I grew up essentially without religion..
which I was always very thankfull for!
I thought it was a great gift from my parents..
My parents sent my Sister & I to Sunday school when were kids, but only for a few years, when I was maybe 4-5..
I guess just to give us a taste..(they are borderline Christian..more of a cultural relic than a deep belief)
nothing much stuck, and my family never went to church..ever.
I asked my Mom "what religion are we?" when I was in highschool, when I started to think about it..she said "Well, your father and I are Christians..but you can be whatever religion you would like to be."
SO COOL!
my parents rule..thanks Mom & Dad!
and thansk to that gift, I was never forced to accept any religion..and it has given me much time to think about it..
I always believed (and still do) that its not religion, or lack of religion, that makes a person good or bad, morally speaking...
its only our own choices..
I know many atheists who are MUCH more "moral" and "good" people than many Christians! (or whatever religion..)
and vice-versa..
im not against religion in general..I just dont buy into any one specific religion.
I believe that NO world religion is the "true" religion..
in fact, the very reason there are SO many different religions today is that humans CAN NOT know the absolute truth about God! (or the creator, or great spirit, or whatever..)
so what do humans do? they guess!
they try to figure it out..
and they come up with a whole bunch of different theorys..which become a whole bunch of different religions..
religion, to me, is simply something humans use to attempt to figure out that which is unknowable..
take the ancient Greeks..they saw the Sun rise every day, travel across the sky, and set in west..they thought "hey? what is that big thing? it must be really important! it gives us heat and light, plants seem to need it..hey! I know!
lets say its "Apollo the Sun God"! He gets in his golden chariot and travels across the sky every day!
ok! problem solved! now we KNOW what it is!"
and the thing is..to them it absolutely was, 100%, without ANY doubt, Apollo the Sun God!
they found religion! their religion answered all the questions about their life..
whats really weird, to me, is that if you ask any person today "hey..were those ancient greeks right? IS the Sun actually the Sun god in his golden chariot"?
everyone would say "NO! of course not! we know better today in our enlightened times! we know that:
"The sun is a mass of incandescent gas
A gigantic nuclear furnace
Where hydrogen is built into helium
At a temperature of millions of degrees"
(TMBG)
Those ancient Greeks were just ignorant back then..their religion was nothing but myth"
but those same people will say, with a straight face, that THEIR religion is absolute fact ?!?
when they dont know any better than the ancient Greeks did!
I find that amusing..
I believe in God, and im bending toward the Christian side of the spectrum..my girlfriend is a devout believer, and she is teaching me a lot..
I believe in certain aspects of Christianity..I believe in God and Jesus Christ..
but I also know for a fact that evolution is undoubtly true.
and God made homosexuals..so naturally he doesent hate them! in fact, I believe god WANTS them to get married!
So yeah..I have big issues with the Bible as a factual book..
I firmly believe it isnt factual..and that view can never change..
but! God is cool with all that..
I believe that God laughs at all the world's petty religious arguements..to him, no religion has it all right..all religions have parts of the truth, and other parts wrong..
Only He knows what the truth is..
and none of us will EVER know "the absolute truth" in this life..
God just wants us to try..to think about it..to try to get to know Him, Her, It, in whatever way works best for you..
He is happy if you make the effort..
beyond that, I believe he has no rules..
Humans made up those rules that are supposidely His..
they arent really..
I will never become a card-carrying Christian..
I will never believe in the Bible..
I believe in no organized religion.
I think most religions have aspects that are really quite terrible..
but God is cool with me thinking that..because I accept Him..
and think about Him, and try to get to know and understand Him..
thats good enough for Him..
He accepts that..
I am not for, or against, any other belief system.
I just believe what makes sense to me..
thats my religion.
Scot