Discussion » Questions » Religion and Spirituality » Has going to church, being religious or spiritual actually made things more complicated for you?
Zack

Has going to church, being religious or spiritual actually made things more complicated for you?

Posted - March 9, 2017
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Responses


  • 22891
    not really, it can make things less complicated if youre getting help from the people at church
      March 9, 2017 10:39 AM MST
    7

  • 7792
    Thank you pearl.
      March 9, 2017 10:40 AM MST
    4

  • Hi Zack,

    No, when I was thirteen I simply became atheist!
    That lasted for thirty years...then mid-forties found my way back into religion but I do it my own way...I love all religions now, and very much appreciate the great atheist thinkers too.

    Pretty simple for me, I aspire to the way of love as the basic law of life, which (as I see it) is the foundation of all religion too and atheism also.
      March 9, 2017 10:45 AM MST
    9

  • 17261
    No, I'm not practicing neither of these things.
      March 9, 2017 11:24 AM MST
    7

  • 5808
    Religions only separated me
    from the Absolute Truth...
         Stepping onto the Spiritual path
    has literally opened the doors 
    to a deeper understanding of life,
    and to a direct experience
    of that Truth within.
      March 9, 2017 11:25 AM MST
    8

  • Beautiful!
      March 9, 2017 11:27 AM MST
    1

  • 7280
    Perhaps you never came across the right religion.

    Otherwise, I don't really understand how that happened to you.
      March 9, 2017 4:27 PM MST
    2

  • Im inclined to think Baba is a Buddhist. At least in principle.
      March 9, 2017 5:52 PM MST
    4

  • 7280
    I agree.

    Good site: http://www.buddhanet.net/ans73.htm 
      March 10, 2017 12:50 PM MST
    0

  • 5808
    Tom
         What is the main purpose of A Religion?
    Literally to Bring you to God.
    Do they do that? No
    they talk circles around the Absolute Truth (GOD)
         Religions do not give you a direct experience of God.
    They keep you in the thought realm, Religions keep God and You
    in a Separation.
         God exists within you as you.
    What is needed is a simple 
    direct experience of this Absolute Truth within.
         One needs nothing
    God is already there
    we are already here
    we just need to end the Separation
    and then there is oneness.
    ...simple
    what is the Separation?
    Our Ego thinking we are separate.
         


      March 9, 2017 7:04 PM MST
    0

  • 7280
    I understand, but I disagree.  And remember, this is just how I approach it.

    I consider my desire to find God something that He put in me.

    And when in the fullness of (His) time He sent His son to establish a new reality with regard to His creation, He also established a specific religion to guide us to the type of relationship He desires me (and at least some others, if one looks around) that He wishes us to have with Him.

    As for anyone who is not me, find Him however and wherever you can---after all, He is everywhere.




      March 10, 2017 12:44 PM MST
    0

  • 508

    glad i left the Seventh-day Adventist church, it didn't make sense how they would rag down the rest of christianity (calling them the antichrist and great whore of babylon- for believing in false doctrines and traditions. but they themselves, believe in the Trinity, good friday/sunday resurrection, celebrates christmas and easter etc.. i left that church after questioning these things (once a church accepts a man made doctrine as authoritative. it too becomes a fallen church- they're putting their own doctrines and traditions of above the bible, and the bible itself talks about this big time- a church cannot remain pure and spotless before "God" if it lets "traditions of the world" inside of it (thru its doctrines, traditions, and behaviour etc.)- the 3 angels message in Revelations warns people to come out from among them so they don't end up being a partaker of their faulty ways)

    - i found another denomination that was more inline with what i bought the bible really taught on various matters- stayed there for a good several months before i started questioning the bible itself and became an agnostic.. the more i dug in the bible- the more it didn't make sense, i saw the inconsistency and even some contradictions.

    This post was edited by Skunky Stinkerson at March 10, 2017 4:54 AM MST
      March 9, 2017 11:28 AM MST
    11

  • 3463
    Skunky, I used to be very involved in the SDA church. I even went to their private school in the 7th grade.
    It was the worse school I ever went to.
      March 9, 2017 12:16 PM MST
    5

  • 5451
    Seventh Day Adventism was the last kind of Christianity my husband tried before completely giving up on Christianity but my father-in-law is a Seventh Day Adventist.
      March 9, 2017 8:00 PM MST
    1

  • 1393
    "i started questioning the bible itself and became an agnostic" If you continue questioning your journey will continue and you never know what you'll discover or where it'll take you. However, if you stop questioning then your journey has ended and you'll remain an agnostic.
      March 30, 2017 11:00 AM MDT
    0

  • No, not at all. I don't go to any church and am not a Christian but I respect others beliefs. So, no complications there.
      March 9, 2017 11:31 AM MST
    9

  • 3463
    It did at one time, but I got away from all religions and my life is much more less complicated now.
    I am still spiritual minded without all the restrictions that religion puts on you.
      March 9, 2017 12:12 PM MST
    6

  • 5835
    I was atheist until age 30 and then I met some people who were teaching how to study the bible instead of just preaching things they had heard from other people. That was called The Way, and it was a remarkably sensible ministry. But as usual, some people had to go one better than God. They turned the leadership school into a sort of boot camp for God's army. Of course that didn't make sense any more, so when the main man died, the new leaders went crazy and all the followers quit following. The Way was based on independent home fellowships, so now there are thousands of little churches in people's homes, still teaching bible studies, but no central coordination and no public presence that anybody could attack.
      March 9, 2017 12:17 PM MST
    6

  • 1393
    Intriguing. If "all the followers quit following" then how come "now there are thousands of little churches in people's homes, still teaching bible studies"? Do they all belong to The Way [The one Way] or have they all gone their different ways?
      March 30, 2017 11:12 AM MDT
    0

  • 5835
    The big battle, something very few people ever figure out, is between centralized government and individual action. The bible plainly says in Luke 4:5 that Satan has control of earthly authority. That is why any group is attacked until it adopts a centralized leadership and a membership canvass: the individual can not be tolerated without permission from a central authority. Then the central authority goes bonkers.

    Your confusion stems from a lifetime of experience to the effect that the individual does not exist except as an extension of some organization, preferably one with a strong legal department. That is a very common misconception.
      March 30, 2017 1:11 PM MDT
    1

  • 1393
    TY JV

    There's a lot that is worthy of further exploration in what you've posted.

    However, I was and still am puzzled by the "remarkably sensible ministry" called The Way. After "all the followers quit following" you said "now there are thousands of little churches in people's homes, still teaching bible studies" My question is, do these "thousands of little churches in people's homes" still consider themselves to be part of The Way or have they all gone in their own different ways.
      March 30, 2017 6:06 PM MDT
    0

  • 7792
    Extravagantly loved? You ain't seen nothing yet my friend.;-)
      March 9, 2017 12:49 PM MST
    2

  • 496
    Winged Wonder do you write for a living? In time I've come across your answers and out of curiosity have read one of your blogs. You have a way with words, that is very....I don't think a mere handful of words can express the way I feel about it. You make me think..feel...stop and breathe. Its just lovely. 
      March 9, 2017 4:36 PM MST
    5

  • 496
    I also have a strong respect and appreciation for the written word. Not being dramatic but I believe that words can uplift and kill. Not all take words as seriously. Your words touch me. Hard to do since I struggle to see positive things in everyday things. In you I see a kindred spirit.
    I believe you could do something with your words someday, don't give up that possibility, you have a way with them. A pleasure to make your acquaintance. 
      March 9, 2017 5:05 PM MST
    4