Why do you believe that 'your' God is the correct one?

[Trail Blazer]

As the title suggests, why is your God the God that everyone should worship? 

Why do you believe in the teachings of only one religious doctrine when there's an estimated number of religions in excess of 4,000 in the world?

I'm curious as to how everyone came to the conclusion that of all the religions in the world, why yours is the correct one?

Is it a simple case of believing what your parents believed, therefore you just believe it, too? 

Or, have you studied and compared many religions which has led to towards a conclusion that the religion which you've chosen to believe just resonated with you more?

Before anyone accuses the creation of this thread as some kind of veiled swipe at the logic of believers in general, I just want to make it clear that this is a component to religious belief which I've struggled to reconcile with the most.

For mine, the majority of people's religious beliefs are intrinsically linked to their culture and upbringing. 

It's no surprise that one's religious beliefs almost always align with those that are linked to their geographical location.  The outliers being those who've emigrated from another country where that country's religion differs from the country they've emigrated to.

I would love to hear from those people who've genuinely chosen a religious path free from the guiding hand of indoctrination.

I have a very unique perspective when it comes to religion.  Having been born to parents of who different cultures and religions, I've seen first-hand the differences between both.

I certainly believe that in my case, the tug-of-war I experienced growing up, led me on a path to exploration where, I arrived at the conclusion that no religion seemed a good fit. 

Atheism was the only logical choice for mine.  So, people of LoveShack, why was your religious choice the logical one for you?

 

[d0nnivain]

Read a book called The Lamb's Supper by Scott Kahn.  He was a protestant minister who converted to Catholicism after attending a Mass.  It's all in the Mass. . . everything back to the Bible, straight from Jesus teaching, without losing some of the fundamental teaching in the Old Testament.  

[Emilie Jolie]

My religious choice is agnosticism. I was raised in a secular, open-minded household and we were exposed to learning all main religions. We were also encouraged to think critically. I came to the conclusion fairly quickly that, although I have found something positive to take away from in each of the religions I looked at, I don't care enough about any of them to become to invested.

There could be 1 god or 110 or none - I'm good with it all.

[Watercolors]

I was raised in an Irish Catholic family but eschewed religion from the time I was little. I confronted my first communion priest about forcing kids to believe without any scientific proof (I was 7, so I basically told the priest that I didn't believe in God and he was mean to expect me to). I was grounded and forced to continue with the first communion ceremony. I later got revenge by setting the church christmas wreath on fire "by accident" when my family was selected to light the large hanging christmas wreath. My high school confirmation name was Madonna Ciccone the 2nd" (I wrote it on my name tag) and I wore silver heavy metal rings on my fingers as we walked down the aisle; I carried black roses whereas the girls in my confirmation class carried white roses). My family basically shunned me for my Atheism (still unlabeled until my 20s). I had panic attacks during Sunday church services probably b/c I couldn't believe the baloney some guy in a robe was spouting to a congregation of believers. 

My Atheist belief is based in paleontology and anthropology; man created god(s) to control the masses for a myriad of reasons. Religion is now outdated in 2020, but still used for divisive purposes in society, by government and other areas of society. I think we'd be better off without such a social crutch as religion. A recent Pew study showed that Atheists are more religious than religious people. Each culture creates its own religion for its own reasons. There is no afterlife. There is no entity in another dimension or space overseeing the human race's development. When we die, our physical bodies disintegrate and become worm food. Just like what happens with plant life and wildlife. 

Of course, religion will not be expelled from society until some entity proves its utility is not necessary. Who knows when that day will come. I don't respect religious people who preach that their God is the only God and that if I don't believe I'm going to hell. I don't tell people what to believe, so they have no business telling me what to believe. 

[Cookiesandough]

In philosophy of religion, this is related to the problem of religious diversity. I think people often have an innate feeling about a particular religion or spirituality. It is often mystical, but doesn’t have to be.  I have heard people say that when they read a religious text and it just “spoke” or resonated with them. Or they had a “feeling” of connection to a particular god. This feeling is a basis to a lot of belief and probably largely rooted in things previously taught. 

Edited December 5, 2020 by Shortskirtslonglashes

[Trail Blazer]

5 hours ago, d0nnivain said:

Read a book called The Lamb's Supper by Scott Kahn.  He was a protestant minister who converted to Catholicism after attending a Mass.  It's all in the Mass. . . everything back to the Bible, straight from Jesus teaching, without losing some of the fundamental teaching in the Old Testament.  

With respect, Catholics and protestants are under the same umbrella of Christianity.  I'm going to guess that you're Catholic, given the specific citation of someone "converting" to Catholicism you've provided.

What I'm keen to know is why you believe that the God you believe in is the correct and only one that individuals should believe in. 

Do you believe because it's a passed-down tradition, or have you examined many religions and arrived at your religious conclusion of your own volition?

[Trail Blazer]

@Watercolors I was brought up in a similar environment.  My Mom was Irish Catholic and I attended a Catholic school and partook in Holy Communion and Confirmation.

I got into my fair share of trouble when I was young, questioning everything in a belligerent manner.  I felt genuinely enraged by being told things as fact which seemed utterly absurd.

I totally agree with your views on religion and I, too, am an atheist. 

However, I am extremely curious as to how others have managed to arrive at a conclusion which I've never been able to arrive at; one religion rising above all the rest, in a sea of religious choices.

For mine, an unwavering belief in a particular doctrine is a subscription to an absolute; to be absolutely certain and unquestioning of many facets of life is a scary and dangerous trait.

Ironically, creationists are far more likely to question legitimate science, giving rise to conspiracy theories whilst espousing those following scientific advice as "sheeple" 🙄

[Interstellar]

I remember asking my philosophy professor whether he believes in God. An extremely intelligent and pragmatic guy. Studied Kant, Hegel, and others. 

If I recall correctly, he’s agnostic. Of course, we’re allowed and free to believe what we believe in and he’s not forcing his beliefs on anyone. He thought that basing your beliefs on a bible written by men on who or what God is, assuming what God wants is incredibly arrogant. God is simply, way, way beyond our understanding.

I asked him right in the middle of a discussion, and it was a *mic drop* moment for him. The class fell completely silent after that.

Edited December 5, 2020 by Interstellar

[Trail Blazer]

5 hours ago, d0nnivain said:

Read a book called The Lamb's Supper by Scott Kahn.  He was a protestant minister who converted to Catholicism after attending a Mass.  It's all in the Mass. . . everything back to the Bible, straight from Jesus teaching, without losing some of the fundamental teaching in the Old Testament.  

Donni, I just want to revisit this post as there's a few things I didn't mention when I first quoted you;

I grew up as a Catholic (my father was a Muslim who I had very little to do with until he returned into my life as an early teen and attempted to convert me - but that's a whole different story).

As a child of Catholic Irish immigrant, my mother ensured I had a Catholic education.  Whilst she didn't indoctrinate me, she felt it pertinent to give me every opportunity to explore Catholicism for myself.

I attended Mass from when I was knee-high to a grasshopper.  From the moment I could comprehend the words uttered from Father Michael's mouth, it all seemed totally implausible.

I recall thinking to myself, "Adults actually believe this stuff?"  There may have been a fleeting period of time where I believed there was a God, but I believed that a God didn't operate within the sphere represented by the church.

I do recall that by the time I no longer believed in Santa/Easter Bunny/Tooth Fairy, it dawned on me that adults make things up for the benefit of children. 

It wasn't a great leap for me to arrive at the conclusion that religion was the equivalent kind of things for adults to believe in because it gives them comfort and purpose in a scary and confusing world.

I think that what sealed the deal for (my non-belief) me was the fact that there were thousands of religions out there, all claiming to be the one from God.

How can they all be right?  Of course, they can't all be right.  Only one is right, right?  So, how is one to choose, out of an estimated 4,000-plus religions in existence?

Instead of studying over 4,000 religions, I quickly arrived at the conclusion that every religion was created in a time period consistent with the environment and culture in which is was borne out of.

I refused to attend Mass as a teenager as I felt it was a gross waste of my time.  I am 36-years-old and I haven't set foot inside of a Church in over 20 years, with the exception of being present for a few weddings of friends and/or family.

[Trail Blazer]

6 minutes ago, Interstellar said:

I remember asking my philosophy professor whether he believes in God. An extremely intelligent and pragmatic guy. Studied Kant, Hegel, and others.

If I recall correctly, he’s agnostic. Of course, we’re allowed and free to believe what we believe in and he’s not forcing his beliefs on anyone. He thought that basing your beliefs on a bible written by men on who or what God is, assuming what God wants is incredibly arrogant. God is simply, way beyond our understanding.

 

If there is a God out there, I do not believe that it has been represented correctly by any man-written doctrine.

If there is a God, I refuse to believe that it would give us intelligence and free-will, yet punish us for exercising it.

If there is a God, which I do not believe there is, but if there is, this "God" is simply a concept far too complex for humans to ever comprehend.

[Cookiesandough]

25 minutes ago, Interstellar said:

I remember asking my philosophy professor whether he believes in God. An extremely intelligent and pragmatic guy. Studied Kant, Hegel, and others. 

If I recall correctly, he’s agnostic. Of course, we’re allowed and free to believe what we believe in and he’s not forcing his beliefs on anyone. He thought that basing your beliefs on a bible written by men on who or what God is, assuming what God wants is incredibly arrogant. God is simply, way, way beyond our understanding.

I asked him right in the middle of a discussion, and it was a *mic drop* moment for him. The class fell completely silent after that.

Haha that’s funny. Belief is a funny thing. Doxasticism seems far from being understood

Edited December 5, 2020 by Shortskirtslonglashes

[d0nnivain]

1 hour ago, Trail Blazer said:

Do you believe because it's a passed-down tradition, or have you examined many religions and arrived at your religious conclusion of your own volition?

It was a passed down tradition.  I left for a long while.  I came back as my parents were dying. 

I read the book I mentioned to you along with several others by the author Matthew Kelly & his organization Dynamic Catholic.  I'm presently reading the Universal Christ by Richard Rohr but The Lamb's Supper helped me understand my faith as an adult.  I did study comparative religion in college & have taken a course in Bible reading as literature.   

As for Catholics & Protestants both being Christian that is true but there are some fundamental differences that make Catholicism more meaningful to me.  I like structure.  I've been dragged to various Christian churches by my husband's extended family.  They seemed empty to me.  Religion should not be confused with a rock concert or a cirque de solei show IMO.  

For a long time I struggled with my mental health.  I tried therapy, mediation, mindfulness, alcohol & exercise.  Prayer fixed a lot of what ailed me.  

[Trail Blazer]

6 minutes ago, d0nnivain said:

For a long time I struggled with my mental health.  I tried therapy, mediation, mindfulness, alcohol & exercise.  Prayer fixed a lot of what ailed me.  

How did prayer manage to do this?  Do you believe that it was divine intervention?  God listened to you and "fixed" your mental health?

Or, would you say that by praying, you felt a connection to God and the power of that connection alone was enough to avail you of your struggles?

[central]

I long ago stopped believing in any god.  There is absolutely NO independently verifiable evidence that any god exists - personal experience is just that, and not a proof.  I'll change my view IF such proof can ever be provided.  That's not to say that many religions have some positive teachings and influences on life, but most also have some harmful ones that promote hatred and discrimination.  IMO, the only religions that come close are secular and philosophical versions of Buddhism and Taoism, and I study those as a guide to living an ethical life.  They're not perfect, but they are subject to change, unlike the dogma of most religions.

However, for understanding the universe and how the world actually works, I depend on science.  It is constantly improving and self-correcting, even though that sometimes takes longer than one would hope.  It's testable, makes predictions, and can be usefully applied.  It's not a religion, but it is a highly effective way of thinking.  However, it lacks moral guidance about issues that matter to people, which is where Buddhism and Taoism work well to round out the whole.

[Watercolors]

12 minutes ago, central said:

I long ago stopped believing in any god.  There is absolutely NO independently verifiable evidence that any god exists - personal experience is just that, and not a proof.  I'll change my view IF such proof can ever be provided.  That's not to say that many religions have some positive teachings and influences on life, but most also have some harmful ones that promote hatred and discrimination.  IMO, the only religions that come close are secular and philosophical versions of Buddhism and Taoism, and I study those as a guide to living an ethical life.  They're not perfect, but they are subject to change, unlike the dogma of most religions.

However, for understanding the universe and how the world actually works, I depend on science.  It is constantly improving and self-correcting, even though that sometimes takes longer than one would hope.  It's testable, makes predictions, and can be usefully applied.  It's not a religion, but it is a highly effective way of thinking.  However, it lacks moral guidance about issues that matter to people, which is where Buddhism and Taoism work well to round out the whole.

I utilize Buddhism the same way in my life, as a guiding philosophy. Science is 100% the lens I view the world through. 

[alphamale]

12 hours ago, Trail Blazer said:

As the title suggests, why is your God the God that everyone should worship? 

Why do you believe in the teachings of only one religious doctrine when there's an estimated number of religions in excess of 4,000 in the world?

I'm curious as to how everyone came to the conclusion that of all the religions in the world, why yours is the correct one?

Is it a simple case of believing what your parents believed, therefore you just believe it, too? 

Or, have you studied and compared many religions which has led to towards a conclusion that the religion which you've chosen to believe just resonated with you more?

Before anyone accuses the creation of this thread as some kind of veiled swipe at the logic of believers in general, I just want to make it clear that this is a component to religious belief which I've struggled to reconcile with the most.

For mine, the majority of people's religious beliefs are intrinsically linked to their culture and upbringing. 

It's no surprise that one's religious beliefs almost always align with those that are linked to their geographical location.  The outliers being those who've emigrated from another country where that country's religion differs from the country they've emigrated to.

I would love to hear from those people who've genuinely chosen a religious path free from the guiding hand of indoctrination.

I have a very unique perspective when it comes to religion.  Having been born to parents of who different cultures and religions, I've seen first-hand the differences between both.

I certainly believe that in my case, the tug-of-war I experienced growing up, led me on a path to exploration where, I arrived at the conclusion that no religion seemed a good fit. 

Atheism was the only logical choice for mine.  So, people of LoveShack, why was your religious choice the logical one for you?

 

Because everyone thinks that their sh*t don’t smell...

[deepthinking]

The only one that could stand scrutiny. and make sense at the age of reason,  is Spiritualism.  Well. you have to have been  to a medium's reading .to trust it.  

And please -  when i read for somebody, the info is specific and a logical fit for the sitter's circumstances - do not blame me for con-men's actions. Thanks.

[Watercolors]

1 minute ago, deepthinking said:

The only one that could stand scrutiny. and make sense at the age of reason,  is Spiritualism.  Well. you have to have been  to a medium's reading .to trust it.  

And please -  when i read for somebody, the info is specific and a logical fit for the sitter's circumstances - do not blame me for con-men's actions. Thanks.

I'm clairsentient and even I don't believe in a 'god.' 

[Cookiesandough]

2 hours ago, central said:

I long ago stopped believing in any god.  There is absolutely NO independently verifiable evidence that any god exists - personal experience is just that, and not a proof.  I'll change my view IF such proof can ever be provided.  That's not to say that many religions have some positive teachings and influences on life, but most also have some harmful ones that promote hatred and discrimination.  IMO, the only religions that come close are secular and philosophical versions of Buddhism and Taoism, and I study those as a guide to living an ethical life.  They're not perfect, but they are subject to change, unlike the dogma of most religions.

However, for understanding the universe and how the world actually works, I depend on science.  It is constantly improving and self-correcting, even though that sometimes takes longer than one would hope.  It's testable, makes predictions, and can be usefully applied.  It's not a religion, but it is a highly effective way of thinking.  However, it lacks moral guidance about issues that matter to people, which is where Buddhism and Taoism work well to round out the whole.

Personally, I am not a believer in any god(s). I am not blind to my own bias, though. Why ought we not put weight in own personal experiences ? Yes, they can be flawed, but can’t the perception of others’ be too? Especially when you are talking about a supernatural phenomenon that supposedly and typically exists outside of our perception and scientific laws?

Even scientific ‘truths’ are subjective and awareness dependent. Everything we know is dependent on our senses and perception. Simply because it is a perception many share, does not make it any less a matter of perception. Even with a seemingly flawless hypothesis, there are dependencies/ attachments/bias we need to believe it. This is not only dependent on the individual, but the matter/rule that you’re dealing with too. 

 

Edited December 6, 2020 by Shortskirtslonglashes

[Watercolors]

17 minutes ago, Shortskirtslonglashes said:

Personally, I am not a believer in any god(s). I am not blind to my own bias, though. Why ought we not put weight in own personal experiences ? Yes, they can be flawed, but can’t the perception of others’ be too? Especially when you are talking about a supernatural phenomenon that supposedly and typically exists outside of our perception and scientific laws?

Even scientific ‘truths’ are subjective and awareness dependent. Everything we know is dependent on our senses and perception. Simply because it is a perception many share, does not make it any less a matter of perception. Even with a seemingly flawless hypothesis, there are dependencies/ attachments/bias we need to believe it. This is not only dependent on the individual, but the matter/rule that you’re dealing with too. 

 

There's been lots of research done on the human brain. One study from Rutgers university revealed that the brain basically creates an addiction to the religious experience. You can read about it here.  I could quote other studies but that's irrelevant as I'm not here to push my disbelief on to anyone. So, please don't push your belief on to disbelievers like me. 

[Cookiesandough]

1 hour ago, Watercolors said:

There's been lots of research done on the human brain. One study from Rutgers university revealed that the brain basically creates an addiction to the religious experience. You can read about it here.  I could quote other studies but that's irrelevant as I'm not here to push my disbelief on to anyone. So, please don't push your belief on to disbelievers like me. 

Hum, I think I was pretty clear in my first statement that I am not a ‘believer’, watercolors.  I do believe in challenging beliefs, but I  don’t feel I was “pushing” anything. I merely presented arguments as to why I think it’s a crucial step in seeking the truth. I don’t think your post refutes anything I said. You are citing one study that posits some scientific explanation of some human experience. It does not account for anyone’s individual human experience and the weight that they put on that experience to the point they feel it justifies their belief anymore than naturalistic explanations may justify yours. That was the only point I was making.

Edited December 6, 2020 by Shortskirtslonglashes

[Wiseman2]

There's a few places in the brain for spiritual/religious beliefs, just like there is for language, music,math,etc.

Belief systems and spiritually have been around for all time..  It's hard wired.

Whatever you want to choose including atheism, it's still the same thing and the same hard wiring.

Most of it seeks the same thing . Answers to the same questions. Why are we here? What does it all mean?, etc. This thread in fact is asking a variation of the same thing.

As far as the moral parts, that too is hard wired. Humans are social beings. They need thier social groups to survive.

Therefore  belief systems also touch on how to interface with others for the best individual and group success.

Pick whatever you want and whatever registers with you. It's all the same in the end 

 

Edited December 6, 2020 by Wiseman2

[Zona]

A weighty question.

I think you must have meant, "why do you believe your religion is the right one?". The three Abrahamic religions believe in the same God, but view him differently. Same is true for other monotheistic religions, and even some sects of Hinduism now claim to be monotheistic. God as the creator of the universe is something shared by most religions.

There are many reasons why I think my religion (Christianity) is the right one. The Jewish scriptures which form the foundation of Christianity get so many things right. The universe came into existence, the universe is expanding, the earth is "suspended on nothing" to name but a few. The new and old testaments are different from other religious texts because they were written by many people, and at different times and different locations. It was written partly as a historical record of Jesus' life, and partly to clarify doctrinal issues (describes what being a Christian entails). 

Without getting too wordy, I'll just say that I think the Christian bible has a ton of credibility; in the profound teachings of Jesus, in the many, many eye witness reports of miracles performed by Jesus, and in the amazing consistency that runs throughout. We also have very early partial transcripts of the both the Jewish scriptures, and the new testament, which rules out later updating and modification to make it more consistent. It also makes the predictions (aka prophesies) most credible.

I believe Judaism is right, just not complete. I believe Islam is an Arabized form of Judaism.

One problem I have with Hinduism, is that it claims the universe is eternal, and we know that is not true (think big bang, and the fact that the universe is expanding).

As for atheists (and I was one), they have to explain what caused the universe to come into existence with just the perfect conditions for life, and how life started. I found God in grad school while studying AI. It would have to be some kind of artificial (non-sentient) intelligence that created the universe and life. I came to the conclusion that random forces as a explanation leads to statistical impossibilities. The human genome has 3 billion base pairs for example, that's 3,000,000,000^4 possible combinations. I don't believe that random forces could create that much genetic code.

 

Edited December 6, 2020 by Zona

[d0nnivain]

16 hours ago, Trail Blazer said:

How did prayer manage to do this?  Do you believe that it was divine intervention?  God listened to you and "fixed" your mental health?

Or, would you say that by praying, you felt a connection to God and the power of that connection alone was enough to avail you of your struggles?

It helped to quiet my mind.  Prayer is the original mediation / mindfulness.   I do think there was some Divine Intervention.  I got a few small miracles in connection with my parents' death.  Things unfolded in my favor when you would think that all was lost so I believe.  Doing so gives me peace.  

I think that Pope Francis is also the right man for the job at this time.  He sees & preaches goodness & love.  We need for of that in these troubled times.  

[Curious-Sam]

So my understanding comes from a wide and varied number of factors. Personal upbringing, exposure and study of other religions and maybe most importantly personal spiritual experiences. 

I was raised christian, but as many do in their late teens and 20's  drifted away from the faith to the point I considered myself Atheist or at least agnostic for a period. In all honestly looking back now I consider this mostly to be down to the poor explanation of the Church. Not so much on the ethical side .... but on the nature of God and what happens in the sacraments didn't really make sense to me the way it was explained. The bread turns into his body ...... say what now ?!?

As I aged I started asking question and began to resent the fact people weren't able to answer them / didn't know - especially due to the amount of time I had been forced to invest in Church/God I felt kind of lied to.  Also I lacked what I considered to be any real "Spiritual" experience.  I felt like if God was real then he should have been more tangibly obvious to me. The things spoken about in the bible Miracles etc should have been more evident. I look back now at my naivity in that period and shake my head. I was so abundantly and overwhelmingly blessed in my youth. To crazy levels - like legitimately crazy levels and didn't realize it at the time. I considered what happened with me in my life to that point to just be "normal" because it was all I had ever known. And its only now I really understand why - and appreciate how blessed I was and also the true cause of how and why those blessings came. 

As a child my parents were very devout. My mother worked as a religious education coordinator at a christian school and organized children liturgies. She also worked as a special needs teacher for disabled and handicapped children. I was required to attend mass every weekend. On top of this my parents had both my brother and I be altar servers in our church. As part of this we would have to serve at least one weekend Sun/Sat church service and also do one early morning 6am midweek service. We served the Tuesday morning which meant waking at about 4:30am every Tuesday to be at the church by 5:30am to setup mass. Serve. Then return home shower and get ready for school.

In addition to this our church was attached to our school - and as I reached older grades I was essentially the only child left at the school who was an altar server. There may have been maybe 1 or 2 others but I was at least the oldest remaining. Many other children started as Altar servers when young but dropped out almost immediately as soon as the reality of early morning 6am weekday service thing hit home - that wasn't an option with my parents . As a result in addition to the normal mass services - if there were any midweek services. Funerals. Special prayer vigils I would be pulled out of school classes during the day by the priest - and have to go across to  serve in the Church for the service. Sometimes this could happen numerous times a week. There were weeks were I might serve 5-6 services on the altar as well as potentially going out the cemetery or participating in some other church related activity.  I would be pulled out of class for 1-2 hours at a time whenever was required. By the age of 12 years old I had attended more funeral services then most people will attend in 3-4 lifetimes. Quite a confronting thing actually to be 10-11-12 years old and having to attend funerals that often for people you don't even know - many of which were tragic. Young Children. Suicides. Car crashes. etc.

As an altar server we would have to walk down to the front of the altar to meet and genuflect with person coming up to the altar to speak. Then follow the speaker and stand behind them while they spoke. Normally this was just people doing bible readings, prayers of the faithful etc. But at funerals this meant walking down to meet and then stand behind the person who was doing the Eulogy for the deceased.  Was some really intensely emotional experiences. Parents talking about lost children. A person talking about a lost parent, sibling, friend.  Having to be that close to people literally breaking down on the lecturn while they tried to speak about a lost loved one. I had no real understanding at that time what being on the Altar - in those situations that frequently was exposing me to. And by that I don't mean the people or the emotional situations. I mean more the spiritual presence that comes into the church / altar during service ..... and especially during times of grieving and pain funerals and such. I honestly had no idea. I was a happy kid who was doing what my parents told me to do. I was not yet sensitive or aware of to what takes place in these places at these times.  

But my life during that period was as if touched by a magic wand. Blessed beyond all measure ..... and I didn't even realize or appreciate it. I was always happy. Always full of energy and life. But the really amazing thing was literally every single thing I turned my hand to I excelled at. And genuinely not even just excelled - was like the best at.  I had the top grades in all my classes.= When ever we did the state or nation wide testing for Maths or Science or Literature I would generally rate inside the top %. I won literally every single sporting event we had at our school and in the city and regional representatives. In the athletics I would win every event from the 100m - 200m - 400m - 800m - 1500m - Cross country - Long jump - High jump etc etc Literally every event - think the only one I didn't was shot put. I would win all the swimming events. I had a teacher who was into drama so our class entered into individual spoken word drama competitions - I would win. We had a school musical in grade 7. I'd never sung before in my life. I tried out and got not just the lead part - they had multiple and they allowed me to choose whichever part I wanted. What ever sports I would play I would make the representative teams. I could go on. But to put it simply during this period of my life literally everything I touched turned to Gold.  Just blessed ..... And the most bizarre part about all this was I didn't think it was even slightly unusual. Like it didn't register to me that this wasn't normal and other kids weren't experiencing the same types of things. For me at this point I just kind of found it normal to naturally excel at everything I did. That was just how it worked in my younger years and I  had the naivity and I think better word - arrogance - to later think I had no evidence for the existence of God. Completely blind to true cause and source of the blessings.

When I got into later high school years I stopped altar serving and into university stopped even attending mass regularly - and kind of became a little disillusioned with God. Like I said above I felt I'd kind of been tricked. But over time that golden shine I'd been blessed with all through my youth slowly but surely began to ware off. Not like quickly or dramatically it was more like a slow steady progressive thing over many years. Where you kind of loose your sparkle. Suddenly you wake up 10 years later and realize everything doesn't magically work out perfect like it used to. I'm not automatically awesome at everything I do. Shock horror. I don't just feel naturally happy and filled with joy all the time for no apparent reason.  What is this weird reality everyone else has been living in ? I don't like this. 

 I became curious about God again and eventually went on to do quite extensive study into other spiritual lineages especially the eastern lineages. Hinduism, Yogic teachings primarily but also Buddhism, Taoism and Zen. I got pretty deep exposure to these through living abroad and having many friends who fell into these categories.  I also have a pretty extensive knowledge of Judaic teaching from my Christian up bringing. Probably the only main stream religion I woudn't consider myself to have a deep understanding and exposure to is Muslim / Islamic. I simply haven't done the same amount of study or had exposure to their teachings on any where near the same level so hard for me to really comment on the quality of the teaching. 

What I found most interesting was the spiritual practices - the "rituals" in the Hindu/Yogic schools were quite similar to Christianity. Just with different Gods. In Christianity we have the Eucharist. Bread and wine blessed by the spiritual energy of Jesus/God. His "Body and Blood". Then consumed by the followers. Hinduism has an identical ritual. Its called "Prasad". They bring a vegetarian food offering - fruit - a curry - sweets. Place it before the god they are praying to and ask them to bless the food with their energy and then consume it. I actually found I got a deeper understanding of what the Eucharist was from studying the eastern spiritual teachings then I did from my Christian upbringing with its weird metaphors about the body of Christ. And the bread turing into his body and wine into his blood. But by this time I had really started to realize that there was something to the whole spiritual blessings thing. I found from my personal observations the blessings didn't seem to be as powerful in the eastern lineages - at least as far as I could see. They did not as far as I could see get the same benefits that I had seen in my Christian upbringing. If there are Hindus or people who follow eastern faiths - I don't mean offense by this - its just what I had observed in a communal sense. Communities based around active practicing christian faith from my view  tended to thrive and be more prosperous then any others I have seen. When people move away from God ..... you see this slow but steady regression. (look around the world) it creeps up on you. 

But the real dramatic change for me came when I went through a really significant loss in my life. A period of intense grief. During that period I started seeking God again and had a really powerful spiritual healing experience - very much inline with the Christian teaching. This divine love that seemed to start pouring out of the heart / chest space. Holy Spirit. Just this deep peace and love that came over me that helped me through that period. 

Since then I've returned to the Christian faith and the experience has completely changed for me. Attending church service is like an essential part of my life. I feel tangible effects while attending mass and prayer services. This love and peace that enters the space - that my heart space is now sensitive to. This energy and happiness which I can now take with me into the week. I think people really do not understand what they are missing out on by not attending. and actively participating in church services and prayer services where the spirit of God is actively invited in.  I think for most people one off attendance your not going to notice anything. But when you make it part of your life - and when you start to offer service to God and others as part of your everyday regular life ..... magic happens. Blessings that only come from above. As I've gone deeper into faith - my prayer life has also changed dramatically. I'm part of a Christian prayer gathering and have seen real life miracles. Like you pray for things - really really specific things for other people - and they just happen. You start to understand you can spread blessings over other people. Over people who are struggling. Over people who are sick. 

I cannot categorically say the other lineages are wrong or won't connect you to God. Maybe they can. But I can tell you for sure there is a power present in Christian spiritual practice - God - that when tapped into can transform a person from the inside out and give blessings and love and healing. For me this is all that matters.  

Edited December 6, 2020 by Curious-Sam