SoulPancake / Conversations / Does your theology make you a better person?

Talk about stuff that matters.

Conversations

marceloasherQ

- 10 months ago

Feature
1
Like
Follow

Does your theology make you a better person?

Your theology isn't necessarily religious. It boils down to what you do or don't believe about a higher being (or lack there of). And a friend of mine once told me that what you believe or don't believe should make you in a better person. If not, then you need to do some self-assessment.

For him, it meant going down a different path of Christianity. For me, it meant scrapping my faith altogether and starting anew.

Do you think your life philosophy/theology makes you a better person?

source: http://www.flickr.com/photos/mcgraths/2094714496/

Recent Discussed Liked

First level responses second level responses

My theology makes me who I am, and is kinda unique in my family.

Yes, but I only to myself.

All it does is make me question myself and how I can be better. It gives me a target, albeit a pretty mobile target, to use to measure myself.

This may seem like an odd tangent but I was like this in my jobs. I was always asking myself, if I owned this company, what decision would I make in this particular instance? Then I started doing it. I stopped asking my bosses, I just started doing it but I was ready with the answer to the question why, if repercussions ensued. I made some mistakes that my bosses would point out but I learned from them and rather than being fired; I started getting promoted. Who'd a figured??

I think I use my theology in the same way. If I was reporting to a higher authority; how wound I respond to a given situation? I know at my core I am selfish and my natural inclinations are to want more but something inside me also says that that is not the way to illustrate the best that I can be.

I guess I need to feel that I have a responsibility to something bigger than my own small minded inclinations and I also need something to express my sense of gratitude to for every little thing that makes me happy.

sh*t happens in my life like it happens in everyone else's but I try to crowd out the crap by allowing this toast I am eating right now with peanut butter and orange marmalade to be thought of as a gift and to me it really is. Finding myself in circumstance to be able to provide for myself might be partly associated with skills I may have developed but being in a place that allows me to practice my skills is just dumb luck...or is it? Because I'm not positive that it is just dumb luck, I allow for the possibility that it isn't.

I continue to make mistakes but if the pattern holds, I just might see another promotion. If I don't, so what? The fun on the journey makes up for the alternative anyway.

When I scrapped my (christian) faith in favor of a more well-thought-out worldview, I became a better person. But it does take courage to face one's self and believe the beauty (and power) that you find there.

yes yes yes. Gives me guidance and comfort. there is an emphasis on connectedness of humans. we are together. to get to know what another. to learn and follow the right path.

My ever evolving theology from multiple complex 'seeds' (questions) that grew to a myriad branches of unanswered questions. While others were enjoying their childhood, I shied away to silence. After much years of discernment I was able to link the network and find resolution, which made me privy of its roots. Because of that I direct my life, and thoughts, aware of the entire network that lies within (me), my consciousness. Thus able to make confident decisions without relying on some outer or higher force. Although I often seek beyond me to recognise and perhaps confirm if I'm on track.

In other words I allowed myself, and still do, to evolve from a subconscious to a conscious life. I am at one with me and feel free to expose my 'tree', with those mutually aiming to build a forest. Onenism is all I desire and try my utmost to remain as conscious of those who taint it.

My theology makes me a living person. I spent a significant amount of time in an environment in which the only validation I had for my being alive at all was my belief that God is in control of the universe and creates every being for a purpose.

I have only recently entered an environment where I am receiving encouragement for the value of my existence from sources outside of my theology, so I am not quite yet living at a level where I can utilize my theology to enhance my value.

But I imagine that, in the future, it surely will.

My theology keeps me alive, and I do believe that life is just a bit better than death. I'm not in any rush to die, since it's coming for me anyway, and I'll get to experience whatever happens (or doesn't happen) next regardless of what I do right now. Better person = soul + body, right?

I hope so.

I've been wondering this question for a while, myself. The problem is, I'm starting to realize more and more that there is no objective way to look at myself - if I ask someone else, then their opinion of me will influence their response, and any answer I could give would be heavily distorted by by own views, because of the beliefs that I hold.

Self-evaluation seems to be akin to being in a fun-house full of mirrors, with no true, objective mirror to look at.

Still, it's my theology that encourages me to still keep trying to improve myself, and not settle for less. "Becoming a better person" is a lifelong thing, in my opinion. So, my theology is what inspires me to try and be a better person.

As far as if it's working, I can't say. But, as said above, I hope so.

This particular question is all about the "Golden Rule". Theology has nothing to do with a source outside of who you are as a spiritual being. You are the only one who determines the outcome of your life and the effect that you may have on humanity. You are the "The Captain of your own Ship"! Taking spiritual and intellectual responsbility of where you are or where you have been in your life is taking hold of your destiny! You cannot blame others/ circumstances or where you may place the blame, for why your life is not what or where you thought it should be. You may or may not be where you had hoped because you chose to believe in the bullshit that holds you back. That is all!!! Truly! If you are depending on a particular theology to define that for you, then you are not living within your own truth, this is not something that you shouldn't look for outside of who you are! There is no one in the world with your thoughts or your intellect, one should believe in one's self and ability to choose that, no matter what the outcome.

I'm a Taoist but was born Catholic, thing is it didn't ring with me, Taoism simply gave me a way to look at life.

I'm not sure what you believe in makes any difference if you don't DO anything with it. Look at all the Christians, and all other religions and philosophies for that matter, that 100% believe what what their theology says, but actually live in complete contradiction to that like 80% of the time. We spend so much time thinking about the person we want to be, or should be, that we fail to be aware on a regular basis of the person we actually are being. Which is what matters, in my opinion. Like they said in Batman, the dark night, "it's not who you are on the inside, but what you do that matters". And most people are content to think that they are a better person because they're theologies make them feel better inside, but are you really a better person if your not projecting that outward and actively living your beliefs? I don't know.

Living for Jesus Christ definitely makes me a better person than I would be otherwise.
Without a doubt. But becoming a better person is not the point of my faith. It is a benefit yes, but not the sole aim.

Theology definition: the field of study and analysis that treats of God and of God's attributes and relations to the universe; study of divine things or religious truth; divinity.
2.
a particular form, system, branch, or course of this study.

I don't have any theology.
Better than whom?

Theology is not relevant to non-belief, by definition.

Philosophy, as far as I am concerned, is what you do, not what you believe you are doing.

It makes me desire world unity and world peace, so the answer is yes. What I desire as an outcome starts with me and transmits outwardly.

What I believe about God has had drastic positive influence not just on my life internally (my inner kingdom) but in how I interact with the outside world and those around me.

I MAY have had a revelation similar to yours. Only instead of scrapping my faith in God, I just scrapped the religious trappings that various institutions try to pass off as faith in God.

(When it's really just faith in religion/a religious institution/organization. So does that mean that such things are trying to set themselves up as God? That could be a BINGO -- and probably why so many of them are mis-firing so badly.)

Absolutely! I am a totally different person than I was when I was young, largely because of my deep belief in Hindu dharma and faith in the Divine. I was raised in a family that had basically a "take it or leave it" attitude toward religion. I was never pressured or encouraged into any belief system by my parents. (they were both very good people, and nominally Christian) As a consequence I developed into someone who made up my own rules as I went along. And I made so many mistakes because of it, and have many, many, regrets.

Better than who? I don't believe in anything because belief is harmful to society. That doesn't make me better than anybody. I'm the same meat creature as everybody else 'cept for .1% of a difference in DNA (mostly color and size) and a load of different experiences. You can't compare my experiences to other peoples and say it's "better," that doesn't make any sense.

Yes, my theological position makes me a "better" person because it shows I'm not weak minded and gullible (at least not completely.) Furthermore, you should care whether or not you hold false beliefs for they influence other beliefs you hold as well as your actions. It's in this way (my willingness/openness to root out false beliefs/views from my belief system) that I'm a "better" person.

marceloasherQ

Does your theology make you a better person?

hareapparent

My theology makes me who I am, and is kinda unique in my family.

spitfire3d

4PEACE

When I scrapped my (christian) faith in favor of a more well-thought-out worldview, I became a better person. But it does take courage to face one's self and believe the beauty (and power) that you find there.

mariamelrayes

yes yes yes. Gives me guidance and comfort. there is an emphasis on connectedness of humans. we are together. to get to know what another. to learn and follow the right path.

DivineInterllect

JussyLee

DeathlySerious

My theology keeps me alive, and I do believe that life is just a bit better than death. I'm not in any rush to die, since it's coming for me anyway, and I'll get to experience whatever happens (or doesn't happen) next regardless of what I do right now. Better person = soul + body, right?

GreyishZebra

Spuckers

alexboucher

I'm a Taoist but was born Catholic, thing is it didn't ring with me, Taoism simply gave me a way to look at life.

kickasskatie

ransomed

Living for Jesus Christ definitely makes me a better person than I would be otherwise.
Without a doubt. But becoming a better person is not the point of my faith. It is a benefit yes, but not the sole aim.

melb2

Theology definition: the field of study and analysis that treats of God and of God's attributes and relations to the universe; study of divine things or religious truth; divinity.
2.
a particular form, system, branch, or course of this study.

I don't have any theology.
Better than whom?

OdinsBeard

Theology is not relevant to non-belief, by definition.

Philosophy, as far as I am concerned, is what you do, not what you believe you are doing.

stinkyhenry

It makes me desire world unity and world peace, so the answer is yes. What I desire as an outcome starts with me and transmits outwardly.

Griz

Laoyeh

NotNuerotypical

LiftYrSkinnyFists

SoulPancake

hand–crafted in Atwater Village

About SoulPancake

Platforms

Networks

Does your theology make you a better person?

My theology makes me who I am, and is kinda unique in my family.

When I scrapped my (christian) faith in favor of a more well-thought-out worldview, I became a better person. But it does take courage to face one's self and believe the beauty (and power) that you find there.

yes yes yes. Gives me guidance and comfort. there is an emphasis on connectedness of humans. we are together. to get to know what another. to learn and follow the right path.

My theology keeps me alive, and I do believe that life is just a bit better than death. I'm not in any rush to die, since it's coming for me anyway, and I'll get to experience whatever happens (or doesn't happen) next regardless of what I do right now. Better person = soul + body, right?

I'm a Taoist but was born Catholic, thing is it didn't ring with me, Taoism simply gave me a way to look at life.

Living for Jesus Christ definitely makes me a better person than I would be otherwise.Without a doubt. But becoming a better person is not the point of my faith. It is a benefit yes, but not the sole aim.

Theology definition: the field of study and analysis that treats of God and of God's attributes and relations to the universe; study of divine things or religious truth; divinity.2.a particular form, system, branch, or course of this study. I don't have any theology.Better than whom?

Theology is not relevant to non-belief, by definition.Philosophy, as far as I am concerned, is what you do, not what you believe you are doing.

It makes me desire world unity and world peace, so the answer is yes. What I desire as an outcome starts with me and transmits outwardly.

SoulPancake

hand–crafted in Atwater Village

About SoulPancake

Platforms

Networks

What's Next?

Living for Jesus Christ definitely makes me a better person than I would be otherwise.
Without a doubt. But becoming a better person is not the point of my faith. It is a benefit yes, but not the sole aim.

Theology definition: the field of study and analysis that treats of God and of God's attributes and relations to the universe; study of divine things or religious truth; divinity.
2.
a particular form, system, branch, or course of this study.

I don't have any theology.
Better than whom?

Theology is not relevant to non-belief, by definition.

Philosophy, as far as I am concerned, is what you do, not what you believe you are doing.