Unsure

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Sendo said:

My main question is: what exact reason do I have to become religious?

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If you don't know this yet then it probably doesn't exist. People choose to be religious for a number of different reasons (think about what those can be).

I would say to you that my Christian perspective is: not everyone needs to be religious. All they need to do is not sin. If everyone did not sin, then only wrong would be from mistakes, and nobody would blame anyone for that, and generally everyone would be happy with each other. I don't think this is a religious belief so much as a philosophical truth that religions all try to address in their own way.

I can recommend to you, continue living as a non-religious person until you encounter some information that makes you believe it might be worthwhile. Meanwhile as a non-religious person, try to do good and not sin, so that nobody resents you, then nobody will blame you. There is lots of advice for how to do this in various religions. I am quite familiar with the advice about this in the Christian religion, and I will recommend reading the gospels of Jesus (Matthew is a good start, informative and engaging). You will see that Jesus is full of good advice for how to live this way. In fact, Christians believe that Jesus is the only one in whom fault cannot be found, who was a pure servant, never hurt or offended anyone, but always stood for things that are true and right. He is the perfect role model, even though Christians spend the greatest amount of time trying to prove it than applying it.

Try that and see what happens, and stay involved with the people on this website, share your thoughts.

When you follow Christ, you walk with Christ in your life. The Lord of the universe walks with you and will never leave you or forsake you.

That's unbeatable!

I too was and is still is (in a way) asking the same questions that you ask. You sound like you have a similar introverted personality as I do. I struggled socially through middle/high school to become liked by as many as my peers as I could, or at least find something I could connect with. I wanted to fit in, like everyone else. I also didn't have that concrete passion that I wanted to pursue the rest of my life.

One thing that I always keep in mind is how LARGE this world is and the millions of choices we are able to make at every waking moment. Life is a huge opportunity to do anything you set your mind on.

Let me tell you that it is totally normal to feel unsure about your passions and future in your teen years. Hormones are flying and your brain isn't fully developed yet, so don't feel like you need to have your life plan at this current moment. Enjoy life for the little things that you can appreciate. Don't get caught up in negative thoughts. Try new things. Have fun. Do the things you enjoy, and don't beat yourself up over whether you want to do it for the rest of your life. Accept yourself, and the situation your in and I think you will slowly begin to discover all the great things life has to offer.

One thing I try to do whenever I get down and bored with life is to challenge myself. Do something you wouldn't normally do. For example, have a conversation with the cashier when you go to the store, start a conversation with a new person in your class, etc. Push yourself. When you do this you will find yourself feeling great about yourself and excited about the life your living.

One last thing to note is that everyone has some problem or something going on in their life that they would like to fix. Identify the issues that are causing you to think negative and work on fixing them. Don't get discouraged, and don't take little delimas so seriously. Life is a journey that we all live. We have ups and downs. But its all part of the game. Good luck and PM me if you need to talk!

Dear Sendo. Jesus gives us good advice in Matthew 22: 35-40: " The first and great Commandment is: Love God with all our hearts, with all our souls,
and with all our minds. The second is like it: Love our neighbour as we love ourselves." In verse 40 Jesus gives us a great truth: " on these two Commandments hang all the Law and the Prophets." God is Love, and God wants loving sons and daughters. We start by asking God in Matthew 7: 7-10:
" ask and you shall receive," we ask God for Love and Joy, then thank God and share all Love and Joy with our neighbour: all we know and all we meet,
friends and not friends.
The Bible tells us: " Repent and be Born Again," we give up our selfish wishes and wants, and we start be loving, kind and caring. God will see our loving
efforts, and God will approve and bless us. We keep asking for Love and Joy,
then thank God and share all Love and Joy with our neighbour. People will treat us the same as we treat people, Love is very catching and Love is a Christian`s weapon. With love we will overcome all enmity and wrong behaviour. We might stumble and forget at times, but then we ask God to forgive us, and carry on loving and caring. The Holy Spirit will help and guide us, and Jesus our Saviour will lead us all the way: JESUS IS THE WAY.
Let us treat all others as we would love to be treated, and become sign-posts
to God, be sure to Love Jesus and become Christ`s followers. I say this with
love, Sendo. Greetings from Emmy, your sister in Christ.

Different things prompt different people to seek out a religious faith. It could be anything - a dramatic life event, the example of a friend, a sense of sonething "missing" in one's life, etc that may prompt a person to seek.

For me, it was that sense of something "missing." Looking at the beauty & complexity of life, the Earth, the universe - I believed there had to be a Creator, the Divine, or otherwise something more. I wanted to "know" & find purpose in a God.

It was Christianity that I felt best revealed this God. Christianity rightly assesses the human condition, & offers a hope that is worth holding fast to.

I can't "prove" my religious beliefs, & that's okay. There is an inherent mystery to the Divine. I can't know everything. But looking at Jesus, looking at what God is like from the Christian view - it's worth it to believe.

At first glance it may seem that putting the Lord first in your life before everything else is a little weird. But with the understanding that the Lord created all, the Lord created us to live within the guidelines of the Word of God. That is His perfect plan for us.

Putting the Lord first, helps us to realize that all the parts of our lives, when we view them as God views them, we realize that this only helps us to live in all aspects of our lives. God puts into perspective how we are to treat and feel about all our relationships. It does NOT take anything away from those relationships. What it does is to clarify for us how God had intended from the beginning that all the aspects of our lives fit together and interact.

I hope that this makes sense to you

You are looking for a 3rd party philosiphical reason to help you change a personal philosphy you claim to be fine with. yet still you posted a request for a reason to change. So then the question becomes why are you seeking change if you are truly content? True contentment does not seek change, by the very defination of that word.

So again if we are allowed to ask questions what is making you seek change?

Sendo said:

I originally posted this under ethics and morality, but apparently this is the correct place to post this. I had some decent responses before, thanks to those people.
Hey,
I'm not a christian, I'm not religious. I would classify myself as an atheist, but I'm not exactly convinced by anything such as science or religion.. That's pretty much the dilemma that I've been facing my whole life; I choose not to believe anything I'm told and I believe I've made an honest attempt to be as unbiased as possible towards anything; I'm not going to have a rant about how science contradicts this and
Christianity contradicts that.

The thing about religion is that I don't really have a problem with it, but I don't need it either. I'm 16 years old in England, so it's been little exposed to me compared to many people whom I assume to be on these forums. My main question is: what exact reason do I have to become religious? Obviously this is a christian forum so I guess I'll be receiving christian views as responses, but that's fine by me. If somebody can convince me that'd be great, as currently I'm living a grey life; people tell me to be less "boring" and I just don't see what the point is.

I've asked this question in numerous other places, but nobody can give me a reason to change my view upon life. Perhaps I will get a response here, perhaps I will not.
Thanks for reading this drivel, I'm a tad tired at the moment and I may have left something out or said something that doesn't make sense. Feel free to ask questions.

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if your life is "grey" that is the perfect reason.

Man was designed to need two things to complete him. 1. to be united with God and 2. to need unconditional Love, a Love that is given to us by God, hopefully through His people. Now, as to witnessing this, I have seen many people who thought their lives were content before they came to Christ only to find out that they were never really content. As to unconditional love, I haven't yet met a person who wasn't seeking that Love. In fact, that is why people join gangs, churches, etc. to find unconditional love.

So, here is the question that will answer your question...what are you seeking in your life, when stripped of all the things that you have? IOW's at the core of your being, what is it at the end of the day that you need to make your life complete?

for me, it was the power to survive in a hostile environment.
For my husband, it was the need to follow someone that knew where to go.

It's different for different people, my daughter needs purpose, our son needs to stop being angry, another son needs occupied, purpose so to speak, that is a long story not easy to summarize. For some it is a place to belong, for some forgiveness, some need a future, some a reason. What is your need? I guarantee that God is a better answer than anything the world offers you to fill that need. That being said, let's touch on one thing I'm not sure is clear. Religion, any religion will not answer the need you have, God and a relationship with Him will, because we were created to need Him to truly fill up that need as it should be filled. Notice I am not suggesting the world can't fill it, but that the worlds filling is not completely satisfactory, thus my previous comment about some thinking they didn't need God until they found Him and discovered how much more satisfying He was than what they thought satisfied.

Well, hope that helps

Sendo said:

This is probably one of the best responses I've had to this. However, the major thing I disagree with is this:

I dislike attention; I probably wouldn't boast. I'm not really looking for something to classify myself as, I'm looking for something as a reason to live my life. I've been told to "find a passion", but I don't exactly understand what a passion is in truth. I enjoy certain activities, but I don't wish to dedicate myself to them at all. I get to the point of boredom with life where I think to myself "what's the point of it all?" which isn't the best state of mind. I'm not suicidal, or depressed in the slightest. Think of me as someone whom does not care about anything to a deep level. I feel more as if the days are coming and going; one day never leads to the next and I'm never working towards anything.

I'm a tad tired so I may have said something wrong, but hopefully this is coherent.

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recently, I have heard two different people talk about God pursuing them, one an atheist turned to Christ, the other raised in the church. What I hear when I read this is a person whom God is pursuing, which should be reason enough to turn to Him. You say things like, "I'm looking for something as a reason to live my life." "I don't wish to dedicate myself to them at all" "I get to the point of boredom with life where I think to myself "what's the point of it all?" (not so unlike my one son I tried to summarize) "think of me as someone whom does not care about anything to a deep level" etc. You see, these are seeking phrases and you are seeking your answers in God, that shows God pursuing you. The only thing left to do is answer His call. He alone can fill you with passion, with contentment, with dedication to someone or something, to remove the boredom, etc. You answered your own question and never even realized it, at least from where I stand, I see the answer very clearly, you are seeking a passion, and He is that passion through genuine real Love.

May you have eyes to see and a heart to accept all that God has in store for you.

Hey,
I'm not a christian, I'm not religious. I would classify myself as an atheist, but I'm not exactly convinced by anything such as science or religion..

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But, you are convinced there is no God (this is the atheist position)? May I ask how you are convinced of this view when you aren't "convinced by anything"?

That's pretty much the dilemma that I've been facing my whole life; I choose not to believe anything I'm told and I believe I've made an honest attempt to be as unbiased as possible towards anything;

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Um, if you have chosen not to believe anything you're told then aren't you biased toward anything anyone tells you? Being skeptical of everything doesn't make you as "unbiased as possible" but highly biased in favor of your own personal skepticism.

I'm not going to have a rant about how science contradicts this and
Christianity contradicts that.

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Okay. Cool.

The thing about religion is that I don't really have a problem with it, but I don't need it either. I'm 16 years old in England, so it's been little exposed to me compared to many people whom I assume to be on these forums. My main question is: what exact reason do I have to become religious?

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As has already been pointed out to you, while Christianity is a religion it is also much more: It is a relationship with your Maker. If God exists and He can be in some measure known, wouldn't it be the single most important thing in the universe to know Him? What could be more important than knowing the One who made you and the universe and sustains both moment by moment? To know God is to understand the Ground of All Reality. To know God is to know the Source of All Truth. To know God is to understand the purpose for your existence. To know God is to know what comes after death. To know God is to find objective, enduring meaning for your life. Are these things not important to you? If they aren't now, they eventually will be.

Obviously this is a christian forum so I guess I'll be receiving christian views as responses, but that's fine by me. If somebody can convince me that'd be great, as currently I'm living a grey life; people tell me to be less "boring" and I just don't see what the point is.

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Well, what is the point of your life if God does not exist? If you are just an accident of nature and there is no reason for you to exist beyond whatever illusion of meaning you can find for yourself, what is the point? If there is no God, you were not meant to be; you are just the random consequence of the unguided processes of nature. You will live, and die, and be forgotten - if there is no God. And as the universe itself moves on into eventual heat death, it will grow dark, and cold, and lifeless, and all of humanity will be extinguished and forgotten in the vast, empty, and uncaring vacuum of space.

I've asked this question in numerous other places, but nobody can give me a reason to change my view upon life.

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Well, if I came to you and said, "Prove to me that your way of thinking is a better way than my own. But I warn you: No one yet has succeeded. I'm skeptical of everything." Would you think you are likely to succeed where others have not?

Selah.

Hi Sendo, I think that you’re asking a good, honest question. After all, why devote your life to something that you don’t feel like you need?


The short answer is that your life will be fuller, richer, coherent, and more satisfying if you have a relationship with Christ (which is vastly distinct from mere religion) than if you didn’t. That was the point that is often left out of Pascal’s wager. Pascal wasn’t simply saying that its ‘better to be safe than sorry’ in regards to religion and the potential of hell. He was saying that even if Christianity wasn’t true, he would have lived a better life overall having followed Christ. I can attest to you, that as I was wrestling with agnosticism, one of the most depressing realities I faced was that, within my philosophy, I lacked purpose. Sure, I could invent one, but that didn’t mean that I had one. And at the end of the day, it wasn’t simply good enough to pretend. We are meaning-seeking creatures because God has created us in such a way that we are bent towards seeking Truth. I think this is evident by the fact that you’re even posting on this message board.


The point of Christianity is a relationship with God. That was the purpose of the cross. When people sin, what they’re actually doing is alienating themselves from God. Think about it this way: If I lie to my friend, my lie is going to damage our relationship. Trust will be broken, and in order for that relationship to be restored, someone is going to have to make a sacrifice. The sacrifice will have to be made by my friend, because I am the one that wronged him. If he chooses to forgive me, it will cost him, because forgiveness is never free—there is always a price to be paid by the one who is doing the forgiving. Christ (who is God) was the payment for our reconciliation with God. The higher the offense, the higher payment; no payment was as high as our sin against God. Everyone has sinned.
Putting faith in Christ is a matter of believing who he was/what he did, and resting in that reality.


I would encourage you to read through the book of John if you have access to a Bible. Any questions you might have about Christianity, I invite you to send me a message. I would love to try my best to answer them.