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Why did you?
- Thread starter connermt
- Start date
CynthiaCypher
Well-Known Member
It kinda just happened. I was a happy unquestioning atheist content that there wasn't a god or afterlife or anything supernatural then BOOM! All of a sudden I woke up one morning and was a Gnostic and the questions came back in full force to the point were I question everything
What triggered that about-face?
CynthiaCypher
Well-Known Member
Let's just say it was a "Road to Damascus" experience and leave it at that.
Trey of Diamonds
Well-Known Member
Because the traditional religion I was raised in did not meet my spiritual needs.
When I was 11 I moved to an Islamic country, Algeria, and from there Abu Dhabi. I made many friends who were not Christians. When I returned to the US and was attending the Baptist Church with my grandmother all the kids my age at church, and a few of the youth ministers, said that all my non-Christian friends were going to hell and I better get Baptised or I would too. My grandmother wanted me to get Baptised as well but there were many things about the Baptist church I disagreed with and refused. I said I could go to church with her but I couldn't be a Baptist or member of the church. She was upset and quit taking me all together which suited me fine. At the time the church was also going through a split in the congregation and there was a lot of back stabbing and political fighting that pretty much soured me on the whole experience.
I was agnostic for a long time but eventually came to the conclusion that all religions are partially correct and mostly incorrect. Then I found the UU Church with supports the conclusion I had come to so I joined and have been happy ever since.
elmarna
Well-Known Member
I did not "look" for religion.
While religion was handed to me by my family... It did not fit the way I understood the world I lived in. As I grew I was willing to listen and accept thar people who were religious adopted ot considered certain philosophies as a "way" to support their way of seeing life.
It did not always manafest itself in their behavior and while the language spoke od high ideals or moral codes it alwayds came about that they called to the concepts as a form of where they would like to think than actually thinking that way.
It left me frustrated. I ended up responding to the native american church which did not fail to see the world both realized, and a support system that offered you a way to be a part of a whole and not exclusividness.
Not until later in life and awakenings that spoke of even something more greater did I see that another way to respond in life was more fitting for me.
No truth can I look upon and turn away from. No suerstition can offer me a world to look wisely upon. I grow up and so does my mind. I do not want to be of W faith , but many. In the trust in my church my faith only gains a better way.
To catogorize it is unfair, but this is what we tend to do. I accept this. I love God and all his mysteries. I place him ahead of me and realize that once I am gone he/she will still be there. God is greater than ourselves. God serves his purpose without haveing to point it out. Man strives for the greatness and is in ever search for his purpose. To this I will ever be a child and God my support system to turn to.
Ameen!
While religion was handed to me by my family... It did not fit the way I understood the world I lived in. As I grew I was willing to listen and accept thar people who were religious adopted ot considered certain philosophies as a "way" to support their way of seeing life.
It did not always manafest itself in their behavior and while the language spoke od high ideals or moral codes it alwayds came about that they called to the concepts as a form of where they would like to think than actually thinking that way.
It left me frustrated. I ended up responding to the native american church which did not fail to see the world both realized, and a support system that offered you a way to be a part of a whole and not exclusividness.
Not until later in life and awakenings that spoke of even something more greater did I see that another way to respond in life was more fitting for me.
No truth can I look upon and turn away from. No suerstition can offer me a world to look wisely upon. I grow up and so does my mind. I do not want to be of W faith , but many. In the trust in my church my faith only gains a better way.
To catogorize it is unfair, but this is what we tend to do. I accept this. I love God and all his mysteries. I place him ahead of me and realize that once I am gone he/she will still be there. God is greater than ourselves. God serves his purpose without haveing to point it out. Man strives for the greatness and is in ever search for his purpose. To this I will ever be a child and God my support system to turn to.
Ameen!
PolyHedral
Superabacus Mystic
Once you drop all the assumptions and intuitions, but take up all the education you can find, you are left with something very close to what I believe in.
At least, as far as I know.
At least, as far as I know.
Rakhel
Well-Known Member
I was 7 when I started asking questions about G-d. My mother, the agnostic, and my father, the atheist, felt it best that I come to my own conclusions about religion. They sent me to a Mormon church(my mother liked their "family values") I attended that church for a few years. got baptized in the process.
From there I attended what I call a candy bar church. They handed out candy bars as an incentive for membership. That lasted all of 2 weeks.
I ended up agreeing with my mother. There was something out there, I just couldn't agree it was what everyone was saying it was.
When I was a teenager, I attended a Church camp. (I was looking for an escape from the home) That led me to the Methodist church. I attended that during high school then stopped. All the while accepting that I was not a Christian.
I didn't attend church until my own daughter started asking the same questions I did when I was her age and decided to allow her to decide for herself what path she wanted to take. When she decided on the Methodist church, I went with her. She was 7 after all. We did that for 5 years. I still questioned all of it. Still doubted the trinity and the teachings.
It wasn't until I started talking with other Jews that I realized I shared much, not all, of the same ideas, and principles. Hell. I thought they were new ideas. Come to find out, others had had these ideas for years.
From there I attended what I call a candy bar church. They handed out candy bars as an incentive for membership. That lasted all of 2 weeks.
I ended up agreeing with my mother. There was something out there, I just couldn't agree it was what everyone was saying it was.
When I was a teenager, I attended a Church camp. (I was looking for an escape from the home) That led me to the Methodist church. I attended that during high school then stopped. All the while accepting that I was not a Christian.
I didn't attend church until my own daughter started asking the same questions I did when I was her age and decided to allow her to decide for herself what path she wanted to take. When she decided on the Methodist church, I went with her. She was 7 after all. We did that for 5 years. I still questioned all of it. Still doubted the trinity and the teachings.
It wasn't until I started talking with other Jews that I realized I shared much, not all, of the same ideas, and principles. Hell. I thought they were new ideas. Come to find out, others had had these ideas for years.
Twilight Hue
Twilight, not bright nor dark, good nor bad.
I was raised a Christian and was involved in the religion for over thirty years quite happily. The problems arose when over time reality had clashed with much of the theology in comparison to how people really act in life with their respective religion. This caused me to ask the hard questions and make some hard painful decisions as to whether I wanted to see life as it really plays out, or just stick with the rose colored glasses. I choose the former in the end as I prefer to see life in the raw and would much rather learn to deal with it without any artificial comforts to lean on in the future, no matter how painful such things my be.
Just Christianity in my case, although I briefly dabbled in others here and there yet never formally engaged them.
As a side note, I don't consider my present religion as being the right one. I would say it's the most appropriate at the moment in that its just something that works well enough to warrant a continuation. :O)
gnosisofthomas
Gnostic Deacon
I just found that my questions weren't being answered by the religion I was raised in, and I didn't feel spiritually fulfilled by some of the other religions I subsequently practiced. I started out as a fundamentalist Christian in the Church of the Nazarene with my family, but ended up going to the Catholic church as a teenager. I also started practicing Wicca about the same time, and formally converted to Catholicism when I was 18, while still practicing Wicca. Then, a couple of years later I renounced Christianity altogether, largely because I was sick of the way Christians acted, and I didn't want to associate myself with them anymore. From that point on, I practiced Wicca exclusively, but I started feeling spiritually stagnant after several years.
I also explored the Baha'i Faith, and Spiritualism/Spiritism. Toward the end of college I explored the ceremonial magickal roots of Wicca, which brought be to Thelema. My interest in Thelemic Gnosticism led me to Christian Gnosticism, where I've been for the last 6 years. In a way, I've gone full circle because I was finally able to embrace Christianity again, and I get the aspects of Catholicism I liked, while still getting to have the esoteric side as well. I feel more comfortable with Christian Gnosticism than any other religion I've explored, and it answers questions that mainstream Christianity was never able to, so at this point I can safely say that's where my spiritual home is. I do still have a deep respect for Bahaism though, and I'm involved with a Unitarian Bahai group -- but I see it as more of a philosophical system that complements my religion.
I also explored the Baha'i Faith, and Spiritualism/Spiritism. Toward the end of college I explored the ceremonial magickal roots of Wicca, which brought be to Thelema. My interest in Thelemic Gnosticism led me to Christian Gnosticism, where I've been for the last 6 years. In a way, I've gone full circle because I was finally able to embrace Christianity again, and I get the aspects of Catholicism I liked, while still getting to have the esoteric side as well. I feel more comfortable with Christian Gnosticism than any other religion I've explored, and it answers questions that mainstream Christianity was never able to, so at this point I can safely say that's where my spiritual home is. I do still have a deep respect for Bahaism though, and I'm involved with a Unitarian Bahai group -- but I see it as more of a philosophical system that complements my religion.
dyanaprajna2011
Dharmapala
Mine wasn't so much a searching out of my particular religion. I've always been a student of world religions, that's my primary area of study. I've always tried to be aware of the various religions that are out there, and not just concerned with the one I was following at the time.
I spent most of my life as a Christian, although I had dabbled in other areas. I studied anything I could about Christianity, such as it's histories, languages, theologies, scholars, etc etc. About five years ago, I noticed that the more I studied, the more confused I became. I began studying philosophy to try to temper what I was studying, but this make me even more confused. I began to doubt various doctrines of Christianity, until eventually, about two years ago, I fell away completely.
Within Christianity itself, many. Southern Baptist, Free Will Baptist, United Methodist, Assemblies of God (Trinitarian Pentecostal), Eastern Orthdodox, Liberal and Progressive, Gnostic. I also dabbled some in the occult, wicca, and satanism right after high school. When I began to doubt Christianity, I started looking at Islam, and had studied a great deal about it, even learning some Arabic, and how to perform salah. After my divorce two years ago, my faith in whatever god I believed in or even didn't believe in crashed. I devoted myself primarily to the study of philosophy. But I missed the spiritual aspect of my life. So I made a list of what I believed, based on my experiences and what I thought was rational. Turns out, that list perfectly matched Buddhism. So for the past year, I've been Buddhist. Now, all the confusion I had as a Christian was gone. I was no longer confused. I've been happier than I ever have been, despite certain circumstances in my life where most people would slip into a deep depression. Buddhism has been my guiding principle since then, and has proved itself time and again.
dyanaprajna2011
Dharmapala
Me Myself
Back to my username
Mental?
Nope, actual masturbation
And I was a late starter.
I just was very religious and saw how a lot of what I was taught made sense. When the question "why this is wrong?" came to my head I honestly couldn´t answer it, and it was the first time that had happened to me in my catholic religion for then.
Then a lot of others came one by one.
gnosisofthomas
Gnostic Deacon
Circle_One
Well-Known Member
I didn't seek out my religion, it sought me out.
bigbadgirl
Active Member
Being raised traditional protestant Christian, It wasn't hard to notice that Christians ignore the teachings of Jesus and worship Paul. There was no "love your neighbor, turn the other cheek, give away all of your wealth, do unto others, pray in private, or even do good to those who persecute you".
After a two year study of the history of the Bible and the origins of Christianity, I found it impossible to believe the Bible is the word of any God. I find it hard to believe that anyone who studies in depth, the history of the Bible, could actuall believe in it. I went back to the natural religion of all history. All is nature and nature is all. The original belief of human beings
After a two year study of the history of the Bible and the origins of Christianity, I found it impossible to believe the Bible is the word of any God. I find it hard to believe that anyone who studies in depth, the history of the Bible, could actuall believe in it. I went back to the natural religion of all history. All is nature and nature is all. The original belief of human beings