradiction or unfounded assertion in a religion/philosophy supposedly based on infallible divine revelation, you can dismiss that religion/philosophy in toto. Next thing you know your down to two--agnostic atheism & agnostic deism. If you find your way beyond those, lemme know.

“You have your way. I have my way. As for the right way, the correct way, and the only way, it does not exist.” ~Friedrich Nietzsche

Then objective Truth doesn't exist and all is chaos--but that isn't what I see. In fact, I couldn't exist or perceive if all was chaos.

 

[McBell]

Then objective Truth doesn't exist and all is chaos--but that isn't what I see. In fact, I couldn't exist or perceive if all was chaos.

Please be so kind as to reveal an objective religious truth.

 

[Ouroboros]

...
So I want to know which religion / belief system / world-view is true, if any.
...
Just to clarify what I mean by "true"... I think that all world-views have truth in them - eg all religions properly practiced can give a person peace and harmony with others and happiness. But which one or ones, if any, are historically and ontologically correct. Which one is not just a bunch of myths, but is historically factual, and which one(s)' portrayal of reality is commensurate with the way reality really is?
...

Just as all religions contain some truths, my opinion is that no religion contains ALL truths. It's impossible that one could. The best is to not take any religion too serious. They work as guides, or street signs, but don't mistake a street sign for the real thing. A sign warns about deers crossing the road, but the picture of the deer on the sign isn't a deer in itself. The same way, a religion can help you on your way to see the world in a clearer way, but when the religion becomes the "Truth(tm)" in itself to someone, then I think it has failed its purpose.

 

[ThePainefulTruth]

Please be so kind as to reveal an objective religious truth.

I don't see how my quote led to that question, but I'll answer it anyway. All the objective evidence we have within the universe indicates that it had a beginning--but there's a complete absence of evidence as to how it began, which further begs the question, is there a Why?

 

[ThePainefulTruth]

Just as all religions contain some truths, my opinion is that no religion contains ALL truths. It's impossible that one could. The best is to not take any religion too serious. They work as guides, or street signs, but don't mistake a street sign for the real thing. A sign warns about deers crossing the road, but the picture of the deer on the sign isn't a deer in itself. The same way, a religion can help you on your way to see the world in a clearer way, but when the religion becomes the "Truth(tm)" in itself to someone, then I think it has failed its purpose.

Please note my response #85.

 

[Ouroboros]

Please note my response #85.

I don't agree that you can or should dismiss a religion in toto because of a single lie/falsehood/mistake/untruth. You take what's useful from a religion and dismiss what's not. Make your own religion, essentially.

But I do agree that there's no simple absolute truth that we ever can find. We're limited and finite human beings, and the universe, and whatever was before and whatever comes after, is beyond the chances of ever completely understand.

 

[Satans_Serrated_Edge]

Hi all!

So glad we have this forum where I could ask this.

I was raised religious, but came to realize in adolescence that other children are raised in other faiths / belief systems , and the fact that I was handed down my tradition doesn't automatically mean it's true.

So I want to know which religion / belief system / world-view is true, if any. My natural instinct is to look into the various belief systems in the world. But Wikipedia tells me there are more than 4,000 religions in the world! And I'm guessing that doesn't necessarily include the non-theistic belief systems.

Just to clarify what I mean by "true"... I think that all world-views have truth in them - eg all religions properly practiced can give a person peace and harmony with others and happiness. But which one or ones, if any, are historically and ontologically correct. Which one is not just a bunch of myths, but is historically factual, and which one(s)' portrayal of reality is commensurate with the way reality really is?

To go through the more than 4000 systems seems very daunting, and yet, how else?

So my question is - how to approach all this, and how to proceed?

(and if ultimately the truth is inaccessible to me, I'd like to at least get the best understanding of reality that I can).

Thanks!

Disregard them all and educate yourself in how to think critically. Contrary to popular belief this is harder than it sounds.

If you do delve into religious studies, keep it academic.

Profit.

 

[McBell]

I don't see how my quote led to that question, but I'll answer it anyway. All the objective evidence we have within the universe indicates that it had a beginning--but there's a complete absence of evidence as to how it began, which further begs the question, is there a Why?

what is the "objective religious truth" you were going to reveal?

 

[ThePainefulTruth]

I don't agree that you can or should dismiss a religion in toto because of a single lie/falsehood/mistake/untruth. You take what's useful from a religion and dismiss what's not. Make your own religion, essentially.

Yes, Truth can seep in sometimes no matter how hard some groups try to keep it out. But I'm talking about divine religious authority. One lie puts the lie to it all forever.

 

[Super Universe]

Hi all!

So glad we have this forum where I could ask this.

I was raised religious, but came to realize in adolescence that other children are raised in other faiths / belief systems , and the fact that I was handed down my tradition doesn't automatically mean it's true.

So I want to know which religion / belief system / world-view is true, if any. My natural instinct is to look into the various belief systems in the world. But Wikipedia tells me there are more than 4,000 religions in the world! And I'm guessing that doesn't necessarily include the non-theistic belief systems.

Just to clarify what I mean by "true"... I think that all world-views have truth in them - eg all religions properly practiced can give a person peace and harmony with others and happiness. But which one or ones, if any, are historically and ontologically correct. Which one is not just a bunch of myths, but is historically factual, and which one(s)' portrayal of reality is commensurate with the way reality really is?

To go through the more than 4000 systems seems very daunting, and yet, how else?

So my question is - how to approach all this, and how to proceed?

(and if ultimately the truth is inaccessible to me, I'd like to at least get the best understanding of reality that I can).

Thanks!

Which religion is true? Think of a book, a very large book with an almost infinite number of pages. This book is the Book of Life and in it is everything. If you took one human religion and compared what it knows to this book it would only be a single page. If you took another religion and compared it you would find perhaps another sentence or two in the Book of Life. All of the worlds religions together would be two pages of the book. If you add in all scientific knowledge you would have five pages.

Think of a galaxy 13 billion light years away from you. As you stand on the earth the earth rotates. Lets say that at some point you are closer to that galaxy than any other person on the planet. Would you then be justified in thinking that you are better than anyone else?

What we know about God is ever evolving. We won't have a true and complete understanding of God for another 1,000 years.

 

[Acim]

Just to clarify what I mean by "true"... I think that all world-views have truth in them - eg all religions properly practiced can give a person peace and harmony with others and happiness. But which one or ones, if any, are historically and ontologically correct. Which one is not just a bunch of myths, but is historically factual, and which one(s)' portrayal of reality is commensurate with the way reality really is?

To go through the more than 4000 systems seems very daunting, and yet, how else?

So my question is - how to approach all this, and how to proceed?

(and if ultimately the truth is inaccessible to me, I'd like to at least get the best understanding of reality that I can).

Thanks!

I doubt any version of history is correct/accurate. Like I highly doubt this. Be that science, religion or other. I don't see how that would lead to anything other than 'a bunch of myths.'

Ontologically correct is more a matter of philosophy and probably spirituality. If truly that is a chief concern, I'd suggest remaining unaffiliated with any religion in particular until that is determined to be true and accurate for you. Or if you currently have ideas of ontologically correct beliefs, please share.

In my spiritual understandings the truth is accessible within you, and is something you likely apply daily. Likely you already have a plateau of truth that works for you, and how I interpret your question is desire to seek a higher plateau. Because I do understand truth to be within, I think the higher understandings will come to you, and you don't really need to be on some (endless) search for it. With that said, the daunting task of reviewing 4000+ belief systems is readily available in the information age. This site's DIR can help with any questions you may have for a particular set of believers.

 

[ThePainefulTruth]

The religion that's true is the religion that makes Truth its God, wherever that Truth might lead.

 

[McBell]

The religion that's true is the religion that makes Truth its God, wherever that Truth might lead.

Please explain how that would be a "religion" as opposed to a "philosophy".

 

[ThePainefulTruth]

Please explain how that would be a "religion" as opposed to a "philosophy".

A religion is nothing but an organization with a codified philosophy. No, there hasn't been a rational religion yet with a theology/atheology that isn't based on blind faith, but that doesn't mean there can't be one.

 

[McBell]

A religion is nothing but an organization with a codified philosophy. No, there hasn't been a rational religion yet with a theology/atheology that isn't based on blind faith, but that doesn't mean there can't be one.

Organization?
Does that not imply "group"?
so in your opinion one must be a member of a group with a codified philosophy?
Does one need agree with said philosophy?

Needless to say, i disagree with your personal definition of the word "religion".

 

[nick notes]

The Biggest Decision of Your Life.

Have you chosen the right church? The true Church? The true religion?

They say there are about seven billion people in the world; but only about one billion people who identify themselves as Christians. Have the Moslems, Buddhists, Hindus, and other non-Christians chosen the wrong church damning themselves for all eternity?

But even among Christians, some are Catholic, and some are Protestant. Which group is saved and which is damned? Some might argue that Jesus chose the Catholic Church as his church.
“I also say to you that you are Peter, and upon this rock I will build My church; and the gates of Hades will not overpower it.” Matthew 16:18
But Protestants argue that the Roman Catholic Church is corrupt and Protestantism is the “right way.”

Jesus gave us some clues that only a few would find it.
““Enter through the narrow gate; for the gate is wide and the way is broad that leads to destruction, and there are many who enter through it. For the gate is small and the way is narrow that leads to life, and there are few who find it.”” Matthew 7:13-14

There are literally thousands of Christian denominations, sects, cults, etc.
Is yours the winner or is yours among the myriad of losers?

Does the right church believe in a Trinity? Or not? Which one is right?
Trinitarians are more numerous. Are they on the broad way?

Does your church observe the Sunday Sabbath or the Seventh Day Sabbath?
Sunday is more popular…is this the broad way to destruction?

Does your church have infant baptism or adult baptism? Immersion or Sprinkle?

Does your church accept gays or not? Gay pastors? Gay marriage?

Are you rich? Maybe you are poor by US standards but rich by world standards?
“Again I say to you, it is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle, than for a rich man to enter the kingdom of God.” Matthew 19:24

If you choose the wrong Church are you damned?
Is it possible you have chosen the wrong church?