I see much stuff on Christianity here and I wonder how many people have
actually thought about Christianity rather than blindly followed it.

Have the majority of people actually done searching on their own in
other religion or have they become a victim of ritualistic practice
without questioning their belief?

LoL...I love the fact that the Catholic Singles Advertisement keeps on
showing up on this thread.

I do not follow Christian faith...I follow no dogmas...I have no defined
religion, nor indocrinated faith to serve.

Although I do practise parts of the buddhist and taoist philosophies or
principles, I do not identify myself as an anything.

I added it to my profile, more as a way of giving someone reading my
profile a label to play with.

I believe in similar philosophies.

i think that many in this forum have done research on the subject, but
there are always a couple who stray in and say something and then never
come back, for the most part you will see people debating a lot but
when it comes down to it i think faith is something when believed in is
highly personaly, and you can't really take that away from someone,
atleast not in my opinion, i myself am not part of a religion nor am i
agnostic or atheist i am nothing.. lol.. but i mean sure there are
people who are blind followers but then again there are people who are
blind atheists at the same time..

I call myself spiritual, but not religious.
I don't follow any church or religion due to experience.

Agreed

It appears that there is a silent group of those who are not religious;
that do not verbalize their opinions in these forums...

Awesome to know that we're not alone.

what?

Well, it appears many of the people you replied to this thread are
spiritual, non religious, or something other than Christianity.

It's good to know there are people that like myself I can relate to.

that replied*

my fault.

I’m definitely not a Christian.

But I agree with you that Christian topics seem to be the dominant
topics of this form. I’m a little bit guilty of that myself tonight as
I just started a thread on the Book of Job. However, if you read my
take on it you’ll see that I just read it as a story and give
conclusions about it that could even be understood from an atheistic
point of view.

After all, many of the stories in the Bible are really about humanity
and don’t necessarily need to be associated with a go actually.

Like Jess I don’t associate myself with any organized religion.

But if I have to give one, it would probably be Natural Pantheism
(revering the universe or nature as a whole of which I am obviously a
part of).

I tend to think of the universe as being ‘mystical’ or having a
‘mystical nature’ so in that sense I don’t have any real problem
referring to the universe itself as ‘god’. But the very word ‘god’
does cause problems for some people because they immediately starting
thinking in terms of an egotistical godhead. I don’t think of god in
those terms.

I give words like ‘god’ a very wide semantic berth.

I do believe in ‘reincarnation’ and this is because I believe that I
arose from the universe, and I will return to it, therefore why can I
not arise again?

I think the only problem here may come down to the ‘egotistical’ sense
of who *I* am. I think of myself as being something far more spiritual
than my mere physical existence. In other words, I am this universe.
Therefore I cannot cease to exist. Moreover, what else could I possibly
be?

Well I guess Christians have an answer to that question, but I don’t buy
into their answer.

hmm they are in the forum... lol they'll pop out of no where

plus i think its a little off to call someone blind faith, really
truth is constructed for all of us, many people are born into a certain
sacred society and they follow the order religion is the opium of the
masses, it boils over, its an experience, and if you're never brought up
to see the other side the what ifs.. then some may never think there is
somethign to question, or they may think it wrong and weak to question..
so i guess its all in how you think about it.

Over the past few weeks, there seems to be a bit of a 'them' and 'us'
thing going on, so I just stepped away.

To attempt an alternative conversation, not based in christianity,
seemed to create a challenge to all...so rather than allow myself to get
more ridiculous in defending, and condemning, I try not to reply.

WOW! Natural Pantheism?!

You are the first person I have heard declare themselves as such; I
haven't heard that since I read a book about religions.

My father is very much Natural Pantheism as am I. As one becomes closer
to nature, one can find themselves.

i would think most people would classify themselves in that posistion
seeing as most people have mystical experiences in outside
environments...

I just got annoyed and started this subject because I feel like I am the
only one who isn't Christian and rather proud of it.

Many people love their computers and damned Ipods

I do come from a Christian background and I started to question it at an
early age, it just couldn't give me what I was looking for.

Oh you are not the only one who is not Christian.

I pick up some religious books and started reading. I was immediately
struck by the sameness of them (minus all the myths and flowery talk).

I found in each the concept of an all powerful being.

Then was I struck by the one other thing they all had in common.

Each exorts that it is the only way. (follow this or die.. eek)

I began to suspect the hand of man in the word they called Gods Word.

But I also met with truth in the very same Word within each of the 'Holy
Books'.

So I am careful about what I take from each Word and eye with suspicion
each part that has the appearence of the controling hand of man.

And I balance what I find within theses books with what I know of
science (admitedly my knowledge of science is small). If I find a
descrepancy between the knowledge of the world as seen by science and
the knowledge of the world as seen by the religions I am inclined to
accpet science first and fit the truth of the religion into what is
possible in the world of reality.