What is your religion?

[chongjasmine]

What is your religion and why do you believe in it?

Me? I am a christian.

I had been searching for God for a long time. I was born a taoist, but I had always believe in a all powerful God. I prayed to this God to reveal which religion he came from. After some times, I have a 99.99% certainty he came from the christian religion. Due to one special occasion, I finally become a christian.

 

Even though Christianity strong opposes tarot cards, I never regret being a christian as I have a strong relationship with Jesus Christ.

 

As Paul in the bible said, everything is permissible, but not everything is beneficial. I believe tarot is one of the permissible, but not necessarily beneficial thing.

 

Enough about me. Time for you to share!

 

[Onaorkal]

My spiritual beliefs are not set in stone yet, but I consider myself an eclectic Pagan. I celebrate the sabbats and I try to get in touch with my higher self. I don't know if I should consider myself really religious at this point, since I don't go by a set or rules or anything.

 

I live according to the principle of ahimsa, which is the principle of nonviolence toward all living things. That would be the closest to a religious belief I would hold.

[Little Fang]

I don't think I gotta say it since we got a cool crowd here, but I'd like to remind everyone of tolerance.  We all are going to have different belief systems here!  :-*

 

I'm Kemetic Orthodox myself! 

[isawhale]

I am personally not a fan of organized religion but I do believe in god (the light/goddess/higher power/universal conciousness/oneness/whichever XD) and have a strong connection to the spirit realm. I grew up athiest even though my mother was a devoted catholic, I wasn't convinced in a god until some life changing experiences and dreams when i was 12 years to 17 years old.

[Lantana]

Gaelic Polytheist.

[Bodhiseed]

Buddhist  :D

It's nice to be a part of such a diverse but tolerant group.

[EmpyreanKnight]

Roman Catholic here. While I do believe almost all of its tenets and dogmas and enjoy its masses, feasts, and rituals, I don't necessarily subscribe to some of its archaic world views.

[chongjasmine]

I am a protestant, and like you, don't subscribe to all its values.

[EmpyreanKnight]

Yeah, chongjasmine. I mean, in a lot of issues like contraceptives, the LGBT, etc I really wish that the RCC would haul itself into the 21st century or risk becoming irrelevant. Which is a shame, really, because for all its faults, its power to inspire, to help and protect, and to provide spiritual, moral, and social guidance is still considerable. It still has so much to recommend it.

 

I'm just happy to note that under the helm of the current pope, the Church is slowly becoming more progressive, although of course the weight of centuries of dogma is still substantial. Still, dum spiro spero.

[Bookworm]

I wish I knew how to answer this question. I'm practically a senior citizen, and I still haven't worked it out. I was raised Lutheran, and I know I'm not that, although I very occasionally find myself in church and I enjoy the recitations and the hymns. I have though of myself as an atheist, and I guess that's probably the closest description of what I am, but lately, as I have thought about how completely implausible our universe is, I find myself wondering if I'm missing something. That seems likely. So I guess I'm agnostic, though that seems like a cop-out. Still searching -- I think that's my religion. :)

[Page of Ghosts]

I am a sort of pagan with an affluence for the norse gods I guess. I've read a bunch of books on wicca (even though wicca is not for me) so my practice is a bit influenced by that although I am not one for long incantations and complex rituals. I'm definetely more of a low magic / folk magic person ;) Mostly I'm still figuring a lot of things out, but trying to build a practice as well as having my nose in a book most of the time.

 

One thing I'm pretty sure of is that I'm an agnostic theist for now.

[jema]

I studied a lot of religions but the one that resonates with me is Thelema.

[katrinka]

I kind of believe what I believe, and bits of various religions, philosphies, and irreligions match up with that.

[TarotOrat]

You can’t get past Step 3 in Alcoholics Anonymous without a higher power, so I have a higher power. It’s more of a sense of the order of the universe than a specific deity. It’s what makes the monarch butterflies know how to fly to Mexico.

 

I was raised Roman Catholic but I wouldn’t identify that way anymore.

[katrinka]

You can’t get past Step 3 in Alcoholics Anonymous without a higher power, so I have a higher power. It’s more of a sense of the order of the universe than a specific deity. It’s what makes the monarch butterflies know how to fly to Mexico.

 

The monarch butterflies can "see the lines". Migrating birds use them, too. http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2014/06/140624-monarch-butterfly-migration-magnetic-compass-insect-science/

[~D~]

Nature

[Trogon]

I'm a New Age, Christian, Polytheistic, Pagan, etc., etc., etc. ...

 

I took a quiz on "what religion am I?" It showed me matching up 0% to all religions. Which means, either I am all of them, or none of them.

 

http://www.beliefnet.com/entertainment/quizzes/beliefomatic.aspx?p=1

[Onaorkal]

I'm a New Age, Christian, Polytheistic, Pagan, etc., etc., etc. ...

 

I took a quiz on "what religion am I?" It showed me matching up 0% to all religions. Which means, either I am all of them, or none of them.

 

http://www.beliefnet.com/entertainment/quizzes/beliefomatic.aspx?p=3

 

Sorry Trogon I keep quoting you everywhere haha but everything you say is relevant!  ;D

 

0% for everything, that's quite a feat?!  :o

[katrinka]

Now I want to retake it and see if I can skew the results to do that.  ;D It'll be a challenge, since the test includes Atheism along with everything else.

Maybe a lot of low importance, "don't know - doesn't matter" answers?

[Page of Ghosts]

I took that test you linked to, Trogon, and I got 0% for all of the politics of all the religions-section that was under my result. They scored me as a Seventh Day Adventist, which, while I'm not very familiar with that type of Christianity, I don't think matches me quite...

[Trogon]

I'm a New Age, Christian, Polytheistic, Pagan, etc., etc., etc. ...

 

I took a quiz on "what religion am I?" It showed me matching up 0% to all religions. Which means, either I am all of them, or none of them.

 

http://www.beliefnet.com/entertainment/quizzes/beliefomatic.aspx?p=3

 

Sorry Trogon I keep quoting you everywhere haha but everything you say is relevant!  ;D

 

0% for everything, that's quite a feat?!  :o

 

;D

 

And I answered everything as well as I could. I remember a discussion with a friend at work several years ago about my belief in other gods besides the One God (as defined by most Judeo-Christian/monotheistic religions). I explained that I still believed in the Supreme Creator, but that I als believe that these other belief systems were right too ... the issue is that the major Judeo-Christian systems have attempted to stamp out the others, and that those other gods are still there.

 

I also explained that he believed in them too ... a notion which, of course he vehemently denied. Until I explained that our current main, organized religions have simply renamed them from "gods" to "angels". Every time a new religious order has conquered an existing "heathen" religion, they want to demote, or even demonize, the predecessor's deities.

 

And really, Christianity is no different. All of our holidays have been taken from older pagan holidays, renamed and sometimes given new meaning. For example, we celebrate Christmas, but the December holiday was used because there was already a holiday that celebrated Winter and the god Saturn (Saturnalia). (There is a fascinating article on possible dates of birth for Jesus on LiveScience; https://www.livescience.com/42976-when-was-jesus-born.html.) Of course, Easter also corresponds with many older Spring holidays.

 

During our discussion, my friend commented about the 10 Commandments, and specifically the First; "You shall have no other Gods before me." I agreed, but pointed out that "lesser" deities are, by definition, "lesser" and do not come in front of or higher than Yaweh. Most "religions" that predate Judaism have a single supreme creator God, then go to the lesser gods or "angels" (in our current belief systems) or other helpful spirits for our day-to-day problems or celebrations. This does not set them before God.

 

However, in spite of all of this, I primarily believe that a person has got to find their own path to "salvation" and their own path to enlightenment. It is critical that a person understands the difference between these. Salvation is a religious belief that one must accept certain tenets of a particular dogma in order to gain one's entrance into "heaven". In Christianity, of course, that is the acceptance of Jesus as your personal savior. However, a great many Christian sects and/or cults, add a great pile of other rules and regulations which you also have to follow in order to gain your salvation. It is these rules and edicts, the dogma, which annoys me the most about main-stream religion. The whole "you must do what we tell you and do it the way we tell you" in order to get into "Heaven" thing is more about control and money, than it is about salvation.

 

Enlightenment is, on the other hand, finding your own truth and discovering that you can have a direct connection to that truth and the cosmos ... on your own. Yes, teachers can be helpful, even vital in discovering your truth. But those teachers do not necessarily need to be in corporeal human form. Many of us are already aware of certain Spirit Guides who are helping us, individually, on our paths towards that enlightenment.

 

This is not to say that the main-stream Judeo-Christian religions have no place, nor that they are bad. For many, many people, they are necessary and good and help them to move forward on their own paths. Many people will begin to feel lost, becoming depressed and falling to (what they consider) bad behavior when they wander too far away from their religion.

 

And for those of us who do better seeking our own paths, we have often started from a base in one main religion or other. But for us, it was not enough. Perhaps we found the dogma to be stale and meaningless, or maybe it was too restrictive. Instead, we wanted to find our own Truth. Most of us who do seek our paths discover that doing the "good works" are just the right thing to do and we really don't need the Church telling we should do them.

 

All of this is something that we, as Tarot readers, should probably keep in mind. Many of our clients come to us because they might be feeling spiritually lost to one extent or another. They may need some ideas about what first steps they need to take to start finding their own path towards enlightenment. I have had one reading, many years ago, where a person was suffering depression and other spiritual issues. I remember their "advice" card was the Hierophant - along with other indicators. I told them the cards were saying they needed the direction and structure of the Church ... They started feeling better as soon as they went back.

 

This ran a lot longer than I had intended, sorry about that. It's an interesting topic.

[Trogon]

I took that test you linked to, Trogon, and I got 0% for all of the politics of all the religions-section that was under my result. They scored me as a Seventh Day Adventist, which, while I'm not very familiar with that type of Christianity, I don't think matches me quite...

 

Yeah, it put me as 7th Day Adventist - which was way wrong and confusing at first. Till I realized that in an alphabetical list, "7" comes up first. ;D

[Ephemeridae]

I occupy the nebulous space between gnostic atheism and pantheism.

 

I've always been more religious than spiritual. I love the structure, symbolism, ritual, tradition and culture of religion. I grew up Lutheran, and I was content doing Lutheranism in spite of my atheism until the community of the church turned toxic for me and in depth study of the Bible revealed to me that the values of the Abrahamic God were not something I was interested in perpetuating even just through ritual. My religious practice centers entirely around nature now, in which case it is fair to call me an eclectic pagan or witch.

 

I have been exploring my spirituality more lately, which is illuminating and enjoyable. Maybe I'm a late bloomer and just needed to grow into it.  :)

[Ephemeridae]

You can’t get past Step 3 in Alcoholics Anonymous without a higher power, so I have a higher power. It’s more of a sense of the order of the universe than a specific deity. It’s what makes the monarch butterflies know how to fly to Mexico.

 

The monarch butterflies can "see the lines". Migrating birds use them, too. http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2014/06/140624-monarch-butterfly-migration-magnetic-compass-insect-science/

 

I think the unique senses of the monarch working with the alignment of the magnetic field to facilitate the species-perpetuating process of migration is such a beautiful analogy for the order of the universe

 

Magnetism is my favorite example of the order of the universe. I incorporate the principles of magnetism into my religious practice all the time. I actually wrote two whole paragraphs about conservation of energy, spin and magnetism buuuutttt you guys probably don't want to hear all that! Lol, PM me if you're interested. But basically, magnetism is an expression of the fact that everything spins. The stars around the galaxy, the planets around the sun, the sun itself, the moon around the Earth, and the moon and the earth too, the electrons around every atom that makes up your body, the subatomic particles that make up those atoms. Everything spins. (The Earth's magnetic field is caused by the spin of its iron core).

 

I also see the principles of conservation of energy in the two of pentacles and it's one of my favorite cards.

[katrinka]

I also explained that he believed in them too ... a notion which, of course he vehemently denied. Until I explained that our current main, organized religions have simply renamed them from "gods" to "angels". Every time a new religious order has conquered an existing "heathen" religion, they want to demote, or even demonize, the predecessor's deities.

 

That's good. I see it a little differently, though.

 

To me, it's like there's this big, impersonal thing...kind of like an ocean. And if enough people consistently worship a certain form, it solidifies, a little like an iceberg. If the people die out or change, it melts back. Kind of an egregore concept.

 

I do take a bit of an issue with the term "Judeo/Christian", though. Jews don't proselyze, or care what anybody else is praying to. The Old Testament is a very, very flawed translation of the Tanakh, and Jews know this. They also know that it is not literal, or a history book. Jews put it in context.

 

I know that term has been thrown around so much that it's a go-to. But it's wrong. If anybody doesn't want you doing your thing, it's the evangelicals and their predecessors. Not the Jews.

 

And really, Christianity is no different. All of our holidays have been taken from older pagan holidays, renamed and sometimes given new meaning. For example, we celebrate Christmas, but the December holiday was used because there was already a holiday that celebrated Winter and the god Saturn (Saturnalia). (There is a fascinating article on possible dates of birth for Jesus on LiveScience; https://www.livescience.com/42976-when-was-jesus-born.html.) Of course, Easter also corresponds with many older Spring holidays.

 

There is also the question of IF Jesus was born.

 

And how is he identifying at any particular point in the Gospels? When he calls himself "the Christ", does he mean Yeshua the carpenter? Or something bigger, like compassion?

 

I think if he's the son of God, everybody is. If not, nobody is. Just my personal opinion. Shivoham.

 

During our discussion, my friend commented about the 10 Commandments, and specifically the First; "You shall have no other Gods before me." I agreed, but pointed out that "lesser" deities are, by definition, "lesser" and do not come in front of or higher than Yaweh. Most "religions" that predate Judaism have a single supreme creator God, then go to the lesser gods or "angels" (in our current belief systems) or other helpful spirits for our day-to-day problems or celebrations. This does not set them before God.

 

We're talking about nomadic ancient Hebrews here. In order to preserve their identity, it would be ill-advised to take on the gods of other cultures.

It's about not assimilating. Consider the word assimilate - you do that to food. In a day or so, your taco is not a recognizable taco - it's blood and flesh and sewerage.

 

However, in spite of all of this, I primarily believe that a person has got to find their own path to "salvation" and their own path to enlightenment.

 

THIS.

The Buddha said "Be ye lamps unto thyselves." Discordians say "Think for yourself, schmuck." Crowley talks about True Will.

All the same.

 

It is critical that a person understands the difference between these. Salvation is a religious belief that one must accept certain tenets of a particular dogma in order to gain one's entrance into "heaven". In Christianity, of course, that is the acceptance of Jesus as your personal savior. However, a great many Christian sects and/or cults, add a great pile of other rules and regulations which you also have to follow in order to gain your salvation. It is these rules and edicts, the dogma, which annoys me the most about main-stream religion. The whole "you must do what we tell you and do it the way we tell you" in order to get into "Heaven" thing is more about control and money, than it is about salvation.

 

That's the churches. Jesus had something else to say.

I seldom if ever post Bible links. But Matthew 23 is relevant here. The whole chapter.: https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Matthew+23&version=KJV

 

This is not to say that the main-stream Judeo-Christian religions have no place, nor that they are bad. For many, many people, they are necessary and good and help them to move forward on their own paths. Many people will begin to feel lost, becoming depressed and falling to (what they consider) bad behavior when they wander too far away from their religion.

Rules, rules, rules are for people who don't really want to do contemplation or study, IMHO.

You can not kill because Sky Daddy said not to. Or you can not kill because there's already enough misery in this sad old world and why make the friends and family of your otherwise victim miserable?

Most of us who do seek our paths discover that doing the "good works" are just the right thing to do and we really don't need the Church telling we should do them.

 

Some of the best people I know are atheists.

 

...a person was suffering depression and other spiritual issues. I remember their "advice" card was the Hierophant - along with other indiy years ago, wherecators. I told them the cards were saying they needed the direction and structure of the Church ... They started feeling better as soon as they went back.

 

Some people DO need that.

It's not the be-all, end-all that it gets sold as, and it certainly wouldn't work for us, but for some others it's what the doctor ordered.

 

This ran a lot longer than I had intended, sorry about that. It's an interesting topic.

 

It reallgy is. I so seldom get to have these conversations.