• You are currently viewing our forum as a guest, which gives you limited access to view most discussions and access our other features. By joining our free community, you will have access to additional post topics, communicate privately with other members (PM), view blogs, respond to polls, upload content, and access many other special features. Registration is fast, simple and absolutely free, so please join our community today! Just click here to register. You should turn your Ad Blocker off for this site or certain features may not work properly. If you have any problems with the registration process or your account login, please contact us by clicking here.

[SP] SPs and Religion

Costrin

rawr
Joined
Nov 1, 2008
Messages
2,320
MBTI Type
ENTP
Enneagram
5w4
To counter the NT religion threads that seem to pop up all the time, I decided I would make an SP version.

So.... SPs, what are you're religious beliefs if any, and why.
 

Poki

New member
Joined
Dec 4, 2008
Messages
10,436
MBTI Type
STP
Instinctual Variant
sx/so
I dont know, do we have to make a choice? Show me hard evidence and I believe, show me partial evidence and I question. If it makes sense than maybe, if not then I need a better explanation. So I am not against it, but I dont 100% believe everything about it.

Does that help at all?
 

TopherRed

New member
Joined
Jul 28, 2009
Messages
1,272
MBTI Type
ENFJ
Enneagram
2w3
Instinctual Variant
so/sx
That's a good question.
 

wolfy

awsm
Joined
Jun 30, 2008
Messages
12,251
Zen Buddhism and Taoism I've had the most interest in. Why? Who the hell knows.
 

Halla74

Artisan Conquerer
Joined
Jan 20, 2009
Messages
6,898
MBTI Type
ESTP
Enneagram
7w8
Instinctual Variant
sx/so
Raised Roman Catholic. Rarely attended outside of classes necessary for sacraments. Currently a "Catholic in Remission." Last time I saw a priest (Father Mik, a great guy, I love him like a brother.) was my two daughters' baptisms, and before that for me and my wife's wedding.

My construct of God and how the universe works is not the typical Catholic model. All that aside, I have a deep connection with the Almighty. He and I are cool. I respest and love him; he set me free here of my own free will. I use what he gave me to take care of my family and those that have less than me as I meet them along the way of my daily life.

I do not think spirituality must be at odds with science. Neither of the two disciplines could ever understand all the other has to offer when the study is done by men. To God, it's a piece of cake, he put it all together, and is observing as we try to figure it all out. THe key word is FAITH. Beyond what you've read, what you've seen, and what you've heard, what do you truly believe in? As long as there are tests in schools, there will be prayers in schools. You don't have to force kids to pray. When people think they are about to die, they pray. Seems pretty simple to me.

We must all make peace with our definition of the universe in the course of our lives. Some of us will do it close to birth, some in their prime, and some real close to their final hour. But the quest and its meaning and its purpose are ours to resolve.

I respect the beliefs of others, I never force mine on anyone, and I don't appreciate it if others try to force theirs on me. I'm willing to talk about anything though so long as people remain civil. :D
 

SolitaryPenguin

Active member
Joined
Dec 20, 2007
Messages
824
MBTI Type
ISFP
Enneagram
9w1
I was raised as a Christian. My father is a minister (Presbyterian) and so I went to church until I was old enough to decide not to (18) which I promptly did.

I then started studying as many different religions as I could, so I could feel like I had a good understanding of where everyone else in the world is coming from. It started right after high school with an insane interest in Shamanism (living just north of NYC near the Ramapo Indians) for which I spent a good two years learning about. Then I started getting more interested in Judaism, Hinduism, and Islam. The resources in my college were limitless, and people were so eager to share their beliefs with me.

Fast forward to now, and I consider myself extremely spiritual, with a strong belief in a higher power. I find connections to pieces of many different religions, but never enough to feel completely a part of, and I honestly like that. I feel like it has made me a more open minded person, and a much better positive role model for my son.

My fiance is a conservative Jew, and we plan to have a child of our own soon, who will be raised Jewish, because it is important to her. I think that in the grand scheme of things, as long as we are living our lives as good people, then we are doing right by whatever higher power there is or isn't out there.
 

Jeffster

veteran attention whore
Joined
Jun 7, 2008
Messages
6,743
MBTI Type
ESFP
Enneagram
7w6
Instinctual Variant
sx
I'm a Christian, and have been for 14 years as of today. It was certainly not a "my parents are this so I just accept it" type of deal. It was a long journey from the time I actually started caring to figure out what I believed in (around 12) to my acceptance of Christ on my 19th birthday.

And the journey has continued since then, as I have grown in my faith, I have also had my periods of struggle and doubt, and God and I have not always had a steady relationship.

Part of it is something that everybody has to do, and that's accept the things that are out of my control. I can only do what I can do, which is my best to love my neighbor and to do my duty as a father.

I'm not a preacher, and like Halla said, I don't tell other people how to live their life. I don't consider myself morally superior to anyone, and I don't spend my time looking for other people's sins to point out or criticize. I try to do my best to live by the Sermon on the Mount, and make love my first priority, not any air of self-righteousness or arrogance.
 

Fading Dead Star

New member
Joined
Jun 29, 2009
Messages
44
MBTI Type
ISFP
I've been raised a Catholic.

I recieved the Sacraments- Baptism, Confession, Communion, Confirmation.
And I liked Religion, but only because it was a source of good stories. I liked reciting the stories and the hymns and remembering them because they were entertaining, they sounded good together.

When I grew up though and decided I should follow my own beliefs, I ultimately chose to be agnostic. There's too much evidence I've seen in the past to contradict the presence of the Christian God, though I am prepared to believe a God or some sort of higher power exists.

Today I have faith in people. Some people are great. :D
 

Unique

New member
Joined
Oct 14, 2008
Messages
1,702
Non-Religious.
also...
Mum- Buddhist
Dad- Non-Religious
Brother- Non-Religious
 

millerm277

New member
Joined
Feb 1, 2008
Messages
978
MBTI Type
ISTP
Raised: Reform Jew
Dad: Reform Jew
Mother: Raised roman catholic, converted to Judaism

What am I now? Non-religious. I lean atheist, as it's the most logical explanation to my mind. But the reality is, I don't really care. Religion just isn't something that has ever connected with me in any way.
 

syckkz

New member
Joined
Jul 26, 2009
Messages
135
MBTI Type
ISTP
Enneagram
5w6
When I grew up though and decided I should follow my own beliefs, I ultimately chose to be agnostic. There's too much evidence I've seen in the past to contradict the presence of the Christian God, though I am prepared to believe a God or some sort of higher power exists.

Today I have faith in people. Some people are great. :D


Agreed.:yes:
 

wank

New member
Joined
Jul 17, 2009
Messages
131
MBTI Type
free
Enneagram
nope
My religion is that of conspiracy, pseudo-realist-christianity, and an attention and general acceptance of eastern philosophies and shamanic traditions(though no pursuit here in) of the Americas. Oh, and I love fractals, this is a large part of why I have some sort of belief.

Mostly I guess it could all be described as additive,...

My beliefs came about slowly, from 12-13 I became staunch atheist from a christian upbringing(though we didn't go to church or anything), came across a book called Atheism: the case against God(liked it a lot[at the time])... I was at best a materialist(I was trying though, to from some sort of perspective, rationally understand[or rationalize my understanding])...
From there I came across salvia divinorum out of curiosity for something psychedelic and legal(not because it was legal, because it was easy)... well, it's hard to really continue on the path of believing only what's in front of my eyes after that pleasantry(slow slide away from atheism begins here)...
Further psychedelic usage(- interestingly, ending my salvia usage here and moving elsewhere) ensued of one nature or another(cliche, but I couldn't care less), and between listening to exceptional music and tripping nicely, what one could term as artifacts, occurred within the experiences that were of the utmost beauty and complexity. I came across fractals within these and more. Well, it made me think further on the subject of belief. (somewhere in here I looked into eastern religions and South American shamanic tradition). Somewhere in here I fell in love with the Fibonacci sequence and the visual representation there of.

I found this book called DMT: the spirit molocule - it made me wonder.

Then I came across The Grand Conspiracy, I wont bore you with details, but it made a lot of things make a lot more sense, and it oddly enough falls along the lines of Christianity.

My friends introduced that and Kent Hovind to me, an evangelical bible literalist. His thoughts were pleasant as well.

I looked into fractals and learned what they were and how the composed basically everything from a broad view. I learned how a lot of cultures used them, like how in Africa there are a great many villages composed in a fractal nature on purpose... and other stuff...

There's other spiritual hullabaloo in here, my believing our thoughts not being confined to our brains, that due to recursion and god being within and so too being without, coupled with a belief in the recursion and projection, that my very beliefs change the nature of my reality, and so it is that I willfully allowed myself to fall into this line of thinking, for my own betterment.
 

ViCyniC

New member
Joined
Jul 26, 2009
Messages
48
MBTI Type
ISTP
Born as Hindu, became atheist/agnostic/whateveryouwannacallit in my early 20's.
 

Quinlan

Intriguing....
Joined
Apr 6, 2008
Messages
3,004
MBTI Type
ISFP
Enneagram
9w1
I don't really have any religious beliefs, I go about my life as if there is no god but I'm open to the possibility of it's existence.
 

Kingfisher

full of love
Joined
May 24, 2009
Messages
1,685
MBTI Type
ESFP
Enneagram
9w8
Zen Buddhism and Taoism I've had the most interest in. Why? Who the hell knows.

hey wolfy, i have a big interest in zen buddhism too, and tibetan buddhism. i went to tibet and nepal for a while, to be exposed to it. i guess i have more experience with tibetan than zen.

i am not religious by a name, because i don't think i have the balls to call myself a buddhist.
 

totallypsycho

New member
Joined
Jun 5, 2009
Messages
17
MBTI Type
ESxP
i identify as atheist

ive taken interest in certain religious concepts though
but i cant really see myself getting so absorbed into any particular religion to ever become "pious" or anything. haha

also, i would probably be a poor adherent to any religion due to its many rules and regulations, so i guess id rather be perceived as an unabashed atheist rather than be constantly labeled a "heretic" or "blasphemous". lol
 
Joined
Aug 8, 2009
Messages
106
MBTI Type
INFJ
Enneagram
4w3
Instinctual Variant
so/sx
I don't like religion. I respect people's views unless they...bum me out with their jargon. I may jump from agnostic to atheist, but whether Christianity (my initial religion) or any other religion is proven or not, I'll likely still have reserves. Maybe out of stubbornness. I guess I really don't like authority (for it's own sake, in my eyes), especially when I see a cause as unjust.
 

stellar renegade

PEST that STEPs on PETS
Joined
Jul 13, 2009
Messages
1,446
MBTI Type
ESTP
Usually when people ask a general question like this I don't know where to start. What do you want me to talk about specifically? There are too many aspects to my faith.

I guess I could just tell you my history.

I was raised Pentecostal and ended up having alot of spiritual/mystical experiences. Is that strange to hear about an ESTP? Well I think that life is just a huge paradox waiting to be unraveled. I'm a natural born spontaneous adventurous crazy m-f'er but because of the way I was raised I became very spiritually attuned and recessive for awhile.

I grew disatisfied with conventional religion and started really looking into things. The combination of a growing distaste for convention with a grounding in spiritual experiences, plus an understanding of original Christianity kept me in the same faith yet expanded my view of it entirely.

Now I have alot of radical beliefs and don't believe in rules so much as basic principles of life, moderation in everything, etc. On the one hand I believe that the best that could ever happen will happen, on the other hand I'm very skeptical about abstract speculations and hopes and look at spiritual matters from an experiential, interactive point of view. I often think, "I'll believe it when I see it or can grasp my hands around it."

I think that the spirit world is made up of what we would call physical energy, that there is no place for hierarchy in Christianity, that God will eventually save everyone, and that life is basically meant to be one big party.

Alot of this is based on my own personal journey, but I think pretty much everything I believe I've found to be believed by some other Christian or group of Christians somewhere, so I still have that tie.

I believe that the original set of Christians had it right and that because of this the words that they wrote and their creeds were true and inspired.

I also don't think doctrine is near as important as just loving your neighbor and living in a community of people who are experiencing God together. Beliefs are just a way of figuring out how to interact with the world and of opening one's viewpoint of God up to get more out of life.

Um, anything else? Like I said, I need specific questions. I'm getting lost trying to give generalities. I think there was something I was gonna say that I forgot and I'm not gonna be able to remember for the life of me.

I'm a Christian, and have been for 14 years as of today.
Congratulations!

I found this book called DMT: the spirit molocule - it made me wonder.
Great book.
 
Top