What Do You Believe In?

[Sir Lancelot]

What do you believe in?
What religion do you subscribe to and is it your choice or just how you were brought up?
Are you spiritual?

Personally, I think we are born, we live, we die and that's it.


No judgement. Each to their own. Nobody needs to argue about their religion here; just sharing beliefs.


Over to you...

 

[yankydoo]

What do you believe in?
What religion do you subscribe to and is it your choice or just how you were brought up?
Are you spiritual?

Personally, I think we are born, we live, we die and that's it.

Over to you...

I believe the same as you which I thought would scare me when my father passed away last year but I found it comforting. I dont think I’ll ever be reunited with him but one day I’ll be gone and the pain will be gone too. Makes me want to make the most of this life too. I don’t know if that makes sense!

 

[Sir Lancelot]

I believe the same as you which I thought would scare me when my father passed away last year but I found it comforting. I dont think I’ll ever be reunited with him but one day I’ll be gone and the pain will be gone too. Makes me want to make the most of this life too. I don’t know if that makes sense!

That makes perfect sense!

 

[BigMavis]

Catholicism. Once a catholic and all that.
Absolutely dunging it now about Aliens and the Vaticans part in that sci fi tit. I believe in everything at the moment, including end of the world prophecies.
It's interesting don't judge.

 

[Sir Lancelot]

Catholicism. Once a catholic and all that.
Absolutely dunging it now about Aliens and the Vaticans part in that sci fi tit. I believe in everything at the moment, including end of the world prophecies.
It's interesting don't judge.

No judgement here; everyone is entitled to their own beliefs.

I find the recent UFO stuff fascinating.

 

[BigMavis]

No judgement here; everyone is entitled to their own beliefs.

I find the recent UFO stuff fascinating.

Yeah I was being tongue in cheek.
Wasn't it though? I lost a week reading about the religious cross over throughout various civilisations and the aliens.

 

[Piff paff puff]

I didn't know which way to vote as I do believe in God but don't know if my faith is strong enough to believe in afterlife.

 

[Kim Mild]

I don't believe in religion, I think its a construct to control people and make them behave.
Don't believe in an afterlife . I believe that people do have supernatural experiences but I think the experience is from them and their energy, rather than from a supernatural entity.

I don't believe in karma either

 

[Tunacanoe]

I believe when you die thats it. I do find myself hopeful that I am wrong and there is an afterlife. I have had some family members die and it does comfort me the thoughts they may be reunited.

 

[Emperor]

I do believe in God and the afterlife but I'm struggling right now. If there isn't an afterlife, and I'm never going to see my Mum again, then all of this is a total waste of time and I will wish that I had been spared being born. The only comfort I have is that if I'm wrong and we just die, I'll never know.

 

[Sir Lancelot]

...that if I'm wrong and we just die, I'll never know.

I think this is the thing that is difficult for us humans to grasp; the finality of it.

I think of it as equal to going to sleep; once you're gone, you don't know what's happening outside and it's just... done.

The pain of loss, the agony of depression, the weight of sheer effort it can take to get by day-to-day, it all just goes. Yet, we'll not know because we'll be gone.

 

[princessmaire80]

I’m Irish Catholic. My mum is Church of England but my late dad was Irish Catholic- so we were brought up as such. Myself and my two siblings were all baptised, made our First Communions and were confirmed. I’m the only one who still practices although I don’t often go to church. My brother and sister aren’t religious at all, although my religion brought me a lot of comfort when my dad was dying, as i felt it brought me closer to him.

I definitely believe in heaven although I’m not sure about hell. I heard enough preaching about that at my convent school. And there’s definitely a fair few things I’m not in total agreement with the Catholic Church on but that’s another story…

 

[wibble]

I didn't vote in the poll, as none of the options fit my view that beyond lies forgiveness.

At which point you can define that how you wish, in whatever religious or philosophical tradition, and whether you chose to accept being forgiven.

 

[Lovegossip]

I am not religious and don't believe in anything like that

However at my step dad's wake, there was a priest who gave a blessing over the open coffin and I could see that it was giving people some kind of peace if u can call it that

For me it's unnecessary to feel the need to believe, I respect those who do as that is what they need

 

[Funnifing71]

I was raised as a Christian but as an adult I’ve swayed because.. you know.. science! I no longer go to church but do believe that the 10 commandments are a pretty good way of living your life.. essentially be a nice person and treat others how you would like to be treated. I sometimes think maybe it’s better to live your life believing there is a God and find out there isn’t than believing there isn’t and find out there is..

 

[Nottonightbabe]

I describe myself as spiritual, but not religious. I think there're greater things out there, but don't know what they are, so can't pinpoint it, i can't subscribe to any particular religion. I love science, and also natural witchcraft. I like learning about others' religions and it fascinates me how different societies through time developed the same view of there being a higher power. I do think that organised religions over time became a controlling thing, and a way to put more and more rules upon people, shaped in a particular man's views at the time, and moved away from they originally were.

 

[Sir Lancelot]

I describe myself as spiritual, but not religious. I think there're greater things out there, but don't know what they are, so can't pinpoint it, i can't subscribe to any particular religion. I love science, and also natural witchcraft. I like learning about others' religions and it fascinates me how different societies through time developed the same view of there being a higher power. I do think that organised religions over time became a controlling thing, and a way to put more and more rules upon people, shaped in a particular man's views at the time, and moved away from they originally were.

Oh, organised religion is terrible. Individual faith is one thing but, as you say, the rules put upon the populace serve those in charge and nobody else. Money money money.

Witchcraft, paganism, wicca, the natural way of things, is far more interesting to me than 'religion' as it is more commonly known but it does amuse me that the core tenets of most of them are all pretty similar and that alone proves it's all made up and stolen from other cultures.

 

[Ensay]

Similar to other views expressed here, I believe there's something 'higher' than us because I look at the planets, the stars, the galaxies etc and I think something had to have created it. But I don't belong to any prescribed religion, despite being raised Catholic.

I think all religions were just different explanations by people of the time to explain what they saw and what they believed. That's why there are so many theories, because no one really knows, yet many have had a go at explaining it - hence all the denonimations of Christianity, plus all the other major religions. Let's face it, they can't all be right. I also think there was an element of control to it -- after all, what better way of getting people to behave than saying they'll be rewarded with heaven for doing the 'right' thing and cast into an internal hellfire if they do the 'wrong' thing.

So for me it's a combination of the above, but also the fact that some religions hold some -- to be frank -- nasty views and some of the followers of those religions think that gives them a free pass to be nasty to others because it's their religion. That mentality just pushed me further and further away from organised religion and made me realise I wanted no part in it.

 

[smudge126]

I don’t know what to think, really. I grew up non religious but with a lot of friends who did go to church, so although I wasn’t a churchgoer I did spend a lot of time there at social events. I love the sense of community, everyone helps each other out and they’ve always got little events going on.
I work in a mortuary, so I see death every day. It used to be easy, but as the years have gone on it’s definitely got harder. When I was in my 20s, it was something that happened to old people, or other people. Nothing I needed to worry about. I’m in my 40s now and see more people my own age or my parents age and it’s a very real reminder that this will happen to me and everyone I love. Anyway, the context for my existential crisis here is that once someone said to me at work “it’s really sad that he’s gone. I can’t believe I won’t see him next week, but as catholics we know and believe that he’s going somewhere beautiful”. I know theres a million things wrong with religion, but seeing the comfort it brings people is pretty awesome. I wish I felt like that instead of spiralling into a black hole in my own mind whenever I think too much about death

 

[Sir Lancelot]

Yes; I think the comfort of religion is a good thing for people.
Not something I feel mysef but, as you know, this is a weird old world and we've very little control over any of it so having faith that there is something worthwhile at the end of it can certainly be a comforting thought for those with loved ones who've passed or who are nearing mortality themselves.

Unfortunately I'm just too cynnical I guess and think once it's done, it's done.