What Do You Follow?

[Strawman]

I am Christian -> Protestant -> United Methodist. Woot woot. But for reals the title of what Religion I fall under isn't everything I believe. Basically, I follow the Bible, because really, don't accept everything a religious body/preacher/etc. tell you because people can come up with some crazy stuff.

[Midnight Nightmare]

I guess I could be considered a Christian, since I do believe in Jesus Christ as Lord and that God raised him from the dead. I don't consider myself to belong to any particular denomination. While I believe that Christ is the only way to heaven, I also believe that no one can be forced into accepting Christ. Everyone must make a decision freely. I believe that the greatest teaching of Christ was to have love for one another, as he names that as the identifying trait of his disciples.

[volkethereaper]

To be honest with you, Dark Elves, the title of this topic is misleading. It wasn't my first choice, to say the least. In retrospect I wish I had named it "Theology, or Lack Thereof", but I hadn't thought of it at the time. Ah well. As Kierkegaard said: "Life must be lived forwards, but it can only be understood backwards."

[eclipse]

Personally, I am a pagan. It honestly makes more sense (to me) that there would be multiple deities with higher power, and that they would be imperfect as their creations are. However, I won't go in depth unless someone wishes to debate.

If it's working for you, then I have no objections. Please. . .be safe.

[BEST TRYNDAMERE PLAYER]

I'm technically a Christian but I don't follow religion at all, really. Because from what I've seen, religion has made a lot of people ignorant and bigoted. I also believe that we shouldn't be basing our moral guidelines off of a book that was made centuries ago. Although I do hope that there is an afterlife.

[Crystal Shards]

If it's working for you, then I have no objections. Please. . .be safe.

Do you tell Christians to be safe?

[volkethereaper]

I certainly do.

[eclipse]

Do you tell Christians to be safe?

I tell that to everyone, regardless of race, sex, religion, disability, or favorite color. Recklessness may have really bad unintended consequences.

[Esau of Isaac]

I tell that to everyone, regardless of race, sex, religion, disability, or favorite color. Recklessness may have really bad unintended consequences.

You tell everyone to be safe, even when there is nothing threatening them?

...Why?

[eclipse]

You tell everyone to be safe, even when there is nothing threatening them?

...Why?

Not everything is under our control. There's no telling when the RL RNG will throw something bad at someone.

[BEST TRYNDAMERE PLAYER]

Not everything is under our control. There's no telling when the RL RNG will throw something bad at someone.

This is where you need to relax. You worry too much about random strangers that you probably won't have contact with after a while. It's a terrible habit to have.

[Treasure Chest]

I believe the world is a bunch of greedy bastards that want my goodies.

[eclipse]

This is where you need to relax. You worry too much about random strangers that you probably won't have contact with after a while. It's a terrible habit to have.

I wish this were true. :(

P.S. Traffic accidents suck, and stick around far longer than they should.

[Celice]

I am of the mind to agree with eclipse.

That is all.

[volkethereaper]

I concur also.

[Phoenix Wright]

Not everything is under our control. There's no telling when the RL RNG will throw something bad at someone.

That's a funny choice of words. Wouldn't the phrase "be safe" be irrelevant because things aren't in our control? "Be safe" implies that one is in control of his/her dangerous situations.

Which would more or less just make said phrase common courtesy.

[eclipse]

That's a funny choice of words. Wouldn't the phrase "be safe" be irrelevant because things aren't in our control? "Be safe" implies that one is in control of his/her dangerous situations.

Which would more or less just make said phrase common courtesy.

Close enough.

[Ein]

I choose not to follow any sort of religious belief. I've actually told my mother this and she doesn't like the idea that I do not believe in a God.

I just try to make sense of things and go from there. To be honest this makes dealing with life rather complicated and hard to deal with at times. Knowing that shit happens and there isn't anything you can do about it. Sure you can look back and go over in your head what could have been done but in the end there isn't anything you can do. But I digress. This is just what I feel.

I'm truly envious of those who belief in their faith since to me they seem to live somewhat easier but who knows. I know that I don't.

[Phoenix Wright]

I'm truly envious of those who belief in their faith since to me they seem to live somewhat easier but who knows. I know that I don't.

Ignorance is bliss.

[Zanarkin]

I choose not to follow any sort of religious belief. I've actually told my mother this and she doesn't like the idea that I do not believe in a God.

My mother is also like that. She also says that she can't forgive me for not believing in a God. Then i take it further and say that she should forgive because thats what her God teaches. And then she chages the theme of the conversation... :/

[Phoenix Wright]

My mom just laughs whenever I say I'm not a Christian.

[Ragnell]

I'm Catholic.

Though I'm not exactly the "do whatever the priest tells you to do" Catholic that has become pretty infamous. I refuse to do pretty much anything frivolous my priest tells my parish to do until the he explains it to the parish in some way shape or form. I still refuse to bow during a certain line of a certain prayer like we're "supposed to" because I've yet to hear a good explanation of it.

I think the one benefit of having organized religion is that those people who have the job of studying the religion can then help people who know less about the holy books or whatever else the religion entails. Because let's be honest, no normal person can fully comprehend everything in the bible, and understand every single outdated reference.

The down side to organized religion is that too many people in churches just eat up whatever the priest/pastor/whatever says without taking at least a second to ask why. If people would stop being sheep, I don't think organized religions would have nearly as many problems as they do today.

Some would argue that I'm the sheep that slows down before walking off the cliff, but I digress...

[Life]

I guess I'm a Conservative learned Jew. I can go more in depth if anyone wants me to.

[FaceDancer]

I am an atheist. I tend to take an agnostic approach when it comes to the presence of an undefined higher power, though when it comes to mainstream religion I am person in the field of a strong atheist. In other words, I do not discount the possibility of a nondescript higher being of some sort existing, though I vest no belief in it. However, in the case of something such as Christianity, I actively believe its god to be a falsity.

This pretty sums up what I believe.

At first I was Protestant, a horribly lazy Protestant, that believed in God but didn't feel comfortable adhering to all of his supposed rules. Then I asked myself, "Why do I believe in God?" The answer was simple, "Because my parents told me to." "Who told them God was real?" "Their parents." "Well, who told our grandparents he was real?" "Their parents."

This sort of regression made me realize that everyone in my family blindly believes in God because their parents told them he was real as children. Sure, they would claim to have out of body experiences with God and angels and whatnot, miracles and such, but I had never experienced them. I've been open to him (God) in the past, but no matter how much I tried (and no matter how hard my preachers prayed), God never spoke to me or did anything amazing for me. So, I just stopped caring. I guess it's what the Catholics call "acedia" in that I became unconcerned about where I was and what would happen if I died. I mean, if you've been praying to a deity for years and not once has He spoken to you or helped you in some way, wouldn't you get bored? Would you continue to pray to no avail? I saw no need for it.

Shortly after that I began to notice how some Christians liked to use the excuse that "God works in mysterious ways" whenever something (seemingly) inexplicable happened. "Hurricane Katrina hit New Orleans because of their sodomizing and worldliness" or "Haiti was devastated by God for their belief in witchcraft" or some shit. Such attitude towards humanity is disgusting no matter how vile the act may be. I began to question whether God even existed, because if I were him I would have killed some people for screwing up my name.

Thus, I am an atheist, though if a higher power does in fact present itself, I do not believe people are capable of understanding it.

[Meteor]

I don't follow any divine code of morality, I just try to help others when I can, and stay out of their business when it doesn't concern me nor the well being of others. I don't do it because I fear punishment/damnation, only because I'm most happy when those around me are also happy.