Personal question I know but I always wonder that about people. Always want to ask if they have one if not what do you think about heaven hell and all that. I believe there is a God and I have a choice to live with Him in my life or not. SO I do. I'm Christian. With out it I would be lost. Very lost. It grounds me.

What do you believe in? I believe in God and just a natural force the universe has.

I'm raised a Roman Catholic. I believe there's a God.

I also believe in Guardian Angels. May sound weird, I know, but... I just believe there's someone, something, a Guardian, on my side.

I believe in science/nature/people/myself.
I don't believe in any god, any higher power. The Earth was created in a natural process, people evolved from lower creatures. There is nobody watching over us, nobody judging us from above and nobody to bow to. I've been raised in catholic religion and I took most important sacraments (at first I was oblivious and then I was forced to do it), but at the end of the day I reject any faith. I'm an atheist.

I don't care about any religions, I'm tolerant as long as people don't try to enforce their doctrines on me.

I believe in a guardian also. My angel has probably had many break downs by now because it's been with me through many of bad,weird,accidents and lots of pain. :) My angel is probably wishing they had someone else to guard by now. :)

Yeah I never do that. I don 't want to force feed anyone. I say what I believe in and if they don't its cool. I wouldn't want someone trying to do that to me. And I'm not a person that says well I'm not talking to you over it either. I just wouldn't like it if some one wouldn't talk to ME because of what I believe in. That would suck because I'm not like that and don't understand why,,you know? No matter what anyone believes in,I think we should be tolerant of every one in this world cause either way you look at,were here together and have to live with each other. We need understanding.

Don't know if any of that made any sense...I've been up all night drinking lots DR.PEPPER I'm half asleep and also have a caffeine buzz at the same time :blink:

sorry for the offtop, but I hate Dr.Pepper :lol:

But yeah, you're right, we need understanding and tolerance.
It's good to talk about our believes, if you are able to talk about your religion it means that you know why you believe, you see some sense in it.

I am a pagan, been one since high school. I was raised Catholic, but I felt nothing for it, it was very dull and boring, and I felt numb. My belief is that religion should be an exhilirating experience, feeling like you're communing with a higher power. It shouldn't be about sitting in church bored shitless.

Since I am a pagan (unafiliated one, I don't subscribe to any specific type) and a social/cultural conservative (paleolibertarian), I get a lot of crap :ugh: . I've talked with "conservatives" of the neo kind who tell me I am going to hell, that pagans do nothing but have wild orgies, sacrifice babies, and are immoral, perverted, and "liberal". :rolleyes: It's hard to talk to shitheads like that, they ought to stop watching the Wicker Man.

As for religious tolerance, for me, it goes like this: I got mine, Mine is right for me. You got yours, yours is right for you. I don't bother you, you don't bother me. Okay. I have no problem with Christians, or any other monontheistic or polytheistic faith, as long as they don't shove it down my throat. My problem is with people saying their's in the one true faith, that everyone else is going to hell. This seems to be a problem amongst the more fundamentalist Christians, I'm not talking about anyone here, I'm talking about the Jerry Falwell types. And this is my two cents. :)

I pretty much agree with Agnes, although I consider myself to be an agnostic, not an atheist. But I, too, believe in myself, other people, science and the nature.

And again, like Agnes said, "I don't care about any religions, I'm tolerant as long as people don't try to enforce their doctrines on me." But I do like to get to know "exotic" religions. Exotic in this case being something that I am not very familiar with.

Ahh great to have someone who also believes in Guardians.
Being my Guardian must be a tough job too :lol:

Yeah, I'm not going to church that much. It's boring. I always say "You don't have to go to Church to believe."



I have someone on MSN, and in her name stood "Believe in yourself, but don't make it a religion." :lol:

I'm a Christan and went to Church a few times when I was little. I don't believe I have to go to a building with people to worship. I do it everyday in my heart at home.

I also don't understand some of my fellow believers. I know some who would ask your religion and if you said I don't believe in God they would say your going to hell for that one!! Are you crazy?? Do you know what's going to happen to you? I'm not talking to you any more.

First off, that's not a very Christan thing to do. Our Bibles states to Love thy neighbor and do not judge others. Treat others as you'd like to be treated. And here they are doing that. Just doesn't seem right,you know? :blink: But if they want to act that way,it's them. They need understanding so badly. And also know you cant will someone to join you in your belief by putting them down and trying to make them feel like shit. Makes me sad.Some think ALL Christians are this way. Gives us a bad rep.

I also believe in nature to be healing and that people hold a certain power all of their own.


I have a question though. For those who don 't believe in God,what do you think happens when you die? Do you think you go somewhere or just...kaput and your gone?

Do you believe we have some sort of spirit that lives on?

If it had been scientifically proved that there was life, or something, after death, I would believe it. But to me that just seems like a pretty huge thing just to believe in. The same with religion itself. Because a book says there's a god, does that make it true? (And yeah, I know that people have different reasons for believing in god, or gods, which is fine by me. And I know that some people believe that god has spoken to them, or they have somehow else felt god's presence, that's also fine. I respect that and all, but the only reason for me to believe would be the fore mentioned book...) Anyway, I just can't believe in something that big without having scientific proof... So, I'll just go with the "I don't know" stance. :)

Personally, I expect NOTHING after death :D No pain, no suffering, but also no heaven. To have another life would be cool, but I highly doubt it will happen :P

I'm kinda weird when it comes to believing in something. It's like I believe it, but only partly. For example the life after death. I'd love it to be true and I KINDA believe in it. I just have no proof at all and that prevents me of being a convinced believer.
The same goes for having had previous lives. I think it's a very interesting theory and I've met multiple people that are convinced that they had previous lives. And yes, I partly believe in it. I mean, why is it that we have fears but don't know why we have them? A friend of mine is affraid of water and doesn't like to go on boats. She believes that she drowned in a previous life.
I really find this to be fascinating.

Overall, I'm very down to earth. I do not believe in all the bible magic. Sure, I believe Jesus existed, but all the stuff like walking over water is IMO a result of mutated stories through generations.
And I'm that kind of person that has to see it before he believes it. Like all that crap of UFO's or ghosts...I've never seen one so I'm not open to it.
I do respect people who claim to have seen angels, ghosts, UFO's and I take them seriously most of the time. I find this to be fascinating too. Also a bit scary (when it's about ghosts).

That sounds a lot like agnosticism.
I'm an agnostic and it may be considered as a sit on the fence attitude but its probably the most truthful stance for me.
It is based on the premise that we cannot account for God but we cannot say he doesn't exist. Absence of evidence isn't necessarily evidence of absence. Although most evidence points more in one direction than the other. I have a quest for certain knowledge and i don't think there are many absolutes in this world. And when talking about anything supernatural that is outside your experience, it cannot be certain and i cant believe in it.

Sometimes faith seems like wishful thinking to me...like perhaps the notion of guardian angels (which is a really lovely idea) might be wishful thinking or hope that someone is looking after you.

My questions therefore because of agnosticism aren't to do with God's existence because i dont think we can work out whether he exists or not but to do with...what is a God? why do we worship Gods? If he existed why would he want to be worshipped? Is he perfect, all knowing, all wise and all powerful? And if not...what's so special about him? Is he a him or is he an entity?
Why do i ask these questions? Because if he exists, i'm not worshipping him/her/it. I don't believe in worshipping things. I believe in appreciating things...like some pagans seems to appreciate more than worship. Worship seems to be a very unhealthy state of mind. Worship seems too much like massaging someone ego (God's ego?).

I'm in between dystheism and maltheism...it depends on my mood...sometimes i hate the idea of God/s...not just christian, i mean even polytheistic ones and sometimes i believe that God/s don't necessarily need to be wholly good to worship or appreciate them.
I have more a tendency to dislike the Christian God. I just dont understand why people think worshipping God is what he wants. I mean if he was perfect...he wouldn't have a desire to be worshipped...why would he want to be worshipped if he's not insecure.
He seems to have a lot of personality traits in the bible that seem awfully human to me.

Simple...don't know. There are theories, some more probable than others. It is probable that you'll die and well that's it...and that might seem depressing but you wont be aware.
My wishful thinking dreaming side hopes that we get to choose what we want to do with ourselves if our previous lives weren't erm...good.
Or like...with donating your organs that you get to donate your energy or whatever to something. I dunno...i want to be a tree when i die...i dont want to be aware im a tree but id love it if someone came down and said, yeah when you die your essence is gonna grow into a tree to combat global warming. Trees are great...you can make the earth breathe and loads of animals can live on you. It's so much better than heaven. Heaven would be knowing that's what happens to me. It's like a 10 second sigh of relief and then you die with a smile on your face knowing that you dying would probably help more animals than you actually would when you live.

But these are just dreams, i have no faith in them, its just hopes. I can't believe that a spirit lives on although sometimes i do have a certain attatchment to trees and nature.

I'm a non-denominational Christian. I believe in *most* things that the majority of Christians believe in. If people don't have any religion, I'm pretty tolerant of that, as long as they don't try to convert me to athiesm or insult me for having a different world view than they do.

I found my God at 13. Before that I was like no way. Didn't believe. SO I can understand where some of you are coming from. I've been there. I asked all those questions. But for some unknown reason,when I was 13,it was like something snapped inside. Ok like,you know when you've have just to much to deal with and your on the edge and then BAM something else happens and you just loose it and snap? I just snapped. Something snapped. And I told my Dad I all the sudden believed and that was that. Have been a believer every since! weird....

I do wonder if before we are judged if our spirit\soul gets to roam. I believe that you die,and then have to wait till Christ comes back and then that's judgment day. You don 't go to heaven or hell right when you die. So I wonder what do we do in the mean time. I have been studying heavily about ghost. And plus my own experiences add to it. And my "experiences" have been many lately.


And then theres my Grandpa. When I was around 6,he had cancer and said he had 6 months to live. It started as testicular cancer,spread to lungs then to brain!! He was pretty much eaten up. I was bracing for impact. I'm 25 and he is still alive! All the cancer just left...even the DR done more test to compare and prove it was really his results. He was dumbfounded like the rest of us. He's just recently started to go down hill abit But he is still alive and he's 70 something now! No cancer. He said he was lying in bed and an out reached arm dressed in white,with a hand appeared to him and waved over his body and at first he was afraid because he thought he was dying but when the arm\hand went away, he felt healed and better and he was.

THATS A TRUE STORY! Not trying to push God on anyone,just wanted to share. You have to admit believing in God or not when stuff like that happens for what ever reason,it's awesome . :horns2 Lot's of this stuff happens everyday. Can't explain why.

Well I will say this. For about two years, I was an athiest. I didn't believe in any God (I just told this story on PPM, funny!). Pretty much what happened is, I started asking questions, and found out that asking critical questions about "science" and "darwinism" is not allowed, so I became sceptical of it all, and actually started looking into it more. Then learning about mathematical probability, and realizing that the mathematical probability of a single protein molecule "evolving" from random amino acids floating around in ooze is pretty much as possible as throwing Scrabble pieces up in the air and having them all land on the ground in alphabetical order. Or perhaps randomly hitting keys on a keyboard and ending up with this exact paragraphy that I'm tying right now. I concluded that there had to be some sort of divine design, and that science was coming to truth, wherever that truth lands. For me, it logically landed with Intelligent design and God. And that's when I truly "found" God and started defining myself as a non-denominational Christian.

non-denominational Christian sounds like me also. Because there is alot that I don't agree with when it come to some Christians

Like the color black = devil

Any 4 letter word is like a sin or something

Alcohol = devil

Heavy metal and rock =devil

for me,black = only a color. It's slimming and doesn't show a lot of dirt!

Fuck is just a word. I haven't seen in the Bible not to say those words. Only to not take the Lords name in vein which,I don't.

Alcohol is just a drink

heavy metal and rock is just music.

Also don't agree when they say you get a tattoo your doing wrong. I can not imagine the God I follow saying 'Nope! you had some ink on your body so your not getting in. You were a good person and believed in me but doesn't matter cause you had ink." Nope. Me no think so!! If you body is your temple why not adorn it? Temples and churches usually have stained glass windows and pretty wooded pews and what not. So I think we should do some adorning if we wish. I'll have a tat one day if I live long enough. I want a cross on the back of my neck with the number 3 in the middle. Long story but 3 seems to be my number, Shows up in my life A LOT.

God, and Paranormal stuff i'm into that stuff,

I'm Roman Catholic, although I don't agree with everything the church does. I don't believe in shoving any belief down anyone's throat.

The thing is about intelligent design is that the creator doesn't necessarily have to be a God just has to have enough knowledge and power to make the parts function like clockwork. I have a bone to pick with science because i feel that a lot of people "believe" in it which means they have faith in it...and it starts to become a religion. Doing things in the name of science. In the holecaust several inventions and logical thinking were used in the final solution but the notion to kill jews based on a pseudoscientific principle was irrational. But these racial views were pushed by science...and because people had a faith in science, it was legitimised and not questioned. And so...you have orthodoxies like Darwinism and Gravity theories that no ones allowed to question...coz if u did you'd undermine their power base and their certainty. I don't think their certain otherwise you wouldn't have other theories saying other things. But it is best to go with the most rational theory when dealing with things that are seperate from humans....when you start being overly rational with humans, something wrong starts to happen. There is a certain coldness and detachment in rationality.

ME TOO!!! Love it!! Well not so much God because I already believe He's real but paranormal and stuff ooo yeah!!!! There is an old house round here that people swear is haunted. It's over 100 years old and there is a grave yard in back of past family. Everyone that moves in moves out with in months. It's abandoned now. I know who owns it. I'd love to see if I could spend the night it there.
maybe one of these years I'll contact him and ask him if I can. I say he would. He's always been nice to my family. That'd be sweet! :nanner:

Im the type if I hear a noise I go see what it is. Dad said to me "That's not brave you dumbass that's stupid" :lol: :lol:

I like james is tatto ^^ it has Jues, Show that to your mothers!

He has some praying hands and a few cross to doesn't he?? I'm sure one of the other gals will confirm if I'm right or not :biggrin

yes hes dose :D

Well, I do believe in Something. I have not worked it out yet, I'm still trying to find my way because there's something in me that simply rebels against the tought of having this sort of supernatural master; but on the other hand it's good to know there's something up there looking after us. Not really sure yet about this Something.
Regarding life, I believe in a life after death which is not necessarily related to the existence of a god or gods. I do believe there's an afterdeath and I also believe in reincarnation, in past lives.
Sorry, it's very confused but you know I started to reflect on it not very long ago, as soon as I had enough elements. Hope I'll clear my mind. :biggrin

I belive in GOD, my family, my friends and me.

I don't believe in god who's supposed to have created all of us, but then again I can't deny that he doesn't exist.

I DO believe that there's some sort of higher power, maybe you can call that god again, I don't know.

But then again, I don't believe in anything.

My religious belief can be shaped like warm wax. I don't know whether I should call that good or bad.

Maybe I'll start searching for a religion/belief which just fits me and I can settle at.

But I don't want to be dependent from my belief *shrugs*

Sorry if I wrote shit, I recently wrote two novel-like messages to a friend of mine and thus my brain's like a drained sponge..

it sounded weird to read that you are "pretty tolerant of people that don't have any religion"...plain weird if you ask me. it's never wrong not to believe in anything. it's sometimes wrong to believe in some "religious" stuff not to mention few other sick cults runed by freaks...

and then i don't know how people could try to convert someone to atheism since atheism isn't supposed to be a religion, but i guess i see what you are talking about few people i know are satanist and try to convince people to give up on christianity and stuff i don't think it's right even tho i'm not christian nor whatever.

i'm not even baptized. i don't believe in anything except nature, individuals, karma somehow and that's basically it.

oh and by the way i hate hardcore christians that send me messages on myspace because i listen to black metal sometimes...jesus is supposed to save me ? right...from what exactly ?

i'll never go to hell. and i'll not go to heaven either. i'm not going (back) anywhere else that's not where i am right now allready. mother earth.

It's not weird at all to say that. I'm very tolerant of athiests, agnostics, and everything in between. I've found, however, that such people can be very intollerant of religious folk -- much more intollerant than religious folk are of non-religious folk.

Athiesm is in itself a belief system. If it weren't, then there would be absolutely no heated debates between athiests and religious people. Why would an athiest care if someone believes in heaven? After all, if there is nothing at the end of the road, then why waste precious time arguing over something that doesn't exist. However, I've found myself being attacted by athiests here, and elsewhere such as PPM, completely unprovoked, for having a religion. I've been called names, had my intelligence questioned, and had my belief system trampled on and disrespected for no reason at all. So again, as long as athiests don't try to convert me via insult and provocation to their belief system or world view, I'm fine co-existing.

I've found myself being attacked for no reason as well...like you can't be a Christian and listen to that music or get a tat or wear black so much or yadda yadda

I really don't think when my judgment day comes I'm not getting in the gates because I had some ink on my body.i was fond of a certain color or listen to a certain music. That's one of the main things Christians are taught not to do....judge! But yet alot do... and if they think their judging in the name of the Lord for me thats not right either. he is the best judge there is and is perfectly capable of judging and needs no help.

And "bad words" fuck is a word and i've yet to read in my bible that has a list of those words to not say...thats some man made shit. only thing is not to take the Lords name in vein...so I wont say that. but thats all. It's not what you wear or hear or say it's what you feel in your heart that gets you through those precious gates...

I've been baptized a few years ago and my life style has not changed and I don't feel it needs to. My soul changed and that is what matters. The God I follow and believe in is full of understanding and love. he understands me and knows what i think and feel in my heart and IMO that's what matters to him and that's all that matter to me.


I have a question.........anyone here do Wiccian? Care to explain? Yes I could look it up but I like first hand accounts!!

Some atheists say agnostics are just people sitting on the fence....i get offended actually sometimes coz i think i'm right in saying we dont have certain knowledge of God existing or not existing. So i'm just being honest. Atheism isnt a religion but it has the word...believe in it.
They believe he doesn't exist....they dont KNOW...I KNOW that i don't KNOW if God exists or not. That is certain and that is the truth.

Agnostics wouldnt try and convert, they would just say recognise your doubt in both cases. And the truth is we dont know if he exists or not and that actually goes for a lot of other situations...like, the sun rising tommorow. 99% probability it will...1% probability it'll blow up. But you think or believe it will rise tommorow. :D

Same here!

For the most part, I'm with Raquel and Kanna on this one.

At age ten, I chose to be an atheist because nothing made sense, and let's face it, a lot of "Christians" like Jerry Falwell and George W. Bush shoot the name of Christianity down into the mud and push a lot of people away from Christ. I was one of those people.

For seven long years I remained an atheist. I mocked religion and would have nothing to do with it. Then one day, a friend at work and I were talking about music. She invited me to her church to sing with them, and told me about how she had accepted Christ as her savior and that it had changed her life. I didn't believe in that, of course, but decided I wanted to sing in the choir, so I went to church to sing. I would leave the choir when finished and not stick around for the sermon.

People at the church talked about God working in their lives everyday like they talked about the weather. They were true, genuine, honest people and I could tell that there had to be something real about the way they were living. So I stuck around for the sermon. Then my new friends at church said that I should at least give it a try - to accept Christ as my personal savior. This was not a RELIGION, a bunch of people just blindly GOING THROUGH THE MOTIONS of rituals. They had a real God in their lives and hearts, and I decided, why not give it a try?

So I prayed each day. Basically, accepting Christ goes way back to Adam and Eve. Adam and Eve were God's creation and were perfect, in paradise with the Lord. But then they sinned - they disobeyed their Creator - and now all humans after them have sinned too. We can try to be as good as we want, but our goodness will never be enough. Jesus died for our sins, and is the only savior. With that being said I prayed this, accepting Him as Lord and Savior.

My entire life changed. Atheists have to fight through the world alone and try desperately to control everything, but although it is hard to admit, controlling one's entire own life is impossible. Somebody created us, and to me, it is best to answer to that somebody. Jesus is the only one who died and rose again and that was what convinced me that he is the true Lord - not Buddha, Brahma, Muhammed, etc.

As an atheist that had a medical disorder that ruined my childhood, I hated the world. I hated everybody and everything around me and was basically miserable as I fought the world by myself. Never would I have turned to anything that was nothing but a "religion" or list of rules - ever. This is real, it has changed my life and my heart, and I have completely changed and learned how to love. I hadn't even believed in love before, but through Christ I now know it.

So with that being said, it is wrong to "force this down people's throats". Everybody has free will, and will either choose it or they won't. My own parents have not accepted this, so it would be foolish for me to expect others to turn to it out of my own convincing. All I am going to say is this - I am concerned about the eternal souls of others. (A true Christian would not minister to others for their own vanity, but for the glory of Christ who saved us.) I love all of you on this forum as my sisters and really would love to see you in Heaven with me, but it is up to you what you believe in, or if you even believe in Heaven, and I know that's the bottom line.

Personally as an atheist, death really did scare the crap out of me . . . without a High Creator, do we really have a purpose or reason for being here? I personally just can't see any reason without a Creator who wanted us to be here.

You are right about many things, God is not going to judge you because you have a tattoo, drink, swear, etc. People don't realize that they can come to Christ JUST THE WAY THEY ARE, and then He will do the work if He really wants to change their heart.

If you do the work yourself to stop swearing, drinking, etc, it is fake, and there was no point in Jesus dying on the cross for our sins!

As for wearing black, God definitely isn't going to judge that. 1 Samuel 16:7 says "The Lord does not look at the things man looks at. Man looks at the outward appearance, but the Lord looks at the heart."

So you can throw that one at people who say you're a Christian and can't wear black!

The book of Leviticus says that you shouldn't tattoo your body, but with that being said, the Old Testament is the old law. I said to a Christian friend of mine (now speaking of Wicca, he used to be a Wiccan who recently got saved) that I couldn't tell him not to get a tattoo, but make sure it's okay with God first. Pray about it. I personally wouldn't but that is my personal conviction and we all have different personal convictions.

My language changed in the sense that I do not take the Lord's name in vain anymore either. I do think there is a balance with the swearing as not to be conservative about it, but at the same time it just doesn't minister to others if we are swearing in every other sentence . . . just a thought, nothing more.

The major change in me was abstaining from fornication. I used to have no limits, but through the grace of Christ, He changed my heart. It wasn't me who made myself stop wanting sex. I can honestly say now that I no longer have a desire, and would be perfectly fine never having it again. Meaning God wanted me to stop.

All I can say is this - nobody is saying you have to change your lifestyle, necessarily, but be open to what God might want for you. That's all.

I agree when it comes to god and I'm a roman catholic...but angels? I'm not sure...I kinda believe it and sometimes I don't...

I also believe in the science. God gave us an wonderful mind so we could explore it and help ourselves...


God wants us to live our life and not always wait for divine intervention...


I also like to believe in the goodness of people...tho in this violent times its kinda hard...

but I'm an optimistic... :biggrin

Well im not going to heaven...not interested in it. And i am seriously fine without God, i hope with all my heart he doesn't exist because i just dont like the idea of God. I will not worship him...i could appreciate him maybe but worship. Nein nein.

I dont feel safe with God. I fear the idea of God, its not free...heaven wont be free therefore it cannot be heaven for me. Heaven would be without a God and without authority. If God wants me to go to heaven then he must create a heaven for me without me knowing his presence otherwise if i meet him, i'll have some very choice words for him.

This is all hypothetical but i will not accept. Relationships between man/woman and God remind me of BDSM.

BDSM? Sorry I don't follow?

Man. I used to be just like you. Didn't want to submit to anybody or anything, didn't want God to exist, didn't want to go to Heaven.

I understand you 100%. I was there.

But I did not change for nothing. Christians are not SLAVES to God. Does it look like we're doormats? No way. It's hard to explain that "submit" does not mean "be a doormat". It's about somebody that can do anything (unlike a man) and created everything and everybody, so therefore He really knows what's best. It is FAR from humans who could never really know what is best for anything.

Can I ask you, out of curiosity, what brought you to that decision?

There were a lot of things that made me an atheist at the time I was, and I wasn't looking for the truth either. I just didn't care. But how can you not be disturbed at the idea of being NOTHING after death?

sometimes I wish I didn't believe so much 'cause I'm reallly afraid to go to hell...