Questions about life that I want to answer

[nephi 0]

Those are tough questions. Very old ones too; probably everyone wonders those things, I think.

 

Firstly, to let you know, I am a Mormon. I'm not going to push my religious belief on anybody, or disrespect anything that has been said, but I do not believe truth or morality to be a relative matter. I believe there is one truth for all beings, but that it has been understood in different degrees by different religions. I believe there is truth in all religions, and that God speaks to people of all faiths. However, just as we are all family and have a common ancestry, so do all branches and fragments of religion have one common, complete root. Tap into that root, and truth is accessible in its completeness. I have a creator, you have a creator, and He loves us all. He wants us to know that truth and will guide us toward it if we genuinely seek. Even though it feels like it sometimes, he will not leave us alone.

 

Oddly enough Sorage, I found this page because like you I have recently been curious about my Cherokee Heritage, and how it relates to my faith. In fact, I was looking up the "Hadionyageonon", and that's what pulled this up lol. I've been researching connections between Cherokee tradition and the descriptions of the ancient inhabitants of America in the Book of Mormon

 

I checked out your website and I've got to say, way cool. Very well researched.

 

BTW, if you're interested, here is a link to my website: http://www.dust-speak.blogspot.com

[Giginha 22]

Sorage should write a book about his research. Leaving this matter aside.

 

You talk about a creator that loves all beings, but then you're forgetting about some ancients religions, that as I've seen so far, describe the creator as a mercyless one, that would destroy its creations whenever they acted contrary to the orders. But to tell the truth, I've been losing faith in so many things over time that I, at the moment won't believe in anything I can't prove myself.

[nephi 0]

It's tough sometimes, isn't it? That's a question I've struggled with, too. I'm not sure which stories you're referring to, but are you thinking of instances like the story of Noah or Joshua in the Bible? Where God chose to take the lives of people who were choosing to disobey? Or are you talking about other (ie polytheistic) legends of different gods who were fallible, passionate and vengeful?

 

I can't speak for other faiths, but my God, the one we read about in the Bible, sometimes chose to take human life.

That does seem counter-intuitive at first- if God loves all of his children, why would he do such things?

 

Before addressing that, kind of a tangent. The last thing you mentioned- proof. A very valid question- how do we know that God even exists? The answer is deceptively simple- just ask Him. And then wait. He will answer. When I say that, I'm not trying to be a know-it-all or give a textbook answer. It's a hard-fought, hard prayed answer I've received for myself, and its very special to me.

 

Back to the initial thought; for what it's worth:

 

Life is sacred, and no-one has a deeper rooted love and respect for life than God. As life's creator, he has a pure understanding of life's meaning and purpose. That purpose is to come to earth and have this experience, in which we feel love and hurt, joy and misery, anger and peace. We grow in maturity and prepare to return to God, where even greater tasks and purposes await.

 

Life is not merely existence, and death is not the only way to destroy life. Interfering with the purpose and direction of a human life on earth can have consequences that last into the next life. When man destroys life in this way, God cannot sit idly by

 

There is a scripture in the Bible that says words to the effect of "God does not delight to punish the wicked, but rather delights in those who repent"

 

Just as we can die both physically or spiritually, so can we be injured spiritually or physically. One form of spiritual injury is sin. When we make a mistake, God wants to help us. He wants to heal us, and so he will help us work through that hurt. Sometimes, however, people refuse to be healed, refuse to change, and worse, cause other people to hurt themselves. God sends warnings to stop. When these warnings are ignored soon lives are destroyed, spiritually. The destruction spreads, hurting more and more people. At times, there have been entire groups of people that have behaved in such a way. As much as God loved them and did not want to destroy them, he had to protect his other children. If he did not take action at such times, even more lives would be destroyed, and in a deeper, more profound sense than the death we think of.

 

I agree wholeheartedly with you, death IS part of life, but it is not the last part. Nor is birth the first part. Death, I think, is too often misunderstood- it is not the destruction of a being or soul, but rather an emergence from a cocoon into a higher life.

[Amon 4,279]

It's been quite a while since I last was in a serious discussion, but I've been thinking about too many things lately and some questions ended up in my mind. Now sorry if the theme isn't a very good one (it's my mothers fault!) I'm sorry but I guess most of them are polemics and people don't like when I start talking like this.

Ok, here I go, those are the questions that I'm always trying to answer;

1- What really is God? (seriously, all the religions try to explain but we never get to a complete answer)

2- What is The truth?

3- What is really good and what is really bad? (another controversion)

4- What is death and what happens after it?

5- Which religion is really right? (I think it's because I'm tired to see this fights between religions trying to prove their right and the rest are wrong)

I think that's enough for now, I have some more but I don't know how to write them down. Just pay attention to this, I'm not trying to saY that anybody's religion, or philosophy, is wrong or that what you think is. As I already said those are my thought and no one's else.

Here are the answers that I came up untill now:

1- A superior being that we might never know, religions try to prove His existence everytime but no one will ever get to a definitive answer. (notice that I put His with caps because if I say I don't know what it is how can I come saying that He is a male?)

2- Good and Bad are things that depend too much on the person who is talking, for me good is an action that won't interfere with my life or those of any living being (humans) or if possible will even make it better. Bad (again in my opnion) is an action that will harm or damage anyone or myself, unless I'm doing it for the good of others.

3- Another thing that I can't say for sure, what is true for me might be a lie to somebody else.

4- In my opnion death is just another part of life, for me after the death of the body the "soul" (I'd reather say spirit or living conscience but I guess everyone will understand me this way) is released of it's vessel and continue with it's life, but what will happen in this other life is soemthing that I can't say.

5- None of them, we can't prove if they are true or not, so for me, the truth lies within every being, we (at least me) don't need a religion to believe in God or to find a reason to live.

 

Just if someone haven't noticed yet, these are my opnions, so don't go getting ofended because I said something against your religion, my objective isn't anything like that.

Now everyone is free to answer as they like.

 

1. A higher being that created all that there is. He has always been here and has watched over his universe from the beginning of time.

2. Truth is something that everyone will believe is right except those who are lying. Basically if there is solid evidence that supports it with no evidence that goes against it (evidence can't be total BS), it is correct.

3. People know what is Good and what is Bad based on their morals. There is no real definition of this but whatever the majority believes in is probably right, either that or we all need a revelation

4. Hard to say as a normal humans has never come back from the dead and the ones who claim they did have hugely exaggerated stories with a huge lack of evidence that probably couldn't be gathered. The only way to find out is to die. I personally believe that it is a continuation of life only how the experience in your after-life will be based off of what you did in your normal life.

5. Many religions have shocking similarities including those that were created thousands of miles and years apart from each other. While the God(s) people worship are different, the major religions of the world have similar stories and beliefs. It would be somewhat inaccurate to say one religion is 100% correct. I personally think they are all connected to one thing but formed other religions due to differences between people. I think that Christianity is the closest to being correct but I don't know for sure.

[Giginha 22]

Well I do believe that all religions were formed from one belief, but they just devided according to their interests, we can say this about the Bible as well (I'm sorry), how many times it has been rewritten only to attend men's interests? Not that I want to offend anyone's religion, but we have to consider that the sacred book(s) is said to come from God, but was written and rewritten by human hands many times.

[Zexion's_Lover_46 76]

It's been quite a while since I last was in a serious discussion, but I've been thinking about too many things lately and some questions ended up in my mind. Now sorry if the theme isn't a very good one (it's my mothers fault!) I'm sorry but I guess most of them are polemics and people don't like when I start talking like this.

Ok, here I go, those are the questions that I'm always trying to answer;

1- What really is God? The reason why the main religion is christianity is because THAT IS THE ONLY RELIGION BASED ON EYE WITNESS ACCOUNTS. It has actually been documented as a part of history that approximately 500 people saw Jesus arise from the dead. However, in my opinion, I don't believe that he helps people because he hasn't helped me at all but that's just my opinion.

2- What is The truth? For each person it's different as in the whole truth is about finding out the point of your life and what you're really here for. That's why so many people are addled and depressed and crazy because no matter what they do they can't seem to figure out the truth.

3- What is really good and what is really bad? I don't know exactly but I believe Light is good and darkness is bad. I think why te darkness is considered evil is:

 

because that's when the restless spirits come out to play. That's why halloween is considered a "dangerous" holiday because it is said that's when Satan was born and all the Satanic worshipers come to worship him but calling forth the demons

 

4- What is death and what happens after it? With what I've researched in my local library, You go to heaven if you truly believe in God. He'll know your heart and there will be what is known as a jugement day, as you have read in the bible. If you don't believe in him or are really evil such as a satanic worshiper, you'll go to hell. However, if you die violently or if your will has not been followed correctly, you will not be able to move on and you'll be stuck roaming the earth which is known as:

 

purgatory.

 

5- Which religion is really right? It all depends on what you truly believe in so there is not a clear answer to that. But as I stated before, christianity is based on eyewitness accounts.

I think that's enough for now, I have some more but I don't know how to write them down. Just pay attention to this, I'm not trying to saY that anybody's religion, or philosophy, is wrong or that what you think is. As I already said those are my thought and no one's else.

Here are the answers that I came up untill now:

1- A superior being that we might never know, religions try to prove His existence everytime but no one will ever get to a definitive answer. (notice that I put His with caps because if I say I don't know what it is how can I come saying that He is a male?)

2- Good and Bad are things that depend too much on the person who is talking, for me good is an action that won't interfere with my life or those of any living being (humans) or if possible will even make it better. Bad (again in my opnion) is an action that will harm or damage anyone or myself, unless I'm doing it for the good of others.

3- Another thing that I can't say for sure, what is true for me might be a lie to somebody else.

4- In my opnion death is just another part of life, for me after the death of the body the "soul" (I'd reather say spirit or living conscience but I guess everyone will understand me this way) is released of it's vessel and continue with it's life, but what will happen in this other life is soemthing that I can't say.

5- None of them, we can't prove if they are true or not, so for me, the truth lies within every being, we (at least me) don't need a religion to believe in God or to find a reason to live.

 

Just if someone haven't noticed yet, these are my opnions, so don't go getting ofended because I said something against your religion, my objective isn't anything like that.

Now everyone is free to answer as they like.

 

I've responded above in your post so I hope my answers proved of some use to what you're asking. My response to this is that, is that I'm not surprised that you have all these questions. I've thought of them myself so I decided to research it. However, in my own opinion, I believe there is a god but I don't believe that what's he's doing is right(we can't even communicate with him!). I have yet a religion to believe in and I'm thinking since I'm so angered and distraught with my life that I'm going to:

 

purgatory

.

There is nothing wrong with asking these questions, even though this is quite a sensitive topic. You're just out to know the truth that's all.

[Giginha 22]

Now that I just read all those posts once more I noticed how much we stick to religion. You can clearly see with everyone you interact (not on the forums of course) that there are those who would just believe blindly in what religions say, while there are others who would believe in the religion but think everything through before admiting that's the ultimate truth, and those like me who doubt everything and will never completely believe in a religion, but only study its principles and analize them as far as possible.

[KingdomHeartsFan2100 1]

What I believe is this. There is a God. He sent his one and only son to save us from the darkness, sins, you can only be saved by asking God into your heart. When you die you go to heaven. Only if you have been saved. If you have not repented you will not go to heaven. You will go to Hell, even if you are a good person. That is what I believe. You don't have to believe it. But that is what I believe.

[Fx250 0]

1- What really is God? (seriously, all the religions try to explain but we never get to a complete answer) As far as I know, no one can really answer this with absolute certainty. It's a question that I've asked everyday for the last few years. I've come to accept that I'll never be able to know for sure whether there exist an ultimate power or whether the concept is just something that has been created by human minds. It will be centuries before our technology will be developed enough to harness the amounts of energy required to test any of the leading scientific theories... I won't get into any of those, because they can be scary as hell if you aren't familiar with string theory!!!

 

I most strongly suspect that God is just a feeling that we get when we try to rationalize our existence in such a vast world and when we try to understand seemingly divine things such as love. But, I personally don't believe the answer is of any consequence, although I am rather curious.

 

2- What is The truth? The truth is really just relative in my opinion. The truth exist, but we will probably never know it. Even if the real truth is known not everyone will accept it, and it won't be truth to those who don't accept it as truth. Everyone has their own personal truths, and we probably need to take different paths to realize that truth. Having been exposed to several religions and different view points, and seeing how convicted people are in their beliefs; I believe that whatever someone believes to be true will be their truth.

 

3- What is really good and what is really bad? (another controversion)

Again, that's relative. Your viewpoint can be strongly influenced by you surrounding. Culture plays a huge role in what's considered "good" and "bad". Personally I just try to love my fellow humans and always do my best to try and not do anything to hurt anyone in anyway. I think the world would be alot better off if everyone could stop constantly putting themselves ahead of others.

 

4- What is death and what happens after it? I don't really know what I believe here either, but it probably doesn't matter, because I'll be dead:P I figure that it will be either one of two things: Life will cease and we will just be no more, or I think that we will join some kind of cosmological conscience of sorts. To even start to understand death, we first need to figure out what constitutes "life" begin with.

 

 

5- Which religion is really right? (I think it's because I'm tired to see this fights between religions trying to prove their right and the rest are wrong).

 

I don't think any are right, but I can't say that any are wrong either. They all connect and offer different explanations for certain things.

 

Personally I attend a Christian church, and even teach the occasional class. I mainly go because my family and friends all have strong faith in their religion, and they believe what they are told to be the one ultimate truth. So I maintain involvement in the church to keep my relationship with them good, and I don't want to cause my parents the pain of feeling that there son is destined for an eternity of hell... As with most all religions, everyone thinks what they believe is right, and everyone else who doesn't is just ignorant. I can't stand that, and I try to instill tolerance of other beliefs to my peers by explaining other religions and how closely they actually correlate to their own beliefs. I do believe most of the morals taught in the Bible are excellent, and that's what I try to focus on when I'm teaching classes. I don't ever focus on Jesus and his death, but rather his teachings and what can be taken from them. I believe Christianity is a great religion, and I will probably try to raise my children up in the Church.

[Godot 513]

1- What really is God?

God could be anything or anyone. He (going to use masculine pronouns for argument's sake) could be an old man who lives up in Heaven. He could be a horned, half-goat man. He could be Buddha. He could be a random person you passed on the street. He could be an object, for all we know.

2- What is The truth?

There isn't one definite truth, and, even if there was, there would still be people who disagreed. It's human nature.

3- What is really good and what is really bad?

Once again, there isn't really one definite way of thinking. But, what I believe, is that the only "bad" thing is intentionally harming others. Not just a bit of teasing or trolling, but full-out berating, abusing, life-ruining harm. As well as witnessing this and not doing a thing about it.

4- What is death and what happens after it?

Well, we'll never know 'till we die, won't we? Though I'm a Christian (I guess), I like the Wiccan (yes--Wicca. Witchcraft. Whatever you prefer to call it.) perspective of the afterlife; you only have one life, and you might as well spend it enjoying yourself instead of worrying everyday about whether you're going to Heaven, or Hell, or Purgatory, or Disneyland, or wherever you think you're going. I honestly believe I'm a terrible person, and that I'm going to Hell, or at least Purgatory. Do I really care? No. My death could be 100 years, 10 years, 1 year, 10 months, 10 minutes, or even 10 seconds from now, and it won't matter. Though I've done awful things, and had awful things done to me, none of that really matters in the end. As long as you have one enjoyable memory, your life is complete. (Oh my God...I'm starting to tear up writing this. XDDD)

5- Which religion is really right?

No religion is really right. As I mentioned in #4, I believe in a couple different things from a couple different religions. There could be something I like in one religion, and something I like in another, but there's nothing that I, personally, haven't found anything that I agree with completely. I'm sure there are others like me out there, who don't know what they are apart of, and there are others who are 100% towards one religion. As long as you are happy with what you believe in, nothing else should really matter.

[JesusFreak 41]

I really only want to do this one cause I'm lazy and I really don't want to write a HUGE post.

 

5- Which religion is really right?

There isn't any religion that's all the way right. I'm a Christian, though I do believe that some other religions has some right in it. I love World History this year in school because I get to learn about all the different types of religions. Now, I'm a Nazarene but I don't believe in everything that we're suppose to do. I have some disagreements with some of the stuff. Now, I do believe some other religions have stuff that I believe that I think should be in the Nazarene.

 

Each religion has a God or Gods. Now I believe there is only One God. God the Father, The Son, and the Holy Spirit all one person. Now I know that's kinda hard to think of or to believe in. And trust me sometimes I get a little confused and doubtful too. It was how I was born and raised, but now that I'm older I believe in it still, not just because my parents told me to, but because I believe it in my heart. That God is really real and that he sent his one and only Son, Jesus Christ to die on the cross to save us from our sins.

 

 

 

eh, I suck at explaining things... ._.