How did you come to believe/disbelieve?

[eagleseven]

Whatever your faith or lack thereof, how did you reach it?


Did you try out different faiths or schools of thought?


Any life-changing experiences with a particular religion?

 

[JBeukema]

Lack of evidence lead me to reject the various hypotheses put forth.

Logic lead me to accept logical positivism as the only reasonable and consistent methodology to be used when constructing a model of the universe outside of my own self.

I am first and foremost a logical positivist; all other details of the model of the universe with which I work stems from a single axiom: that which does not exist in any form can neither act nor influence. This is self-evident. My own self-existence is therefore self-evident (cognito ergo sum), although this demonstrates only the existence of my sentient self- my mind. The existence of the body to which I am coupled, like all other material things, is accepted as the best model available to explain the evidence available to me.

 

[CrusaderFrank]

I was born into RCC and have completely rejected it in favor of Unity of NY, which is as close to Gnosticism as you can get

 

[Mr Natural]

I knew from an early age that it just didn't do it for me.

 

[uscitizen]

I grew up seeing the fakery and hypocricsy.
Just another social organization.
With their pecking order,etc.

 

[goldcatt]

I grew up in a very strict church that was all about rules and fear and politics and all that crap, stopped believing completely for a while, then looked around for several years and settled in my current home which is completely different. I'm happy now.

 

[u2scram]

i would sit in class listening to this stuff, saying to myself 'this is just dumb'.

now ive grown up and realize i was right.

 

[Madeline]

I don't think my core beliefs have changed since I was a wee one. I believe in God, I am 100% certain there is no afterlife and I don't think God alters reality if we pray just right. I guess I am a "blind watchmaker" Deist more'n anything, although I dun think that's correct either....God is ever-present.

It's a nine day's wonder to me that this cluster of beliefs is not as smack-your-face clear to everyone else as it is to me. That's always been a puzzler, though now I realize that it is not socially acceptable to admit this.

Trinity? Puuuhhlleease.

 

[iamwhatiseem]

I was born into Church of Christ.
If anyone here knows about this branch...then they know it is as strict as you can get besides Amish.

Around age 19 I stopped going, and now 26 years later I still don't go.
Too much hypocrisy to suit me. My wife and I tried to go to several churches when the kids were young - but could not find one.

I have went from believing to agnostic to believing etc.
There are three events that took place in my life that, to me, make it unquestionable that there is something beyond the physical world, a force of some kind that can be either benevolent or menacing.
But I do not believe that the Bible is the word of God. It was written/edited to provide power to religious leaders and control the population - at which it generally has done very well.
But there is something beyond us that interacts with us.

 

[u2scram]

""I don't think my core beliefs have changed since I was a wee one.""

i can believe that.

 

[RDD_1210]

Too much about god and religion just never added up to me.

Then watching many good-hearted, YOUNG people die way before they should convinced me there is nobody up in the sky looking out for us. Impossible.

 

[Sky Dancer]

I was born into the RCC. At an early age, I had spiritual questions and interests. My questions were not encouraged. I was told to 'take it all on faith'.

I stopped attending mass when I went to live with my father, as a teenager. Althought I went to a RCC women's college for two years I didn't attend services.

When my father died, by suicide, I was at a loss for spiriitual comfort from the RCC. I started checking into alternative spiritual sources and was drawn to check into Eastern philosophy.

I stumbled upon Buddhism accidentally. The first Buddhist teaching I head was on the Four Noble Truths, which made sense to me.

Later, I attended meditation retreats and it grew from there.

It's been challenging in the last few years to hold onto my spiritual resources while recovering from trauma.