Any Non religious people here?

[88 Wagonman]

Both me and my wife grew up LDS (mormon) and all my family on my side and my wife's side are mormon also. Neither of us had been involved with the religion since becoming adullts. Both her family and mine are "lifetime mormons" which definately biasis their views a bit. My familiy is always trying to get me back in to it. They think that we are "going through some issues", or "need some time" they just don't understand that I have made up my mind. This makes things very uncomfortable at family gatherings. I respect their beliefs and NEVER challenge them without prior provocation on their part.

What really drove me away was the hypocrisy and what I called "Brain washing." The sign on the door said "visitors welcome" but anytime someone came in wearing anything other than white shirt, tie, slacks or a women wearing a plain dress they were frowned upon. Also anytime someone smelled like cigarette smoke they were asked to sit in the back.

What really holds that religion together is how they "hook em' while they're young." One the first sunday of every month they would "bear they're testimonies" This was so that if you wanted to bet up in front of everyone and tell them your beliefs and how god has touched your life. What's the problem with this? 2/3 of them were children between the ages of 3 and 10 with their parents whispering in their ears word for word what to say!

Ask them sometime, "how do you know your religion is true?" They will answer, "I prayed about it and recieved and answer." Sure, if your looking for an answer when you are lost, you will find any coincidental incident to be an "answer."

Don't get me wrong, I am a spiritual person. I just can't stand religion, religious people that try to bring you into theirs, and people that can't make the distinction between spiritual and religious.

 

[JNickel101]

Mormons don't practice polygamy...

However they did until the feds told them to stop and amazingly enough...someone had some divine inspiration all of a sudden.

They don't practice it b/c of the law - but don't they still "believe" in it?

Aren't most, if not all, of those crazy "cults" offshoots of LDS?

 

[88 Wagonman]

They don't practice it b/c of the law - but don't they still "believe" in it?

Aren't most, if not all, of those crazy "cults" offshoots of LDS?

RLDS believes in it, LDS does not.

 

[steveybass]

What are "religious" people missing out on?

 

[JNickel101]

RLDS?

 

[XJEEPER]

Ah, yeah, I was thinking of polygamy = Mormons....but I guess Muslims do that too....

I find this thread interesting. Just to clarify and to add some accuracy to your post........

Mormons haven't practiced polygamy since 1890. Best estimates suggest that men with two or more wives made up only 5 to 15 percent of the population of most Mormon communities.

Mormons practice monogamy and the practice of polygamy is grounds for excommunication.

I also find it interesting how people associate the Mormon religion with polygamist FLDS leader Warren Jeffs, who claimed to be a prophet, which he later denounced and was also convicted of being an accomplice to rape and is currently serving a 10 yr prison sentence.

There is no affiliation between The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints (Mormons) and the Fundamental LDS organization.

For those that care know facts about Mormons and what they believe: http://www.mormon.org/mormonorg/eng/





According to the Quoran, any Muslim who decides to take multiple wives must divide their time and resources equally among them, ultimately they are encouraged to practice monogamy.

"If you fear that you shall not be able to deal justly with the orphans, marry women of your choice, two or three or four; but if you fear that you shall not be able to deal justly with them, then only one" (Quran 4:3).

http://www.ezsoftech.com/omm/polygamy.asp


Seems to me that the practice of polygamy was by design, a way to care for a woman and children who had lost their husband/father, or in a society where the woman to man ratio was great.

It's been practice by a variety of cultures over time and is often associated with religions, because of the religions attempt to keep the practice pure and centered on the designed purpose and not distorted to justify multiple sex partners and/or the marrying of minors.

One good wife is plenty for me!

 

[tharlanjr]

I go to Church every Sunday, life is good for me.

I drink, I love to wrench and wheel...

I believe in God and the great thing about being a Christian is the fact that all that is needed if you to to accept him.


but thats just me...

 

[*89Laredo*]

Mild-mannered agnostic, here.

"I don't want to talk to God, I just want to see His face."

Actually, if there is a God, He's got an awful lot of explaining to do if/when I see Him... Meanwhile, I've got enough to deal with here and now to keep me busy - worrying about the hereafter would probably give me an ulcer.

Never felt the need to justify my existence on this earth. Never needed "faith" in a higher power to give me a reason to be a decent person and know right from wrong. Also never felt the reason to force my beliefs on anyone, or say "if you don't think like me, you're going to die and go to hell!!!".

I've just always thought I was strong-minded/willed enough to get by on my own....plus I've found that a lot of, if not most, "religious" people are:

Hypocritcal
Fanatical
"Always right"
Missing a lot from life
Weak-minded
Lost, searching for answers/explanations

x2 on these

Ive always seen religion as a way to control the weak minded...

 

[tharlanjr]

I am missing nothing from my life.
I am wrong a lot of times
I don't judge people
I am def not "weak Minded"
I am not looking for any answers.

I don't preach to anyone unless its brought up, and even then I will present my case and leave it at that unless they want more.

Calling people whom know their faith and have certain beliefs weak minded is a lame move and a sign that you are just intimidated by people whom have found something in their life that can satisfy them besides money and sex and other items that mean nothing once your dead...

 

[goodburbon]

Again, Ditto on what 5-90 and JNickel101 have said.

There are far too many inconsistencies in organized religions for me to even begin to believe.

That, and The whole molestation and abuse of my first wife as a child which ultimately led to the woman whom I was madly in love with sabotaging our relationship and killing herself, leads me to believe that if the christians are right, then god is an a-hole.

But he loves us....

 

[goodburbon]

The "weak minded" issue is one of accepting suggestion. It has been suggested to you that everything in one book is good and true and you accept it. You can't possibly verify it, you just believe it because you were taught to. It feels wrong and dirty if you question it, because you were taught that it was. The fact is that organized religion, especially christianity morphs and changes as society changes around it. Things that were once major sins, are now accepted and become lesser sins. Things that were once socially acceptable, and endorsed by the bible (slavery) become illegal and immoral by current societal standards, so that part of the bible is ignored. It is weak minded because you blindly accept and do not think for yourself. That, of course, would be a sin.


Control, watered down, but still control.

 

[Schnoz]

I am an Atheist. My in-laws are Christians. Her dad understands my point of view her mom doesn't. Sad part is I think I've read more of the bible than her. One child is baptized the other isn't . I dont care if he gets baptized or not. I went and was respectful, chatted with the preacher afterwards( I think he knew but surprisingly didn't preach) and then had lunch

 

[themangeraaad]

Aren't all religions some form of crazy cult? My family is VERY religious, roman catholic to be precise. I am an engineer; I am not religious. To make it short and sweet.. I believe that a god or gods may exist (as well as the fact that there may be no god(s)), but I will not base my life around it. I will not kill because killing will get me to heaven and I will not love to get me to heaven. My only regret that I CAN'T believe in religion is that my entire family is VERY religious, so holidays with the family can be tough. It's funny this came up at this time of year... thanksgiving really reminded me of it. I am kindof the outcast of the family... I am the only non-religious individual (read: non-roman catholic) in the family.

What I find truly amusing is that religious folk will try and convert you all day and all night... us non-religious people will let you follow your own beliefs. I have many more stories regarding conversion attempts that I will not get into, but some are quite amusing .

I went to a catholic high school, and I can actually remember the moment in time when I came to the realization that a single organized religion is painful not only to myself but to humanity as a whole.. it was during a 'religion' class. Since then I have been somewhere between agnostic and atheist.

Religion was created thousands of years ago to explain the unexplainable events of the world.. now have science (edit: and mythbusters) for that. I.e. For thousands of years we as humans did not know what caused fire... now we do, it is science NOT religion that allows us to understand that, though years ago when fire was first used by humans it may have been considered a religious sign... times change, and quite frankly the "miracles" of the computer age are still more amazing to me than any story in the bible.

Anyway, enough of my rant. My stance: The belief in complete lack of religion is just as believable as the proof of religion. The question as a human being is do you want to believe that living a good life will get you to a happy place... or can you accept that you should be 'good' just for the sake of humankind. Do you really need a god to make you be nice to your neighbor?

 

[goodburbon]

Serious question asked of me when someone found out my beliefs.

"If you don't believe in god, what keeps you from raping and killing people?"

 

[joe_peters]

Serious question asked of me when someone found out my beliefs.

"If you don't believe in god, what keeps you from raping and killing people?"

Do you have to be religious to be moral?

If you kill a killer, or you kill to prevent a killing, are you a moral person?

How did the 6th Commandment get changed from the original Hebrew meaning of "Thou shall not commit murder" to the Christian "Thou shall not kill"?

How do they put ships in the bottles?

Why do men have nipples?

So many questions, so little time.

 

[Darky]

I don't see how everyone here can look at bad things in life and claim that it happened because of Christianity. goodburbon, I can't say I know how you feel, I've never been through a tragedy like that, but to blame it on a religion is false. There are evil people out there. Some use the guise of religion to hide their deeds or to use it against people, others are atheists and do the same. You name a belief system (any of the religions, atheism, agnostic, gnosticism, etc) and there will be people who claim to follow that belief who have done terrible things.

On the weak-minded comments, I call BS. I could just as easily turn around and call any one of you weak-minded. You put on this macho attitude saying, "I'm too strong-minded to fall for any of that nonsense, I don't need any help from nobody!" Yet inside every one of you is a scared little kid who knows he's done wrong and is afraid to admit to it because you're afraid Dad is waiting outside with the belt. My 3 yr old son will do something wrong and when I ask him about it, he cries instead of answering because he's afraid that admitting to his sin will get him in trouble. When in actuality, I just want him to admit to it. He gets spanked for not admitting to it when he could just admit it and have to go sit on his bed for a few minutes.
But if I were to say all that, you would all be up in arms that I don't know you or what you've been through, etc etc. You complain about religious types trying to convert you, but I've never seen a single religious type person hound after anyone, and trust me, especially in my younger years, I did not look like the church going type. These people you all claim to be pissed off by would've loved to be able to claim a conversion on me. Atheists tend to be the ones I run into the most trying to push their agenda and belief system on everyone else. Read the posts in this thread for some examples. "Religion causes nothing but hate, war, death" "I don't need that crutch" "It's all about control". The way I and most everyone I know operates is that you can believe what you want, if you as, we'll share our experience and the gospel with you, if you like what you hear, if it makes sense to you, great! If not, fine. It's only our job to plant the seed, God can take care of growing the plant if the soil is fertile.

I belong to the "organized" religion of Christianity (sounds like the God mob or something, organized religion, organized crime...). If you are following Christ's example, you love your fellow man. You want to see him follow the right path and be saved, but it's not our job to force it down anyone's throat. Not even God will force you to believe, that's why we all have free will. For those of you who have been ostracized by family due to differing beliefs, I'm sorry. People who believe in God are still people. They'll screw up. It's to be expected. The family members shouldn't be kicking you out or making you feel like the black sheep. Jesus himself said that he came for the sick. He was frowned upon by the religious leaders of the day because He hung out with sinners. His apostles were a motley crew, none were what the Pharisees would've even considered using for God's work.

Sorry for the rant, but it gets tiresome to read the same old crap. Especially calling Christians hypocrites while you're guilty of the same crap. Saying that anyone who believes in God is weak when IMO it takes more strength to submit yourself to a higher authority than to claim it doesn't exist. Don't believe the Bible to be telling the truth? Read it and compare it to the histories from other sources, find a spot where it doesn't match up.

 

[Darky]

Do you have to be religious to be moral?

If you kill a killer, or you kill to prevent a killing, are you a moral person?

How did the 6th Commandment get changed from the original Hebrew meaning of "Thou shall not commit murder" to the Christian "Thou shall not kill"?

How do they put ships in the bottles?

Why do men have nipples?

So many questions, so little time.

Differing translations. That's the problem going from Hebrew to English. However, if you read the KJV, it has stayed fairly true to the original texts.

 

[88 Wagonman]

RLDS?

http://www.letusreason.org/LDS16.htm

 

[DrMoab]

They don't practice it b/c of the law - but don't they still "believe" in it?

Aren't most, if not all, of those crazy "cults" offshoots of LDS?

To answer your first question. No. Modern LDS members do not believe in polygamy. As XJEEPER stated it is grounds for getting kicked out of the church.

What I find funny about this is that they did believe in it, right up to the point the feds backed them against a wall. When the leaders were faced with losing tax exemptions and jail time then all of a sudden they were "guided from above" to change one of the fundamental parts of their religion.

The FLDS church and others like it claim to go back to the fundamentals of what the church was 150 years ago. I don't know if the LDS religion was as evil as these so called Fundamentalists are today but I do know that they align themselves with the older ways.

As to the second question....exactly which crazy cults? There are thousands of them that stem from every kind of crazy thinking. The cool-aid drinkers and the Waco boys weren't anything like LDS people.

Living here in Utah and not being LDS I have come to see the church in a way different light than most "outsiders" They are not crazy, they don't have horns and for the most part the church teaches great values and if the crime rates in our most LDS towns like Provo are any clue...they work.

What I can't get over and what I just shake my head at is where the LDS religion got it's roots. THAT part of it makes them no different than a cult in my eyes. The only difference is over the years, as the church grew into the millions of members they have backed down into just any other main stream religion. 90% of the members are great people and for most of their religious beliefs aren't any different than any other main stream religion out there.

 

[bigalpha]

You name a belief system (any of the religions, atheism, agnostic, gnosticism, etc) and there will be people who claim to follow that belief who have done terrible things.

True.

You complain about religious types trying to convert you, but I've never seen a single religious type person hound after anyone, and trust me, especially in my younger years, I did not look like the church going type. These people you all claim to be pissed off by would've loved to be able to claim a conversion on me. Atheists tend to be the ones I run into the most trying to push their agenda and belief system on everyone else.

How much time have you spent in the bible belt? We have people standing out on the corners holding signs that say "Repent", "God is the way", and etc.

People stand around with megaphones and preach about the word of God during parades and concerts down town. People erect billboards in their yards telling you to repent your sins.

Saying that anyone who believes in God is weak when IMO it takes more strength to submit yourself to a higher authority than to claim it doesn't exist.

I don't think it has anything it has to do with "strength" or "manliness" or whatever. It doesn't take "strength" to believe in God or to not.

I have a problem believing that the bible is the "word of God" since it's been manipulated at the hands of man for centuries.