Poll What Are Your Beliefs About God / Higher Power?

[lrs]

I was raised in church, and am gratefull for it. I'm a musician, proficient, but not professional. I play gospel songs I grew up with almost every day.
I was raised to believe you had to be saved, if were not, you go to hell the moment you die. No other way is viable, there are absolutely no alternatives, any other kind of thinking was SEVERELY wrong, unthinkable, unacceptable, and most of all, simply invalid.
I have had PTSD most of my life, though it was not diagnosed until I was 38. I have learned and done a lot since that time. I am a recovering alcoholic, and I've taken drugs too. I will have 6 years of sobriety this coming friday.
In AA, step 3, it says:
"made a decision to turn our will and lives over to the care of God as we understood Him".
This was contrary to the way I was raised, and at first rejected this notion, although at the time I might well have been the sickest person on the planet.
However I soon realized that people who were working these 12 steps were being transformed before my eyes. In addition, I saw how people's lives started coming together, in remarkable short order time, and in ways other than mental health and sobriety. To me, the proof is in the pudding, nothing else could have been doing this but some kind of ultimate higher power. I choose to call him God.
I have been the butt of some judgementalism among family and friends, but I simply can not subscribe to such a fundamentalist notion.
Religion can be used in an abusive manner, it's not difficult to find articles on the subject of religious abuse.
One of the things I have had to learn about in the past 8 years, is the notion that there are boundaries, and religion has boundaries. I try to respect the boundaries of others, but I also have to protect my own boundaries as well.
- PEACE-
I'm glad your here

 

[reallydown]

I guess I would be somewhere between an atheist and an agnostic...which may sound weird...but the thing is, I don't really believe but at the same time I'm willing to admit I could be wrong. I certainly respect both those who believe and those who do not.

 

[Jim]

I recommend the belief-o-matic quiz, very interesting concept.

Did your belief-o-matic quiz. Pretty accurate. My beliefs are 95% Roman Catholic. And. Low and behold, I am a practicing RC. So. No surprises there. ;-)

Jim.

 

[Awakening]

Wow that quiz was fun, thanks Upstream.

My Mum at the time was Catholic, and raised us Catholic (Holy Communion, Sunday School all that) and my Dad an atheist. Quite confusing!

I did the Quiz and came out as 100% Unitarian Universalism, followed by 97% Liberal Quaker, and then 90& each for Neo Pagan & Reform Judaism.

I'm not familiar with any but just clicked on the U.U. one that says basically I have very diverse beliefs and that I don't believe in Satan/Hell.

To answer the poll itself, this exactly how I would have summed it up; Yes I believe in something, but my beliefs are very diverse. I don't subscribe to one religion. I actually have a theory that all religions carry common themes and all will be realised. Oh and I believe human beings are quite capable of creating evil on their own.

 

[upstream]

I actually have a theory that all religions carry common themes and all will be realised.

I believe what you are describing is the Bahai faith...
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bahai

Also the Bahai have very cool temples, but only one on each continent.

 

[batgirl]

Wow I'm 100% an atheist (nontheist) haha. I thought I was agnostic. Thanks for posting the quiz Upstream, it was fun.

 

[upstream]

Wow I'm 100% an atheist (nontheist) haha. I thought I was agnostic. Thanks for posting the quiz Upstream, it was fun.

Funny, my sister has a theory that most self proclaimed atheists are actually agnostic and vise versa. She called me out when I told her I was agnostic, and she was right.

 

[Awakening]

I've heard about the Bahai religion, and correct me if I'm wrong, but women are revered like goddesses???!!!

 

[upstream]

I've heard about the Bahai religion, and correct me if I'm wrong, but women are revered like goddesses???!!!

"The Bahá'í writings emphasize the essential equality of human beings, and the abolition of prejudice."

Also the Bahá'í believe there is only one god.

I've spent a little bit of time with people of the Bahá'í faith, and I don't recall women being regarded any differently then men. I don't imagine such a thing would be in line with their belief system.

 

[nic]

This is deep! I was raised as a reformed Jew, (and I guess I still am). In terms of the Jewish holidays, I celebrate them more due to culture/tradition than for religious reasons.

Anyway, I've had a couple of life experiences which have tested my belief system. The first was when I was raped/abused as a teen. I thought, If there is a G-d, why would he let this happen to me? Needless to say, I was very hurt and angry for a while.

However, a few years after that, when I was in college, I was driving back up to school from my home in Boston during a really bad snow storm. Since the snow came on quick, there was still a good amount of cars on the highway. Anyway, all of the sudden my car spun around. It must have gone around at least three times, because I kept seeing the trees go past me. I didn't know what to do, and kept trying to turn the wheel to gain control. The next thing I knew, I was safe, in the median of I-95, and even though many cars were zooming by, neither I nor my car had a scratch!

Now you can call this luck, and perhaps it is, but I certainly felt as though G-d or someone gave me a hand that day. (I've even thought that it may be G-d's way of apologizing for all the other shit I went through in my life.) Who knows, but I thought I'd share.

nic :-)

 

[linasmom]

I polled atheist here and BeliefNet says I'm a Secular Humanist 100%.

Cool!

 

[northernpunch]

Interesting question for me to face today, because I've been debating where my soul lies for the past week. I know it lies in tatters, is shattered, has been ripped asunder by this wretched condition, but I am prayin everyday. I keep doing it so I can get back to the faith I had before the attempt on my life. So, I believe in God, but I am trying desperately to believe he's not a malevolent SOB How's that?