I Hate When People Ask Me My Religion.... Dont come in here if you cant have an inteligent discussion.

[DjLuki 0]

the question" what religion are you" just depends on the person.. if he wants to learn about your religion or if he wants to convert you.. so there can be two sides. I also do hate it when they send people from churches to talk to you bout Jesus and give u books..i think that's a sin trying to sell religion.. if i wnted to convert i know where to go and what to do i don't want people coming to my door and trying to force me to listen to their speeches.

[ill 0]

I haven't read any posts except the first... mainly because they are so long. haha. I'm lazy.. *member of the lazy generation*Anyways, as for why the ask you...1. Asking what religion a person classifies themself as is a way of finding out what their underlying values and virtues are. Most Christians are good - in their conscience - though they have the underlying values, the modern person knows that no one is as they say they are.2. It's something to talk about. If you have the same interests it is easier to talk to people. Say, you can talk about what your church does or whatever.3. They may just want to know what you believe in. Do you believe in Buddah, Jesus, Moses, Ra, etc.4. They want to bash you. "Your religion sucks. It is just another way of conformity!" Usually spoken by a thirteen year old. Blah.As for me, I don't attain myself to any religion. I have the underlying values of a Roman Catholic. However, I do not attend Church. Religion is non-existant in my life, except for my base values. I believe it is a great way to be - and it hasn't gotten me in to any troubles - or caused me to fight - and I'm a good person. What?

[thebluekirby 0]

Oh god, thank you for making this topic XDIt gets so annoying...there are so many Christian obsessed people, and I'm so afraid to answer them when they ask my religion, that they'd think I'm a bad kid for not being Christian (I'm not going to mention to you my religion ^__^).

[ashton 0]

I dont know- to tell you the truth what religion I am. I never went to Church, and neither did any of my family members. I dont know what religion I would pick if I went to Church, so I tell people I dont go to Church. Then they get mad at me and think I am going to hell (can I say that?) since I dont pray/believe in the 'right' religion. I do believe in God, I just dont know why religions make such a difference to some people. : angry : If you thing about it, most religions dont have much difference....

SO STOP ASKING ME.

 

138878[/snapback]

I am the same way. I believe in God and everything but I don't go to church. I have friend that got to church with my dad's side of the family and they are always asking me when I will go. I always have the same answer. "When someone dies, get married, or on Easter." they get upset and say I don't believe in God. It's just so frusterating.

[Joshua 0]

I dont know- to tell you the truth what religion I am. I never went to Church, and neither did any of my family members. I dont know what religion I would pick if I went to Church, so I tell people I dont go to Church. Then they get mad at me and think I am going to hell (can I say that?) since I dont pray/believe in the 'right' religion. I do believe in God, I just dont know why religions make such a difference to some people. : angry : If you thing about it, most religions dont have much difference....

SO STOP ASKING ME.

 

138878[/snapback]

One big difference between Christianity and all other religions: Nothing you can do will get you to Heaven, it's not what you can do that gets you there, it's what Jesus Christ has already done that saves your soul, you simply accept the freely-given gift by trusting solely in Him to save you. If anything/anyone else teaches otherwise they've neglected the whole point and basis for Christianity and the way to salvation. Going to church or not wearing velcro ( ) or any x, y, or z things do not in themselves send you to Hell. Without Christ's payment for our sins we do not get in, period, whether we're a Mary, Job, Muhammed, Ghandi, Mother Theresa etc...

 

I said that precisely because my Lord has told me to be a witness to His truth, if you don't want to hear it or accept it, alright, that's your choice. God gave us all free will, all I'm doing is presenting what I know as truth and welcoming you to share what you know, let's talk about it reasonably and see where truth lies.

 

Right after I got saved in a summer camp I didn't consider myself any one denomination, didn't even know what a denomination was If people asked me I just said Christian the first several times, as far as I was concerned I followed Christ alone, didn't fully understand the idea of denominations for a while.

 

Someone said earlier that someone might think they're a "bad kid" for not being Christian. Christianity is interesting in that it says we're all bad, none of us deserve as much to live, the whole world is guilty before God. You, me, everybody else, we can't kill others or avenge ourselves justly since we're all guilty of death. Our only hope lies in mercy, which is why Christ came.

 

And by all means, let's talk about this, tell me why you disagree with the Bible or God or Christianity or whatever, too many people seem to get this idea for some reason that I'm going to attack them if they do and go on the defensive. I simply want to talk with you reasonably about what you believe, but unfortunately not many people I have met are willing to do so.

[Milovoriel 0]

you known it's really odd, but in Britain, the issue of religion rarely comes up...... if people do have a particular faith, they seem to keep it to themselves.... as a nation, we don't seem to place that much import on peoples personal ideology....and I'm thankful for that.....I do have one friend who is a bit nippy about her Catholicism.... it's the arrogance that I have difficulty with ..... basically that their belief system is the only way..... and by not subscribing to it, your somehow doomed..... how ridiculous and pompous...

 

Since I've been bouncing around different forums, I'm a amazed at how many people are consumed by their faith....it's very odd.... I'm very glad I'm British.....(good grief, did I actually just say that?)...

[round 0]

the thing i have to ask is, where do you live? I don't think i've ever been asked about what religion i was so i'm just wondering if your living in a hyper religious community. I mean if you are, then the question isn't really that strange or out of place, and kind of natural. You ever get the feeling that people are less interested in what religion you are, and more interesting in how to convert you over to their's?
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[mama_soap 0]

I must confess I have not read everything in this thread, but what I have is very interesting, and I think I feel the general spirit of the discussion, so I think I'll go ahead and post

 

I am not sure if the question of what religion one follows should be classified as a personal question or not. I would feel rather uncomfortable if someone I hardly knew asks me that, as if trying to gauge/judge me on the basis of my answer. Between good friends, or people who generally understand what it means to be open-minded (and tolerant, et al) it's just another question - like you might get questioned about your income, or your nationality (sense of patriotism), out of curiousity (to understand an individual better, but not to judge him/her).

 

I am not particularly religious myself. I somehow feel that the general spirit of love, caring and all the rest of it (that seems a common factor to all religions) is contradicted by the existence of multiple religions. I will not be able to wholeheartedly accept any religion as long as more than one of them exist. Even though they give separate perspectives, and have interesting cultures, rituals, et al associated with them, on an abstractish level, I somehow cannot accept simultaneous existence of many religions.

 

I could write an essay on what I feel. And maybe one day I'll grow up to think differently, but this is one of the few things I feel strongly about. Briefly, I go with the general school that goes the-world-is-my-country-and-humanity-is-my-religion. It's something I instinctively identify with it, and I think that is enough reason to believe what I believe this moment.

[ltbDee 0]

there's no winning in this situation. If you come up with a religion you believe in and tell people, someone somewhere will undoubtedly have some distorted notion of your belief anyway, so it won't matter that it has a name. They still won't understand really, because religion and faith are such personal issues. No one can really know just how you relate to god, or spirit, or life, or whatever.But if you don't have an answer, the same confusion follows.Pointless really.

[Neutrality 0]

My mom's side of the family is very heavy into Catholicism. My family and I do not participate in Catholicism nor do we go to a Catholic Church, nor do we want to. We see them as being as faulty as any other religion, but that's another topic of discussion [ I'm not trying to rile up any Catholics here, that's not my intention at all. ]In the past, we use to get into discussions about Catholicism and all that. In the end we are accused of being "Of Satan" because we didn't follow the Catholic Church. It's kind of sad if you think about it.Like I said in an earlier post, I don't believe in any Religion. I see it as being a major cause of war in the world. I also see Religon as a tool being used to control the populace to a certain degree. Religion can become very dangerous if it's in the grasp of the wrong hands [ Hitler ].I'll reiterate what I said in my first reply. When someone asks me what my Religion, I'll say "I don't have a religion". This doesn't mean I don't believe in God either. It's just that I don't believe in organized Religion, which has proven to be corrupt many times before [ the Crusades [ the Templars ], the "Holy" Roman Empire, the Papal Inquisition, etc. ]

[Joshua 0]

My mom's side of the family is very heavy into Catholicism. My family and I do not participate in Catholicism nor do we go to a Catholic Church, nor do we want to. We see them as being as faulty as any other religion, but that's another topic of discussion [ I'm not trying to rile up any Catholics here, that's not my intention at all. ]

 

In the past, we use to get into discussions about Catholicism and all that. In the end we are accused of being "Of Satan" because we didn't follow the Catholic Church. It's kind of sad if you think about it.

 

Like I said in an earlier post, I don't believe in any Religion. I see it as being a major cause of war in the world. I also see Religon as a tool being used to control the populace to a certain degree. Religion can become very dangerous if it's in the grasp of the wrong hands [ Hitler ].

 

I'll reiterate what I said in my first reply. When someone asks me what my Religion, I'll say "I don't have a religion". This doesn't mean I don't believe in God either. It's just that I don't believe in organized Religion, which has proven to be corrupt many times before [ the Crusades [ the Templars ], the "Holy" Roman Empire, the Papal Inquisition, etc.  ]

156552[/snapback]

I have to say Inspired that so many people base their views on Christianity by what they see of the Catholic Church. The problem with the RCC is that it deliberately goes against what the Bible teaches (and I'm more then happy to show you what the Bible teaches on all their major doctrines) and because of this we see things like you mentioned, the Crusades, witch trials, etc...

 

You say religion is a major cause of war in the world. But what if it revolves around certain facts (ones the Catholics most refuse to listen to) that God only is just and can deliver vengeance, that we need to turn the other cheek, love our enemies, give to those that ask, pray for those that despitefully use us, etc...

 

Christ said the 2 great commandments were to love God and love others. In Romans 13:10 it says love is the fulfilling of the Law because it does no harm to others.

 

Christianity is built around this principle of loving others and doing no harm to anyone, it is why Paul and Stephen and Christ and so many others died not only without resisting their enemies but even forgiving them and praying for them as they died, and praising God for their entrance into the eternal kingdom.

 

Hard to find a different picture then that of the Catholic Church who says it's alright to kill whoever opposes them and that authority lies with their church rather then with God as the Bible says.

 

So much focus has been on the crimes of the Catholics that people never realized the true Christians were the ones being persecuted by the Catholic Church through the centuries, think the Anabaptists and related groups.

[serverph 0]

You ever get the feeling that people are less interested in what religion you are, and more interesting in how to convert you over to their's?

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155867[/snapback]

yes. and they resort to religion-bashing in the most extreme possible way, just so as to assert their "inherent superiority". just look at this thread (and some other religion-related topics here) to see how catholicism is being demonized. smacks of fundamentalism (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fundamentalism). it's how they see the world, who can we blame? the words they use gives me goosebumps: the "true" this, the "true" that. but yet full of inconsistencies even: in a crusade of love, yet crusading on hate also. i don't really know how even a lifetime can suffice to really fully understand a religion (much so a religion with a 2,000+ years history), but there are just some people who are "all-knowing", so it seems.

 

for me, religion is a personal matter. but to shed some light on issues they throw at catholicism, here are some interesting reads, apart from the link above:

http://forums.xisto.com/no_longer_exists/

http://forums.xisto.com/no_longer_exists/

http://forums.xisto.com/no_longer_exists/

[Joshua 0]

yes. and they resort to religion-bashing in the most extreme possible way, just so as to assert their "inherent superiority". just look at this thread (and some other religion-related topics here) to see how catholicism is being demonized. smacks of fundamentalism (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fundamentalism). it's how they see the world, who can we blame? the words they use gives me goosebumps: the "true" this, the "true" that. but yet full of inconsistencies even: in a crusade of love, yet crusading on hate also. i don't really know how even a lifetime can suffice to really fully understand a religion (much so a religion with a 2,000+ years history), but there are just some people who are "all-knowing", so it seems.

 

for me, religion is a personal matter. but to shed some light on issues they throw at catholicism, here are some interesting reads, apart from the link above:

http://forums.xisto.com/no_longer_exists/

http://forums.xisto.com/no_longer_exists/

http://forums.xisto.com/no_longer_exists/

156892[/snapback]

Let me ask you a question? Which would you term as hate?

 

A) Killing off hoardes of people who never hurt anyone, cutting their garments short and leaving them in the cold, starting wars with nations and committing countless atrocities, burning people at the stake for no reason, and committing the greatest act of genocide the world has ever known.

 

Saying the above is wrong.

[QOD 0]

Wow! It's amazing how many posts this topic recieved compared to the other topics. A lot of times people ask this question so they can tell you what they think and they get annoyed when you don't ask them back. To me this just proves how willing we are to talk about our religious beliefs.Why are we so gaurded against listening to the beliefs of others? Is it because they threaten the structure of our own beliefs and the stability we rely on to continue existing in the realm of the unknown. Nothing is certain. Religion is a human attempt to make sense of something that we are unable to comprehend. Most of you didn't bother going into your own beliefs, probably for the same reason I won't bother getting into mine - I appreciate it.

[serverph 0]

Let me ask you a question?  Which would you term as hate?

 

A)  Killing off hoardes of people who never hurt anyone, cutting their garments short and leaving them in the cold, starting wars with nations and committing countless atrocities, burning people at the stake for no reason, and committing the greatest act of genocide the world has ever known.

 

  Saying the above is wrong.

156899[/snapback]

to answer your (A) question, these are wrongful acts, yes, and the church you are vilifying, as well as other human beings alive today recognize that. but are the catholics alone guilty of such abominable atrocities and abuses? and vice versa, are catholics immune from such, that being catholic saves them from suffering the same hate crimes?

 

but let me paraphrase your question: what is christian love? digging up the mistakes of centuries past and overlooking the remorse and atonement done throughout the centuries, identifying the mistakes and errors of a few individuals of modern times to constitute as the mistakes of the whole group and institution, misleading people to believe on a history which is not put into the proper historical perspective simply because of arrogance and self-righteousness, vilifying a religion based on hearsay, muddled history and pompous pastoral motives....???

 

read the links i gave above. don't just gloss over them. few people hate the Catholic Church, but millions hate what they mistakenly think is the Catholic Church.