Were you indoctrinated by family/peers or did your god actually speak to you?

[ninerbuff]

Almost everyone I know of has NEVER spoken to god, got a sign, nor witnessed a miracle yet still believe that there is one because they were:

1. brought up in their current religion
2. were convinced by another peer to join

Just curious to see how some of you became affiliated with your current religion.

I was raised catholic because my mom and dad, grandmother and grandfather, my great grandmother and grandfather, were all catholic.

I don't believe in any religion or god now.

 

[Noaidi]

My local doctor told me that he became a christian in his early twenties. He was working in Kenya and picked up the bible. He read the sermon on the mount and that, for him, was the turning point. He wasn't raised in any religious tradition and didn't have a miraculous conversion. Reading that passage, for him, was enough. He couldn't rationalise it, but just accepted that "something" had happened to him.

 

[sandandfoam]

I just relaxed.

 

[Just_me_Mike]

For me I was ready to die, and wanted to understand the concepts about life and death that were available in the world. So I searched East and West, and ended up with the bible. Never have belonged to a church or group, just study...

 

[yourhopeboundheart]

i indoctrinated my parents at age 8. now they still have their faith and their son is 'prodigal', i guess i should have just left them alone.

when it came to me determining that i wanted to have faith in christ, i set up a certain group of qualifications that he would have to meet, and honestly they were pretty easy for an omniscient and omnipotent creator. so he met my criteria, and until that criteria changed it was enough to stick around.

when i said i wanted to have faith, i meant that. it wasn't much of a consideration that it was real, it was good enough that it was convincing, for me. i just needed a way to get control of a world i knew was out of my hands.

 

[no-body]

My dad was an atheist who liked to expound at length to his children why religion was full of it behind his lapsed catholic wife's back. I wouldn't exactly call it indoctrination but it did make an impact on my young mind until I found the eastern religions in my teens.

 

[Wannabe Yogi]

-I was born in a Catholic family with some Jewish and non-religious people mixed in.
-Converted to being a Baptist at 11 years old.(My whole family hated the idea)
-Went to bible college, became a Minister lost my faith in my early 20's.
-Got a job working in the state mental hospital and became an agnostic existentialist.
-Became sad and depressed over all the human suffering had to adjust my views on free will.
-Searched for a belief system looking at as many as possible.
-Found Hinduism and a great teacher who by watching his life came to know that it is possible to transcend the vulgarities and insults of life. The Guru disciple relationship has been and contuines to be magical in the sense of love and acceptance I feel from my teachers. It has never went away even after not seeing them at times for years. Not only did they teach me a positive world view but they re-parented me giving me both a better life and making me a more loving man. At the same time never asking me for anything. Always giving never taking.
-Studied Tantra rituals while staying with my original form of Hinduism.
-Lived in a hindu monastery for a while.
-Spent some time in India.
-Been a Hindu for over 20 years.
-My faith is not a blind belief system. It is based on the truth of reaility as I see it. I don't talk about personal experience in this area do to it's both personal and is in most causes not helpful to others.

 

[Sunstone]

But what about those people who have seen god without god having spoken to them?




(Just being difficult)

 

[Riverwolf]

I sought, and I found.

ALL HAIL LORD BRITISH!!

In all seriousness, though, nobody told me to follow the Vedanta, and I wasn't raised with any religion. I read the Upanishads, was amazed at what I read, and adapted my beliefs at the time to fit them. My beliefs have been adjusting ever since based on experience as well as logic.

I don't accept anything blindly that I read. Even though I love the teachings of Sri Ramakrishna, some of what he said I disagree with for x, y, and z reasons. Same with Swami Vivekananda.

 

[Wannabe Yogi]

I love the teachings of Sri Ramakrishna, some of what he said I disagree with for x, y, and z reasons.

Well He would be just fine with that. Apply the parts you like toss the rest. Like eating a fish cut off the head and tail. Eat only the good parts is what he use to say.

 

[ninerbuff]

Well He would be just fine with that. Apply the parts you like toss the rest. Like eating a fish cut off the head and tail. Eat only the good parts is what he use to say.

Lol, well for sure I couldn't do that. The head and tail are some of the best parts! Eh, I'm Asian.

 

[bowingtoGod]

I was raised as a Catholic until I was 6 years old. After that my family abandoned religion. So I was raised for most of my life as secular agnostic.
I decided my major would be theology in college so I began to read about all the different religions.
I fell in love with Islam and have been a Muslim since.
Well that was it in a nut shell

 

[Mister Emu]

Both...

 

[kingdombuilder]

Were you indoctrinated by family/peers or did your god actually speak to you?

If by "speak" you mean an external audiable voice, then I would say none of the above. Though I will say that I did have a very clear, powerful, and internal (seeing in my mind and feeling with my emotions) while accompanied by an external physical experience that solidified my current faith in Christ. All I'll say on the matter is that I suspect some at the church I was visiting along with a friend at the time did not know what to make of what they were seeing as my body lept off the floor.

 

[Levite]

Almost everyone I know of has NEVER spoken to god, got a sign, nor witnessed a miracle yet still believe that there is one because they were:

1. brought up in their current religion
2. were convinced by another peer to join

Just curious to see how some of you became affiliated with your current religion.

I was raised catholic because my mom and dad, grandmother and grandfather, my great grandmother and grandfather, were all catholic.

I don't believe in any religion or god now.

I prefer not to say "indoctrinated," as that has rather condemnatory and judgmental overtones. But I was certainly brought up as a Jew, in a wonderful Jewish home, with wonderful Jewish communities. And those memories and associations certainly were part of my decision to return to the practice of Judaism when I left it for a while in my youth.

But I did also have a catalytic experience at that time, wherein I felt very much the presence of God, and though I never "heard God speak" to me, I did feel that I had gotten a message that I needed.

 

[Wannabe Yogi]

Lol, well for sure I couldn't do that. The head and tail are some of the best parts! Eh, I'm Asian.

Well then thats the part you should eat.