Why do you believe what you believe?

[glo]

Hi all

I would like to explore why people choose a particular faith (or none).
I have thought about turning this into a poll, but I don't think a poll would capture the best answers.

I will try to make this applicable for people of all faiths and none, and I hope that different faiths will be represented in the replies ... although for obvious reasons Muslim views will dominate this thread.

I will try to ask my questions in a chronological and numbered way.

Can I ask people to

• be brief and concise in their replies (I don't want this to turn into a conversion thread), and
• try to avoid promoting any religion - rather describe your personal views

Here goes:

1. Which faith/religion do you belong to?


2. Where you raised in your present faith, or did you choose our faith?


3.a) If you were raised in your present faith, did you at any time leave it or doubt in it, search other faiths and return to the faith you were raised in?
If yes, why did you leave your faith in the first place (if only temporarily)?
If no, skip this question and move on to question 4 or 5.

b) If you chose your faith, what made you look for 'religion'?

i.e.

• disagreed with teaching of my religion
• disagreed with how people of my faith lived their lives
• wanted 'to belong' somewhere
• wanted to 'be different'
• was looking for answers
• wasn't looking for a religion, but my religion 'found me'

(These are just some prompts that spring to my mind. Please answer in your own words.)


4. Did you explore/study other religions? If so, which ones?


5. Very briefly, describe what you personally feel is special about your faith/religion.


6. If you have converted, describe very briefly if and how your conversion has changed you.

I hope these are clear and useful questions ...

Peace :)

[Kittygyal]

Alikum.
in brief, my conversion has changed me a vast of improvement in many ways, one that i have came to the right religion (Islam) && second i more religious than i was when i was a christain && also i have trust in me religion && atleast now i know whats wrong && whats right in me religion (islam) &&& what is expected with it's demand within 'satan' && Allah subahwnatallah.

Also i can feel the love && how much Allah suabhwnatallah is here for me.
i must depart now using me cell so yh take care Glo :)
Alikum

[One Man Army]

Im a Sikh

My family was very distant from sikhi. with Gods Grace i have found this path, and have chosen to attempt to walk it!

I didnt doubt my faith, however, i did research many other religions before making my decision, as i wanted to be certain that i could commit for life.
I was actually looking for answers. I looked everywhere, but it was only untill looking into sikhi, and Gurbani (sikh scripturs) i found my questions to be answered the best!

I studyed beliefs and concepts of Islam, Christianity, hinduism, and bits of buddism. Im not saying that what these religions say is wrong, and what i believe is right, i just felt that sikhi was the path that answered what i had to ask the best.

My faith promotes equility of the human race. to see the lord residing in all, and to never pass judgement upon anyone. To recognise men and women, hindu and muslim, etc as creation of the one God. to follow 3 principles of remembering God, earn an honest living, and to share what we have. i cant describe in words what sikhi has offered me, its the whole way of life. to leave yourself in the way you have been created. to be there to serve humanity. stand up for rightousness. to keep control of the mind, lust, anger, greed, ego, attatchment. And to no only pray to God, but to experience God through Anand (spiritual bliss). this is something that cant be expressed. but just felt. to see your self as the lowest. Every single aspect of Sikhi. i could sit here typing all day. just by typing what i have makes me love this path God has caused me to come on!

I wouldnt say i have converted. id say i have reverted. as i think i have always been a sikh since birth, as the princples are just plain and simple principles of humanity. it has allowed me to keep in a thing called chardi kalla... high spirits. or positive. to enjoy life and to realise purpose.. and to live a honest, God fearing life!


Forgive me if i have offended anyone....

Servant Nanak begs for the dust of the feet of that Gursikh, who himself chants the Naam (name of the Lord), and inspires others to chant it.

[zaria]

Hi all

I would like to explore why people choose a particular faith (or none).
I have thought about turning this into a poll, but I don't think a poll would capture the best answers.

I will try to make this applicable for people of all faiths and none, and I hope that different faiths will be represented in the replies ... although for obvious reasons Muslim views will dominate this thread.

I will try to ask my questions in a chronological and numbered way.

Can I ask people to

• be brief and concise in their replies (I don't want this to turn into a conversion thread), and
• try to avoid promoting any religion - rather describe your personal views

Here goes:

[B]
1. Which faith/religion do you belong to? Islam

2. Where you raised in your present faith, or did you choose our faith? Was born in it but not raised

3.a) If you were raised in your present faith, did you at any time leave it or doubt in it, search other faiths and return to the faith you were raised in?
If yes, why did you leave your faith in the first place (if only temporarily)?
If no, skip this question and move on to question 4 or 5. Yes I left it but not because of doubt but becasue I was raised by family members who were not of the religion and because of my ignorance of my faith at the time

b) If you chose your faith, what made you look for 'religion'? I became more knowledgable by reading and understanding that there is no other ilah but Allah (swt)
i.e.

• disagreed with teaching of my religion- once I started studying Islam the right way, It was self explainitory to me
• disagreed with how people of my faith lived their lives- Totally(with Christianity)
• wanted 'to belong' somewhere- not at all
• wanted to 'be different-not at all
• was looking for answers yes the right answers
• wasn't looking for a religion, but my religion 'found me' Allah makes muslims

(These are just some prompts that spring to my mind. Please answer in your own words.)


4. Did you explore/study other religions? If so, which ones? yes Chistianity


5. Very briefly, describe what you personally feel is special about your faith/religion. Allah (swt) It is a comfort zone for me. I know that if I do my best to live by the Quaran and the Sunnah, Jannah is where I will beI love my religion and I wish that I would have never turned away from it

6. If you have converted, describe very briefly if and how your conversion has changed you.I am a revert and it was Allah's will that I did revert. MashaAllah (Allah willed it) I felt as eased with myself because It was a new me.
I hope these are clear and useful answers...

Peace :)

Peace!

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[Jayda]

hola glo!

this is such a wonderful question, muchos gracias

1. i am roman catholic

2. si,, i am a cradle catholic

3. i have never even thought about such a thing...

4. no... i have read certain things so that i better understand the beliefs of people around me but i have never studied anything...

5. i know you wanted this very brief so i will try very hard to make it very brief...

for me everything good in my life is now and always had lead me to Jesus, my family husband and babies my beautiful parish and all of my friends and my prayers and my padre and school and my interest in music...

i am attracted like a moth to the flame to the "aura" of Jesus i do not know how to express this. his patience, compassion, wisdom, pacificity and overwhelming strength cannot be put into words and there are so many more words i could think of to talk about him and still i would not say enough

the humanness of the prophets is also beautiful to me, and the humanness of the apostles who were men who were normal and afraid of everything around them and did not understand... then their strength in going through the first years when they had to spread the gospel and were going to be killed for it...

the Church and the way it cloaks us in all things in our life like a very big family, its long magestic history and guidance by such intelligent and great and pious men has been important to... especially the previous Holy Father and the current Holy Father...

there are moments in my life where i really could feel the Church, like World Youth Day or my confirmation and then my wedding... and singing in the choir...

i cannot imagine a better way to live than the way Christ taught us and the way he lived his life... the way he encouraged us to help less fortunate people, and to go an entire lifetime doing no harm... and that it is the way we are meant to be inspires me and whenever i do things to help others i feel more connected...

i love that i am inspired to love God and do things for God... not for myself so that i may go to heaven and avoid hell... there is much selflesses and surrendur in accepting our place in serving others...

these are most of my reasons,
muchos gracias

[Keltoi]

I'm a Christian who has at different times been a member of different denomination. I'm a Methodist now and am fairly happy with my church.

I haven't truly "studied" another religion because I don't feel the need to. Of course I have learned quite a bit about other religions over time.

I did leave my faith for adolescent rebellious reasons as a teenager and into my early twenties. Thankfully I've found my faith again.

As for what is special about my faith, I don't see how anything could be better than the teachings of Jesus Christ. A truly universal message of peace and love.

[mariam.]

1. Which faith/religion do you belong to?

Islam

2. Where you raised in your present faith, or did you choose our faith?

I raised in my present faith .. but I feel that I love my religion more than my life .. and Iam always asking my self: If I born far from Islam, far from my faith and surrender , far from God do I choose Islam?
actually, I can't answer .. I can't said except: thanks God because you let me taste this beautiful relation with you my lord .. because you let me one of your servant .. because you let me to prostrate infront of your majesty.

3.a) If you were raised in your present faith, did you at any time leave it or doubt in it, search other faiths and return to the faith you were raised in?

No

4. Did you explore/study other religions? If so, which ones?

yes I do, Christianity.. and a little about other religions from documentary programs like Judaism,Hinduism,sikh

5. Very briefly, describe what you personally feel is special about your faith/religion.

ok .. what I want to say?
I believe that I can brief my personally feel in one word .. LOVE

6. If you have converted, describe very briefly if and how your conversion has changed you.

yes I born as moslems .. but I converted by God, by his holy book (koran),by his prophets, by his pious servants.
my relation with God change my look to every thing .. give me more comfort in my heart .. make my look to this life more serious .. it's give me purpose to my life .. it's give me Love and peace

I hope these are clear and useful questions ...

yes they are thank glo .. may God award you and make you from his pious servants.

Peace

[- Qatada -]

hey.

1. Which faith/religion do you belong to?

Islaam.

2. Where you raised in your present faith, or did you choose our faith?

Was born into it, but never knew learnt much about it till later.

3.a) If you were raised in your present faith, did you at any time leave it or doubt in it, search other faiths and return to the faith you were raised in?
If yes, why did you leave your faith in the first place (if only temporarily)?

Never left it, just wasn't really knowledgable about the basics so i couldn't say anything if anyone ever asked me.

5. Very briefly, describe what you personally feel is special about your faith/religion.

My life moulds around islaam, the way i think etc. Anytime i need to look for an answer, there is always some proof to clear up my misconception so it strengthens me in faith and keeps my connection with Allaah (God Almighty) more constant. I enjoy it because i don't feel alone because I always have God to talk to, and to understand my problems.

6. If you have converted, describe very briefly if and how your conversion has changed you.

Not really conversion, but practising islaam has made my life more easier because i have a clear straight path to follow instead of wandering in the darkness.

I hope these are clear and useful questions ...

Peace :)

Thankyou, peace to you too. :)

[Skillganon]

My position is similar to brother Fi_Sibillah.

I did know certain thing better than my freind but I was not knowledgable.

I did study the bible first funnily more than Islam. I also studied bit about other faiths.

Now I am trying to better myself in Islam.

[Trumble]

Which faith/religion do you belong to?

Buddhist. No formal school, though, and my personal beliefs do include certain Daoist and even 'New Age' concepts. I have an ongoing project, too, to reconcile all of those with certain Western esoteric traditions; but that may take a while (he said with huge understatement)!

2. Where you raised in your present faith, or did you choose our faith?

I chose it, or at least it chose me. My parents are both atheist/agnostic so I wasn't raised in a faith at all, other than my exposure to Christian culture.

3. b) If you chose your faith, what made you look for 'religion'?

Was looking for answers. As good a way of describing it as any.

4. Did you explore/study other religions? If so, which ones?

Yes. Mainly the Eastern traditions, but also Christianity, Islam and the Western esoteric traditions.

5. Very briefly, describe what you personally feel is special about your faith/religion.

It makes sense (to me) at both intellectual and experiential levels. That is not true of the alternatives, all of which have a lot of sense in them, particularly with regard as to how to live, but all of which to me are inherently implausible and have no 'feel' of real truth.

[IbnAbdulHakim]

1. Which faith/religion do you belong to?

Islaam, Alhamdulillaah !!

2. Where you raised in your present faith, or did you choose our faith?

I was raised in it mashaAllaah (by the will of Allaah swt) but i also chose it from my heart once i understood its beauty.

5. Very briefly, describe what you personally feel is special about your faith/religion.

ever thought, "OMG WHAT SHOULD I DO???" , well when you have islam you NEVER think that, Allaah and his beloved rasul saws has guided us towards the beautiful and righteous path, the logic behind everything is so easy to understand, the simplicity is something you wont find anywhere else!




Peace :D

[Woodrow]

1. Which faith/religion do you belong to?

Isalm

2. Where you raised in your present faith, or did you choose our faith?

By choice

3.a) If you were raised in your present faith, did you at any time leave it or doubt in it, search other faiths and return to the faith you were raised in?
If yes, why did you leave your faith in the first place (if only temporarily)?
If no, skip this question and move on to question 4 or 5.

b) If you chose your faith, what made you look for 'religion'?

* wasn't looking for a religion, but my religion 'found me'

I was not seeking any religion and really fought any religious beliefs at that time. I had no desire to consider "belonging" to any particular religion although I was calling myself a Buddhist at the time. I had no solid belief in a supreme being and my biggest question was if a god could exist, why would we be limited to there just being one?

I fought it all the way and Allah(swt) knocked some sense into me

4. Did you explore/study other religions? If so, which ones?

I considered my self a bit of a religious scholar, in terms of academic comparasions. From an academic view I had taken several comparative religion and sociology courses plus studied many religions on my own

5. Very briefly, describe what you personally feel is special about your faith/religion.

I feel that Islam is available to all people if they truly have a desire to serve God(swt). From a historical and scientific view I have not found anything in it that can not be verified.

6. If you have converted, describe very briefly if and how your conversion has changed you.

I do not resemble the person I was before I reverted. I no longer know that person and refuse to associate with him. That person is little more than a vague memory..

[snakelegs]

1. Which faith/religion do you belong to?

none

2. Where you raised in your present faith, or did you choose our faith?

i was raised in no religion and have never belonged to one.

4. Did you explore/study other religions? If so, which ones?

judaism, buddhism, taoism, islam, sikhism. i have never looked for a religion, but find them interesting to learn about.

peace, glo!

[thirdwatch512]

1. Which faith/religion do you belong to?

-- I am a Christian, by the denomination of the Catholic faith!! :)

2. Where you raised in your present faith, or did you choose our faith?

-- My grandparents have always been EXTREMELY religious (my grandpa on my fathers side is a protestant pastor, my mothers side is ultra orthodox catholic) but my parents were never all that religious. I was Catholic by name forever, and I've only been a catholic at heart since about April.



3.a) If you were raised in your present faith, did you at any time leave it or doubt in it, search other faiths and return to the faith you were raised in?
If yes, why did you leave your faith in the first place (if only temporarily)?
If no, skip this question and move on to question 4 or 5.

-- ohhh yes. i almost became jewish several times (including very recently) and I've almost became muslim several times. but i've always came back to Christianity. :) i almost went to judaism because my BF is jewish and i had a major fascination in it, and the sabbath day and the jewish way of life is awesome. i felt it had a lot of truth in it.
i almost became muslim not so much because i have believed it to be real, but because i just have failed to understand how someone could be so inspirational.. an illeterate man who comes up with a book with no contradictions is pretty amazing lol.
But i always come back to christianity, because when you think of it people like Joseph Smith of the Mormon religion.. By 2050 the mormon religion might have 100 million believers. and the Book of Mormon has only 1 contradictions, so i figure if someone can make that up, then certainly someone can come up with a book twice as small. (no offense to muslims.)

b) If you chose your faith, what made you look for 'religion'?

-- I had always had my doubts. Christianity had a rough history and i was feeled with so many questions. but after i read the Bible, I totally changed my mind lol


4. Did you explore/study other religions? If so, which ones?

-- Ohhh yes, i prolly know more about religions then most people. Mainly christianity, judaism, and islam although i have a little knowledge on hinduism. but yes, i have studied religion a tonnnn.. it's crazy. prolly not as much as you tho. :)

5. Very briefly, describe what you personally feel is special about your faith/religion.

-- the love it has. the love that jesus has. the tolerance and acceptance. the forgiveness. when i read the NT, half of what i see are beutiful verses talking about love. "if you are slapped, turn the other cheek." "love your neighbors" "love your enemies more then anyone else" just great. :) and you will find that in NO other religion besides christianity.. none.

6. If you have converted, describe very briefly if and how your conversion has changed you.[/B]

-- I didn't convert, but you could sort of say i reverted.. i was always unreligious, and agnostic/atheist for a lot of my life, and then i just came back to the church. i feel happier since i have reverted. and i feel happiness in reading the Bible. :)


Now glo, it's time for you to answer. :) lol

[Grace Seeker]

1. Which faith/religion do you belong to?

Christian


2. Where you raised in your present faith, or did you choose our faith?

I was raised in it.


3.a) If you were raised in your present faith, did you at any time leave it or doubt in it, search other faiths and return to the faith you were raised in?
If yes, why did you leave your faith in the first place (if only temporarily)?
If no, skip this question and move on to question 4 or 5.

b) If you chose your faith, what made you look for 'religion'?

As I child, I simply acquiesed until about age 13-14. Then I began to question things. By age 16 I was in full rebellion. In truth my rebellion was not so much against the faith I was raised in, but rebellion against my parents. As my father was a pastor, that included rebelling against anything having to do with church. I remember an argument with my dad in which I accused him of the only reason that he wanted me to go to church was because it would make him look bad if his own son didn't go where he was the preacher. He called me on it. Told me that he had once considered going into business as an advertizing executive and was also on the ground floor of the television industry, before responding to what he thought was God's leading in his life to become a pastor. But that if he had pursued either of them that he would have kept the same pattern of regular attendance at church and would have demanded the same of his children in that profession as well. However, he wasn't concerned about whether I attended his church or another, so if I wanted to I could attend the church of my choice as long as I attended. So, for the next 3 weeks I did. I got up on Sunday morning and visited the churches of my friends. After three weeks of doing that I realized that I didn't really hate going to my father's church, I just wanted it to be my choice and not his, and I settled back in.

After that I got to thinking a little more seriously about what I believed and why and tried to evaluate what little I knew of other religions. If I had been raised in some other family, some other country would I have automatically become whatever was the common faith practiced there? Ultimately, I realized that I had very little belief in the existence of any God whatsoever. That most of my belief was indeed culturally derived. So, I was curiouos where any of these other faiths came from. As I continued to investigate, I was impressed with what I learned of how the disicples of Jesus were changed by their experience. But I also realized that their change was not so much a result of spending time with Jesus listening to his teaching, but followed their experience of the resurrection. I could not figure out why they so willing died for their faith if it was something they had just concocted on their own. Eventually I reached a conclusion that they really believed in the resurrection, and the only reason that made sense to me as to why they might believe as they did was that they had actually witnessed it. Others later might be led astray by some some sort of story, but these individuals would have known the truth of that story and they were still willing to die for it. I concluded that it must be real, and if real, then I needed to take it more seriously. When I did, I became a true believer.


4. Did you explore/study other religions? If so, which ones??

Though not all in equal depth, between the age of 16 and 21 I either studied or participated in events where I explored the following religions, cults and philosophies, in addition to Christianity: Judaism, Hinduism, Buddhism, Zorastroism, Mormonism, Islam, The Way International, Unitarian Universalists, agnosticisim as a component of simple secular humanism, atheism, and the Unification Church (aka, Moonies).


5. Very briefly, describe what you personally feel is special about your faith/religion.

I can have an intimate and personal connection with God. I live in a relationship with God wherein there is ongoing and mutual (i.e. back and forth) communication one with another. I live assured of God's grace already active in my life and confident of his continued leading and guidance to direct me in his righteousness and to restore me when I fail. As a result I experience an overall sense of joy and peace in my day to day life irregardless of my immediate circumstances.


6. If you have converted, describe very briefly if and how your conversion has changed you. not applicable

[bint_muhammed]

Q1) muslim
Q2)both
Q3)alhamdulilah i've never left my faith and ishallah never will! however now learning about it strengthens my conviction in it!
Q4)i've studied christianity judaism hinduism etc. however when i came across an answer thta couldnt be answered i'd give up on them!
Q5) when your learning about a religion sometimes you have to be objective to give you rational answers, once you get these and then bringin in emotion which will give you the best religion, and thats what i found in islam! i'd rather have my whole family killed, put through the worst torture than have my religion taken from me, as i know i'm following Allah swt command!

[bint_muhammed]

sos ^ got a lot of grammer mistakes in it im just so tierd