Zone1 My religious journey.

[PredFan]

The question must be asked, what is this current state of suffering to various degrees all about?

It seems to me the world is nothing but a gigantic threshing floor, to separate the chaff from the wheat as the wheat is pounded into oblivion.

This threshing is the suffering we experience, so it has a purpose.

If not, what do you think the purpose is?

No sure what the purpose is. Maybe humans can't live in a world without suffering or strife. I think there's some truth to that. If we didn't have suffering, we'd create it. God knows, even if we do not.

 

[PredFan]

Perfect.

 

[PredFan]

Were you relying on the historical events of both Christianity and Chariots of the Gods to determine truth?

Hey, I was 16 years old.

 

[Woodznutz]

Nobody needs an organized church to have faith, show genuine gratitude, believe that there's something out there bigger than you, and to understand that we're not all merely some cosmic coincidence.

At this time, I believe that God has 'smitten' the shepherd and scattered the flock. Therefore, every true Christian should gird their loins against what is surely coming. Stick to the faith once delivered, and make your calling and election sure.

 

[The Irish Ram]

Some of you might enjoy this.

I was raised Catholic. As a kid I went to catechism (catholic version of Bible school) on Saturdays and church on Sundays. I was an Alterboy as soon as I was old enough and up until i was about 13. In my teenage years (during the late 60s and early 70s) I drifted away from church and religion in general, something that wasn't unusual for those rebellious times, but I didn't consider myself an atheist at all.

Right around that time, a movie was made and released called "Chariots of the Gods". If you never saw it, it tried to prove that aliens had come to earth and were the cause of humans worshipping Gods. It claimed that things like the pyramids, the Nasca Lines, the Easter Island heads, Stonehenge and a host of other monuments are all made by aliens. the main gist of it was that we worship aliens that we call God. Well, I fell for it hook, line, and sinker (hey, I was like 16 years old).

I became absolutely convinced that the God and his son that I had been raised to worship were actually aliens. I remember that it seemed to explain everything. How "God" created man by altering the genetic makeup of apes (DNA = dust), the "burning bush" speaking to Moses, the "Virgin birth" of Jesus (artificial insemination), the basket of loaves and fishes that never emptied (teleporting), the raising of the dead (medicine or possibly an advanced method that we know nothing about), and the curing of leprosy. There are more but you get the picture. It seemed as if every miracle of the Bible could easily be explained by alien technology.

I was still, not technically an atheist.

Then, maybe 3-5 years later, I was home one Saturday morning flipping through channels when I came upon a show where scientists were going around the world debunking everything that was used in the movie as proof. I won't go into details for each one but just as an example, they showed that the Easter Island heads were made by ordinary islanders and they showed where they were made and even some of the half-finished heads still lying in the pits where they were created. They also showed how easy it would be to make the figures on the Nasca Plains in Peru. My whole belief system was shattered, and I was extremely embarrassed that I was taken in so easily. Right then and there i became a complete skeptic and vowed I would never be taken in by anything ever again.

At that point I was an Atheist.

I remained an atheist for many years, but as I grew older, got married and had children, life softened my stand. I witnessed things that ate away at my belief in pure chance and coincidence. I changed my stance to "Intelligent Design" where I believed in a higher power but didn't accept any one religion's dogma. However, I did attend Catholic Church with my wife and growing children. I believed that my children needed the basic religious upbringing and could decide for themselves what to believe when they were adults. gradually, I returned to God and Christianity, though I didn't and still don't, accept all of the dogma surrounding modern christianity.

Currently, I believe in God, though I do not know exactly who or what God is. I don't think we can ever know until we pass on from this world. I do not believe in hell. I believe that God knows a hell of a lot more than we can even comprehend and that eternal damnation is a human construct. I believe that the Bible was written by humans under the guidance of God and that it was never meant to be a factual historical record. It is a book about how to live your life according to God, and is meant to guide us through this world. I believe in evolution, I have studied Evolutionary Theory and the more I learn and observe, the more I see God's hand in it.

I have been blessed in my life, especially recently. I cannot count the many ways God has blessed me. My beautiful and wonderful wife is my #1 blessing, my wonderful children, my happiness, and my family's happiness are some of the blessings. I cannot have been this lucky, and I surely didn't achieve all this with my wits. There is a God and for reasons unknown to me, he has seen fit to reward me for something. though I know not what or why, I think him every single day.

Maybe I'm the Prodigal Son? I don't know by am grateful.

Anyway fwiw, that's my religious journey.

Props to your parents.
Proverbs 22:6 Train up a child in the way he should go: and when he is old, he will not depart from it.

God's grace is giving us what we don't deserve. God's mercy is sparing us from what we do deserve. Because He loves us.
You are indeed a prodigal son...

 

[luiza]

Your journey has been broadly been my own OP .

However , you should have run with the Alien connection in parallel with your move to general greater spiritual enlightenment .

I would love to know what pecking order there is between us and Alien races in this general context . If any .

Do we move to their attainments with their full help and assistance ?
At what point do we merge and how does that come about ?

And a great deal more .

 

[DGS49]

With the decline of Catholic schools, this is fading away, but a BIG PROBLEM with Catholic schools of the past was the number of people who went to Catholic grade school, then public high school, and never continued their Catholic education. Then, when they were adults and seeking the answers to serious theological and moral questions they looked back at what they were taught (or not taught) in Catholic grade school, and concluded that the Catholic Church only makes sense if you are a child. The "answers" they provided you in school were childish - literally.

If they had continued their Catholic education through HS and beyond, they would know that the Catholic Church does have answers to complex questions and moral conundrums, but they are simply not suitable for teaching to 10-year-olds.

Going to church and listening to sermons is also unsatisfying, as they are generally directed to a grade school level of sophistication, so you go through your adult life thinking that the Catholic Church simply has no answers. You have to do a little digging - even YouTube is a good resource now - but how many adults in our hyper-secular age are motivated to deeply explore religion, morality, theology, and holiness? Not many, I suspect.

If these thoughts describe you, I would suggest a quick form of shock therapy in the form of a Catholic apologist called, Eric Metaxas. Just search his name, click on a few videos, and hold on to your seat.

 

[forkintheroad7]

I have been blessed in my life, especially recently. I cannot count the many ways God has blessed me. My beautiful and wonderful wife is my #1 blessing, my wonderful children, my happiness, and my family's happiness are some of the blessings. I cannot have been this lucky, and I surely didn't achieve all this with my wits. There is a God and for reasons unknown to me, he has seen fit to reward me for something. though I know not what or why, I think him every single day.

Maybe I'm the Prodigal Son? I don't know by am grateful.

Anyway fwiw, that's my religious journey.

The devil blesses people or maybe I should say allows them to be blessed (by not attacking them) because he WANTS you to get stuck on the things and people of this world so you will end up in Hell..

so there is that