I love that since I have joined this site I've been asked twice about my religious beliefs. Since I am tired of being asked, and tired of answering, I will post this in response to anyone that cares. Argue, Qualify, Defend, whatever. These are mine and mine alone and I do not believe that anyone is forcing them upon you. Religion is a touchy matter. :-)
I am undefined in my religious beliefs. They tend to change day to day, depending on how much I sit around and think about it. For instance, I was raised Catholic, attempted to convert to Wicca, attempted to be atheist, and finally settled in that it was none of my business whether or not God existed and that I should refrain from thinking about it should I be in offense of this semi-existant being.
Therein, I neither assert nor deny the existance of a Supreme Being. I certainly am not atheist, I am agnostic. There could be a God, but humans are known to be wrong. I am neutral in that arguement.
Reincarnation is something else that has always sparked my interest. Is it possible to come back? I really can't see anything like that as a viable belief. Mostly, it requires belief in a soul, which could lead to the possibility of a God. And humans (of some sort) have been around for 1 million years, I think that they would remember. Let's not forget my friend (figurativly) the His Holiness Tenzin Gyatso, the 14th Dalai Lama. Great guy as far as I am concerned, but 14th reincarnation? I really doubt it.
Heaven and Hell? Again, I don't know nor care. You have to believe in a soul if you believe in the afterlife, and I don't. So...Well, I don't believe....
Religion is a touchy subject, a subject that has likely killed more people than any other 1 cause. Look at events such as the Spanish Inquisition and the Crusades. Look at the so called Holy-War in Isreal. All so that people can say, "See, my invisible man is better than yours!"
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Curiosity...what made you convert, when you were raised as a Catholic?
And also, (not trying to nag and/or annoy), if you are unsure of a Supreme Being, how did humans come about? Where will we go? If there is reincarnation, it happens through God.
Just something to think about.
Lots of sunshine,
Laura
God bless!
Too many idealogical disagreements with the ecumenical doctrine surrounding the Catholic Church. I could never stand going...I always felt as if Jesus were going to leap down from the cross and kill someone. There was always a guilt associated with church when I went because of these disagreements, so I said that I wasn't going to deal with it anymore.
I tried to become pagan more as a phase kind of fit in with the crowd thing. I read a lot and read some more and found a lot of things that I would not like to be associated with and gave up on that, too.
Humans came about as all things do: Something happened. I don't care if you believe in Creationism or Evolution, I just think that they happened. To think about how Humans moved up Darwin's Evolutionary ladder implys the hand of God, as Humans are so far removed from any other species of animal, so...I guess I am unsure. It isn't something I put great thought into. I know where people come from right now, though.
Where will we go? I don't know. Having never been dead, I can safely say absolutely nothing on the subject. I do not think that the conscious or subconscious mind continue to function, as well, brains tend to decay and liquify. I do not know if our intellect saves us or condems us to a second life.
As I said, I doubt reincarnation becuase, as you said, "it happens through God."
Nicholas Aden