Homestar Runner Wiki Forum

Y'know, I am so confused as to what religion I belong to.

I grew up in a Christian family. Half of us were Christians in name only, the other half were Bible thumpers. I was always more of a thumper, though, yelling at anybody who even mentioned a cuss word. Then, my parents got divorced, we moved halfway across the country, my uncle raped my cousin, and my dog died, all in half a year. So, after that, I completely lost all faith in God. Why would a loving and caring God do that stuff to me?

But even when I completely despised God, I couldn't believe that he didn't exist. I just have a gut feeling that there's a higher being. I just choose to not worship him.

Seriously, what does that make me?

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-HB

That kind of sounds like you're agnostic, at least by my understanding of what agnosticism is.

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If you can't fix it with a hammer, you have an electrical problem.

Well, let me share a bit about my beliefs.

I'm not christian, but I do believe in the existence of gods as beings that take an interest in human affairs.

I often wonder why they allow people to suffer - but then I realise that there are negative as well as positive forces. Unfortunately, we've long since dug outselves into a hole that promotes greed and selfishness and that's the greatest evil force of all.

I think they are planning ways to save us from our own destruction, and they do sometimes genuinely help people turn their lives around.

Gods are limited in their power in this day and age because of the materialisticness of the world. So it's a nasty cycle... we have to help ourselves before we can be helped.

It doesn't "make you" anything. Certainly not agnostic. It makes you undecided. If you're trying to decide what you believe, don't waste time trying to come up with a label for yourself; that's self-defeating and certainly won't help you discover any kind of truth. Figure out who you are, what you want, and what you believe first; sort the labels out later.

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Agnostic is when you believe that the existence of god can ultimately not be proved.

Nor disproved. Toast paint.

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Sorry

Though there are some things you can prove, but never ultimately disprove. I think "God" is one of them.

One thing that can be proven is the collective force of human will.

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Just to add my two eurocents..... it can also be the philosophical belief that there really is some sort of higher power, but that we would never be able to understand it. In fact, I think that's the strict definition. Though I call myself an agnostic even though I'm not sure at all whether there's any higher power.

I've learned something today.

I'd always thought that "agnostic" meant that you thought God might exist, but weren't sure.

So, today I've learned (correct me if I'm wrong) that agnostic basically means you don't know if God exists or not. You do not think God can or cannot be proven.

Now I know, and knowing is half the battle.
GI JOE!

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If you can't fix it with a hammer, you have an electrical problem.

Folks, can we toastpaint this yet? If you're really interested in what agnosticism is, you should just check Wikipedia (as usual), or start your own thread.

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I really feel that the bible thumpin' side of your family probably messed you up by being too forecful and matter of fact with their beliefs towards you.

You need to find who you want to be, and it's going to be very difficult.

I'd recommend, first of all, to read up on different cultures and different beliefs and form your own personal belief based on those.

There are some pretty good resources online, Wikipedia, as usual, is a good place to start.

I'd recommend checking out these beliefs in specific;

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Theosophy (Sorry, if I referred to myself as being "Half theologist" I mean "Half-Theosophist. It's been a bad week, excuse me for it Anyway, theosophy is one of the best and most underrated belief systems out there; based on the idea that all beliefs are important and "true" to an extent as they, along with art and creativity, are instances all man's pursuit of the divine).
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Neo-paganism(Neo-Paganism is such a huge umbrella term it leaves you an immense amount of spiritual fredom in what you want to believe)
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Buddhism(Another great religion that's not near popular enough)
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hindu(Hindu stuff is pretty cool; it's one of the "pagan" religion that still goes strong)
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shinto(If you're a japanophile, you'll love this one Another pagan religion that's still going reasonably strong).
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bahai_faith(Kinda like the prototype of Christianity)
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gnosticism(Another Umbrella-ish term, but Alan Moore is one, and he created Swamp Thing and John Constantine, so it can't be too bad, right?)

And the "Major" Religions:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Christianity(Good article on the different types of Christianity)
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Judaism(If you don't believe Jesus was the saviour )
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Islam(For Islam)

that must be frustrating. Jesus knows your pain...

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God has a plan for you, just think about this,
have your parents ever yelled at you or grounded you, but that doesnt mean that they dont love you. Im trying to help so dont take it in the wrong way.

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you suck

it sucks that a bunch of bad stuff happened to you, but God didn't rape your cousin. not having the life you would have preferred doesn't mean that a loving and caring God wouldn't have let bad things happen.

Moose, Reaper, please don't proselytizing, as you're tip toeing the line with those two posts. You'll only confuse him more.

be quite were just trying to help

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you suck

He has already indicated he is not comfortable with Christian or any "God" centric beliefs but is merely aware of a higher power.

So yes, you were proselytizing.

Um... I'm not a he..

I know that God didn't rape my cousin or anything, but it's just that my uncle proclaimed to be an uber-Christian, and yelled at me whenever I did anything but read the bible on Sundays. Now is that really right?

I guess you can say that I'm more frustrated with God than anything. I still believe he's there and everything, but I just choose not to acknowledge him.

(Wow. Who woulda' thought a bunch of Homestar Runner fans could be so deep?)

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-HB

Sorry girl :/

But seriously, check out the links I gave and see if any click. I think theosophy is a good place to start, personally, as it's not very dogmatic(neo paganism has no defined dogma).

you and me both, Bro. i feel like this all the time, i dont know what to belong to, i belive in the Son and the Holy Father and all of that, yet i belive in buddah, Yog-Sothoth, Marduk, Eniki The Master, The Goddess Of The pagans, Zeus, Herculees, and bassicly every other god in every other religion or belief there is, but not Scientology, thats a load of Bull. so i guess i dont know what to call myself.

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Mollie: I can only make assumptions, but I don't think that religion or God is the biggest problem. You say that your belief system collapsed when all this upheaval happened in your life - to me, this might mean that your (former) belief in God represented the life you used to have before these awful things happened. It's very natural that you feel that God has left you or doesn't exist, because everything in your life that He used to represent has collapsed around you. But in that way, it's not God that has failed you, it's your family circumstances.

Right now if I were you, I would leave the issue of what you are religiously to one side, and concentrate on resolving any issues you have with your family. Are the lines of communication open in your family? And if not, ask yourself how to resolve that. Tell somone in your family whom you trust how you're feeling - it may be that they're feeling the same way, or that they can help you deal with these doubts.

And thus after college and cookie issues prevented me from checking the forums, I stick my head into the lion's mouth once again!

What's Her Face (Fairytale of New York) is on the right track here. Although my personal beliefs and understanding with mankind's relationship with God (I am a Christian, BTW) probably differ largely from most faiths, I do think that the blame has been misplaced.

Currently your belief system is closest to Deism, not Agnosticism, because you believe there is a deity or Godlike force out there, you just don't quantify it in a certain way as most religions do.

Deism is a choice in religious thought. To those who say these sort of people are ones who haven't made up their minds, I point out to you that Benjamin Franklin, Thomas Jefferson, and quite a few prominent American Revolution figures were deists, believing in a divine providence.

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