Making Up A Religion

Discussion in 'Faith & Religion' started by Ken Anderson, Dec 18, 2016.

  1. Ken Anderson

    Ken Anderson Senior Staff
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    Over the years, I have spoken to a lot of people about what they believe and why, and I have read about many different religions, not so much outside of the realm of Christianity, although I have a working knowledge of some other religions. I have taken a course on the religions of the world but since it was taught in a Christian college, I don't suppose it was entirely objective when it came to non-Christian religions.

    It's not good form to make fun of anyone's religion, particularly since I am well aware that, to a non-religious person, every religion can be something to make light of, and the very fact that someone might believe in a supernatural god might be laughable to the non-believer. I get that.

    However, some people do believe in some pretty crazy stuff. When I say this, I am thinking particularly about those who have come up with a buffet style religion, where they have taken the things they like about several different religions and mixed them together. I have a brother-in-law who has referred to himself as a Buddhist Christian, for example.

    Then there are the Scientologists, which is made up of a whole lot of intelligent, accomplished people who believe a religion that was invented by a science fiction author.

    People can be gullible though. Years ago, when the Internet was first being made available to the public, the only option we had in the Rio Grande Valley of Texas was AOL. In the AOL forums, sometimes when I was bored, I would make a religion up on the spot, and it surprised me how many people were actually interested in it. I would get private messages from people wanting to hear more, and I was making this stuff up as I was going along. It wasn't even a well thought-out story, and the contradictions were glaring, yet I could have probably started a church.

    My thought is, if I have to make it up, what are the chances that it's true? There's no point in believing in a religion that isn't true, so if I have to change things around in order to make it palatable to me, why would I bother?
     
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  2. Chrissy Cross

    Chrissy Cross Supreme Member
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    I think whatever somebody believes is valid for them and that's all that matters. I don't believe in organized religion anymore but can believe in a supreme type of being or energy.

    It's the Bible that gets in my way in religions...plus the fact that there are different beliefs...God, Allah, Buddha....

    You can't all be right, so you're probably all wrong. That's my opinion and of course the ones that believe in whatever God are sure theirs is 100% true.

    Somebody will be surprised at the end. I just plan on dying and that's it, the same nothingness before I was ever born. That doesn't worry or scare me either...it's reassuring.

    After just posting that I wasn't going to post my views, I just did. :)

    Being raised catholic, if I ever did go back to a religion that would still be the one but I don't see it happening....the Bible gets in my way.
     
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  3. Patsy Faye

    Patsy Faye Supreme Member
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    Absolutely agree with you
     
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  4. Babs Hunt

    Babs Hunt Supreme Member
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    There are actually many people in the past who made up their own religions and even more now in the present doing this same thing. Why do they make up their own religion? Disatisfaction with organized religion, rebellion against something their religion teaches that they don't want to believe or obey, some people start their own religion because they want to be God and make their truth the real Truth. There are some crazy "religions" out there now and they all come about for one main reason...people wanting to do things their way whether those things are right or wrong.

    Even organized religion is going off the deep end these days and compromising the Truths they once adhered to.

    It gives me peace in all this craziness surrounding me to know that my faith is not rooted in any religion...but in the relationship I have with my Father God and my Savior Jesus Christ. God's Truth has prevailed for over 2000 years, even though so many try to change His Truth to lies.

    People can make up all the religions they want to. I'll take relationship over religion every day of my life.
     
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  5. Chrissy Cross

    Chrissy Cross Supreme Member
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    I think most people are content with the path they've chosen. I have no qualms or worries and I really believe this.
     
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  6. Patsy Faye

    Patsy Faye Supreme Member
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    I believe that to be true
     
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  7. Babs Hunt

    Babs Hunt Supreme Member
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    People who are content with the path they have chosen are definitely not the ones making up all kinds of religions, these religions are made up by people who have no path and are not content.

    One thing I learned here on this Forum is there are many here who are content with the path they have chosen even though that path may different for each of us. I have shared my faith and relationship because that is what my faith asks me to do. But after sharing the Good News Gospel of Jesus Christ...I have to respect that other people have the right to believe it or not, and that whatever they believe they have just as much right to their beliefs as I have to mine.
     
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  8. Chrissy Cross

    Chrissy Cross Supreme Member
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    That's exactly how I feel, Babs. I think it would be a better world if everyone thought like that. It's a fact that we all don't believe the same thing although some faiths have very similar beliefs, others do not. The world is not just the USA either....while we are for the most part a Christian country, others are not.

    I haven't looked at the stats to confirm what I said about the US but I think it still has more Christians than non christians.

    Of course when I'm asked to fill out that info, I tend to write Christian even though I don't follow the Catholic Church anymore....my belief in part stems from that upbringing....in a way it will always be a part of who I am.
     
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  9. Babs Hunt

    Babs Hunt Supreme Member
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    Merry Christmas @Chrissy Cross. I hope you are having a wonderful time with your family. :)
     
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  10. Chrissy Cross

    Chrissy Cross Supreme Member
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    Thanks Babs! I am and will be. Excited about tomorrow and seeing my son and three little grandsons in Illinois...don't get too see them as much as I'd like.

    Even if our religious views are different, we have love of family in common. Merry Christmas to you and yours and I'm happy that it's all working out for you...doesn't matter where you spend Christmas in my opinion as long as loved ones are there. We can't always have ALL of them together, although I would love that....it's just too difficult when you're spread out.
     
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  11. Babs Hunt

    Babs Hunt Supreme Member
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    Why are there so many religions? Do all religions lead to God?
    Subscribe to our Question of the Week:
    [​IMG][​IMG]
    Question: "Why are there so many religions? Do all religions lead to God?"

    Answer:
    The existence of so many religions and the claim that all religions lead to God without question confuses many who are earnestly seeking the truth about God, with the end result sometimes being that some despair of ever reaching the absolute truth on the subject. Or they end up embracing the universalist claim that all religions lead to God. Of course, skeptics also point to the existence of so many religions as proof that either you cannot know God or that God simply does not exist.

    Romans 1:19-21 contains the biblical explanation for why there are so many religions. The truth of God is seen and known by every human being because God has made it so. Instead of accepting the truth about God and submitting to it, most human beings reject it and seek their own way to understand God. But this leads not to enlightenment regarding God, but to futility of thinking. Here is where we find the basis of the “many religions.”

    Many people do not want to believe in a God who demands righteousness and morality, so they invent a God who makes no such requirements. Many people do not want to believe in a God who declares it impossible for people to earn their own way to heaven. So they invent a God who accepts people into heaven if they have completed certain steps, followed certain rules, and/or obeyed certain laws, at least to the best of their ability. Many people do not want a relationship with a God who is sovereign and omnipotent. So they imagine God as being more of a mystical force than a personal and sovereign ruler.

    The existence of so many religions is not an argument against God's existence or an argument that truth about God is not clear. Rather, the existence of so many religions is demonstration of humanity's rejection of the one true God. Mankind has replaced Him with gods that are more to their liking. This is a dangerous enterprise. The desire to recreate God in our own image comes from the sin nature within us—a nature that will eventually “reap destruction” (Galatians 6:7-8).

    Do all religions lead to God? Actually they do. All but one leads to His judgment. Only one—Christianity—leads to His forgiveness and eternal life. No matter what religion one embraces, everyone will meet God after death (Hebrews 9:27). All religions lead to God, but only one religion will result in God's acceptance, because only through His salvation through faith in Jesus Christ can anyone approach Him with confidence. The decision to embrace the truth about God is important for a simple reason: eternity is an awfully long time to be wrong. This is why right thinking about God is so critical.Recommended Resource: Jesus Among Other gods by Ravi Zacharias


    Related Topics:

    With all of the different religions, how can I know which one is correct?

    Why can't religions coexist peacefully?

    What is true religion?

    What is the oldest religion?

    What are the most common world religions?


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    In my opinion there is so much Truth to this article about why we have so many religions.

    It could also be added though that many people turn away from God and the religion of Christianity and form their own religion or decide they will believe in nothing at all...because they feel God has let them down in one way or another. It may be by allowing a loved one to die or suffer or that He hasn't answered their prayers when they want Him to or how they want Him to, or because He hasn't stopped the evil in the World when He says He hates evil, etc. It also may be because many people feel their parents or others "crammed" religion down their throats their whole lives and yet they saw that most of these people did not "practice" what they "preached" in their own lives. They were forced to go to Church where all they found often was a bunch of hypocrites.

    I'm also finding as the World evolves that just as quickly as things, etc. become "Old-Fashioned" or not Hip anymore...God and the religion called Christianity has become that way to more and more people...so they either reinvent Him and it to a more Hip religious version that keeps up with the Worldly views that they have bought into...or they decide to erase Him and what they refer to as religion totally from their lives.

    Why do we have so many religions now? Because people are not looking for religious legalism and hypocrisy. They are looking for relationship and intimacy...they are looking for LOVE. And they may be looking in all the wrong places for these things or trying to invent their own version of it but at least they are looking and one day I pray they will find the real deal.








     
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    Last edited: Dec 19, 2016
  12. Chrissy Cross

    Chrissy Cross Supreme Member
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    My problem isn't about having to be righteous and moral, Babs....that's something I want to be without religion.

    I just have a hard time believing the story, especially the Bible.

    On the other hand, ya kinda scared me with all eternity...if I'm wrong. :)
     
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  13. Babs Hunt

    Babs Hunt Supreme Member
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    I'm not trying to scare you Crissy, nor can I make you believe there is an eternity after this earthly life. You have to decide that for yourself.
     
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  14. Chrissy Cross

    Chrissy Cross Supreme Member
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    I know....just kinda hit me. Problem is I'd have to believe truely....can't fool God and pretend to believe.
     
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  15. Babs Hunt

    Babs Hunt Supreme Member
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    This would be true. :)
     
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