... realized that I don't know what I believe in. I think that a being shouldn't define me as a person, and I don't know if it should give my life meaning. I've been calling myself agnostic for a while but been feeling weird about being in a limbo and the title. Trying to find a religion but I don't know if it's for me although I'd like to give it a try if it fits me. Thought about buddism but not really sure... any advice? Confused about existence
Responses (3)
So a guy looks at a building and says, "There was no architect, no builders, it just appeared by itself out of nowhere." Silly, huh?
Most people have a feeling inside them that says there is a creator. Yes, "a" creator -- not 3 (Christianity), not hundreds or thousands or millions (Hinduism).
How did God tell us about his existence, apart from this inner feeling? He sent prophets, many of which have been written about and many not. Jesus was clearly a major prophet, so Judaism is out because that doesn't include him, it's just for one particular tribal group. After Jesus departed, people like Paul started calling him God and saying we should pray to him, even though nobody worshipped Jesus while he was alive on earth. Just as John 16 mentioned, a prophet was sent after him (Muhammad) to set right what people were getting wrong, by speaking only what he heard (Quran - in Arabic, "Quran" means "recitation" - Muhammad himself was illiterate), and to bring people back to worshipping God only. Have a read, it's really important to find out what God wants from us. If He says pray, we ought to pray, right?
p.s. for sure there are some nice "lifestyle/philosophical" bits of wisdom in Buddhism, but I'm sure you don't want to make a religion of it and pray to huge statues of Buddha for help and prosperity, like people in China/Thailand etc. do.
Peace!
A religion is men telling each other what to do. Buddhism is not a religion, it is a philosophy. A faith is when there is some book or collection of writings laying out everything that is involved, and you get to read it and decide if you believe that. Faith is belief: one Greek word is translated both ways. You should be careful to avoid confusing these three concepts because there is no resemblance between them. Most modern day confusion arises because of American traveling preachers in the 19th century. They preached "hell fire and brim stone" which was pretty much nothing to do with Christianity, and they were so entertaining that Christian pastors abandoned their faith and preached philosophy and public morality instead. That is why modern Christians have no idea what they are supposed to believe.
Read a chapter of Proverbs every day. Proverbs has 31 chapters so you can keep your place by just looking at a calendar. There is no religion or nothing in Proverbs and you don't have to believe anything. Just read every day. When you are comfortable with that, then read the bible from Romans to 2 Thessalonians over and over until you start to remember what it says. That is the part that applies to Christians.
Jesus said you would identify his true followers by the love they showed for one another. John 13:34, Matthew 7:20, Matthew 22:37 and 1 Corinthians 13:13. Those belonging to one religion displaying this kind of love for its members around the world would be living in harmony with these scriptures. Those identified with that type of reputation in 240 lands around the earth are known as Jehovah's Witnesses. Pleas feel free to visit our website at: www.jw.org for more comforting bible direction.