Questions from a non-religious person

Originally posted by SwissGambit
If I knew right where to go, then I would not need to look.

Look at it this way, if God is God, don't you think He already knows where
you are? One of the things we need from God are eyes to see, and ears to
hear what God wants us to see and hear.

I believe God responds to those that honestly seek Him, and if you need
help in that ask for it. It is better that way too, because if someone tells
you, that you need them or their group to find God....yea look else where.
Kelly

Originally posted by KellyJay
Look at it this way, if God is God, don't you think He already knows where
you are? One of the things we need from God are eyes to see, and ears to
hear what God wants us to see and hear.

I believe God responds to those that honestly seek Him, and if you need
help in that ask for it. It is better that way too, because if someone tells
you, that you need them or their group to find God....yea look else where.
Kelly

Well, yes, God should know where I am, if he is all-knowing. And I should have ears and eyes that hear and see, if he made me. And he's all-powerful, so communication should be possible. And yet, mysteriously, he eludes so many of us.

Imagine how much simpler this would all be if he just said "hey!" once in awhile so that we could hear it. If he would come to us sometime instead of us always having to come to him. If fellowship is what he really wants, wouldn't he do that?

Originally posted by SwissGambit
Well, yes, God should know where I am, if he is all-knowing. And I should have ears and eyes that hear and see, if he made me. And he's all-powerful, so communication should be possible. And yet, mysteriously, he eludes so many of us.

Imagine how much simpler this would all be if he just said "hey!" once in awhile so that we could hear it. If he would ...[text shortened]... of us always having to come to him. If fellowship is what he really wants, wouldn't he do that?

I don't know why God does and doesn't do anything. I can share what has
happen in my life, or what I read. I believe and trust Him when things are
going very well and when I've gone through some very dark times.

What I believe with respect to God will always be on God's terms, which
means our real struggles are to lay down our demands, strengths, sins,
works, and weaknesses. It is God's grace and mercy that allow us to come
to Him not our acts or righteousness or anything we can do to force God
into anything. He is after all God and we are not, the great thing is God's
love for us.
Kelly

Originally posted by KellyJay
I don't know why God does and doesn't do anything. I can share what has
happen in my life, or what I read. I believe and trust Him when things are
going very well and when I've gone through some very dark times.

What I believe with respect to God will always be on God's terms, which
means our real struggles are to lay down our demands, strengths, sins ...[text shortened]... nto anything. He is after all God and we are not, the great thing is God's
love for us.
Kelly

If you've no idea why God does anything, then how do you know any of the things he does are done in love?

Originally posted by SwissGambit
If you've no idea why God does anything, then how do you know any of the things he does are done in love?

I believe scripture and what it contains is a God of love in both the OT and
the NT. It shows me that God is a live and well, He is a God who makes and
keeps His promises. My experiences with Him have shown me He is true,
trustworthy, worthy of both my love and devotion.

That said it does not give me direct insight into why this occurred and that
did not.
Kelly

Originally posted by KnightStalker47
I'm not a religious person, I've never read any religious book, but I'm here to share my thoughts.

There are a few questions that keep me from looking deeper into any religion.

How does one even choose a religion in the first place? It seems to me that it is mostly dictated by geological factors. e.g if you're born in Israel, you're probably J ...[text shortened]... for them, doing exactly what their creator expected them to do/created them to do.

Thoughts?

I would suggest reading the Bible. This is because the vast majority of people on earth subscribe to the God of the Bible. The world is basically split between Islam and Christianity and to a lesser degree Judaism. Then within each of those religions there is a wide range of sects and denominations such as Catholic, JW, Mormon, Baptists, Sunni, etc. I think it best to read it for yourself and decide for yourself which ideology best fits the Bible if you choose it. I would start reading the gospels, which are Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John. Without Jesus, the religion would have remained a local and rather obscure religion for Jews only.

Of course, there are lesser religions but the Abrahamic religions rule and reign so it is best to have a working knowledge of it when contemplating religions. I suppose the second most influential religions in the world are Eastern ones such as Hinduism and Buddhism ect. However, I think Hinduism seems more appealing to the local population in the East to that of mainstream society in the Western world. Buddhism, however, is more of a philosophy than a religion.

Freaky,
What did you mean in your last post to me on page 2 about my typing. . .
"words and I read them?"

KnightStalker,
Just because other people want to deny God exists or refuse to seek Him out, doesn't mean that you have to do the same. Why take any atheist's words about anything spiritually and earthly? An atheist doesn't care if you die in your sins and suffer nor that you are separated from God for eternity. An atheist doesn't even care about his or her own eternity.

Originally posted by KingOnPoint
KnightStalker,
Just because other people want to deny God exists or refuse to seek Him out, doesn't mean that you have to do the same. Why take any atheist's words about anything spiritually and earthly? An atheist doesn't care if you die in your sins and suffer nor that you are separated from God for eternity. An atheist doesn't even care about his or her own eternity.

Preach it brother!

Originally posted by KingOnPoint
KnightStalker,
Just because other people want to deny God exists or refuse to seek Him out, doesn't mean that you have to do the same. Why take any atheist's words about anything spiritually and earthly? An atheist doesn't care if you die in your sins and suffer nor that you are separated from God for eternity. An atheist doesn't even care about his or her own eternity.

If that is the case, let your god say so itself. I see nothing but pain and suffering and killing in your god's name all around the world. It seems to me the good done by a religion has to be weighed with the bad, you can't say, we set up a soup kitchen so we are the good guys while people carrying your bible are killing people in other parts of the world. And it is a cop out to say 'they are not REAL christians'. THEY think they are christian so they are christian. And of course the same goes for Islam which is even further down the totem pole of civilization, killing even more people than christians right now.

My contention is a god, viewing all this, would stop it immediately, free will be damned, a compassionate god would not want this suffering to go on. Children beheaded and so forth.

The fact all this happens tells me one of two things, 1 this god is having a good laugh at all our suffering (an insane god), or 2, it doesn't consider us high enough on the evolutionary scale to be worth bothering with (an uncaring god), and now a 3rd possibility: There is no such thing as your Abrahamic god.

Originally posted by whodey
I would suggest reading the Bible. This is because the vast majority of people on earth subscribe to the God of the Bible. The world is basically split between Islam and Christianity and to a lesser degree Judaism. Then within each of those religions there is a wide range of sects and denominations such as Catholic, JW, Mormon, Baptists, Sunni, etc. I thi ...[text shortened]... tream society in the Western world. Buddhism, however, is more of a philosophy than a religion.

Just took a look at the religious populations of the world.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_religious_populations

It looks like less than a third ( 31.5% ) of the world believes in Christianity. So I wouldn't call it the "vast majority of people on Earth".

Some of the maps are interesting, the ones that show religious population by percentage. It seems Christianity is most popular in South America and South Africa. Muslims are pretty much only in the middle east. Hindus only seem to be in India. As for Nonreligious/Atheist/Agnostic populations, it seems most popular in the North.

It's interesting that people with nonreligious beliefs tend to be in wealthy countries. Religious beliefs like Christianity and Muslim are most popular in countries in poverty. Is there a correlation there?

Believe nothing.
Take a survey.

Poor modern man of the 21rst century.

Originally posted by KnightStalker47
Muslims are pretty much only in the middle east.

Someone has sold you a strange map. Only in the Middle East? The world's largest Muslim populations are in Indonesia, Pakistan, India, Bangladesh, and Nigeria. Five countries and well on to the way to 900,000,000 of the world's Muslim population, and we haven't gone near the Middle east yet. In fact we'd probably need to go to North and West Africa and Central Asia before we do. Your map tells you 'Muslims are pretty much only in the Middle East"?

Originally posted by FMF
Someone has sold you a strange map. Only in the Middle East? The world's largest Muslim populations are in Indonesia, Pakistan, India, Bangladesh, and Nigeria. Five countries and well on to the way to 900,000,000 of the world's Muslim population, and we haven't gone near the Middle east yet. In fact we'd probably need to go to North and West Africa and Central Asia before we do. Your map tells you 'Muslims are pretty much only in the Middle East"?

There's a link to the map in my post. It looks like you are right though, the map shows percentage of the population of Muslims in a country, so it doesn't necessarily indicate where the numbers are. A 50% rate in a country with a large population would have more Muslims than a 100% rate in a country with a small population. That was my mistake in interpreting the map.

Originally posted by KnightStalker47
There's a link to the map in my post. It looks like you are right though, the map shows percentage of the population of Muslims in a country, so it doesn't necessarily indicate where the numbers are. A 50% rate in a country with a large population would have more Muslims than a 100% rate in a country with a small population. That was my mistake in interpreting the map.

Here you will find a pie chart on religious populations of the world:

http://www.age-of-the-sage.org/mysticism/world_religions_populations.htm