Religious affiliation (2 Viewers)

Which faith/religious tradition do you currently practice?

  • Christianity

    Votes: 536 38.1%
  • Judaism

    Votes: 34 2.4%
  • Islam

    Votes: 168 11.9%
  • Buddhism

    Votes: 56 4.0%
  • Hinduism

    Votes: 31 2.2%
  • Other (please specify)

    Votes: 93 6.6%
  • None - I'm not religious.

    Votes: 488 34.7%

  • Total voters
    1,406

Lexicographer

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Argh WHY did you have to revive this thread the week before midsem? DAMN TIM...

If you had indeed read my arguments in the previous threads (the ones with Lazarus) then you would find that I, and many other Christians, do indeed pose questions to our faith. We think and we meditate upon the issues of the world as anyone else would, and if we come upon something within our faith we question it.

It is you who has proclaimed all Christians (and other religious) to be "narrow minded", and "blinded by faith". I admit that there are people (I call them the "stagnant faithful") who take what they are given and don't try to process it, but I am quite insulted by your nave suggestion that I am one of these. How dare you assume that simply because I choose to invest my spiritual wellbeing in a greater order I am somehow less intellectually active, less able to form an opinion, or even less informed than you are.

By asking questions and discovering answers our faith is STRENGTHENED, not destroyed. If we do not like, or understand, what the Canon is saying we will question it, find new meaning and attempt to interpret it differently.

I don't think that simply because you are not religious you are somehow narrow-minded. You may very well be a free thinking and highly philosophical individual. I do, however, think that you can be extremely narrow minded, and this is because you refuse to accept that religion is NOT all about lies and usury. You refuse to consider the viewpoint of the religious beyond the model you have formed: Unquestioning automaton devoted to ancient and irrelevant issues and customs. As it is, many religious do NOT fit this model - the theologians, the budding seminarians, the active laity - we all spend time in thought and prayer, trying to deeper understand our faith. Rather than taking the Canon at face value we are duty bound to always seek deeper meaning. If someone like you, Tim, approaches me and says "Christianity can't be true because it's full of holes" I immediately ask them "show me". Often the "hole" is simply a matter of misinterpretation - but just as often it is something that we Christians have ourselves been debating for centuries. You seem to think that everything about religion is set in stone - "here are the rules, live them ad eternum". This, of course, is not the case. We Christians (and all other religions, I assume) have always debated the true nature of our faith, there will always be points of controversy (eg the Virgin Birth) and many of these we will simply never be able to answer.

Despite these uncertainties I am ever stronger in faith, because I do not believe your ideals of purist humanism the way I should live my life. I believe there is more to life than self gratification, I believe there is more than simply death to look to and I believe that we all have a spark of divinity within us.

I could post the Apostle's Creed, but that's too specifically Catholic. As for The Sunday paper, I read none of them because they're all tabloid junk (Herald during the week) but Pell is something you have to understand to appreciate. On a side note, I met him last Thursday.
 

Lexicographer

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F---ing Tim you seriously could not have picked a WORSE TIME to start this thread up again.

I'm not even going to read your post until after midsems are over (yes I know the only reason you're in here again is because you're procrastinating).
 

kaseita

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Originally posted by Asquithian
by a certain age people have blind faith. they have no choice. they are told for an early age that there is a god. How are they gonna handle it when they are 16. They are not going to upset their own world by suddently saying there is no god.

They did exist ...i know that
I don't agree. as i said, by the time they hit our age, they would for one thing have met people like you who don't believe in a god, and so will have a choice of whether to continue to believe what they do, or to not. (otherwise, there would be none who didn't believe in a god, since most grow up believing from their parents that there is a god, even if its a weak influence)
also secondly, by the time their our age, they should've begun to question whether a god really exists or not - since its based on faith, u can't see him, nor sense him physically, and so your mind would be at odds with what u've learnt from your own experiences.

if you asked around, you would probably find some who have made that choice.

yea, there would also be some who don't want to make the choice.
 

TheBirdMustFly

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I'm athiest and so I beleive that when we die we go back to the way we were before we were born no existing
And also I beleive if there was no such thing as religion, there would be alot less wars and fighting
 

Nick

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i agree with that last statement

"imagine no religion" as john lennon said

everybody should stop focusing on where they go after they die and focus on making earth more like a heaven.
 

Aerials

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Screw that... lets all get pissed, have a few fights and make beer jokes. Atheism kicks ass!
 

kaseita

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well, there is a chance, but your probably right - my faith is strong.

but i wasn't talking about strong christians (people who believe and sought out christianity and through that have come to believe). i was talking about christians with blind faith (as u put it before), but i guess that wasn't really implied. (people who just believe without questioning, or are just believing in it because they were taught to)
 

ameh

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I dont believe any great 'one'would make provisions for people when death arrives, whether its heaven or damnation...as asqy said...we stop existing, what happens after that is entirely out of your or anyone elses control methinks! As i said in my previous post I dont see any need for religion when I'll be dying sooner or later...
 

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Originally posted by freaking_out
I'm a muslim- and i'm a muslim, bcoz i like the fact how islam calls to the submission to one god, the most perfect, with no flaws. Also because it reaffirms the message of all the prophets that came before (eg. abraham, moses, jesus etc.).
Originally posted by Ozz^E
Im a Muslim (one who submits to God). Islam (submission), therefore, is my way of life.

Why?

Well, ill have to admit that partly it is beacuse (as with the majority of other ppl of all faiths) my parents were such. However, inheritance of faith/beleif is not exactly allowed (or at the least highly discouraged) in Islam (for it can never lead ot true conviction). Allah (God) instructs man to reflect, think, to contemplate and thus to come to the conclusion of there being only one Being worthy of any Recogotion/Worship. Only one Being to whom all submit, who holds all the Power and to Whom all are accountable.

So..Im a Muslim because, quite frankly, its the only way of life (dont like using the word religion, doesnt really fit) that makes any sense to me. Theres no other system/ideology/way of life out there that:

- makes more theological (or general) sense;
- is more in harmony with human nature;
- has more solid evidence of its truthfulness;
- is as comprehensive in covering all aspects of life;
- has resulted in anyhwere near such a progessive (in the true sense of the word), harmonious and peaceful (both within and without) society (as Islam did for many centuries.)

Note that I dont say the above to be confrontational. It's simply what I frankly believe in...:)

Of course, God Almighty has ordained free will for His servants, so everyone is free to believe, behave in whatever way they wish:

"Let there be no compulsion in religion: Truth stands out clear from Error.."

"And Say (O Apostle!): 'The Truth is from your Lord'. Then whosoever wills, let him believe and whosoever wills, let him disbelieve."
The quotes above explains why I am a Muslim :D

Originally posted by Grey Council
This might be slightly off topic (actually, quite a bit off topic), but here goes:

Everyone here will have heard of Jameeh Islamiyaa but most people will never have heard of the probably bigger movement known as Tablighi Jamaat. :)

http://www.internationalscope.com/journal/volume 2000/issue4/pdf/zainuddin.pdf

That article pretty much tells everything about Jamaat-e-Islami (not Jameeh Islamiyya) and Tablighi Jamaat. hhee, thats my bit done to ensure that SOME people know more about Islam than terrorism and bombings and killings and "jihad". ^_^
Thank you very much Grey Council for clearing things up a little :)
 

Seraph

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None here
dont even think about it .....


couldnt be more happier
 

Lexicographer

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Originally posted by untying_average
Carl Sagan said, "extraordinary claims require extraordinary evidence."
Jesus Christ said to Thomas:

You believe because you have seen. Happy are those who have not seen and yet believe.

If our religion were based on "evidence" alone, then it would not involve faith. How pathetic would that be.
 

cko

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isn't there alot of evience that jesus lives? Like what about all those miracles in the 21st century like the weeping and bleeding statues, those children who receive holy bread from the ghost of Mary? And don't forget that practically 99% of tha stuff in the bible actually DO have evidence of occuring and there are artefacts mentioned in the bible that still live. JESUS LIVES
 

eviltama

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Originally posted by cko
isn't there alot of evience that jesus lives? Like what about all those miracles in the 21st century like the weeping and bleeding statues, those children who receive holy bread from the ghost of Mary? And don't forget that practically 99% of tha stuff in the bible actually DO have evidence of occuring and there are artefacts mentioned in the bible that still live. JESUS LIVES

All evidence isnt fact, and all fact isn't evidence. While those who 'believe' will belive in those things.. most of that bs wouldn't convince even the weakest skeptic.
 

cko

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and another thing, don't u think its funny that more people have been killed because the christian religion and God than any other religion in the world??
 

eviltama

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Originally posted by cko
and another thing, don't u think its funny that more people have been killed because the christian religion and God than any other religion in the world??
I think Islam and those related religions/ways of life are catching up fast... esp with the americans help.
 

cko

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well i feel sorry for u skeptics, if there's noting to believe in life, ehether it be true or madeup, don't u feel like u have no point to your life, that u just drift from a meaningless stage to another and then die, where your soul becomes a nothingness again and u have no concsiouseness or anything left?
 

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