Religion
I know this is a touchy subject with pretty much anyone so feel free to ignore me on this.
I'm not an insulting person at ALL, hate arguments, wish everyone would just get along.. all that good stuff.
So I don't want to upset anyone and although I'm certainly not going to say anything that I would call "offensive", I just feel the need to warn everyone that this post might possibly be offensive to some people. Because I'm talking about religion. And I'm questioning it. So if you don't like the idea of that then I won't blame you for steering clear :)
OK. So.
Easter has got me thinking.
I'm not really a Christian but have been brought up as one.
We used to go to church and Sunday school and all that when my sister and I were younger but we found it boring and pointless and my parents aren't really strict on that stuff anyway so we eventually wore them down and they said we didn't have to go.
So that's the background.
My mum, dad and sister are all still Christian as are most of my family but for many years now I've just been.. sort of.. nothing.
I've been ill since I was seven (sorry, I harp on about this a lot but it is relevant) so I've always been a little cynical, pessimistic and generally "what's the point?" about Life. Always questioning things. So I can never really trust anything.
No-one actually has the answers. No-one has proof. So I don't see the point in praying, doing.. I don't know, rituals?.. wearing particular clothes.. because of a "religion" that someone made up.
I know I sound very ignorant but I just feel like I don't really get "religion".
I'm not asking anyone to defend or justify their religious beliefs. I accept that many many people are "religious" and I think that I am actually in a minority in that I'm not "religious".
I just feel like I don't really understand anymore. If I ever did at all.
I don't get how so many people take words written in old books and believe them as fact. Is that what religion is?
I can read The Bible and appreciate the stories, learn by the lessons but I don't really believe any of that happened. Is that what being a Christian is? I don't particularly believe that Jesus and God or.. Moses existed but I'm glad to have their stories to learn by. Someone (multiples "someone"s) wrote these stories with morals and magic and.. stuff and they're good, helpful, instructive.
Do I have to thank and pray to God and Jesus to show that I read a good book that helped me grow up and taught me a load of lessons?
Again, I don't mean to offend anyone or... I don't know, sound more stupid than I'm pretty sure I do regularly anyway, but I really wanted to discuss this and I'm pretty sure that all my friends on here are very intelligent people and would have a lot to say on this.
So I'm putting it out there.
Religion. Discuss?
ETA: I do often pray to "God" but He's not particularly any "god" I've ever read about or anything. I just want there to be someone to talk to and help me through things. So that there's someone watching over me when I'm in pain or sad.
Sometimes I think that maybe my "God" is as much a part of me as He is the Great Creator. We as people can't know for sure so all we have is ourselves and hope that there's something waiting for us after Death.
I'm not an insulting person at ALL, hate arguments, wish everyone would just get along.. all that good stuff.
So I don't want to upset anyone and although I'm certainly not going to say anything that I would call "offensive", I just feel the need to warn everyone that this post might possibly be offensive to some people. Because I'm talking about religion. And I'm questioning it. So if you don't like the idea of that then I won't blame you for steering clear :)
OK. So.
Easter has got me thinking.
I'm not really a Christian but have been brought up as one.
We used to go to church and Sunday school and all that when my sister and I were younger but we found it boring and pointless and my parents aren't really strict on that stuff anyway so we eventually wore them down and they said we didn't have to go.
So that's the background.
My mum, dad and sister are all still Christian as are most of my family but for many years now I've just been.. sort of.. nothing.
I've been ill since I was seven (sorry, I harp on about this a lot but it is relevant) so I've always been a little cynical, pessimistic and generally "what's the point?" about Life. Always questioning things. So I can never really trust anything.
No-one actually has the answers. No-one has proof. So I don't see the point in praying, doing.. I don't know, rituals?.. wearing particular clothes.. because of a "religion" that someone made up.
I know I sound very ignorant but I just feel like I don't really get "religion".
I'm not asking anyone to defend or justify their religious beliefs. I accept that many many people are "religious" and I think that I am actually in a minority in that I'm not "religious".
I just feel like I don't really understand anymore. If I ever did at all.
I don't get how so many people take words written in old books and believe them as fact. Is that what religion is?
I can read The Bible and appreciate the stories, learn by the lessons but I don't really believe any of that happened. Is that what being a Christian is? I don't particularly believe that Jesus and God or.. Moses existed but I'm glad to have their stories to learn by. Someone (multiples "someone"s) wrote these stories with morals and magic and.. stuff and they're good, helpful, instructive.
Do I have to thank and pray to God and Jesus to show that I read a good book that helped me grow up and taught me a load of lessons?
Again, I don't mean to offend anyone or... I don't know, sound more stupid than I'm pretty sure I do regularly anyway, but I really wanted to discuss this and I'm pretty sure that all my friends on here are very intelligent people and would have a lot to say on this.
So I'm putting it out there.
Religion. Discuss?
ETA: I do often pray to "God" but He's not particularly any "god" I've ever read about or anything. I just want there to be someone to talk to and help me through things. So that there's someone watching over me when I'm in pain or sad.
Sometimes I think that maybe my "God" is as much a part of me as He is the Great Creator. We as people can't know for sure so all we have is ourselves and hope that there's something waiting for us after Death.