[Aptorian]

I'm going to throw a question into this thread. Don't normally post in discussion because there's few things I actually want to make long winded posts about (like pro-wrestling, pamela andersons swimsuit, O'rly pictures )

This thread seems to have, once again, turned into a Creationism vs. Darvinism/the big bang contest. Keeping in mind that the OP was asking to our beliefs and, besides what the West has been indoctrinated to believe in, there's plenty of other gods and belief systems out there.

There's one thing that always makes me smile about the "God is awesome, all powerfull and the creator" and that is the first of The Ten Commandments (probably because I've never been able to read more than a few pages in a Bibble before throwing it away and switching on the TV instead).

The very first Commandment says and I quote:

"you shall have no other gods before me."

The next one is

"Do not make an image or any likeness of what is in the heavens above..."

Now these statements can be refashioned and come with different interpretations, but they've always amused me. They're basically saying, yes. there is other gods, but don't worship them or I'm gonna become pissed.

So why even believe that God is the true creator? Why not just think of the big guy as a pretty succesfull salesman with a healthy dose of paranoia and weird quirks that's made life a hell of lot worse at times but ultimately served as a nice basis to build a societies values on.

If I was a farmer in Scandinavia I'd probably have more faith that a specialist like Freya and Gefjun of the Norse Gods, was going to help me get a good crop than a big guy in robes that's got an entire world to run.

My point is I voted agnostic, I don't really believe anything concious is in controle of our destiny, but I'd as soon think the world was made from the body of a dead diant as that some guy in a beard did a magic trick and created the world in seven days or that the universe was made from a Big Bang that came out of supposedly nothing.

[MecnunK]

Or the first comandment could simply mean that since I am the only one do not bother with creating your own little gods ?

[Fiddler]

I believe in god and all that, but in regards to the rest of it, i dunno.
In regards to creation and all that, well any deity worth it's salt should be able to make a mystery just to test faith.

[Falcdragon]

Somewhat Universalist, open theistic Christian evolutionist.

[Darkwatch]

I really just don't care anymore.

[Cold Iron]

It was removed.

Weird though.

Does that happen a lot?

[Vengeance]

I don't believe in organised religion, and I am not sure where I stand on the whole son of god thing. I usually give a nod to the Goddess Fortuna if anyone asks. So I chose other.
I do not believe that mankind has been better off since the advancement of the current Monotheism religions. I believe that they have closed mans minds and helped to create the current attitude of religious intolerance. That has seemed to permate the world since the advancement of modern Monotheistic religions.

[Cold Iron]

Vengeance;246023 said:

I believe that they have closed mans minds and helped to create the current attitude of religious intolerance. That has seemed to permate the world since the advancement of modern Monotheistic religions.

I'm pretty sure religious intolerance was well entrenched before Abraham. Our gods are better than your gods amounts to about the same thing as ours is the one true god.

[Vengeance]

But during the greek and early Roman period they had so many gods that there really wasn't the whole you must be converted by the sword...In fact it was totally possible to worship more then one god. It actually made for more tolorant religious atitude then what came after during the Monotheistic purges.

[Cold Iron]

There were plenty of racial/religious purges before monotheism took hold. The romans would have looked at the gothic or norse pantheons and religious practices as abominable.

[Nequam]

I am a christian...


More specifically a protestant...


Even more specifically an Episcopalian.

[Cold Iron]

And specific

[Gothos]

Fiddler;222537 said:

I believe in god and all that, but in regards to the rest of it, i dunno.
In regards to creation and all that, well any deity worth it's salt should be able to make a mystery just to test faith.

*cough* test faith eh? like putting dinosaur bones into the ground?

[Cold Iron]

HA! Yeah, god was thinking "you know what'll really fuck 'em"

[Sinisdar Toste]

i created my own religion out of orthodox lutheranism, buddhism and sihkism.

currently we are in the process of subjugating the troublesome lands of the st lawrence lowlands, after that all of canada will know the gentle iron fist of the Heatanism. its called heatanism cuz its hot... oh no i said it!

[Illuyankas]

I'm Batman.

[Tattooed Hand]

I was going to write a mixture of religions, since my parents are mixed - Muslim and Zoroastrian. But at the end of the day, while I like some things about both religions, when push comes to shove, I don't care what's written in either of those stupid little books if it doesn't jive with my own principles.

I can't quite call myself a theist either because though I believe in a divine, at the root of that belief is that the divine is unlimited and we are pathetically limited and so we cannot grasp the divine even enough to know if it is a singularity or if it even exists.

So I opted for agnostic.

[Mentalist]

Hmmm
As I wrote in the "Test Discussion", I'm Greek Catholic/Uniate--An Orthodox Rite that recognizes the Authority of the Pope

I am not very sure abot my dogmatic beliefs (must be the whole education-- > religiosity thing), but I do wear a crucifix for more than just a piece of jewelry, i do pray daily, and my religion is as much at the core of my identity as is my nationality.
It could do with the fact that the two have been very closely linked together (Uniate Church was an underground church in the Soviet Union, I was baptised unofficially)
My religious identity is part of my cultural heritage, esp due to the numerous pagan elements left over in it.
However, once again, I do believe in God in some form or another, and since I belong to a Church, I guess that makes me a Christian.

[Nequam]

Wow, there are a lot atheist people here. In my area there is almost just no such thing as an atheist.

I'm christian myself. More specifically protestant...even more specifically episcopal.
I have always had a big interest in theology, and I study a lot about other people's beliefs, but I always seem to lean more toward christianity myself. What I do know is that I am most certainly, positively not an atheist at all.

[Cold Iron]

Nequam;264032 said:

Wow, there are a lot atheist people here. In my area there is almost just no such thing as an atheist.

I'm christian myself. More specifically protestant...even more specifically episcopal.
I have always had a big interest in theology, and I study a lot about other people's beliefs, but I always seem to lean more toward christianity myself. What I do know is that I am most certainly, positively not an atheist at all.

Have you tried studying it?