An exceedingly simple question

Author: Discipulus_Didicit

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Discipulus_Didicit
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Why do you believe your religion is right?
RationalMadman
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What makes you think this is a simple question?

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@RationalMadman
It is asking for a personal opinion. Even if a person's reasons for believing are illogical a person can simply explain what the reason is and the question has been successfully answered.
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@Discipulus_Didicit
Why do you use the word 'simply' if the explanation is going to take several paragraphs, include anecdotal evidence and make you either conclude the person is lying to you, stupid, mentally ill or totally right; all which you're in the dark about as you didn't experience what the person did?
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Why do you believe your religion is right?
Because otherwise it wouldn't be my religion, would it? Duh.
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@Discipulus_Didicit
Why do you believe your religion is right?

I prefer to learn from all sources if they make sense. Spirituality is a huge arena, no reason to confine all of the Creator to one source that would be absurd. Religions are the interpretation of what we observe in the Theistic world, albeit a very dynamic one and not everything is accurate, and many things are true. The point of spirituality is to get involved and figure all these things out for the self. 
I believe there are transcendental (spiritual) experiences because of the abundance of evidence as well as my own observations and encounters. From there it's all about putting the pieces together, getting involved and applying things you would normally not. 
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@EtrnlVw
So you believe your religion is right because you created it yourself.

Who did you get to check you hadn't made any mistakes?

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@keithprosser
Thanks but I'll wait for an intelligent response, learn how to read what someone writes. I never created anything smart azz, everything I say I can source. An Omnist is someone who respects or looks into all forms of spirituality. 
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Just on the odd chance anyone wants to know, my main sources I examine from are Vedanta (Hinduism), the Bible, Native American spirituality, mysticism, Eckankar, Sikhism and Buddhism. I also study first hand encounters, NDE's, OBE's and soul travel. Mostly everything I observe and argue come from one of those sources. I don't "make" things up or create my own beliefs, I share what I observe about my experiences and things that make sense within the spiritual arena. 
There is no one source and one God and all others sources are false. That is not how this works, all souls can have defining experiences with the Creator at many different levels, as well there are countless societies which exist outside this one which accounts for an array of experiences and knowledge. Doesn't mean everything is right, doesn't mean everything is wrong, this is for the soul to learn and experience. 
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I'm not religious but it's quite evident this is all about faith.

The goal of any religious is to have faith, enough to at least have a decent, happy and fulfulling life.

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@IlDiavolo
The goal of any religious is to have faith, enough to at least have a decent, happy and fulfulling life.
That doesn't explain 9-11 or a lot of other things such as wearing hairshirts and living on top of poles.


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@keithprosser
I'm refering to common people, not extremists.

What I know for experience is that most people in need, either spiritual or physical need, usually look for relief in a religion. Religions can give a sort of virtual happiness, no matter how fvcked you are, you are happy because you have faith.

At any rate, the purpose of life is very likely to be happy, whatever happiness means for people.

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@IlDiavolo
I agree that a lot of people find strength and solace in religion.  In my view it's a placebo, but placebos often work.

Religion also has its downsides - what more is there to say?

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@Discipulus_Didicit
It is asking for a personal opinion.

The reasoning behind a belief has nothing to do with opinion. Something is either true, or it's false. That is a matter of fact. The fact that you would call it an opinion shows strong evidence that you're not intellectually qualified to ask such a question.

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I grew up Methodist, loosely, in a mostly secular household and left the religion entirely for about five to six years contentedly. I decided to pursue sociology and psychology, delving closely into religious psychology and sociology (e.g., self-fulfilling prophecies and the frequency effect in association with personal encounters). I studied theology and its apologetics alongside it as a person's understanding of theology and general spiritual beliefs also affect other realms of their lives, including their decisions in voting for political candidates, how to treat others, education, how it affects a person's critical thinking, and such of this nature. History of the religions and the scripture itself was included. I spent some time arguing against it as well, as I found it detrimental psychologically and socially.

After those years, I eventually became an Eastern Orthodox Catholic. Personal experiences (which I already recognise I can't pass off to anyone else as evidence, and yes I already filtered through the beforementioned phenomenon) and study just led me there. I'm not entirely sure when the transition to adamant atheism to theism took place. Just a gradual thing. I've been quite happy in joining it and have dedicated some time into teaching and living betterment since then. 

As to why, I'd just say it's from those studies and as something that made the most sense religiously speaking after I spent time studying Hinduism, Shinto, the polytheistic variations (less so on Norse and Kemeticism, but I'm working on it). People will, of course, contest this. This may change over time and I may find myself in a different religious system or an atheist again if it ever came down to it. 
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@keithprosser
I agree that a lot of people find strength and solace in religion.  In my view it's a placebo, but placebos often work.

Religion also has its downsides - what more is there to say?

It looks like a placebo but I don't think it is so.

I was talking about the purpose of life. And if we analyse further, we can come to the conclusion that life as we know it has no purpose. Eventually, it's oneself that has to give purpose to life in order to be happy. There would be people who want to have children and then they find out this is their purpose of life. There would be other people who think their purpose of life is to do something to better this world and they do politics and end up being happy. The same thing happen to religious people, they decide to have faith in a God in order to find a purpose of life.

Do religions have downsides? Of course, as many areas of human activities, like politics, or sports. But even so, it's still a human construct made up to give purpose to our pathetic life.

Il Diavolo
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@Mercies
In all of your studies did you determine what need you were fulfilling?
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@disgusted
The "need" is something I'm not sure of. I was fine being an atheist. My transition into theism itself was surprising, and my friends even thought I was trolling for a good five months. I think, probably, it's order. I do suffer quite a bit in disorder and past experiences, so it likely helps with it. Being Catholic in general has been substantially pleasant. It's not that I don't fundamentally believe in the religion either, by saying this, I do, more so now then since in the beginning, but I would say it's likely what first brought me into the fold. With Maslow's hierarchy, I didn't really fall in the first levels. Maybe esteem, but therapy helped with that. Doctrines itself and the study behind the religion didn't "fulfill" anything (at least not observationally). Even the thought of dying didn't bother me and in my darkest moments where I thought I could die, it was fine regardless of whether an afterlife existed after the fact. So, maybe it's something I've yet to figure out, but I think "order" is likely it. 

I don't know if that sufficiently answers your question, but I could attempt to further specify if needed. 
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@Discipulus_Didicit
Why do you believe your religion is right?

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My personal answer.

Divine Revelation.


I've been on pretty much every end of the spectrum. In fact, even right before becoming Orthodox it seemed like the last place both I or anyone else would expect me to go. 





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@Mercies
As long as you know that your religion is filling a need you have, that doesn't make it true. Some people use chocolate to fill a need and that need is not hunger.
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@Discipulus_Didicit
I'm agnostic, so i'm not sure if my belief is right. But i feel that my belief is superior if it is right bc i believe everyone is right. So, i don't really have to care which religion is right since they're all right in my eyes. And, btw not the text... i think everyone is right about what afterlife they will get and/or they are in control of their afterlife and will journey it just as i will journey whatever i believe. In that sense, i think everyone is right.   
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@RationalMadman
Why do you use the word 'simply' if the explanation is going to take several paragraphs and include anecdotal evidence?

It seems you already have a rough idea how you would answer the question after signifigantly less than ten minutes of thinking about the question (based on the timestamps of our posts). If you already have a rough idea of what your answer would be just a few minutes after hearing the question I think I am justified in saying it is a fairly simple question.
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@keithprosser
So you believe your religion is right because you created it yourself.

That does nothing to indicate that his religion is inaccurate. The germ theory of disease was created at some point as well but was true even long before it was thought of.
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@EtrnlVw
I believe there are transcendental (spiritual) experiences because of the abundance of evidence as well as my own observations and encounters. From there it's all about putting the pieces together, getting involved and applying things you would normally not. 

Would you mind going into detail on one or more of those pieces of evidence or experiences?
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@Discipulus_Didicit
I am a genius who thinks faster than most humans.

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@BrutalTruth
The reasoning behind a belief has nothing to do with opinion. Something is either true, or it's false. That is a matter of fact.

The word belief has roughly the same meaning as the word opinion. People that have a belief in a particular religion also by definition have the opinion that their belief is correct. My question is asking what it is that causes people to hold that opinion.

Yes some opinions are correct and some opinions are incorrect. I thought that was obvious enough that I did not need to spell it out. Had I known you were going to drop by I would have known better.
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@Mopac
Why do you believe your religion is right?

My understanding is that you use the word religion differently from the rest of the world - basically as equivalent to saying 'strong belief' - so I would have to which of my beliefs you mean.
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@Outplayz
I'm agnostic, so i'm not sure if my belief is right. But i feel that my belief is superior if it is right bc i believe everyone is right.

When you say superior in this context do you mean 'more likely to be true'?
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@Discipulus_Didicit
An opinion cannot be correct or incorrect. A belief is not an opinion. It's an acknowledgement of perception. It seems you have quite a bit to learn about reality and how the brain interacts with it.

Fact: The sky is blue.
Opinion: I like the color blue.

The former is universally true or false. The latter is only necessarily true or false for the person expressing it. Whether or not something exists is a universally true or false idea, therefore a belief taken on it is a matter of fact. Not opinion.

Does that spell it out enough for you?