Not sure where to go from here? (questioning my religion)

soma · Jun 3, 2017

Christianity is reverent and alive if one listens to the call from inside. The dull habit of preaching, giving sermons, patronizing, condemning or judging others as insufficient is the ego talking about Christ, not the religion of Christ. Descriptions about Jesus are not the spiritual ideas Jesus described. The experience of joy and the supernatural realization of Christ are not about sins, hell or Satan, but the glorious energy of the soul. A healer doesn’t rifle through the lives of others, but brings one from the outer personality to the inner-self arousing one from immaturity and prejudice to wholeness.

This solo mystical journey evolves from location to position, from view to vision onward towards total understanding. It is passed from mind to mind, a flame passed from candle to candle. There is nothing to buy, join or donate. A Christian vision beyond personality opens the eye to a new awareness, cultivating good qualities, internal clarity and introspection. It encourages one to believe the truth that is experienced and not necessarily to join. When one is tired of reading the menu, it is time for the inner spiritual meal to be experienced, a deeper reality beyond the normal worldly existence of guilt, pain and pleasure. Looking from the inside out the veil of ideological and religious conflict is parted giving clues to unity and wholeness.
Amazon.com: John J Kuykendall: Books, Biography, Blog, Audiobooks, Kindle

Vinayaka · Jun 3, 2017

One question from OP, hasn't signed on again since 5 minutes of posting the question ... best wishes to you if you do return. My advice? Don't listen to anyone's advice.

Rational Agnostic · Jun 3, 2017

Continue researching religions and various mythologies if that is what interests you, but more importantly I encourage you to study science and learn evidence-based truths about our universe and our origins. Ask yourself this: Who do you think is more knowledgeable about reality: ancient nomadic goat-herders, or modern scientists who have dedicated their lives to studying evidence provided by the natural universe?

Ponder This · Jun 3, 2017

Who will stand with you on the Day of Judgement?
Will you say, "I read this book and I read that book. And according to them, 'You are this and You are that', but I liked this book best."
Will you say, "Other people said I should do this and I should do that. How can you hold me accountable?"
Will you say, "I asked everyone, but I did not ask You."
Knowledge is good for the Mind.
Prayer is good for the Heart.
Emptiness is good for the Soul.

Murad · Jun 3, 2017

You said you believe in God, "and that's a good start" so my advise is, you can ask him directly.
Be alone and ask him honestly and sincerely to guide you to right path. He is the only one he can help you and I think he will never disappoint you.

Grandliseur · Jun 3, 2017

What are your problems?
The thing is that only in Christ as God's mediator do we have hope of life in Paradise under Christ's kingdom. There is no other religion that gives this. I do not belong to any church since all teach erroneous dogma, and I adhere to Sola Scriptura. There exist a great deal of evidence (for believers) to show the Bible true. As we are told, search to find it.

I know my Bible intimately. Should you have specific things you want to ask about, contact me by email, if this site permits it, or if simple, use this forums question answers.
Unfortunately, many young Christians grow up without being taught about all the things that support scripture.

Polymath257 · Jun 3, 2017

There are so many ways to go. I'd say, first start out be reading a book on world history: get how people have acted and believed.

Then, read some general books: Joseph Campbell, Karen Armstrong, general books about Islam, Christianity, Judaism, Buddhism, Taoism, and anything else that strikes your fancy. If you see a claim, check out the validity. Read a bit of science (textbooks to start with) if that seems relevant. If you have the ability, go to a culture where the religion is different than Christianity. See how people live under other belief systems. Read philosophy.

So, yes, read as much as possible about as many things as possible. Explore whatever makes sense to you. And look into those things that do NOT make sense to make sure you aren't missing something.

Then make up your own mind.

arthra · Jun 3, 2017

Welcome to RF!

Fortunately there's a wide range of Holy Scriptures you can explore today... online... and depending on where you live there are many temples, mosques and churches you can visit within a short distance... I happen to have lived in southern California so for me it was easy to explore and investigate a wide variety of religious groups! Take your time.. no rush. "Religious Forums" has a pretty good representation ...

Murad · Jun 3, 2017

The God is one, the Eternal Refuge, He neither begets nor is born, nor is there to Him any equivalent.

loveendures · Jun 3, 2017

I came to Christ when I was 50 years old. I am in love with Him! He challenges me all the time. Coming to Jesus is not about religion, ritual, rules, dogmas even theology. Bible is written by 60 some authors and it is about how each one saw and experienced god, it is multi directional and even paradoxical. My suggestion is to stay with ur faith. Please please read Bible NOT literally. Some of the basic thoughts in Hinduism is great and Jesus talks about the concept of non duality. I will never consider Islam as it sounds extremely rule oriented and feel bad for these people who do not understand the power of Grace and Love, we find in the saying and doing of Christ. Be blessed. Love to help u which ever u want to walk in the foot steps of Jesus ..all it is to be a human.

abdul rahim · Jun 3, 2017

To believe in God is human nature. If your intention is sincere, you will find Him.

As you have been reading about Islam, I believe you already understand the main principle of Islam. Islam acknowledge human needs for God, but with an important denial statement. That is "There is no god worthy to be worship other than God, The Supreme Being". You enter Islam through that door, that is you reject all other fabricated gods and deity.

If you haven't read it, as a start you may want to read directly from the source of the teaching, that is al-Quran. Here a link for good translation www.quran.com. God arrange Quran in such a way that you don't need to read it cover to cover, but you can actually start at any chapter or verses and jump here and there as you wish.

james bond · Jun 4, 2017

That's interesting. When you say you were born into a Christian family, what does it mean? The reason I ask is I wasn't born into a Christian family. At least, I don't think so. I think my mother believed in a God, but wasn't sure which one. Maybe she believed in Christianity because we prayed grace before meals. Later, she became a church member of a local church of non-denominational faith. I think they joined because of social networking. My parents sent me to Catholic elementary school and I ended up rebelling at 13 because of the guilt. I suppose there was some kind of peer pressure in that of missing out on some activities as I wanted to become baptized. My mom said to go to the Catholic church in our neighborhood that was three blocks away for a month. I couldn't do it for three weeks. She knew it was a sin to miss church under Catholic rules. I didn't go back to Christianity until 2012 and found the answers that I was seeking there.

Personally, I don't think reading the Bible if you do not have someone to guide you helps. I suppose your family gave you the faith in God through prayer and such or through activities they did.

When I don't know what to do, I found mapping helps. I'm not sure where you want to go, but it sounds like you want to try Islam instead. Is there a church nearby? Do you have a Muslim friend to talk with? How would your family think and feel if you practiced that faith? With mapping, it helps you to find out whether you can get there from where you are. For example, if your family would disown you if you became Muslim, then you face a big hurdle. You would need help.

LukeS · Jun 4, 2017

I view faith, even atheism, as ways of binding to reality - a link through beliefs and actions. Religio - possibly meaing to bind IIRC - is the root of the term religion.

Linking to reality is called "structural coupling" by biologists afaik, like a train has couples to the rest of the mechanism, we are coupled to the universe.

What is essential in all this IMO is raitonality ( an at least minimum number of choices which are good for us, healthy) and also attraction to being (maybe biologically, but also socially, philosophically etc). A transcendent truth, true of all human life.

Like in budhism, youll meditate and live the 8 fold path. In Islam youll not drink beer, and youll pray 5 times. These are like programs which stop the "robot" (human life) falling off the world and into the grave.

JTCarrieres · Jun 4, 2017

I'm 61 years old and continue to search. My quest has brought the conviction that God does exist, but that he (and that's just common usage, I don't believe God has a sex in any manner) is not only beyond human comprehension, but also beyond description in limited human language. As a youth, I entered seminary studies with the absolute conviction that the most radical response I could make to the God who had granted me everything would be to dedicate my life in service. Yet my studies gradually compelled me to reject faith and I became a very convinced atheist.

My view now is that all dogmatic faiths are not correct in their specific claims and doctrines, but that they are all rooted in universal human drives for transcendence, meaning, ultimate purpose, and perhaps above all, love. I recently published a book that details this journey--not my life story, but the factors that caused me first to reject faith, and then later to embrace it anew. It's entitled God Exists (Not Mine, Not Yours). One of my firm conclusions is that belief in God is not only preferable to an atheist worldview, it is more rational. I still retain a strong cultural connection to my Catholic roots and find some of my most meaningful moments during retreats at monasteries, even though I no longer accept the major dogmas of Catholicism. Your path should take you in a direction where you find yourself being open to as many ideas as possible, regardless of where that leads.

David T · Jun 4, 2017

Go out to nature ignore the texts and trust. You may get lucky and loose your religion and arrive at the texts but that's a 0ath less traveled.

Sha'irullah · Jun 5, 2017

As a person who left both Islam and Christianity this is how I look back on things. This is a very accurate response to how you can divide major religions.

sadi_sm · Jun 5, 2017

Hello dear Confused101,

Questioning is really important. The more important thing is accurate questioning. Anyways..

I don't know how much you have read about Islam and what you want to learn about it. Below is a link to a website that you can read answers for already asked questions or you can ask your own questions.
Questions on Islam

Or you can directly ask me your questions, if you have any.. I will try my best to give you detailed answers asap. If you find them convincing, then you accept. If not, then nobody can force you to..

Best Regards

SabahTheLoner · Jun 8, 2017

There are a lot of religions out there that believe in God (or a higher being, the Divine or whatever name it goes by) in some form. There is very little shortage of that even outside of the Abrahamic religions. I guess my only advice would be to continue research, maybe ask yourself what your core values are to help along the way. There are many individual religions and philosophies to choose from. There isn't really a wrong choice as long as you know it feels right. You can ask any question you have to anyone here and I'm sure you'll get an answer about their own religion or path at the very least.

Best of luck.

lewisnotmiller · Jun 15, 2017

Hi, and welcome...

This advice isn't particular to religion, but has helped me when dealing with large, complex issues I can't simply work through.

Give yourself the gift of time. See this as a journey, rather than wanting to be at the destination. It doesn't matter how long it takes, really.
And maybe look at some associated philosophies. What do you think about life and the world? Whilst not directly determining what God you believe in, it can help determine what properties said God would hold.

Not sure where to go from here? (questioning my religion)

soma

John Kuykendall

Vinayaka

devotee

Rational Agnostic

Well-Known Member

Ponder This

Well-Known Member

Murad

Member

Grandliseur

Well-Known Member

Polymath257

Think & Care

arthra

Baha'i

Murad

Member

loveendures

New Member

abdul rahim

New Member

james bond

Well-Known Member

LukeS

Active Member

JTCarrieres

New Member

David T

Well-Known Member

Sha'irullah

رسول الآلهة

sadi_sm

New Member

SabahTheLoner

Master of the Art of Couch Potato Cuddles

lewisnotmiller

Grand Hat