Myoldnamebroke on 4/4/2006 at 10:05
Deep down I guess I know, but I just naively hoped it wouldn't.
Obviously it works that way for the non-religious religions it mentions, but I guess I was hoping that from a conversions point of view you suddenly go 'WOAH! IT'S GOD! well, I guess I'd better do what he says'.
I guess what I'm saying is that if you really believe then you don't 'choose' religion, it just happens to you. I can't imagine dedicating my life to something and worshipping it just because other people that do that have similar views to me already. It seems somehow dishonest.
Vasquez on 4/4/2006 at 11:01
But how can you detach what you "believe in" from your "point of view"?
I mean, they can't really contradict each other, or you'll get all fucked up, right?
Rogue Keeper on 4/4/2006 at 11:05
Vasq, you should attend lessons of Doublethink regularly! :cheeky:
OnionBob on 4/4/2006 at 11:05
Quote Posted by Gingerbread Man
lol I was a bears in my previous life that's why I am grumpy in the morning u see
paging keeper mallinson
Myoldnamebroke on 4/4/2006 at 11:19
The point would be that you have X set of beliefs and upon being struck by the sort of religious experience that makes you convert, you see the reason why Z beliefs make sense.
Because it's such a huge leap of faith, you can't just go 'OK, today I'm going to believe in god. But which one?'. It's not supposed to be easy, it's supposed to be a path to spiritual wholeness or something. If you're making the calculated decision to choose the one that's easiest, it doesn't seem like 'belief' at all.
A religion is supposed to inform your worldview, not the other way around. At least, in my ideal happy world in my head it should. 'I used to believe all this stuff, but now that God has opened my eyes I shall live my life anew'. Not 'God has opened my eyes, and it looks like God agrees with me'.
If it's not going to change your life, why bother adopting a religion at all? You've already got a perfectly acceptable set of beliefs. Obviously the process of adopting new beliefs or reacting to ones that you feel you disagree with is more complicated than I'm painting it (and I'm sure there are plenty of religious people out there living unreflective lives who probably do believe on a basis of reinforcing their beliefs), but it still seems fundamentally the wrong way round to look for a religion on the basis of its beliefs matching your existing ones - presumably you should look for a religion on the basis of its truth in your eyes, and finding its truth probably isn't going to come from saying 'this agrees with me, so I guess it's true'.
DaBeast on 4/4/2006 at 12:05
<table border='0' cellpadding='0' cellspacing='0' width='300'><tr><td><table border='0' width='300' cellspacing='0' cellpadding='0'><tr><td><p><font face='Arial' size='1'>atheism</font></p></td><td><table border='1' cellpadding='0' cellspacing='0' width='71' bgcolor='#dddddd'><tr><td></td></tr></table></td><td><font face='Arial' size='1'>71%</font></td></tr><tr><td><p><font face='Arial' size='1'>Satanism</font></p></td><td><table border='1' cellpadding='0' cellspacing='0' width='67' bgcolor='#dddddd'><tr><td></td></tr></table></td><td><font face='Arial' size='1'>67%</font></td></tr><tr><td><p><font face='Arial' size='1'>Buddhism</font></p></td><td><table border='1' cellpadding='0' cellspacing='0' width='63' bgcolor='#dddddd'><tr><td></td></tr></table></td><td><font face='Arial' size='1'>63%</font></td></tr><tr><td><p><font face='Arial' size='1'>Islam</font></p></td><td><table border='1' cellpadding='0' cellspacing='0' width='54' bgcolor='#dddddd'><tr><td></td></tr></table></td><td><font face='Arial' size='1'>54%</font></td></tr><tr><td><p><font face='Arial' size='1'>Paganism</font></p></td><td><table border='1' cellpadding='0' cellspacing='0' width='50' bgcolor='#dddddd'><tr><td></td></tr></table></td><td><font face='Arial' size='1'>50%</font></td></tr><tr><td><p><font face='Arial' size='1'>Judaism</font></p></td><td><table border='1' cellpadding='0' cellspacing='0' width='42' bgcolor='#dddddd'><tr><td></td></tr></table></td><td><font face='Arial' size='1'>42%</font></td></tr><tr><td><p><font face='Arial' size='1'>agnosticism</font></p></td><td><table border='1' cellpadding='0' cellspacing='0' width='29' bgcolor='#dddddd'><tr><td></td></tr></table></td><td><font face='Arial' size='1'>29%</font></td></tr><tr><td><p><font face='Arial' size='1'>Christianity</font></p></td><td><table border='1' cellpadding='0' cellspacing='0' width='21' bgcolor='#dddddd'><tr><td></td></tr></table></td><td><font face='Arial' size='1'>21%</font></td></tr><tr><td><p><font face='Arial' size='1'>Hinduism</font></p></td><td><table border='1' cellpadding='0' cellspacing='0' width='0' bgcolor='#dddddd'><tr><td></td></tr></table></td><td><font face='Arial' size='1'>0%</font></td></tr></td></tr></table><br><a href='http://quizfarm.com/test.php?q_id=10907'>Which religion is the right one for you? (new version)</a><br><font face='Arial' size='1'>created with <a href='http://quizfarm.com'>QuizFarm.com</a></font></table>
Satanism...what?
Vasquez on 4/4/2006 at 12:24
Quote Posted by Myoldnamebroke
If it's not going to change your life, why bother adopting a religion at all?
Oh, ok, now I see what you meant. But seriously, I don't think that <s>anyone</s> any
sane person in RealLife chooses their religions based on an internet quiz (I definitely wouldn't!). It's just a bit of fun to see which of the existing set of rules match your personal view the most.
Jenesis on 4/4/2006 at 12:24
MONB - yeah, this test does strike me as a bizarre way of looking at your beliefs. The very name of the quiz - which one is 'the right one for you' - assumes ahead of time that there's no need to worry about concepts like Absolute Truth. But then it's perfectly happy to allocate you Christianity or Islam, which both insist on it. As you say, looking for a religion on the basis of Comfort rather than Truth is putting the cart before the horse.
ignatios on 4/4/2006 at 12:34
Quote Posted by Myoldnamebroke
presumably you should look for a religion on the basis of its truth in your eyes, and finding its truth probably isn't going to come from saying 'this agrees with me, so I guess it's true'.
Religion only makes sense if you perceive a need for it in the first place. It's definitely true that religion should inform your worldview, assuming your struggle is honest, but it has to agree with you in some way to make the initial connection.
Unless that's not quite what you're talking about? I'm not sure, but it's not a one-way transfer of information (to oversimplify things).
Rug Burn Junky on 4/4/2006 at 14:03
Quote Posted by Scots_Taffer
I didn't realise RBJ was devout. ;)
Devout? I'm the most pious motherfucker you know, bitch. ;)
