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Religion

PostPosted: Sun Dec 07, 2003 11:30 pm
by MonteLDS
Please no fighting. Just a simple what religion are you. And if your current faith is not the faith you were born into a simple brief of how you became of the faith you are.

As you most likely know I am Mormon (LDS: The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints)

and yourself?

*if you do not believe in God you can state that as well, or if you do not belong to any religion but believe in simply God feel free to say so*

PostPosted: Mon Dec 08, 2003 12:20 am
by aviationwiz
Jewish, and proud of it.

PostPosted: Mon Dec 08, 2003 1:11 am
by Ian
OK.. this is one of those topics that could turn south really quick. Keep it clean (no negative comments, attacks, etc.) or it gets locked.

PostPosted: Mon Dec 08, 2003 1:27 am
by Kennyshin
Many of my relatives are Christians, mostly Protestant. Many of my wife's relatives are Christians, mostly Catholic, so far as I know. I lost my faith (of any religious kind) when I was very young.

Whether Christian or not, all South Koreans I know are Buddhists and Confucians at the same time. Confucianism is more about values on family life, state institution, learning, making friends, finding the truth, and so on.

There are Protestants, Muslims, Catholics, Buddhists, Confucianists, Mormons, and many other religious people but no serious conflict due to the difference in religion in South Korea. I'm glad that it has been that way so far. I've read part of Talmud and part of the Confucian teachings in Hanja. I've also read part of the Bible, both the Old Testament and the New Testament, both in Korean translation and in English translation. I liked Buddha.

PostPosted: Mon Dec 08, 2003 1:38 am
by Turkeyscore.com
me, born again Christian. Believe that Bible is infallible, All are sinners and do not deserve to be in heaven, Jesus came to the world in the form of a man, lived a perfect life, was killed, rose from the dead. The only way to heaven is through him, accept him as saviour, repent of sins.
For the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord. --Romans 3:23
That if you confess with your mouth the Lord Jesus and believe in your heart that God has raised Him from the dead, you will be saved. -Romans 10:9

PostPosted: Mon Dec 08, 2003 1:42 am
by DawnLoader
Ian is right. This topic has potential to start "mine is better than yours" or similar argument/debate/discussion.

A poll wold have been better, so you may want to compose a poll instead.

So far 23 people have read this post and only one has declared his religion tells us how reluctant people are to reply to this topic.

Some people may be "half and half", so if anyone is then post it.

By the way, I am Muslim. So far I see a Christian, a Jew and a Muslim. Kind of happend in alphabetical order. There should be some Hindus and Buddist here too. Some come on people, let see how diverse we are.

It is good to see that persuit of knowlege in art of burning cds is not limited to any religion. ;)

I have not said anything insulting, or at least I am not aware of it. If you think I have then please accept my appologies in advance.

PostPosted: Mon Dec 08, 2003 2:31 am
by burninfool
I don't think religion or politics should be allowed in forums as Ian said it could turn into a flamewar.

PostPosted: Mon Dec 08, 2003 2:36 am
by hoxlund
Lutheran - http://www.rootsweb.com/~wifloren/stjohnsflorence.html

i agree burninfool, nothing good can come from it

PostPosted: Mon Dec 08, 2003 2:45 am
by Ian
I'm letting it go for now.

I'll throw my 2 cents in as well.

I'm Lutheran.

PostPosted: Mon Dec 08, 2003 2:47 am
by MonteLDS
DawnLoader wrote:A poll wold have been better


I orignally wantted to do a Poll but I didn't want to leave anyone out. Saying Christian is so general with all the diffrence churchs. Also their are so many religions that i don't want it to look like my What CPU do you have thread :D
man is that thing a mess :)

hopefully people will respect the topic, (Please no fighting. Just a simple what religion are you. And if your current faith is not the faith you were born into a simple brief of how you became of the faith you are. ) it seems so far, so good

PostPosted: Mon Dec 08, 2003 2:51 am
by hoxlund
Ian wrote:I'm letting it go for now.

I'll throw my 2 cents in as well.

I'm Lutheran.


right on, my lutheran brother ;)

now just take this glass of kool-aid and drink it, hehe

PostPosted: Mon Dec 08, 2003 5:10 am
by Bhairav

PostPosted: Mon Dec 08, 2003 5:26 am
by dolphinius_rex
lapsed Catholic, with full intent of returning to the faith. I was born into Catholicsm, and I plan to stay Catholic... I'm just not going to church for the moment, but I still believe in my faith (in some ways I guess that makes me worse...).

I have also studdied Buddhism a little, and other of the various sects of Christianity. I find all manners of faith very intriguing, however, in the interests of keeping this clean, I will not share any of my thoughts on these matters, since I'm almost certain to offend at least one or two people, no matter what I say :-?

PostPosted: Mon Dec 08, 2003 5:45 am
by Kennyshin
DawnLoader wrote:By the way, I am Muslim. So far I see a Christian, a Jew and a Muslim. Kind of happend in alphabetical order. There should be some Hindus and Buddist here too. Some come on people, let see how diverse we are.


I'm probably more Buddhist than any other member here (especially among those 1000+ posts.) :D

But religion in the West is quite different from religion in this part of the world. Just as in South Korea, politics is mostly about pro-West vs. anti-West or pro-North vs. anti-North while in the US, it is like Republican vs. Democrat or liberal vs. conservative.

Most Buddhists and those who engage in the Confucian traditions in South Korea, Japan, and China do not express about their religions explicitly. So it often seems there are many times more Protestant Christians than Buddhists in South Korea. The truth is that South Korea, North Korea, Japan, China, and Taiwan are countries under Confucianism and Buddhism. It's above religion, above politics, above the constitution, above state priorities, above family values.

To me personally, Confucianism was about how to be a saint, how to practice good deeds without being conscious of it and without making others conscious of it, how to control personal greed for money and sexual desire, how to serve one's parents and state, how to sacrifice oneself for the bigger purposes, how to respect the humble, how to cherish friendship, how to be modest, how to acquire the knowledge of the world and pursuit truth, how to smile at the face of physical threat and disease, how to keep purity and sanity without being compromised. I wanted to make it perfect and imagined a world of such perfected individuals could be as perfect as possible. A lost dream. I waked up one day in the late 1980s and found out all those were simple lies to brainwash us the children of the new dictator state. Now I know a little better and maybe I can propose a better kind of Confucianism that can work in the 21st century information world to this aging society.

PostPosted: Mon Dec 08, 2003 1:24 pm
by integspec
I am a Muslim by birth and practice and I am very happy to share this forum with all of you good people!

Montelds, Thanks for your good faith that everyone would post nicely and courteously.

For those who are interested in learning about other faiths and religions, Karen Armstrong comes highly recommended.
http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/searc ... 83-3257721

Cheers.

PostPosted: Mon Dec 08, 2003 2:51 pm
by JamieW
Agnostic. Previously Catholic with a couple years time spent investigating the major religions of the world after determining Catholicism is largely unsubstantiated archaic practices. After investigation, I found Messianic Judaism and Hinduism to be the least deplorable. But I don't mind anyone believe what they wish as long as they don't attempt to push their beliefs or judge my actions with their beliefs.

PostPosted: Mon Dec 08, 2003 3:05 pm
by Ian
<sarcasm>I worship the almighty $$$!!</sarcasm>

PostPosted: Mon Dec 08, 2003 5:42 pm
by dodecahedron
i had no intention of posting here, but since noone else said this:
Atheist
(Jewish by birth, as a tradition/culture/history. not as a religious belief)

PostPosted: Mon Dec 08, 2003 9:31 pm
by F1Pilot
hoxlund wrote:now just take this glass of kool-aid and drink it, hehe

LOL!


I was baptized Roman Catholic sometime soon after I was born, but am not practicing. I guess years of watching MY family judging and criticizing others and being high and mighty about it has jaded me. *shrug*

PostPosted: Mon Dec 08, 2003 11:48 pm
by dolphinius_rex
I hear Plextor tried to start a church... they only had one member though :wink:

(j/k, don't take this seriously PLEASE!)

PostPosted: Mon Dec 08, 2003 11:55 pm
by aviationwiz
dolphinius_rex wrote:I hear Plextor tried to start a church... they only one member though :wink:

(j/k, don't take this seriously PLEASE!)


Don't even get me started on how stupid that was.

PostPosted: Tue Dec 09, 2003 6:25 am
by treemana
I'm Christian, but a little out of practice though.

There are plenty of things about religion that I don't like. (i.e. The Jim/Tammy Baker crowd.)

The aspects of religion that I have come to embrace are the "be a good person" aspects. (i.e. Help thy neighbor, give time/money to worthy charities, be true to your family, don't flame fellow forum members, etc.)

I don't always succeed, but I try.

PostPosted: Tue Dec 09, 2003 1:59 pm
by ruderacer
Well, I too will cast my two bits. I was born a Roman Catholic and baptized as such. I feel religion is one of those things that we really get to know as we are maturing. For me, I believe in God, and that's what is really important. Going to church? Well, I do when I feel I should. I prefer to be there when the church is empty. This way I have the place to myself. As far as all religions go, I think somewhere in there, we all have a common thread. As far as one being better than another, there is no such. The important thing is to respect all, even if do not agree.

PostPosted: Wed Dec 10, 2003 10:57 am
by StarKnightGoku
By birth and baptism I am a Roman Catholic. Up until I was thrown out of my church a few years ago I was forced into attending every week, and going to the church youth group, et cetera, but I didn't enjoy it, and never took any time out of my free time at home for prayer or even really caring. (For the record, I wasn't literally kicked out my church, just asked not to attend anything but mass because of an incident that occured one night at the youth group meeting...I uh...accidentally broke some girl's hand...)

To me, religion isn't a big thing. I don't want to offend anyone by going deep into my feelings on it, since I'm sure I'd offend roughly 45-50% of the people here in some way.

I'll just leave it at the point of if I were to say that I'm adherent to any religion, even loosely, it would most likely be Wicca, or some other form of Pagan religion. I'm a non-practicer of magic, however. I have the interest, but not the time, which is actually ironic because I do nothing aside from school and being at home with my girlfriend (who comes from a Baptist family, but hey, no one's perfect :wink: She classifies herself as Wiccan as well...)

Wow, look at that ramble. Did I actually even SAY anything?

PostPosted: Wed Dec 10, 2003 4:59 pm
by DawnLoader
At first I was reluctant to post to this thread because I expected it to turn into a falme war. I also imagined that Ian would be forced to lock this thread and serve warning about religious threads.

I am surprised to realize that this thread is still open after numerous posts and eveyone has posted in non-insulting manner. We are definitely muture here.

I studied Confucianism with various other religions, including beliefs of American Indian/Native American tribs in college. I am so not like Confucious, specially:

Kennyshin wrote:control personal greed for money and sexual desire


I am outa' control!!!!!!