Religion...
Well, see the thing is I don't really know what religion I am. I'm f*cking 13 for Whoever's sakes! Right now I'm looking into every religion I hear about, researching it, and basing what one I join on my beliefs, though some of what I read is shaping my beliefs as well.
So really, things from the Bible will only confuse me. One of the main reasons - and this will sound shallow unless I explain it, which I will - that I don't just jump right into Christianity is that I can't understand any of the Bible, and whatever I can understand brings me more frustrating questions.
See, my belief is why be a part of a religion that makes no sense? The Bible is one of the most important parts of Christianity, and if I can't understand it how can I understand the religion at all?
If something makes no sense to me to the point where it's frustrating, and it's frustrating to the point where I want to chuck it at a wall and burn it, is it really for me?
At the moment I'm looking into Judaism. Right now my beliefs are a sort of mixture of Christianity and Judaism, which means there's no church for me and no holy book or whatever for me to read that will throw a little of this religion sh*t into perspective for me.
I'm trying to find myself in every way I can, religion included. I need a religious identity as well as any other kind of identity. A religious identity helps make up an overall identity, the way I see it.
So yeah. Anything Biblical confuses the crap outta me.
I'm not gonna be an atheist, because I do believe that God exists. I'm just not sure who He really is or what He does for us. Was Jesus really the Messiah? They say that he said to prove he was he would die, be dead for three days, and then rise from the dead.
Nobody saw Jesus rise. My grandma asked, "If Jesus wasn't the Messiah, and someone really stole His body, why didn't they fess up and give it back?"
There are a few reasons that this COULD HAVE happened.
First of all, maybe His disciples felt bad for turning from Him, so they stole His body to make it up to Him so they really would believe He was the Messiah.
Secondly, maybe whoever stole His body didn't want to fess up because they didn't want to be in trouble.
I don't know. The whole Jesus thing is perplexing, to say the least. All religion is perplexing.
Atheism is a religion, too. I'd like to point that out. Their belief is that there is no God. Their belief.
I dunno. Religion just confuses the shit outta me. What're you gonna do, y'know? I guess it doesn't have to make sense, or maybe it's just not supposed to and I'm overthinking things a little bit. Okay, a lot-tle bit. But I'm sure I'll find the right one for me someday.
So really, things from the Bible will only confuse me. One of the main reasons - and this will sound shallow unless I explain it, which I will - that I don't just jump right into Christianity is that I can't understand any of the Bible, and whatever I can understand brings me more frustrating questions.
See, my belief is why be a part of a religion that makes no sense? The Bible is one of the most important parts of Christianity, and if I can't understand it how can I understand the religion at all?
If something makes no sense to me to the point where it's frustrating, and it's frustrating to the point where I want to chuck it at a wall and burn it, is it really for me?
At the moment I'm looking into Judaism. Right now my beliefs are a sort of mixture of Christianity and Judaism, which means there's no church for me and no holy book or whatever for me to read that will throw a little of this religion sh*t into perspective for me.
I'm trying to find myself in every way I can, religion included. I need a religious identity as well as any other kind of identity. A religious identity helps make up an overall identity, the way I see it.
So yeah. Anything Biblical confuses the crap outta me.
I'm not gonna be an atheist, because I do believe that God exists. I'm just not sure who He really is or what He does for us. Was Jesus really the Messiah? They say that he said to prove he was he would die, be dead for three days, and then rise from the dead.
Nobody saw Jesus rise. My grandma asked, "If Jesus wasn't the Messiah, and someone really stole His body, why didn't they fess up and give it back?"
There are a few reasons that this COULD HAVE happened.
First of all, maybe His disciples felt bad for turning from Him, so they stole His body to make it up to Him so they really would believe He was the Messiah.
Secondly, maybe whoever stole His body didn't want to fess up because they didn't want to be in trouble.
I don't know. The whole Jesus thing is perplexing, to say the least. All religion is perplexing.
Atheism is a religion, too. I'd like to point that out. Their belief is that there is no God. Their belief.
I dunno. Religion just confuses the shit outta me. What're you gonna do, y'know? I guess it doesn't have to make sense, or maybe it's just not supposed to and I'm overthinking things a little bit. Okay, a lot-tle bit. But I'm sure I'll find the right one for me someday.
Religion.
its a funny thing.
i dont have one and i dont care
fruit_baskets, June 4th, 2009 at 02:35:44pm
The Bible can be hard to understand and in fact many people say that. I still read from a children's Bible because it's helped me to understand God's word more.
While reading the Bible is a big part of being a Christian, you could always look for a person who knows the word of God well. Someone who could explain it in simpler terms to you. Though people can be misleading, if you can find someone who you know can tell you a lot of true information about the Bible, that is a good beginning.
I would also recommend visiting churches in your area until you find one that explains God's word better for you, in a more understandable way. At some point everyone questions religion. I think the beauty in that is how close it can bring you to God.
Jesse Lacey, April 19th, 2009 at 05:43:34pm
there are easier to understand versions of the Bible, you know. there are several versions that are plainly worded without any of the "thy"/"thou" and that kind of language. if you're curious, check out the "New International Version", its really easily worded
by the by, Judaism encompasses just less than half of the Bible as well, the entire Old Testament, so the Bible is still part of that. Chrsitianity is obviously the whole Bible, Hinduism has the Upanishads AND the Vedas which are both incredibly hard to understand (i've read a lot of them), and Buddhism doesn't have a God, so.... confusing religious texts are going to be kind of hard to avoid.
Miley Cyrus, April 18th, 2009 at 04:50:15pm
i think religion is stupid- at least in any organized form.
once you turn it into a business-thats what any major church or religion really is- i think you lose sight of what religion actually is, or should be anyway: a way for people to find peace with their issues.
whatever it is you believe, most religions help you to feel secure with the unknown in life. a lot of them also try and make you feel small and unworthy along the way.
i think you're on the right path. reading, researching, whatever- just find your own beliefs. just remember: choosing a religion to follow, if you dont wanna be hypocritical, will mean rejecting all of the beliefs you've come to have along the way. .__. i dont think ive made much sense.
you should check out some budhism. i dunno what its like if you dig pretty deep, but there are a lot of really interesting concepts as far as the basics go.
banquo, April 18th, 2009 at 03:34:22am
I understand completely what you mean by not understanding. When I was your age I was completely lost when it came to God. Yeah I went to a Christian Catholic Church. That was where my parents dragged me. To put it in simplest terms. And it's not like I had anything against it. It just didn't make sense to me. 10 years old and I'm being told to put my head over a little pool of water so a priest can splash some water over me. Yay, a little afternoon bath? I didn't understand why we had to stand up, sit down, kneel down. Part of it was because I was so young and couldn't possibly understand it all. Another part was because there was a lack of explaining on their part. It wasn't deep enough for me, and it wasn't explained to me.
I know a lot about God now, simply because I began to pick up the Word and read it. For myself. Something I had never done. Yes I began attending a youth group that actually preached the Bible. The REAL Bible. They didn't tell me anything about tradition. The Word was bold. It brought peace in my life. And something just told me that everything they were saying was true. Part of it was because everything they said came purely from the scripture and second because I felt a stabbing feeling in my gut when salvation call came around. When the pastor explained that the Bible says that Jesus was the only way to God. I never knew that. I thought it was all about how good of a person I could be. I accepted Jesus. And that was very liberating for me. Yeah if you've never sat down with someone fairly wise in the scriptures and learned from the Bible straight out, the Bible would seem like a jumbled mess of confusing parts. It won't make sense. But...taking the Bible as a whole..and studying it. Not just taking verses from nowhere, but putting together the pieces. It starts to really make sense. When you begin to learn about having a real relationship with Jesus instead of going through motions, things start to make more sense.Yes Jesus and what He did is perplexing. It doesn't make full sense to me either. Yet, the fact that someone could look at a tree and think "I think I can make something for writing on out of this" perplexes me too. Some of the most oddest things in life have been the most life-changing.
What would be a wise thing to do before dismissing God altogether...and if you really want to know the meaning and purpose of Christ...find a church that preaches the Bible. Don't go to a traditional church that does not preach the Word of God. Yeah they may pull a few scriptures out there and say them. But you want a church that seriously preaches nothing but the Bible. Otherwise you will always be confused. You want one that explains things to you so that you can know and GROW in God. One that answers your questions. One that won't throw false doctrine out there to ya either. Or make you do different things that the Bible doesn't say to do. It's important to be careful of those kinds of things.
I'm here if you have specific questions, I wanna answer them, seriously. Comment me on my profile. I'm here to talk. I won't preach to you. I won't force it on you. I'm not like that. I'm very real. But I will represent Christ and His message. I'm bold but not forceful. I'll answer any questions. It's never a problem.
Forever, April 17th, 2009 at 11:22:35pm
I was raised Christian Catholic and i understand what Christianity is saying pretty well.
but I don't believe it.
I've been doing the same thing since I was 13, and am still not quite at terms with my religious identity.
but after soul-searching and a lot of meditation, I have found that I believe in a force, something that starts and end things, but not a god. I believe in karma, cause and consequence, logic, not that a invisible giant in the sky watches our every move.
I'm glad you're questioning things though- that's a good thing.
when I started looking around, something that really attracted me was Buddhism. It has the workings laid out, and it makes sense to me. I'd take a look at that one too, just to get a look at other religions.
But keep looking around, and find the religion that you accept and makes sense to you. That's the main reason I'm not declared "Christian Catholic"- it doesn't make sense to me, at all.
and for the record- Christians believe Jesus rose body and soul =]
Tyler Durden, April 17th, 2009 at 08:57:28pm