I am NOT Religious, I just Love G-D

Simple, But the truth of things

from JoeUser Forums

I subscribe to NO RELIGION in particular, even though I Identify with being a JEW because simply enough I was born one.

I find all Religion an anthema, For one very easy reason, they all subscribe to the following " OUR WAY IS THE ONLY WAY TO G-D'S HOUSE"! As soon as I hear this one statement from any religion they lose me completely. My personal belief is there are many paths to G-D's house after death and for any ONE religion to lay claim to know G-D's mind in this matter is hypocrisy to the nth degree.

No human can possibly know G-D's mind or how he feels about what it takes to get to his house. We must remember the bibles,  both old and new were written by man not the hand of G-D, far as I can tell nothing of this earth was written by G-d him or herself, so this leaves out all this religious wars in HIS name as a reason, truthfully religious wars are made because of men trying to impose their interpretation of what other men wrote on other men and women. there can be no war in G-D's name because no one can understand what G-D wants in the first place. I hear many people say their way is the only way to G-D's house; what a crock! How dare anyone think they can exclude billions of people from a loving G-D's home because they are not of the same "religion" yet I see and hear this constantly! all I have to say is world? get a clue; no one religion has locks on how to get to G-D's house after death. not a single one!

religion
36,739 views 266 replies
Reply #1 from Stardock Forums Top

G-D wants to hear you thoughts on this article!! hahahahahahahahahahahahahahahaha

Reply #2 from Stardock Forums Top

I've always wondered something...so don't take this personally:

How do people love someone they've never met, much less understand?  I always found that very interesting...to develop such a deep seated attachment to someone whose voice you've never heard, whose face you've never seen...it's quite odd.  It's like an online relationship, except you don't even get emails...just 2nd and 3rd hand accounts of how awesome that person is.  Perhaps I just think too much, though. :P

I'm not religious either.  I also really respect your view that there are several paths to God, providing that he exists.  I like to think that as well...otherwise a lot of us are screwed. :P  Generally I just try to be a nice guy and see where that takes me.

~Zoo 

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Reply #3 from Stardock Forums Top

Here I am. :)

MM, It is my understanding that the only religions that believe they have a lock on the truth (as in their way is the only Way) are Fundamentalist Christianity and Fundamentalist Islam.  Judaism has its fundamentalists, but they typically apply this only to Jews, as in the ultra-orthodox among us.

Many Christians, Jews, and Muslims might agree theirs is the way, but I don't think they so much judge or demonize others as do the fundies.

 

Buddhists are far from holding theirs to be the only way. And in most instances accept those of other ways without attempting to "convert" them. Jews push other faiths away to the extent that they do not wish to be seen as in any way prostheletyzing.  Even someone who comes to a rabbi for instruction and conversion is often turned away a few times before being accepted as a student.

 

Knowing God's mind is pretty much impossible as "mind" is a human characteristic and God is not human. The so-called "revealed" faiths hold that their sacred texts are ways of "knowing" God's mind as they purport to be a record of his manifestation to us. I don't believe so much this is "God's word" as much as it is a human being's attempt to put into the language of the time an experience they had of the Infinite.  This makes it by definition, a distortion. 

 

Judaism, Buddhism (I cannot speak to Christianity or Islam) have traditions of practicing to open oneself to the Infinite.  Prayer and meditation are ways of stilling oneself and opening oneself to the Other. We might say that religion is...or should be...more a practice than a belief system. 

 

When you go to synagogue, the liturgy is there to prepare you to step away from yourself and the world of ordinary time.  It is there to guide you to a place of openness and receptivity.  But like the prophet Elijah, who was told by God to go to a mountain in order to experience God as He presented Himself, if we are not "there" to experience God, he will pass us by without us knowing Him at all.  It is not religion, per se, that is the issue, but our willingness to prepare ourselves to experience  the Infinite.

 

My humble opinion.  May you be a blessing,

 

 

 

Reply #4 from Stardock Forums Top

How do people love someone they've never met, much less understand?  I always found that very interesting...to develop such a deep seated attachment to someone whose voice you've never heard, whose face you've never seen...it's quite odd. 

You are assuming that those who love G-d have indeed never met Him, never heard His voice.

In my experience the assumption is wrong. While you cannot physically meet G-d in this life or physically hear His voice, you can have experiences that are equivalent. I know I did.

The easiest such experience is the experience of community. I enjoy the company of the people I meet in my synagogue. And I am sure that they, like me, come there because of the community. (A Jew can pray at home.) But the same group of people, despite the fact that they want to be a group, do not meet just somewhere else. They meet in the synagogue because they believe in G-d. Even though I have never met or heard the voice of G-d, His presence (or people's belief in His presence) gave me a community that is like family. What more can I demand of a father?

 

Reply #5 from Stardock Forums Top

It is my understanding that the only religions that believe they have a lock on the truth (as in their way is the only Way) are Fundamentalist Christianity and Fundamentalist Islam.  Judaism has its fundamentalists, but they typically apply this only to Jews, as in the ultra-orthodox among us.

I am sure you know that neither Islam nor Judaism claim that their way is the only way to G-d.

A Jewish or Islamic fundamentalist who insists that His way is the only way, is not a faithful Jew or Muslim.

 

Reply #6 from Stardock Forums Top

A Jewish or Islamic fundamentalist who insists that His way is the only way, is not a faithful Jew or Muslim.

 

I agree completely, at least about Judaism.  I do think as insiders we can (and do) have a differing understanding as regards faithful Jews.  Ultra-orthodox Jews and some Orthodox, hold that unless one keeps the commandments they are not following the way.  Any deviation from prescribed practices is seen as a lack of faithfulness to the Mizvot. Modern Orthodoxy I sense is a tad less stringent than this, and the Conservative and Reform movements have it that Jews can and should meet the commandments as authentically as is possible.

 

Be well. 

Reply #7 from Stardock Forums Top

A Jewish or Islamic fundamentalist who insists that His way is the only way, is not a faithful Jew or Muslim.

I also agree completely ....

The problem i always have with this issue of "our way or no way" particularly among the 3 Abrahamic religions is that if you look even casually to the three of them ... they are IDENTICAL in what they say about what God wants from us and how we should act and live our lives .... there are minute details ... but that even exist within each one of the three to a greater degree than among the three themselves ...

Regarding "who He is", He answered that in all three and said "I will be the judge of that among you" ... in other words any of the  followers of the three has no say on that point and none of them should argue about it .... Who He is is beyond anyone's understanding or even logical conceptualization

so ... saying "our way or no way" is total nonsense ..... it is the same way .. we just see it differently from different angles ... we should recognize that and stop arguing about it.... read all three and you will find not a single disagreement on any of the main points. details of how you eat or pray or call Him is not fundamental issues at all and they differ little anyway.

Reply #8 from Stardock Forums Top

Quoting Zoologist03, reply 2
I've always wondered something...so don't take this personally:How do people love someone they've never met, much less understand?  I always found that very interesting...to develop such a deep seated attachment to someone whose voice you've never heard, whose face you've never seen...it's quite odd.  It's like an online relationship, except you don't even get emails...just 2nd and 3rd hand accounts of how awesome that person is.  Perhaps I just think too much, though. I'm not religious either.  I also really respect your view that there are several paths to God, providing that he exists.  I like to think that as well...otherwise a lot of us are screwed.   Generally I just try to be a nice guy and see where that takes me.~Zoo 

Zoo? yer one of the good guys around here I never take anything you say as mean spirited or personal, ok?

I assume G-D lives yes I also assume he/she is a loving G-D can I prove it? Nop-e, yer gotta have faith period! Have I heard the voice of G-D? maybe or maybe I am just a nut job.

Reply #9 from Stardock Forums Top

Sodaiho on Nov 16, 2008
Quote number three

What wonderful explanations of how you see things. wonderful! truly you are a good man, even if we seem to disagree on everything hahahahah.

Reply #10 from Stardock Forums Top

OOps wifey calling me for breakfast gotta go BRB>

Reply #11 from Stardock Forums Top

How do people love someone they've never met, much less understand? I always found that very interesting

You know Zoo, you are making me say something i always wanted to say about that.

You are absolutely correct. People, and of course MM here, say they "love God" .... and they dont think of how serious that statement is

To "love God" is to reach the pinnacle of faith... the ultimate that any of His creation could achieve .... only messengers and prophets "may" attain that ... as far as i know ALL of them were not even sure that they reached that. All of them asked their followers to keep praying for them so God will disregard their minor missteps and their short comings in reaching that love... so if they feel that they did not reach that pinnacle how can any of us claim to even come near it.

The best we can do as humans is to follow his commands and guidelines and thank him for His bounties on us and hope that by doing enough of that He will accept us as good believers .... if we really sincere and hard working on that ... who knows may be we reach the point of knowing Him more and get closer to actually and really "love Him" ....

 

Reply #12 from Stardock Forums Top

I have to agree with your title.  I love God, but I struggle with religion and religious people.  I think I was one at one time, but I think God might have rescued me from it.  I am positive of the existance of God because of my experience but I have talked to so many who's experience is similar yet completely different I can only conclude there is no box, method, school of thought or docterine to contain God.

I personally believe in the fundamentals of Christianity, a benevolent God, a merciful Savior, forgivenes, the power of  sacrificial love and unity.  However, I have difficulty in my church and with "churched" people who seem to add a lot of "extras" to their faith and then want to impose them on me and others.

Joa

 

Reply #13 from Stardock Forums Top

Quoting Leauki, reply 4
How do people love someone they've never met, much less understand?  I always found that very interesting...to develop such a deep seated attachment to someone whose voice you've never heard, whose face you've never seen...it's quite odd. You are assuming that those who love G-d have indeed never met Him, never heard His voice.In my experience the assumption is wrong. While you cannot physically meet G-d in this life or physically hear His voice, you can have experiences that are equivalent. I know I did.The easiest such experience is the experience of community. I enjoy the company of the people I meet in my synagogue. And I am sure that they, like me, come there because of the community. (A Jew can pray at home.) But the same group of people, despite the fact that they want to be a group, do not meet just somewhere else. They meet in the synagogue because they believe in G-d. Even though I have never met or heard the voice of G-d, His presence (or people's belief in His presence) gave me a community that is like family. What more can I demand of a father? 

Your explanation would have been mine to sodaiho,. but since you already posted this I just did not want to reiterate the same thing. All good points, as were his.

Reply #14 from Stardock Forums Top

Quoting Leauki, reply 5
It is my understanding that the only religions that believe they have a lock on the truth (as in their way is the only Way) are Fundamentalist Christianity and Fundamentalist Islam.  Judaism has its fundamentalists, but they typically apply this only to Jews, as in the ultra-orthodox among us.I am sure you know that neither Islam nor Judaism claim that their way is the only way to G-d.A Jewish or Islamic fundamentalist who insists that His way is the only way, is not a faithful Jew or Muslim. 
\

Yet JEWS look down on other Jews for not following their way, and fundi Muslims are trying to change the world through the use of murder and terror

Reply #15 from JoeUser Forums Top

I too love God but don't consider myself religious in the sense that I need to do anything or be something to enter eternal life.  I meet many religious people day to day but they don't necessarily know God.  Some are very caught up in their religious duties and such they have forgotten God in the process.  As a Christian I believe there is a difference between Christianity and Religion even tho some equate the two.   Religion is spelled D-O.  Christianity is spelled D-O-N-E. 

I absolutely believe one can know and hear God no matter the denomination or religious upbringing.  God makes himself known to those who truly search for him.  I know God is real as I know my children and husband are real.  God is the most important person in my life although I am not always faithful to him as he is to me.   

yer gotta have faith

I'm reminded of those on the plane during the 9/11 terrorist attacks.  There was a quote later from someone on the plane who said:  "We're not making it off this thing alive.  We're going to have to go out on faith."

That's how I feel about this earth.  We're not making it out of here alive.  We're going to have to go out on Faith.  That's the only way. 

 

 

 

Reply #16 from Stardock Forums Top

ThinkAloudon Nov 16, 2008[/quote]

quote]You are absolutely correct. People, and of course MM here, say they "love God" .... and they dont think of how serious that statement is

First off how dare you assume you know how I think! I do know how serious my statement is, what the ramification are and how I arrived at that conclusion.

Reply #18 from JoeUser Forums Top

I've always wondered something...so don't take this personally:

How do people love someone they've never met, much less understand? I always found that very interesting...to develop such a deep seated attachment to someone whose voice you've never heard, whose face you've never seen...it's quite odd. It's like an online relationship, except you don't even get emails...just 2nd and 3rd hand accounts of how awesome that person is

No offence taken at all Zoo.....it's a really good question, and in fact if your assumptions were true or accurately communicated people's experience with God, it would be kind of unbelievable that they would be so devout. 

Of course, the other possibility is that people to "hear" God and "see" God.  Honestly, I think this is a much more likely possibility because, often when folks are indicating such experiences, there is transformation in their lives that accompanies their "witness".  But, since I think speaking in generalities can be difficult, the one specific life I can talk about is my own.

When I was a young person, I was seriously addicted to hard drugs and had been for a long time.  I went to several drug rehabs and was in and out of locked wards of all kinds.  At 22 I was considered "a lost cause", but in a very unusual way, I heard God and took a risk that God was actually there and knew me.  In short, I got healed of heroin addiction. When I say healed, I mean Friday I was a junkie with a sizeable habit and Saturday I was not. I did not go to a church service, no one prayed for me,.  There was nothing "religious" externally but it was a loud enough statement to me, personally, from God that it began our relationship.

That was 25 years ago.  It wasn't like I believed completely right from the get go, but little by little, when faced with decisions, I tried to trust God and our relationship grew.  There have been many amazing happenings over the years and though I have had trouble and disappointments, I have always sensed God with me.

This is the bedrock of my faith because God did for me what I could not do for myself.  I owe my life to this intervention, and the life of my oldest child, as I was pregnant with her at the end of my addiction.  This is why I know there is a God.

JOA

ps

I have never relapsed

Reply #19 from JoeUser Forums Top

I agree 100% Elie. Religion is man-made, nothing more. No religion has it all right no matter how much it's followers believe it does. As a matter of fact I believe they've got more wrong than right.

Reply #20 from JoeUser Forums Top

I recently started going back to church, but thru out the many years I didn't go, I never stopped believing in God. I have to be honest and say I have yet to get use to this church, I was born and raise Catholic so it's not easy to get use to a different church (Baptist) but it's not that bad. But it has always been my belief that regardless whether I go to church or not, I will always believe in God and believe I will have my place in Heaven if I earn it.

How do people love someone they've never met, much less understand? I always found that very interesting...to develop such a deep seated attachment to someone whose voice you've never heard, whose face you've never seen...it's quite odd. It's like an online relationship, except you don't even get emails...just

Interesting question. But then the same can be said about one's girlfriend or boyfriend. How does one love someone one just met? A person you know little or nothing at all yet in a short amount of time one can believe they are everything we evre dreamed of. Sure, a boyfriend or girlfriend is not like God, we get to see and hear them and even touch them. But love can manifest itself as if you have known this person all your life.

In my case, I have hadenough experiences in life to believe in God. I can't help but being a see to believe kinda person, I was created that way, so naturally I had to be shown to believe and man, do I believe.

Reply #21 from Stardock Forums Top

First off how dare you assume you know how I think!

I dont know how anyone thinks MM, i am mearly saying that i think none of us, especially nowadays, can really approach the true meaning of the statement "I love God". If you are the exception, then you really achieved something remarkable and great. That of course is possible, nothing is impossible when it comes to God and his gifts to us. 

The reason i included you with the rest of "us" was your statement that "I find all Religion an anthema" ... but there is the religion of God... I agree with you that humans distorted His religion in many ways but it is still there.

 

 

Reply #22 from JoeUser Forums Top



but there is the religion of God... I agree with you that humans distorted His religion in many ways but it is still there.




And how do you know, not believe, _know_ which religion and which god is true?

 

Reply #23 from Stardock Forums Top

Good Morning Everyone,

MM, thank you for this article and, Zoo, for that question.  And thank you, as well, Leauki, for your question. How do we "know" anything?  Epistemological questions are one thing when directed at the empirical world, but a wholly other when directed at the metaphysical or religious worlds. 

Some of would say that our experiences in the world can be held as empirical evidence of God.  When we say this, however, we are still left with the epistemological question of how do we know the "evidence" is "of God"? Or, the "truth" of any one religion.

 

I take the position of symbolic interactionism.  I believe that we are subjective creatures who create our worlds through symbols and the interaction of symbols between and within groups. This is a phenomenological approach which denies empiricism of its ground.

I do not believe, therefore, that empirical evidence as such, is possible.  We know what we "think" we know, but that knowledge is always limited to our own conceptual frame of reference and the symbols we use.

It is therefore possible to have multiple truths.

 

I do believe it is possible to "know" God or "the Infinite" however.  But this "knowing" is intuitive and experiential: as soon as we create a thought or word about it, we have actually lost it. Zen practice is all about this: we practice to stop using our mind's eye to see and instead experience directly the universe as it is prior to knowledge.

Be well.

 

 

 

 

 

Reply #24 from Stardock Forums Top

And how do you know, not believe, _know_ which religion and which god is true?

That was my point in saying that regardless of which religion you believe in, it is all essentially the same  ... and they all lead to the same God. So arguing about which one is the true God is really meaningless. All religions essentially say the same thing ... the only difference is "who" that God is. and to that i said He will be the judge of that ... we have no say to each other about it... He (whoever He is) will judge us all about that ... so why should we argue about something that WE can not settle ourselves?

Anyone who believes in something regarding "faith" thinks that they "Know" it is the true one ... you are right to a degree in that every believer have some doubt every once in a while ... that is the nature of things in this life ... nothing really absolute ... even "knowing" can never be absolute ...

Reply #25 from Stardock Forums Top

Quoting ThinkAloud, reply 24
And how do you know, not believe, _know_ which religion and which god is true?That was my point in saying that regardless of which religion you believe in, it is all essentially the same  ... and they all lead to the same God. So arguing about which one is the true God is really meaningless. All religions essentially say the same thing ... the only difference is "who" that God is. and to that i said He will be the judge of that ... we have no say to each other about it... He (whoever He is) will judge us all about that ... so why should we argue about something that WE can not settle ourselves?Anyone who believes in something regarding "faith" thinks that they "Know" it is the true one ... you are right to a degree in that every believer have some doubt every once in a while ... that is the nature of things in this life ... nothing really absolute ... even "knowing" can never be absolute ...

You see that's the problem RELIGION has led to was to many times to count with people of one religion killing anyone of a different religion in the NAME OF G-D, what a joke! IF I had my way all religion wiould be banished from the planet.