Is choosing a religion like playing Roulette?

[psychoslice]

93.

Roulette? No. People should choose their symbols and rituals and such based on psychoanalytical introspection. They don't, but it would help people much more to have their beliefs tailored to fit them, their goals, their desires, etc rather than the other way around.

Yes I agree, and this is what true religion is, its a personal journey with your true inner being.

 

[Muffled]

Sort of, more so that it is really all a game than it is a gamble. Though each Casino wants you to think their particular roulette wheel is the one you should be playing at when it really doesn't matter at all. You don't really have anything to gamble away but your time and all that matters is you have fun despite what those heavily invested in the games want you to think.

I believe I have a religon that is like have a roulette wheel with one number on it. I believe everyone else is offering a gamble

 

[Muffled]

choose the right basics first then look for the religion which much more matches the mind and morals.

So an immoral person should find an immoral religion?

 

[Muffled]

Too bad I've seen too many people jumping between religions and not doing logical thinking and not having an approach in their search.

For example, I would say in order for a religion to be true, there must be something you can hand me so that I would test it. So I would say the right religion must have a book.

Another thing I believe in is that there is one and only one God.

So now I have something to start with. I know that there is one God and there must be something to prove that the religion is true.

Third, I believe that if I sincerely asked God to guide me and insisted on it by seeking the truth with open heart and mind I will find the right way.

Now I can start searching after coming up with these three points.

Edit: wow didn't notice the thread was that old

I beleive there's a thread for that.

 

[psychoslice]

For me personally I just don't play the game of Roulette with religion, just like playing the game with a loaded gun, you would have to be crazy.

 

[Desert Snake]

So, I guess my questions to the forum here are: How did you pick your religion and how do you know it's the right one?

Research.

 

[Muffled]

For me personally I just don't play the game of Roulette with religion, just like playing the game with a loaded gun, you would have to be crazy.

I believe for some it seems like biting into an apple and finding half a worm at the bitten area. Then the person generalizes that all apples are bad or just too risky to bite.

 

[McBell]

So an immoral person should find an immoral religion?

Interesting question.

now given that my experience has been the most immoral people are the ones claiming religion....

 

[Nakosis]

So an immoral person should find an immoral religion?

It would not be immoral to them since they decided it was the right thing to do.

 

[jtartar]

Sometimes I wonder. I was thinking about this while reading the thread "Your 'deal-breaker.' What is it and why?"

Even if I was to accept the basic concept that there is some sort of intelligent creator of the universe, it still leaves the question of which religion, if any, to choose. How do you know if you've picked the right one? Considering the hypothetical penalties for picking the wrong religion, it almost feels like playing Russian Roulette.

What if the time comes for me to meet my Maker, and I'm told "Well, Steve, you've lived a pretty decent life, except you were supposed to have sacrificed 25 goats and 50 chickens over the course of your lifetime. Since you didn't, well, too bad. Down you go!"

So, I guess my questions to the forum here are: How did you pick your religion and how do you know it's the right one?

Stevicus;
Really, the very worse thing you can do is to look for a religion that suits you!!
Since all men are sinners, you cannot rely on your own heart to choose what is right, Jere 17:9,10. Notice what Jeremiah recorded at Jere 10:23, it does not belong to man, who is walking, even to direct his step.
I believe the only way to find the one true religion is; first pray to Jehovah God, The Creator of heaven and earth, and all that is in them, Acts 17:24-28. The Bible says that we must prove to ourselves the good and acceptable, and the perfect will of God, Rom 12:2, and make sure of all things, and hold fast to what is fine, 1Thes 5:21. Only with the help of God's Holy Spirit will we be able to learn the truth of God' word, 1Cor 2:10.
God reads the heart, so everyone who wants to find God must be sincere, and must try, not only to understand His word, but also must DO the things learned, James 1:22. If you are truly searching for truth, God will work within you, both the will and to work.
From what I have seen, over fifty years of study, it seems to me that the best way to learn the truth of God's word, is to study by Topic. Pick a topic that you want to learn well, get a concordance, and look up every scripture that touches on the subject, analyze them, form a theory about what you have learned, check the theory, by looking at all the scriptures you have collected. If there is no scripture that contradicts your theory, you have the truth of that topic. Then you have a priceless gem that no one can take away from you, because you know the scriptures that prove your belief, just as the Bible says that all Christians should be able to do, 1Pet 3:15.
There are only three fields of learning that are called LEARNED Professions, Law, Medicine, and Religion. It takes many years to be proficient in either of these professions. By far the most important one is religion, because all who want to live must learn about the only true God, John 17:3.
NOW, as to finding the ONE TRUE RELIGION, Eph 4:4-6, it is not as easy as most people think. The reason fo this is our own expectations, which are the same reasons that the vast majority of the Jews, of the first century, did not recognize Jesus, as the Messiah, Christ.
Remember how Jesus was persecuted the entire 3 1/2 years of his ministery.
Jesus said that they would persecute his followers, just as they did him, John 15:18-20. Jesus even said that people would get so far from the truth that they would kill his followers, thinking the were doing a service to God, John 16:2,3.
Another thing to remember, God has had His word written different than any other book, so that the wise and intellectual ones cannot understand, but babes can, Luke 10:21.
There are many reasons for this recorded ai Matt 13:1-30. Other reasons for this is being wicked, as no wicked will understand, Dan 12:10. Consider 1Cor 1:26-30.
Several scriptures are really surprising to may people are, Luke 6:20-26. Contemplate these scriptures carefully, because it is the very ones that you would reject first that are the ones that God loves.
The Bible even says that ALL people will hate his people because they are no part of this world, Matt 10:22, 24:9. So it seem that you must look for the most unlikely group, after all who is hated by ALL people??? The true religion!!!

 

[Sir Doom]

Sometimes I wonder. I was thinking about this while reading the thread "Your 'deal-breaker.' What is it and why?"

Even if I was to accept the basic concept that there is some sort of intelligent creator of the universe, it still leaves the question of which religion, if any, to choose. How do you know if you've picked the right one? Considering the hypothetical penalties for picking the wrong religion, it almost feels like playing Russian Roulette.

There isn't a right one to pick, in my opinion. They are all 'right'.

What if the time comes for me to meet my Maker, and I'm told "Well, Steve, you've lived a pretty decent life, except you were supposed to have sacrificed 25 goats and 50 chickens over the course of your lifetime. Since you didn't, well, too bad. Down you go!"

In such an unlikely scenario, I feel very sorry for the deity in question. Its about to discover the limit of its power.

So, I guess my questions to the forum here are: How did you pick your religion and how do you know it's the right one?

I just believe what I believe. I don't think I'm wrong unless I'm given reason to think I'm wrong. I assume it works the same for everyone. I also assume this is how God intended us to approach it. I don't bother worrying about what-ifs. If God wants to smash my little soul for being a bad person he doesn't need any excuses to do so. As it stands... so far, so good.

 

[Monk Of Reason]

Sometimes I wonder. I was thinking about this while reading the thread "Your 'deal-breaker.' What is it and why?"

Even if I was to accept the basic concept that there is some sort of intelligent creator of the universe, it still leaves the question of which religion, if any, to choose. How do you know if you've picked the right one? Considering the hypothetical penalties for picking the wrong religion, it almost feels like playing Russian Roulette.

What if the time comes for me to meet my Maker, and I'm told "Well, Steve, you've lived a pretty decent life, except you were supposed to have sacrificed 25 goats and 50 chickens over the course of your lifetime. Since you didn't, well, too bad. Down you go!"

So, I guess my questions to the forum here are: How did you pick your religion and how do you know it's the right one?

Picking a religion is like playing Russian Roulette with a fully loaded gun.

 

[JayJayDee]

Sometimes I wonder. I was thinking about this while reading the thread "Your 'deal-breaker.' What is it and why?"

Even if I was to accept the basic concept that there is some sort of intelligent creator of the universe, it still leaves the question of which religion, if any, to choose. How do you know if you've picked the right one? Considering the hypothetical penalties for picking the wrong religion, it almost feels like playing Russian Roulette.

What if the time comes for me to meet my Maker, and I'm told "Well, Steve, you've lived a pretty decent life, except you were supposed to have sacrificed 25 goats and 50 chickens over the course of your lifetime. Since you didn't, well, too bad. Down you go!"

So, I guess my questions to the forum here are: How did you pick your religion and how do you know it's the right one?

I chose mine after checking out all the alternatives. I was born and raised in Christendom but was appalled at the divided state of the churches and their complete disregard for Christ's teachings in so many things.

I knew it had to be Christian.....but not part of Christendom, which I saw as a modern counterpart of Judaism as it was presented in Jesus' day. Full of the traditions of men but short on Biblical knowledge and application of its teachings if it didn't suit them.

I had a check list.

If a religion used idols, I ticked them off the list.

If they claimed to teach what Jesus did, yet their ranks were full of patriots who would shed blood for their country in spite of Jesus command to 'love our enemies', I ticked them off too. (1 John 4:20, 21)

If they claimed to be Christian yet taught things that were not in the Bible..."the trinity", "immortality of the human soul" or "a hell of eternal conscious torment", then I ticked them off as well.

If they preached one thing and did the opposite, that was hypocrisy. I knew that Jesus castigated the Pharisees for that very thing. I saw much hypocrisy in the church.

I was running out of options when the ones who filled the criteria actually came and found me. I was surprised that these people had the answers because I had been led to believe that they were a dangerous cult. They were no such thing. I imagine the followers of Jesus were accused of the same thing. (John 15:19, 20)

When I also discovered that they were the only ones carrying out the work that Jesus assigned to all Christians, (Matt 28:19, 20; 24:14) then I was convinced.

I also believe that it isn't we who choose God, but that he chooses us....and sends his son's disciples to invite them into his family.

"No man can come to me unless the Father, who sent me, draws him..." (John 6:44)

If God sees a sincere heart, not corrupted by false worship, but genuinely searching for the truth, he will draw that one to his son as part of his spiritual nation....his "people".

We cannot dictate the terms of our worship to God....it is we who must defer to the will of God by sacrificing our own will to Him. (Matt 7:21-23)

I have never regretted my decision.