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jedidkelly

- 11 months ago

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God? Yes Religion? No

For about 20 years I have been on a search for a faith tradition that I could believe in and support. I grew up in a family that believed in God but did not participate in any particular faith.

So my search began:

Methodist (actually interned at a church)
Baptist (ok really only went to Sunday School twice as a child)
Seventh Day Adventist
Various Non-Denominational churches (about 10 years here)
Buddhism
Ba'hai
Wicca

I know that is a short list really out of all the religions of the world - those are the ones I studied the most.

The think I discovered about myself - is that all of the above traditions or religions if you will - -- I just don't buy into everything they say or believe.

I don't believe in hell
I do believe in equality for all
I do believe in helping others

I have put alot of pressure on myself over the years to "figure it out" - just pick one already!

So I choose God.

I do not choose any faith tradition/religion

It seems an almost lonely path - but I am pretty much an introvert anyway - and attending church always made me most uncomfortable.

Can you have God without "community"?

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Yes, you can. It's your god after all.

I love this question. I totally agree. What I believe lines up with Christianity the most, so identify myself as a Christian, but I have a lot of different views to fellow Christians and my faith is a complex one.

I find that having a religion doesn't make you part of some exclusive kind of community that you can't get anywhere else. No matter what you believe, community is everywhere. There's a good possibility you consider yourself an introvert simply due to not finding a community you connect with. It seem like you've look to religion for that community, and not having found it, gave up. But you must understand that you are more than your beliefs, and you can find people to connect with on different levels than just what religion you are.

As to all the people in this conversation promoting their own religions (Like Phyleen), the OP stated that he didn't join any religions, and isn't looking to, so you are off topic and abusing the question.

i feel the same way. i want my son to believe in god but not the baptist god i was raised knowing. I want him to find his own identity with god, and not feel like he cant question anything or feel judged for doing something that is human nature.

http://www.truthconduit.com/ Also, follow this new blog, it's purpose is the show how everything in this world eventually leads to understanding that everything eventually acknowledges truth is Christ. (This is a new uprising, so new stuff will be added daily)

I will tell you this, the only religion mentioned in the bible that Christ wants us to be apart of is taking care of the widows and the orphans. Every 'denomination' has is struggles, but folllowing Jesus is not a religion. God sent Jesus to give us freedom from all evil and have freedom to be at peace with God the way He designed it in the beginning before we decided to turn away from God. It's so great that you Choose God, He's the one that loves you more than anything, but Jesus is the way to have true forgiveness and freedom to what we're bound to have if we don't choose to follow and love Christ. I'm a Christian and it really bothers me that different denominations (not religions) of all types (baptist, methodist, etc...) misconstrue truth. Really, the complete answer to life is only in the bible. It's the only book thats prophesies have ever been recorded true and not a single man on this earth can ever prove it wrong. It may be just a book to some people, but when you actually accept what it is saying as truth, you don't just know what you're reading as literature, you feel it. You start to desire it, and truthfully, you're life begins to get better and better. When you start learning that God created us to love us... to care for us... then learn that man turned form God making their own religions and ways of thinking, it's really hard to find understanding in coming back to the true source of where everything came from. Satan confused man, and is still doing so. But scripture says, do not lean on your own understanding, but on His... Even though we have weird thoughts of not being able to understand life, once we surrender to Christ, accepting his free gift to free us from bondage and pain that all will experience if they don't choose Christ... we will finally because to experience the change. You wont know by being a bystander. You only experience by trusting scripture, which is the only truth. Praying for you... and one more thing... don't base everything you hear on what people tell you, truly read the whole entire bible, and pray for understanding. I promise you 100% you're going to find the answer... :)

I come from a Hindu religious background.

I think we humanized the concept of god. So people with all levels of intellectual ability can relate to it.

Yes. We can have God without community/religion. But wouldn't that be yet another way of life(religion?!!). And if a few of us followed those principles, then wouldn't we be deemed as a community?

i'm a bit in the same position as you here. i want to find my spirituality through a faith but here's one thing, you'll not find a faith without fault so it's not worth reading too much into faith traditions. what i'm doing is reading into various materials from as broad a base of beliefs and faiths as i can, that appeal to me. at the same time, i don't want to class myself into a particular faith tradition because in a way, i don't really feel that i have to. i want to discover my spiritual character with the help of me, and that's really it. i feel this way is best.

but i would say that community is definitely one of the best aspects of anything, whether it be religion, sport, or whatever it may be. i think every religion has, in general, a broad set of beliefs that will appeal to you. i would recommend to get immersed into a community of people with the same beliefs as you because i feel this is something important that you must experience. remember that you don't have to believe in every little thing that the specific faith holds; you as a person of that faith have a right to question it and ask your like minded people, why do we believe in this? is this right/wrong?

@jedidkelly, you're not alone dude, i'm also on this voyage of discovery as well, but that's the way i feel about it :)

Religion is a pet-tree dish...yes, you can have god without a religion if you choose to..because the word religion is descriptive of how one chooses to worship not live..And people were born to dance with life not worship it..

I went the other way, no God but yes Religion...
Is Spirituality + Community = Religion?

I think everyone in his/her life is trying to find an answer for a universal question: What's the meaning of life? and that's why people in quest of god. Because it's the only simpliest explanation to this question.

If you change your definition of god, you can have a huge "community" everywhere you look. The whole earth is snapshot of god. the good, bad and if you can get past the labels you can see god everywhere.

This is almost similar to what I believe. I've always felt uncomfortable in church. My parents go to a pentecostal church where an emphasis is placed on "praising God." Many times, music will be playing and people will be dancing, etc. I've never felt comfortable with that. I'd rather sit alone and praise God alone, without other people watching. In fact, Jesus himself spoke of praying in a secret location, away from others.

Anyways, the whole Pentecostal faith didn't seem to fit with me. Don't get me wrong. If people are comfortable shouting and singing and dancing around in praise, more power to them. But I'm not.

I looked at other denominations: Catholicism, Baptist, Episcopal, etc. Many of them have some small thing that they "got right," but all of them, in my opinion, fell short of what I felt was right.

So, I decided I wouldn't limit myself to a certain faith or denomination. I simply believe in God and try to emulate the life of Jesus. That's all there is to it. None of these rituals and dogma are necessary. There was no never any emphasis on ceremonies and unnecessary chanting, so why do we do it?

It's made me slightly happier as a result. I mean, I'm still the miserable, poor old sap that I was since the day I was born, but I'm a little bit happier.

I think that spirituality and religion can be considered two separate things. I myself have been Baha'i for 2 years and am enjoying it so far. I am in fact drawn to that distinction and think of myself as valuing the community aspect too much to break off from it. I sometimes think of it as like a Holy Trinity. You have God, the people, and me. I have my ideas about things, God is separate from me and what He wants comes from the Holy Scriptures and the people all have their views and desires but it is connected to me and God, too. I like the concept. I would like to connect with other people on a similar level but I've had enough experience to know that community is important to me. A sense of togetherness and knowing that they value me for something that I value in myself and that I value in them as well. It's nice to be able to have faith in something outside of myself and not just in my head. You can have God without community. But can you have community without God?

I seem to have a fluctuating experience with the Creator. My spirituality goes from a gender-neutral spirit, devoid of human form and definition which spans the whole of the cosmos, to a more female-oriented maternal entity most easily perceived as Mother Nature, Mother Goddess, or Gaia. For me, the Divine is within me and outside of me, and is the connection between the two. He/She/It is within all beings and manifests differently depending on the particular cultures and historical origins of those involved.

You can have a community without God or Goddess or religion because communities function best, I think, when there's cooperation between all participants. That cooperation doesn't require a deity to be present, though religion and spirituality may in themselves serve to strengthen a community.

Yes and no. God is made up not only of your relationship to Him, but also by your relationship to those around you. So I think yes, you can have God without community in that your relationship with God doesn't rely on the approval of others, but no in that community is required to have a healthy, happy relationship to the world around you, in which God is a part.

"Can you have God without "community"?"

Since God is all about relationship and unity, I don't think so.
Even Shamanism and other spiritist beliefs that dictated a degree of ascetism and living on the fringes of the society for the sake of purity of vision, cautioned that someone who was seeking just for themselves would be "limited" in the amount of spiritual power or revelation given them as they were just using it for selfish purpose rather than sharing it with a community.

Yes, I know a lot of belief-systems don't like the idea of Hell. It's just to "responsibility for your own actions" to fly in a society where everyone has an excuse, and exclusion, a reason, a disqualification, a condition, a disadvantage.

I think community is extremely important when it comes to faith in a God. The impact of other humans and their faith has a huge impact on our own faith. It is hard to anything alone, and especially keeping faith in an invisible God.

Many people find themselves dissatisfied with organized religion. A lot of people feel it, and eventually "go indie" with their concept of God.

Keep in mind, religious people are allowed to believe in a lot of obscene and crazy bullshit--simply because they are in a large group. However, if you go it alone, you might just be considered a crazy person. If your "indie" God actually speaks to you, seek professional help.

Even the people that say they believe in a particular domination's version of faith won't adhere to all its tenants. You're not alone, you've simply recognized that scripture is inherently limited. No two believers ever seem to have the same definition of God. If members of the same church were to hash out point by point what they think God's stance is on every specific issue that comes up in life what are the odds they would agree across the board? Essentially zero, because even if they are scriptural literalists they're going to run into a mountain of contradictions.

So what's your definition of God?

The answer is most assured "yes you can".

I fundamentally believe that something greater than just a big bang had to put the wheels in motion. I revere that something. I find peace in that something. But after a lifetime of seeing righteous indignation and judgment, I'll settle for just saying that I believe.

I feel like I had a similar experience as you and have made the same conclusions. As far as God, obviously I don't know, but I still pray, mostly thanks. However, God doesn't have to exist for me to choose the other beliefs you stated. I believe in love and if there is God I believe God is love.

Team SP

Most Americans define themselves as 'spiritual but not religious'. I think its a fine way to go. God will guide you on your path towards service and growth.

Did you ever consider that maybe the community needs you?

You can have community without anything like a traditional theistic god.
But
I don't think you can have god without a realisation that god is actually a product of human community.

It's probably best that you don't seek out any religion if it makes you uncomfortable. If your relationship with god doesn't require anything other then you why bother complicating things?

Hello friend. Jesus Christ preached about hell more than Heaven. Through His work on the cross, none of us has to go to hell.

Yes, you can. Your faith is a personal relationship and whatever form you believe God is in (be that an imaginary spook-in-the-sky Sky Daddy watching you, or that force out in the multi-universes that governs the spin of all things from galaxies, stars, planets, down to atoms) it is your own personal belief that comforts you. It is no one else's business what brings you personal harmony.

All it requires is one person to have an imaginary friend.

There are many out of there who are in the same situation as yours. I have a friend who almost have the same story but she didn't stop searching for the right religion. Now she is exploring Judaism and Islam. She came from a Christian family. Maybe the family was Christian by name only if you know what I mean.

Don't stop searching. You can ask for help from people you know or around you or online. You need a way to worship this God and follow his orders, but doing that on your own, without religion, won't help much. Good luck on your journey

This is close to where I am, although I'm pretty sure my definition of "God" is nowhere close to yours. As someone with pantheistic views and deep interest in mysticism, I'm sort of doomed to a life without a "spiritual community." I'm used to being on my own a lot of the time, so it's not too bad, but sometimes it drives me crazy that I really have anyone to talk to about all of it without getting strange looks or having to go out of my way to explain things.

"So I choose God."

Conclusion from ignorance. Clearly as evidenced from your laborous search you don't know. The position on God therefore, if honesty is considered, is you don't know. Some of us are honest enough to admit we don't know. Here's the kicker though. If evidence of a god emerges then the faithless like me will believe. The opposite is not true. The faithful did not arrive at their conclusion from evidence and therefore exposure to conflicting evidence and confounding claims (totalling bullshit) does not budge their faith. Here's another kicker. The faithful claim open-mindedness. How 'bout that?

yup.

Of course. You can't find the right religion, because you seem to fundamentally understand that God is too big to fit into any man-made institution. Also, most religions put someone and/or something between you and God - be that a priest, a book of rules, etc.. As soon as you give someone or something else the power to be the sole voice of God, you lose your direct connection to the divine. God is a verb happening all around & inside you all the time. Religions help those that think they need rules & morals, but is unnecessary if you want a relationship/connection to God.

You can have community, regardless of religion. Simply follow your spiritual practice by treating other's equally and trying your best to help them. That is divinity.