Post here, let me know your beliefs. If you are open minded and not afraid of a "higher" power, let us know what you believe life is about.
I don't think all people who believe in God are "afraid of a "higher" power". There are a lots of things which influence the beliefs: - education, location (due to local traditions), etc. And an answer to your question: If we don't have a God, we don't actually have a purpose (on a general view). Our life is just a part from a great circle. With a God, the purpose is to avoid to go in Hell However, i don't know if God exists or no, but my little purpose is to have what i want/need to have in this life.
Then isnt the being afraid, afraid of going to "hell". Living your whole live to avoid going to "hell" sounds not that fun. Thats not a purpose, thats "let me try to be good so God doesn't send me to a fiery abyss." Thats no way to live your life. Life isnt a circle, its a continuing thing, it gets more advanced and advanced as time goes on. Trust me, Ive tried the whole Religion thing, I attended catholic school for 8 years, and in the end it just wasnt for me. My whole family is catholic, but not me. Im a pretty normal guy too, im not some weird satan worshiping freak criminal, im a normal 19 year old kid. So if life is just a circle without God, then what is life with a God? Trying to avoid hell you said, well isnt that what every other Religious based person has been doing for the past thousands of years? That sounds like a circle to me, and look where its gotten, no where. There is a purpose in life, thats to live a life. To grow up, go through school, have a job, have a family, make money, be happy. Why are animals here? They live a life too.
God and religion are not at all the same. Hell is separation from God, not a place. The burning that occurs is your psyche punishing yourself for neglecting nature's laws. The feeling of being alone, no one loving you, you not having a future or going anywhere, embarrassment and all that is Hell. You only descend into Hell when your Ego takes over your consciousness and you act as a self-serving demon on Earth. The purpose of life is to serve those around you to exhaustion, like God. The purpose is to take the burden of suffering upon yourself so others do not. Your rewards aren't going to be in this life, and you will be persecuted for not wanting to succumb to society's lusts. You will be an angel surrounded by demons; they will attack you at every sign of weakness or uncertainty of your function. To try to find your purpose in life, figure out what you'd do if society crumbled today and you had no culture/name/customs/religion. There most certainly is a higher power outside from us, but that does not mean we are not exponentially powerful as well. What enters your body will not defile you, but what leaves, such as vile words or actions, will darken your soul. The only Original Sin is the pride in your spirit of being pure. When you were born you were the closest to God and gradually grew up and away from God (experienced Hell) and though you learned you aren't as pure as you once thought, that forced you to act in a manner that will remind you of the complete undetached and unconditional happiness you felt as a kid. Now, your feelings of happiness as a kid were twofold. When you were happy to get presents, that was your Ego being fed. When you were happy to give presents, or hugs and kisses to your mom and dad, that is your True Self expressing its connection with God. Real happiness in life comes from the latter. Our planet here is over 4 billion years old, to assume you weren't here before or this life is your first is a large stretch...There is nothing in our natural, physical universe that is instantly created, but instead shows recycling and reuse. Some think we asked to "fall" from grace and our angelic state to come here and experience temptations never felt before in order to comprehend the Absolute more, where there is no good and evil (Relative Perspective), but only One (Quantum Reality). We are beasts trying to return home more complete. We descended here as "perfect" then sinned and loved sinning, but the little voice in our head, our closest connection to God, never lies to us. As we sin more and more, the voice in our head weeps as we abuse it and tell it to BE QUIET, but it loves us too much to allow us to just fall into Hell without putting up a fight first (Emotional/Moral Dilemmas). What we want will lead us to Hell, what we need we already have and need to remind other people these things. I'm just happy people are thinking about what's going on to them, within them, and around them. The reality is much more incredible than anything currently in text books or holy texts, even our imaginations cannot fathom it. Namaste to everyone with an open mind who is trying to make their soul a diamond/prism.
Why would I fear a non-existent being or some contrived method of human control? I have no need for these superstitions, rituals, or rules - I happen to do very well without them interfering with my life. I also have no need for explanations about creation that are balls-to-the-wall batshit insane. Everything we know as fact comes from observation, testing of hypothesis, proven theories, and application of them. Everything we don't know is still under investigation, even though there is enough information now for many of us to draw our own conclusions. We have now plausible explanations for the Big Bang that do not involve a 'supreme being', we also have a better understanding of the natural order of things. Unfortunately, through programming as children most of the human population will continue to use the old information in their ancient brains, without being able to realize, experience, or even imagine how vastly complex this universe really is. It's a shame. For them. And perhaps for us. You don't need a higher power to give you a meaning for your life, you only need half a brain and some imagination. Stable dead-end jobs, cookie cutter families, etc, are not a part of many dreams. In fact, they are the death of dreams, the third rate option, the cop out. Your big dreams die early, your mid-dreams die as you grow older, and you become happy with substitute dreams that aren't even from your own perception of reality. I, however, refuse to let the bland dream-less hellscape of modern man overcome my own ideas and ideals. I won't ever be content to settle for my second-best dream, unless I can use it to achieve my ultimate goals. Certainly nothing God can do anything about anyways. Interesting that folks cling to the concept still though, even though they're really clinging to their dead dreams or dreams that aren't their own.
What makes Christianity special as a faith? All religions are the same and have one purpose…eternal happiness. It is only Christianity that had a promise of the Messiah (Old Testament) and a fulfillment of the promise in Jesus Christ (New Testament). No other religion has that.
Disclaimer: We think abstract here, ok ? I don't want to annoy somebody. Christianity is "special" because many of the most powerful countries "use" Christianity as a "default" religion. In this country kids learn from young age about God, about Hell and about how "special Christianity is", and it's hard to change this indoctrinations when they grow up. @cluongo18, "to avoid going to hell" was a little metaphor. I mean: if we have God, we have life after dead too. And in this case, your purpose must be: to respect your God's rules, because like here in your first life where i'm sure you want what is the best from you (home, job, family, pleasures, money etc. ), you want what is best for you in the second life too (In Christianity this mean to go in Even instead of Hell , and in other religions i don't actually know). Now i'm clear? I respect people who believe in God, because they have a new motivation to live even if maybe they are close to their death. Without this motivation, many people "die" (psychic) before their real death (i'm thinking here at old people or invalid people or smt like that).
There should be something to believe in, otherwise the life will be very difficult to keep on the tracks...
At it's fundimental (not the blowing your selfup kind of fundimental) level "life" is about reproduction. Passing on your gentic material in a way which make it as likely, or more likely, to reproduce as you are. On an individual level, for me, life is about 1. Having a good time. 2. Ensuring that subsiquent generations have at least as much as i had and not fucking it all up for them. 3. Making sure my existence had a possitive impact on either society, our progress or our understanding. 4. Helping people who happen to be born with less than i was. 5. making lots of friends. Sure, if instead of that you want to waste it begging an imaginary man in the sky not to torture you forever after you die you can do that, but i think we all know which is the more worthwhile, selfless and noble path to take.
the question of believing or not believing does not arise---the unknown will always remain the unknown,what we know is the known.
+1. One should be kind and honest enough without being scared of some punishment from a "Supreme Power".
+1 Well well well well put paragraph there. All those cookie-cutter families and dead end jobs you talk about seem to go hand in hand with the "Catholic" lifestyle. "Love god, have a family, go to church, work a nice stable job, eat good food, go to soccer practice" so on and so on. And that is a happy life style? God wants you to live a stable, happy, boring, "cookie-cutter" life style with every other Catholic? Thats no idea of living a "happy" life to me. That seems like a "just getting by" type of life. There is no fun in that, no meaning in that. What happens once you have all of that, and your finally "at peace with God". What more purpose do you have? To what extent can you make God happy? To what degree? The reality of it, is the life your living now, is your only chance. There is no PROOF that you live a second life in "heaven" or "hell". Why waste this life, trying to prep for that second life. It might not even be real. What a waste of a life, its sad. To see everyone controlled by some "mythical power". WHY do you even give some mythical creature so much power? Who says that HE controls you? Its made up, people have been saying it for so many years, "This ghost will control you, you will love him", that people just keep believing it. The story of God is as good as the story of the Cyclopes or some ancient myth. Its nothing more then a old disney movie taken to serious.
I have none. I am very open minded and I am not afraid of anything. Life is all about looking for the meaning of life. Once you think you found it - u're dead.
I don't believe in the mythological concept of God as a "man in the sky" and I certainly don't believe in organized religion (although I think it's important to acknowledge that they are not one in the same.) I'm not sure what I believe as far "spiritual" stuff. I am an agnostic which means I believe such things are unknowable one way or another. I just think it's beyond our understanding. But I certainly don't think someone needs to believe in a certain God or a certain religion to be a moral person. I believe real morals are based within the concept of empathy. To place yourself in the position of another person is the height of moral behavior in my opinion. And it's this that so many people who adhere to organized religions fail to do.
I respect all the opinions of everybody. Well, for me I believe in putting God first in everything I do and success will surely follow. Even if I can’t I am still doing my best to follow it. All of us are entitled with our own point of views.
I'm of the religion that says all religions are stupid. It's my belief so please respect it. I tend to respect people who have made their own mind, but I don't take seriously people who have the same religion as their family, just because they've been taught this particular religion since childhood, it doesn't reflect well of their ability to think for themselves!
Did anyone not see what was stated here, "It IS ONLY GOD", "WHO HAS THE PROMISE of THE MESSIAH (Old Testament) and a fulfillment of THE PROMISE IN JESUS CHRIST (New Testament). No other God has that.