which religion is right?

My philosophy is,
Any religion that teaches love and tolerance for one's fellow man is at least partly correct.
And any religion that insists it holds the ONLY true path to spiritual fulfillment is at least partly wrong.

So, no, I don't believe that non-Christians go to hell. For that matter, I don't believe a loving God would even tolerate such a thing as hell.

Personally, I don't think the afterlife should serve as the primary motivation for belonging to any religion. Why don't you look at the other things that you get out of your faith, and what different parts of it mean to you? If you are looking for an impersonal source of guidance, beliefnet has a test to see how your views match up with different world religions. I think it's actually pretty good. But before you get that far you may want to look at the other things your religion has to offer, and stop worrying about what may happen after death.

Dauer

I can't answer your question. I can offer my experience and tell you that asking these questions is very important.

I was raised in a religious family. In my college years I became very religious in a Christian church that followed a very strict interpretation of the Bible.

I spent several years in this church, and most of these years were pretty good. This church (as many religious groups) offered a strong community. Strict religion also offers a sense of identity and purpose that is very fulfilling.

After several years my questions about my religion started to become more and more troubling. I was fortunate to have friends, outside and even inside the church, that I could discuss this with. I decided after much struggle to leave the church, change my beliefs

I will tell you, it is difficult to change your beliefs. It was difficult to me to leave a tight community. Religion also left a hole as far as what I was here for, and honestly it took me a while to figure this out.

I will not tell you that leaving a religion is the right thing to do for you. There are people who I care about and respect who choose to adhere to a strict religion. I have friends who went through the same period of questionin as me who chose to stay in the church.

The key is that you need to make a decision based on what is important for you. I hope that you find happiness and a life that has meaning for you. There is nothing more you can ask for.

My only advice is, be honest with yourself. Find people who will listen to you and respect your questions without trying to give you an easy answer.

At the end, you need to ask the difficult question and then build a meaningful life. The only problem is when you just accept a religion without asking the serious questions that each of us must answer.

Best of luck.

I think that all religions have a bit of truth in them. I've also noticed that there are connections between religions that are either the same, or suprisingly similar.

Agnosticism is RIGHT.

Consider agnosticism INSTEAD of ANY religion.

Any religion that consigns 2/3 of the people in the world to hell simply for being born into the wrong belief system is highly suspect for being self-serving rather than Absolute God-Given Truth.

Do you really believe that God would consign people to hell simply because they guessed wrong, based on incomplete and conflicting data, about what she really wanted of us? If there is an afterlife, your fate will more likely depend on how you lived your life than what church you belonged to.

I think Ghandi put it best



Of course, the problem, IMHO, comes when people start trying to put spins on religion.

All the messengers were right. All the politicians were wrong. The politicization of religion has always been the problem.

Re: which religion is right?


i think not; i, a nonbeliever, for example, have been told to "go to hell" so often, that i supect if that were the case, i'd be there by now!
[second thoughts, maybe this 'IS' hell!]

{on a slightly more serious note}:

it is hard to improve on e. Brown's comments;
but i would add that one must spend an entire lifetime thinking deeply about the various aspects of this subject, in order to come to a conclusion.

[and then you die, and 'DON'T' find out!]

Yo BoGo...

...you wrote:




Do you know that for a fact...or is that just a guess?

Got this from my sister today. Thought some of you might enjoy it.

It is from the New York Times OpEd page.



For years now, I've been wondering just how many blow-hard conservatives it will take to tumble onto their hypocritical faces (live the TV evangelists and their underage hookers, or Rush Limbaugh and his drug problem, or O'Reilly and his phone sex (yes, she could have hung up, but that's not the point, is it?) before those in the country who are not totally corrupted by "Christianity" get it.

I can't wait until the day we find out that Ann Coulter's favorite past time involves boy scouts and bondage, or that Ken Starr is one of those closet homosexuals that Frank Rich discusses. You know it's true. It's just a matter of time before their secrets are revealed. And whatever floats their boat is just fine---except that they insist on shoving their 'Morality" down the throats of others.

Oh well, time to go to the gym and work off the aggravation created by daily perusal of the papers. I'm considering swearing-off newspapers until after the elections are finalized. That will be sometime before 2008. I hope.



Frank Rich: The O'Reilly Factor for Lesbians
October 24, 2004

Which religion is right? By that I suppose you are asking which is true religion. To that my answer is none. Religion is a man made concept to explain the inexplicable and to control the masses. It IMO has done more damage and caused more carnage through the ages than any other concept dreamed up by the fertile mind of man.

All religions are wrong because of lies being throughout what they are based from. If you want to follow lies religiously, go right ahead, it's your choice. Was it lies that determined your choice to begin with? That's something to think about for your mind's sake.