:confused: Christians all over the world, yet so many different types of bibles saying its the real one. Islam is said to hold the words of Allaah (In Arabic) in the Qu'ran, even though the first scriptures ever found were written in Kufic! And Hindus with their wonder and beauty in mythology? Why? Why believe when nothing is sure? Why do you all believe?! Can' t you all just figure out the bigger picture?... A piece of the puzzle? Give me something to think logical please!

What do you want to think about? No one can make the choice for you which road to travel.

I would suggest reading about any and all religions you are interested in, then make a choice of which best fits your life. Never know maybe you won't believe at all and end up an atheist.

"No one can make the choice for you which road to travel."

Cool... I believe that.

"I would suggest reading about any and all religions you are interested in"

What I interested in, is the truth... Which nobody knows.
But I won't let that tear me up inside, I just want to know why?

Religion can come from many different things, parents, family, friends, neighbors, etc... Some times others can influence us, or sometimes we might just have a feeling. There are many types of religion out there, if you have any feeling that there is or could have been a higher being it would be worth while to check different religions out.

Thank you for writing but I don't really know what to choose... And to tell the truth, right now I'm more curious over wondering why there are so many to choose from. And why doesn't everyone figure out that it's all the same...

It's not all the same you have Christians, Buddha, Wicca, Druid, native American Indian, etc...

Well you know what they say there is his story, her story, and then there is the truth. In this case there are multiple stories and then the truth.

People associate dogma with religion. Rules and regulations that describe some outcome but are imposed so the path is lost.

No matter what the religion - there are common threads to them all. If you forget the dogma & look in all religions for the truths then something can be gained.

It pretty much always just boils down to acceptance - of yourself, of others & of the fact that life is uncertain, faith that things work out if you get out of the way and not trying to get things for nothing.

The rest is just dogma built up of the ages. It's the dogma and brainwashing that causes fear, guilt & bloodshed.

Dogma... I've heard this and that. What's your definition for it?

Originally posted by Curiousgirl81

What I interested in, is the truth... Which nobody knows.


on the contrary my dear, i think everyone knows the truth. the truth is subjective to all who can percieve the difference between reality and fantasy. for one to discover the truth about a religion one must first believe that religion to be true. if a person were to judge logically the condition and nature of all religions i think one would find that no one religion can logically support it's beliefs. it requires a certain amount of faith to find truth in religion.

Truth is a personal thing.

For me - truth is acceptance and faith that things are what they are and if you go with the flow the right thing happens. It works for me. It's not unsimilar to religious belief - just without the BS

I'm certainly not going to jump on the bandwagon of believing literal "truths" written in some book, when any gems of truth in such books are merely good illustrations of a way of approaching life. Dogma always falls back on - "why do you believe that", "Because the Bible says so", "Well why do you believe the Bible", "Because it is the Bible", and so on - that line of thought is mentally bankrupt - you may as well be a mindless robot to subscribe to that. Anything is only valid in reference to your own experience - that is the only yardstick anybody can subscribe to & hence it is a personal thing. You can't force feed it down somebodies throat as most religions attempt to & back it up with every mind-fuck protectionism mechanism ever invented.

Dogma - this is when something that is intended to be a truth becomes force fed down the throats of people that have not yet understood what the message means for them personally. If they are not at that place yet then Dogma induces guilt and turmoil.

Most religions become dogma - intolerant, judgemental and laden with guilt. Dogma is a magnet for the mentally unstable. Look at evangelical christians as one example among many - they believe not because they understand but due to insecurity in themselves and the need to affiliate for personal validation. Such groups have a much higher % of non-actualized borderline mentally unstable people than the average for the general population.

one to discover the truth about a religion one must first believe that religion to be true.

Completely disagree. To discover the truth about a specific religion - then read what the teachings are and see what resonates in your own life experience. You cannot believe in something simply to understand it - that is a perfect impossibility. Any forced belief is a certainty to never understand the message.

Originally posted by MajiPirate
on the contrary my dear, i think everyone knows the truth.
Exactly... But you think it,you don't know it.

Originally posted by Curiousgirl81
Dogma... I've heard this and that. What's your definition for it?

Dog Ma- the female dog, mother of pups :D

Hmm... Interesting perspective. I concur... Nah I'm joking, I understand. I think I've thought of that...wait, not even... Probably pondered about it once or twice in my life. But substituting Dogma for ignorance.

Originally posted by mad dog
Dog Ma- the female dog, mother of pups :D

Cute...

What I believe... is that all religions (Major,minors, ancients,etc) all came from one, at some point (It starts with one, am I numerically correct?)... then something happen? I don't know. I'm not some genius. I just... Wonder why is that... That's all I'm asking... I'm not getting pist off, I'm just getting tired. For whenever I bring this question up... Everybody understands it differently (Especially you religious folks), but don't think I don't understand. That's pretty much why I asked this question in the first place... Becauses it's always the same. Different people, different views... I understand that that's too simple... But if you know that there is something fishy going on with all these beliefs, you can't put your finger on it, but you have... This feeling... I'm aware of feelings and so are you(Unless your catatonic or something?) then why do you all just quit thinking... "Why are we here? Because God made me." Don't think now that this is some science over religion debate neither... Me evolving from some monkeys? Uhhh... All I can do is simply look up to the sky and wonder why? Like the first people... I could only guess that TV didn't exist back in those times right? I have my beliefs... I'm just asking a question...

why believe if your not sure, its called faith,

Curiousgirl81; where is your proof that we all started as one? I'm not starting a race war here, but maybe whites came from one type of great ape, asian came from another, blacks from another and so on? Or if we were planted here by some alien force then maybe all the races came from different planets with different Gods. Maybe the aliens wanted to mix us up just too see what would happen? Religion changes with time some like to believe in the old ways but with science things can be proven, so instead of getting rid of religion it just changes. There are many different religions because there are many different people, and cultures.

Thats what I'm saying! Do you you understand now?.. There's always an opposition to what one's believes (Relating to religious thoughts anyway) Don't you see... Faith!.. Everybody has a slightly different meaning to it(Not even comparing to difference in language)... But it's all the same... No one has a clue...
Surely it brings anyone down when they admit to being wrong(Like my example of believing in one origin that turn into hundreds of religions, great examples you gave I might add)... Accepting other ideas kind of turn everything around doesn't it?
Kind of alters your sense of reality, don't it... Isn't it scary?

I understand what you are saying that is why I left the Catholic church and became what I am today. If something is proven to me, Lets say tomorrow the Buddha's prove they are right, then I can except that with out being mad. I believe in nature and everything that is not man made, this leaves my quest wide open. I also believe in spirits, I may be proven wrong some day(maybe there are NO spirits), but I highly doubt it because of personal experiences.

I also have said before that maybe there is but one God with many different islands of life(spirit). One island is where the Buddha's go, another island is where the Christians go, etc... This way everyone is correct in the way they feel, and anyone that is not sure how they feel, no problem, there is an island of spirit for them also. After all we are talking about the Almight Being not a human with human personality.

So.. You acted out your thoughts and wonders of Christianity, and enjoy the teachings of Buddha now, cool.
I guessed it finally hit me now... I'm only 21... Blows my mind...
But I don't let it get to me. I just begin to question(Lovely thread huh.) which I know is pretty normal.(That's something I'm sure off)... But I still get no answers...

No I don't just enjoy the teachings of Buddha(which I know little of) I enjoy the teachings of all religion. I am a Druid so I would have more in common with the Native American Indiain. I just find religion interesting, it is funny how some things are the same, others are different but play together, etc... Take Christianity they don't like pagans, but they took some of the pagan holidays for there own, interesting. Some Christians call Santa, Pagan, which is true to a %, but there own Saint Nicholas was looked up to as a sort of Santa. Saint Nicholas(Christian bishop) back in 230 something AD went around giving presents to kids at night. So in away, Santa in spirit is real. Finland, had Old Man Winter (which as the story goes, Saint Nicholas had met) who lived in the north with elves and during the winter solstice(christmas time) he would come down and give kids presents. See different beliefs with the same type celabration.

Like everyone has said you will get no straight forward answers, religion comes from within (faith). It is something you have to feel more then be told, there is nothing wrong with asking just don't expect an answer or the answer your looking for. Most people that say they have spoken with someone from the other side, have really not spoken to them, but felt them, same goes for God.

... Cool... Too bad though, I thought maybe this was my answer. I never knew what a forum was until a few weeks ago... I thought I would get some interesting debates... But... Oh well...What can I do?