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What religion am I?

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Jonny
Post subject: What religion am I?
Posted: Fri 16 Jan , 2009 4:06 am
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The other day I sat down and wrote exactly what I believe, what I know I believe.

This is what I came up with:

-I believe that humans have to work to overcome our own condition. That if we allow ourselves to, we always return to the base line, which is various degrees of laziness & cruelty. Which leads to...

-I don't believe that humans are basically good. There is definitely the Christian influence there, that we are born essentially flawed. I believe in God, and that we are created by God through evolution. But I don't believe that God changes us, we have to change ourselves.

-We essentially have to defeat ourselves through self improvement, improvement of others, and the world around us.

-I believe that we come into the world as blank slates and we are formed by our experiences. So essentially, go out and have as many experiences as possible before you die.

-Everything else, afterlife, etc, I get fuzzy on where I stand.

What am I??? :P

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“And the ship went out into the High Sea and passed into the West, until at last on a night of rain Frodo smelled a sweet fragrance on the air and heard the sound of singing that came over the water. And then it seemed to him that as in his dream in the house of Bombadil, the grey rain-curtain turned all to silver glass and was rolled back, and he beheld white shores and beyond them a far green country under a swift sunrise.”


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LalaithUrwen
Post subject: Re: What religion am I?
Posted: Fri 16 Jan , 2009 4:13 am
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I see a lot of humanism in those ideas; I'm not sure how to reconcile it with the God part, though. It doesn't work with orthodox Christianity, imo. But I'm sure you already realized that. :)


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Jonny
Post subject: Re: What religion am I?
Posted: Fri 16 Jan , 2009 4:16 am
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Yep yep... I was thinking Humanism too... is there such a thing as theistic humanism? or is that kinna an oxymoron? :suspicious:

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“And the ship went out into the High Sea and passed into the West, until at last on a night of rain Frodo smelled a sweet fragrance on the air and heard the sound of singing that came over the water. And then it seemed to him that as in his dream in the house of Bombadil, the grey rain-curtain turned all to silver glass and was rolled back, and he beheld white shores and beyond them a far green country under a swift sunrise.”


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LalaithUrwen
Post subject: Re: What religion am I?
Posted: Fri 16 Jan , 2009 4:44 am
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That's funny, as I was thinking the same thing. :LMAO: I don't know if theistic humanist is real or not, but it sounds good. Perhaps Deism. ??

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Deism" target="_blank

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Jonny
Post subject: Re: What religion am I?
Posted: Fri 16 Jan , 2009 5:31 am
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Ooh nice. I shall read up on it.

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“And the ship went out into the High Sea and passed into the West, until at last on a night of rain Frodo smelled a sweet fragrance on the air and heard the sound of singing that came over the water. And then it seemed to him that as in his dream in the house of Bombadil, the grey rain-curtain turned all to silver glass and was rolled back, and he beheld white shores and beyond them a far green country under a swift sunrise.”


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Dave_LF
Post subject: Re: What religion am I?
Posted: Fri 16 Jan , 2009 1:18 pm
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Yes, sounds like some type of Deism to me too.


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Ara-anna
Post subject: Re: What religion am I?
Posted: Fri 16 Jan , 2009 3:38 pm
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Some of you're beliefs are Buddhist. ;)




The Four Noble Truths in a way.

"The noble truth that is suffering"
"The noble truth that is the arising of suffering"
"The noble truth that is the end of suffering"
"The noble truth that is the way leading to the end of suffering"

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sauronsfinger
Post subject: Re: What religion am I?
Posted: Sat 17 Jan , 2009 12:37 pm
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yovargas
Post subject: Re: What religion am I?
Posted: Sat 17 Jan , 2009 3:30 pm
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Johny wrote:
...we always return to the base line, which is various degrees of laziness & cruelty.
Johny wrote:
I believe that we come into the world as blank slates...

I would say those are contradictory statements.


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TheEllipticalDisillusion
Post subject: Re: What religion am I?
Posted: Sat 17 Jan , 2009 6:14 pm
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Christian? With a little confusion over how we "enter" this world.

Lockean Deistic Gobbledigook?

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Jonny
Post subject: Re: What religion am I?
Posted: Sat 17 Jan , 2009 6:44 pm
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yovargas wrote:
Johny wrote:
...we always return to the base line, which is various degrees of laziness & cruelty.
Johny wrote:
I believe that we come into the world as blank slates...

I would say those are contradictory statements.
You're right. :suspicious:

I'm a big bundle of contradictions sometimes.

Butnoi'mnotchristian.

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“And the ship went out into the High Sea and passed into the West, until at last on a night of rain Frodo smelled a sweet fragrance on the air and heard the sound of singing that came over the water. And then it seemed to him that as in his dream in the house of Bombadil, the grey rain-curtain turned all to silver glass and was rolled back, and he beheld white shores and beyond them a far green country under a swift sunrise.”


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TheEllipticalDisillusion
Post subject: Re: What religion am I?
Posted: Sun 18 Jan , 2009 8:18 am
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Few religions use "God" as the sole name for their deity, except for christianity. You said you believe in "God", not "a god". Sounds to me like some sort of christian hybrid.

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Lidless
Post subject: Re: What religion am I?
Posted: Sun 18 Jan , 2009 11:31 am
Als u het leven te ernstig neemt, mist u de betekenis.
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You're religious, but you don't have a religion. In fact you are spiritual more than religious. You have no proscribed way of getting into Heaven (that you have yet mentioned), no proscribed way in which you talk to or reach the Creator. Nothing to differentiate one religion from another. Absentee-landlord-deist-humanist kinda thing.

In fact it's probably one of the most popular 'religions' around right now: the natural stepping-stone to people believing there is no 'God', which might well be the most popular view 50 years from now.

What happens when you die? Is there a judgement involved? Different paths taken as a result? You said you are fuzzy on that, but inquiring minds want to know.

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Jonny
Post subject: Re: What religion am I?
Posted: Sun 18 Jan , 2009 3:50 pm
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TED, to me the crux of Christianity is not in the perception of one God but rather the whole saved by grace deal. Ask God to change you and he will kind of thing. All you have to do is ask, etc etc. I can't agree with that. I just used God because it's the terminology I'm familiar with. Driving force of life, whateva. We're created beings, that's about the extent of God in my beliefs. Our "eternal destination" - the state of our souls - does not rely on any sort of relationship with him/her/it/fill in the blank. And that I know from years of growing up in a Christian home is not compatible with any denomination of that religion that I know of.

Lidless, I sort of figured that humanism came into play somewhere! Honestly I need to read more into it. I suppose a lot of people are spiritual muts, just sort of piecing together what they believe as they go along from many different religions. What happens when you die... I don't believe in Hell, that's a good place to start. If I had to say something right now I would say we either are reincarnated or we go off into some infinite nether.

(but as an aside point, you gave me something to finally put in my religion section of my facebook profile - thank you!)

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“And the ship went out into the High Sea and passed into the West, until at last on a night of rain Frodo smelled a sweet fragrance on the air and heard the sound of singing that came over the water. And then it seemed to him that as in his dream in the house of Bombadil, the grey rain-curtain turned all to silver glass and was rolled back, and he beheld white shores and beyond them a far green country under a swift sunrise.”


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Lidless
Post subject: Re: What religion am I?
Posted: Sun 18 Jan , 2009 9:55 pm
Als u het leven te ernstig neemt, mist u de betekenis.
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Jonny wrote:
(but as an aside point, you gave me something to finally put in my religion section of my facebook profile - thank you!)
You did as well! :Q :cool:

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Estel
Post subject: Re: What religion am I?
Posted: Mon 19 Jan , 2009 12:45 pm
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I might use it as well, lol



except I do believe humans are basically good.


At the core, we are animals, with animal instincts. Those instincts aren't bad, just as you wouldn't call a wolf or a lion or a turtle or a horse bad. They are, simply, instincts.

At the core we are intelligent. Intelligence isn't bad. Though it can make us dangerous, it also gives us the ability to change.

At the core, we are emotional. Emotion isn't bad. Though it can make us selfish and self-obsessed, it can also make us empathetic, sympathetic and selfless.


At the core, we are what we are. There is no baseline of laziness and cruelty, and we are not born flawed.

We are, simply, human.


If there is a god, then it is, in my mind, an absentee landlord situation.

Either way, it's not some divine being that we have to have faith in. Rather we have to have faith in ourselves, in other humans, and in the way the world works.

So maybe I can't use "Absentee-landlord-deist-humanist kinda thing" on my facebook profile. My belief is, I'll be the best person I can be to those around me, and try as hard as I can not to cause harm. If there is a god system with an afterlife, hopefully that will be taken into account. If there's not, I don't care. Life is for living NOW, not living for some hope that something might come after. Doing something in life, not because it's good but because you hope that in an afterlife you'll get to live eternally in some utopia, is incredibly selfish. Heaven and hell are nothing more than carrot and stick. I hope someday humans will evolve beyond needing that in order to be good, and will just be good because it's right.


I wonder what the definition of my "religion" would be, lol ;)


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Jude
Post subject: Re: What religion am I?
Posted: Mon 19 Jan , 2009 12:52 pm
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Humanist?

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Amrunelen
Post subject: Re: What religion am I?
Posted: Sat 24 Jan , 2009 9:22 pm
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I took a quiz thing once that called me a "secular humanitarian" as my top result. I could go with that. Though usually I just go with agnostic.

YOU are your religion. :) You encompass your own "set of beliefs concerning the cause, nature, and purpose of the universe". I don't think it really needs a name. I'd believe in Jonny. ;) In my perception (hopefully not coming across sounding snobbish or something) I think people turn to a religious title when they need guidance. Seek out a set of beliefs and try them on. I've never really felt the need for that. If the day ever comes when I don't feel comfortable within myself and what I've become, well, maybe I'll need other assistance then.

I go by agnostic, indeed believing that as a human being I don't have the comprehension to recognize a god/cosmic force/bunch of aliens that made us or whatever. But among my "religions" are love, respect, goodwill towards men, equality, empathy, and so forth.

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and the blue sky, and in the mind of man; a motion and a
spirit, that impels." -Wordsworth


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Crucifer
Post subject: Re: What religion am I?
Posted: Sat 24 Jan , 2009 11:06 pm
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I'd call you a Jonnyist, Jonny. Or a common-senseist... Or something.

Personally, I waver between anglicanism and agnosticism and sometimes downright atheism. I'm an inconsistantalist. :cheers:

One of my fundamental beliefs is that while aloneness is great, loneliness isn't, and humans aren't supposed to live alone. What keeps us going, what I really believe is the path (are the path) to spiritual enlightenment, Nirvana, Zazen, heaven, whatever you want to call it, are the connections we make with people and with the world around us. For me, that often takes the form of music. I find that the closest I come to an unshakeable faith is when I listen to the likes of Messiaen and John Tavener, who both wrote music inspired by a line, even a word, of religious text. Tavener even more so, especially in his later years as his music transcends religious definition: his Lament for Jerusalem contains lines from Christian (Orthodox and otherwise), Jewish and Muslim texts. However, other pieces such as Shos. 5, third movement, Mozart piano Concerto in A minor, second movement, and especially music like plainsong have all brought me to what I like to think of as a higher state of being, where I'm lost in the simple yet sweeping lines. Even 'wonder' from LotR the musical, and Disney's 'Candle on the Water' have brought me there. At these times, I firmly believe that music is the voice of a god. Any god. Music is, in my opinion, one of the finest arguments for the existence of a god.

That and feet, for some reason. Feet fascinate me. They're so intricately built. They're my argument for intelligent creationism.

So what am I? A music-footist? :scratch:

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Estel
Post subject: Re: What religion am I?
Posted: Sun 25 Jan , 2009 12:45 am
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Crucifer wrote:
At these times, I firmly believe that music is the voice of a god. Any god. Music is, in my opinion, one of the finest arguments for the existence of a god.

Yes. Music is the only reason I'm agnostic, not atheist. Any random time during the day if you ask me if I believe in god, I'd probably say not really, but if there is music on, I'd probably say yes.


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