My Religious Rollercoaster

My relationship with religion is neutral at best.

I grew up in a christian family. Church and what not.

At the age of 9 I started to wonder more about ethnics and philosophy. It was at that point i experinced my first conversion to the catholic church. I began to feel more at home there, but then i started to wonder more about the nature of God.

By the age of 12 i was top of my class in RS, my teacher said my ideas were far ahead of my age. I then started to see god as an 'excuss' and a distraction. I started to right my own papers on subjects such as God, violence and the illusion of heirachy.

I then converted to buddhism. Buddhism helped me acheive peace, but there teachings completely went against my place in soceity. Why would any religion see life and this enternal cycle as a bad thing?

At my current age of 13, i took together all my experinces and ideas on religion and molded it around my everyday life.

The result? my own religion( although aguably its more a way of life), Ofelistianity (The Benefiters)

The principles of Ofelistianity:

1: Help others Benefit from life

2: Benefit from life as much as you can, as long is it does not disable other peoples right to maximum benificty.

3: Happiness can only be achived from life, so the taking of life is an act of impeding happiness

4: Focus on obtaining jobs that benefit your community or the human race- self centered jobs impede other people happiness

5: Unless it is in a position that is agreed by everyone affected as a position that benefits everyone, do not control others or directly degrade their free will.

These are just 5 of the 40 ideas in Ofelistianity. Its not a finished product yet, but i hope this is the only way i will acheive happiness.

I would like to know more about your troubles with finding a suitible religion or way of life so we can all learn and benefit from them

so you`re saying youre 13 years old ?

i dont understand why people pick their religions, they pick what ideas they like , they choose what to believe in.

why would anyone do that ? does it not make more sense to find out what is true and what is not ? if lets just say buddha was a demon and Jesus was god what do your beliefs benefit ? please explain to me why do people pick what they want to believe in.

find whats true and stick with it. at the same time understand that most religions out there cant all be right, because they stand against each other , different ideas etc, one of them must be wrong, find out which

[edit on 7-6-2009 by DHammer]

reply to post by AbsoluteInfinite

Hi there AI
I can't believe you're only 13 !!! You are a very deep thinker for your age-well beyond your years.
I like your ideas on religion, yours is a religion that obviously cares deeply for people. I also agree with you on takin jobs that benefit the community. I worked with homeless people for 5 yrs and it was probably the most rewarding job I've had.
I'm personally a spiritualist--I believe 100% in the afterlife and it's a peaceful belief.
Buddism is interesting as well.
I certainly don't believe in all this rubbish about souls going to hell and stuff !!!
Good luck to you on completing your project.

I certainly don't believe in all this rubbish about souls going to hell and stuff !!!

why ? is it because you found some kind of proof that hell doesnt exist or is it because you dont want it to exist ? please , im just asking...

Take the new testament and tear out anything that isn't the words and understanding of Jesus(red letter reading). Focus not on Jesus, but the understanding and such he gives. You will likely find it makes a bit more sense than church doctrines. If you have the understanding, then you should see all the things Jesus deals with in the real world.

If you are only 13, you still have ALOT to learn. That is not a bad thing, or a crack against you. But life experience is often the best teacher. I wouldn't worry about it too much, your perspective is going to go through huge changes in the next 5 years.

But how can you understand the nature of god, if you do not understand what you yourself are? If you start a journey trying to find out what you are, then that will lead to better understanding of what the father is. Kind of hard to understand what a forest is, if you don't understand the concept of a tree.

reply to post by DHammer

I think if Hell does exist it's probably more a state of mind--some of us I'm sure feel that we're possibly in hell already
I just can't believe in the notion of burning hellfires.
A possibility could be that the material dimension we live in is in fact Heaven and Hell??
Which would explain why some people are so blessed in life and happy and yet others have nothing but hardship and misery.
I have no tangible proof that hell does'nt exist but on the other hand, I've not been presented with any that it does exist--not in the biblical way anyhow.

Before anybody writes off hell as merely a state of mind, I would suggest you read what the scriptures have to say about it. Hell is a literal place of torment and it is located deep inside the earth. The bible says that hell is a place of fire and brimstone. Please take the time to read the links I'm providing. After reading them you may have a change of mind about hell and what it really is.

I'm convinced that God is allowing us to see glimpses of what hell is like when a volcano erupts. Lava is in liquid form when it reaches the surface. Lava comes from deep inside the earth, which, according to scriptures, is where hell is located. The bible describes hell as a lake of fire. Imagine spending eternity in a lava lake. Brimstone is associated with volcanoes. The next time you have your oven set to 350 or above, put your hand inside for as long as you can take it - or until the hair burns off your arm - and multiply that by about 1000 times and then imagine what it would be like to have to have your whole body in that fiery heat for eternity and you will have a general idea about what hell is like.

Satan is real and he doesn't want people to believe that the bible is the word of God and he also doesn't want us to believe in a literal hell. DON"T believe the lie that he is telling you! Unfortunately, there are scoffers and mockers who laugh at the idea of hell. I'm afraid many of these people will pass into eternity without God and then will find out how real hell is. And one of the worst parts will be remembering what those who they mocked and rediculed had to say about it. I hope this doesn't apply to anybody here.

chooseheaven.org...

en.wikipedia.org...

www.jesus-is-savior.com...

I hope that those who read these words won't be the scoffers who will believe the lie that hell isn't a physical location. Why find out for yourselves when you can choose Jesus and enjoy eternity in the celestial city.

Originally posted by AbsoluteInfinite

The principles of Ofelistianity:

1: Help others Benefit from life

2: Benefit from life as much as you can, as long is it does not disable other peoples right to maximum benificty.

3: Happiness can only be achived from life, so the taking of life is an act of impeding happiness

4: Focus on obtaining jobs that benefit your community or the human race- self centered jobs impede other people happiness

5: Unless it is in a position that is agreed by everyone affected as a position that benefits everyone, do not control others or directly degrade their free will.

Wow, it took me twice your age to realize this!!

#3 however, is open to much debate and your level of craziness. While it's ultimately bad to take another life. Death shouldn't be frowned upon so bad. Death is the point where you decide to live or not

You are sooooo going to burn in hellfire for eternity dude.

reply to post by F15-Pilot

Fair enough--you are entitled to your opinion that hell is most definately real and I respect your opinion. It's your choice and belief.
I really,really hope you're wrong cos an awful lot of souls will be heading into the brimstone fires
But I stick by my belief, which I hope you can respect as well, that hell is a state of mind. Neither of us will know the real answer until death .
I do believe in a creator however so I'm certainly not an aetheist.
We had to be created by someone or something.
I just think that all this talk of what you describe as Hell is very frightening and I fear it could have a disturbing effect on some people.
God is meant to be caring and loving---so why would he be so sadistic to send some of his creations into an eternity of excrutiating pain,torment and misery???
IMO he would be much more likely to give souls the chance to redeem themselves here on earth.
Which is why I theorise whether earth could be Heaven / Hell ??

reply to post by F15-Pilot


You say not to let anyone tell you differently. And yet at the same time you are simply telling us to let you tell us and accept something.

You're entire post was just a bunch of dogma telling people what to accept, while at the same time telling them not to accept what anyone else says.

I choose neither. I will not accept what you say, I will not accept what they say. Turns out there are more than 2 choices.

here is a tip or at least some advice

Go the park on a sunny day and take a book.. read it enjoy it

That is all you need... do not let others "idiots" brainwash you into this new age wanting

Everyone wants to know the answer to the question... take a step back and understand what it is they are asking for

HELP

help to understand why they are here.. why are you here? they ask they postulate they think they "think tank" they go from one idea to another for what?

for what?

be your self that is all you need

and if you can help others while you are here then that is the nature of your being

some do not have your choice nor was it the question they asked, but some.. like you

know your true answer and that is to only understand you.

I will not wish you luck nor hide behind my words as they are not my own

but i shall say.. answer the right questions and think be for you speak

as every word you say is a question that you will get an answer too

hope that helped "in fact it did or i would not be typing would i?"

reply to post by F15-Pilot

Let me give you my version of Revelation 20:10
The devil will be thrown into the lake of fire, where the beast and the false prophet are also. It is a refining fire that will burn away the bad and leave the good. The test of this fire reveals the truth of his nature and that knowledge will be with us continually forever.

The desperately evil and powerful people who were alive at the time of the flood are killed outright and destroyed when the fire starts. They have already been judged.
The ordinary people from after the flood will be judged and they will be tossed into the fire after-wards, and instantly annihilated.