My belief in God(Jehovah Nissi).....Is a renewing thing.
I cannot always say my faith gets stronger everyday, but I can say my faith is renewed everyday.
I was raised in it (culture) and being born in The U.S. (more culture) I had to ask the question "does my belief in God come from my environment and or my own knowledge.
The "What Ifs' are daily distractions.
God gives me a new measure of faith everyday.
So I would have to say that My belief is brand new today.
I try to carry few old worn out lessons of yesterdays experience into todays orchastra of wisdom and mercy.

I'm with Roivas on this one. And, yes, I HAVE read the Bible, cover-to-cover, seven times. And, after much thought and deliberation and studying of many other faiths, I came to the conclusion that religion is just superstition with better funding and some slightly more fleshed-out fictional characters.

The best definiton of religion I ever heard was on a radio program awhile back: "A bunch of people arguing over who has the most powerful invisible friend."

Or, as my friend Omar likes to say, "Only sheep need a shepherd."

Like Lex, I too have studied the Bible in great detail (many years ago). I was once of the Christian faith but finally realized that the stories in the Bible were much better explained when recognized to be the imaginations (and agendas) of obviously male-chauvinistic men who were attempting to create a religion to keep their tribes in a patriarchal social order. Once viewed from this perspective it became crystal clear to me that this was indeed the inspiration for these stories, and that they had never been inspired by some self-proclaimed jealous judgmental godhead.

At first, I was a bit disappointed. Well, actually I think it would be better to say that I had mixed feelings. There was also some elation that accompanied the disappointment.

The elation came from the realization that god might not be the self-proclaimed jealous judgmental godhead that had been described in the Bible. After all, even though there were positive things about that mythological God, there were also many negative things associated with him. So I was disappointed that the religion turned out to be bogus, but I was simultaneously elated that the negative things were also not true.

However, this left me without a god. Or did it? This was the confusion for a while, but not for long.

I had always felt a connection with the spirit, from a very young age. To me this is just a fundamental fact of existence as strong as any experience I know. But it was also perfectly clear to me that the ancient writings of men could not possible have been inspired by this spirit that I experience. In fact, the spirit itself confirmed this fact to me simply by not making me feel the least bit guilty about rejecting the old mythology.

If the old stories were truly and had been inspired by a real living God, then by rejecting them surely I would feel that I had done something wrong. But all I felt were feelings of love and acceptance emanating from the spirit within me.

That’s when I realized that I never once rejected god. All I rejected was the idea that certain ancient stories actually have anything to do with god. God fully understood this.

This is why god (which is NOT the god described in the Bible) was not the slightest bit upset with me. She fully understood that I was not rejecting her in the least. And that was when I really came to know her much more intimately than could ever have been possible whilst having my head stuck in the bucket of ancient mythology. I was now making a direct connection with the real living spirit of the universe that gave rise to my being.

As I continued, I realized that I wasn’t the only person who came to know god this way, and that there were actually quite a few religions throughout the world that know god in this way. In fact, there are a large variety of them ranging from some of the North American Indian religions, to Eastern Mysticism, and other religious beliefs held in places like Africa and South America. All of those religions had a very similar view that god is omnipresent and always with us. The view is not one of a separate self-proclaimed jealous judgmental godhead, but rather one of a spiritual essence that fills us and simultaneously fills all of existence.

Unfortunately, like all religions of men, once an understanding of god becomes a religion it becomes tainted by man’s own imagination and interpretation. For this reason I realized that no religious doctrines can possible be ultimately correct in every detail. Knowing the spirit is a personal thing and should be done directly. So for this reason, even today, I denounce all religion doctrines of any kind.

I often use the word “pantheism” to describe the overall philosophical view of how I understand god. But even that word has been contaminated by men. I don’t use the word to imply, or reference, any specific definition of it. I use it solely to mean that god is everything, and everything is god.

The spirit is one and we are each a part of it. Our individuality is merely an illusion that god creates for us. Our actual essence is not individual. No one can ever be separated from god because it would be meaningless to even think that a person could exist without god. Your very essence is the spirit of god (the spirit of this universe). God is the universe, and vice versa.

That doesn’t explain my ‘reasons’ for believing in god. My reasons are many, mostly intuitive, logic also can’t deny this picture, however logic clearly defies the old folklore that I was originally taught to believe in.

By the way, I spell the word god using a lowercase “g” because god is not an egotistical godhead. It would be silly to capitalize the word 'god' as though it were the name of a person-like entity. Just as it would be silly to capitalize the word ‘universe’ every time I used it.

Also, I personally often refer to god in the feminine. But I don’t really think of god as having gender. God is not a person-like deity and therefore has no gender. I refer to god as ‘her’ simply because it’s always been traditional to refer to things like “Mother Nature” and “Mother Earth” in the feminine. Since I see god as being nature (all of creation) then it seems natural to refer to her in the feminine. This also has the added benefit of not being easily confused with that terrible self-proclaimed jealous judgmental godhead of ancient folklore. That male godhead that men invented to give substance to their male-chauvinistic patriarchal rules and regulations for society.

Thank you for the opportunity to present my view John.

Whoops!

I meant to thank AdamSanto for starting the thread.

I looked up and saw John's post at the top of the page and mistakenly thought he had started the thread.

Roivas;

I didn't think your comments were rude - and your second post did shed some light on just where you were coming from. I just wanted to give you a perspective from someone who is a believer in Christianity - rather than an adherent to a "religion". I do not disagree with your perspectives on the damage that has been done by "religions". I have been part of a couple of those "religions" throughout my life - and I am fully aware of how they can manipulate and control people - all in the name of the Lord. I would call these "religons" - Cults.
At one time or another I have "participated" - if you will - in two or three of the top 10 most dangerous Christian Cults in this country. I saw first hand how people were abused. I am not in disagreement with you here. But I do not view these abuses from religions as an indication, or indightment of the God of the bible. Rather than a wayward interpretation of the intentions of the God of scriptures. Having grown up a Catholic myself - I can see your point, and purhaps even the path you have walked down to come to the conclusions you now have. In my youth - I went from being a Catholic - to being an Atheist. However, this did not stop me from my pursuit of just what different religions taught. Went through the new age phase, the Buddhist phase, The Way, all of the church of Christs - from the Boston movement to the United. Even dealt with Christian Science for a period. Discovered that simply reading and relying on the bible without the "help" of any of these religions was the most beneficial thing for me. And having done this - I have not found that I fall into any of the attributes you have ascribed to people who believe in a God. It hasn't stopped me from reasoning out how to best handle the problems that occur in my life, on the contrary - the bible has been a tremendous aid. I find the proverbs quite adequate for guidance in numerous things. I have discovered that I'm pretty hard pressed to prove Jesus wrong on anything that He is quoted in the Gospels. So, though I would have to agree that there are a number of people - even a great number - who's lives have been effected by religion, perhaps not for the best, but I don't go as far as to say that this now means any and everyone who has put their faith in God are now doomed to walk down the path that these people have. That was just what I was getting at. It is an assumption that people who do not believe as Christians do seem to think they know what it is we believe. So far - I've yet to see anyone get it right.