Questions for theists (and ex-theists, too)

[Longhorn]

I'm curious, resident theists, what is the base for your beliefs, as in what or who is your personal authority on determining what to believe and why

So here's some questions, with no intent of attacking your beliefs and stuff

1) Are you of the same religion as your parents or that you were born into?
a) If not, what made you change? What was the process of discovery like for you?
b) If so, have you questioned your religion, tried other ones?
c) If so, what made you come back to your original faith and what was interesting about the religions you tried?

2) Do you follow the bible/Quran/Torah?
a) Do you interpret it literally or metaphorically? To what degree?
b) Would you consider the bible/the Quran/Torah to be the base for your beliefs?
c) Would you say that the bible/Quran/Torah is the main source of your morals?

3) Do you follow your religious organisation's doctrine? (please state what your church is, if any)
a) Why/why not?
b) If so, would you say that you do it because it corresponds to your personal beliefs or are your personal beliefs shaped by the doctrine?

4) Are there any pastors/rabbis/imams/priests/theologians/etc that you follow?
a) If so, what made you follow their teachings?

5) What is your train of thought in deciding what to believe?

6) What would it take to make you lose your faith (hypothetically)?

*7) Elaborate on the above or your beliefs in general if you like

TA for reading and potentially answering in advance

Ex-theists are welcome to answer what was true for them when they were religious and include why and what and how changed

[Longhorn]

K, so I realised this is probably too much, so here's a compressed version if you can't be bothered

1) What is your religion and why did you become a follower?

2) Do you base your beliefs primarly on a holy book or something else (what)?

3) What do you think of organised religion?

[dyresand]

1. i used to believe what was in the bible to be true and after giving it so many read overs and comparing it to the basic science books i learned that religion and all religion is wrong.

2. speaking from myself i believed there was a god there and a being such as god and or jesus actually loved me. But in reality i was making myself feel that way.

3. It is bad for the most part hatred bigotry and over all going against basic human rights groups like the WBC and or right winged churches.

[robvalue]

They are good questions I would answer, but I've never been "under" myself.

[Neo-Scholastic]

There are only about seven or eight active believes on A F. A religious forum would give you more representative answers.

[Mystic]

I'm curious, resident theists, what is the base for your beliefs, as in what or who is your personal authority on determining what to believe and why

So here's some questions, with no intent of attacking your beliefs and stuff

1) Are you of the same religion as your parents or that you were born into?
a) If not, what made you change? What was the process of discovery like for you?
b) If so, have you questioned your religion, tried other ones?
c) If so, what made you come back to your original faith and what was interesting about the religions you tried?

1. Yes the general religion is the same, but there is beliefs in it that I changed from my parents.
b) I haven't tried other religions but I was Deist for a while.
c) I had a lot of problems in Quran but I solved them all, and I came to the view that God's nearness and an exalted wisdom is attainable, and that most sincerest people would be guided by God and want to guide others, that God would want to make the best people leaders and guides and that God would communicate through them as there is no way to manifest them as obligatory leaders but through this, and how the family of Mohammad are manifested with sincere reflection in Quran but hidden from those who oppose them, manifesting dark forces that are enemies to Quran and showing wisdom of God in protecting the final revelation from corruption.

2) Do you follow the bible/Quran/Torah?
a) Do you interpret it literally or metaphorically? To what degree?
b) Would you consider the bible/the Quran/Torah to be the base for your beliefs?
c) Would you say that the bible/Quran/Torah is the main source of your morals?

2 Quran, a) some literally and some metaphorically, where spirituality applies more of a majestic meaning or literal meanings seem absurd, I see metaphorically.
b) There are somethings I believe in due to Quran, but I feel the base of my beliefs is through reasoning and the spiritual nature I was created upon.
c) No, I would say most of my morals are from the human nature I am upon, and that only some of the morals are from Quran.

3) Do you follow your religious organisation's doctrine? (please state what your church is, if any)
a) Why/why not?
b) If so, would you say that you do it because it corresponds to your personal beliefs or are your personal beliefs shaped by the doctrine?

I don't follow any religious organization authority for doctrine
a) blindly following others goes against logic and Quran, and I find many of the stuff believed by organizations to be against logic and Quran.

4) Are there any pastors/rabbis/imams/priests/theologians/etc that you follow?
a) If so, what made you follow their teachings?

I only follow the Prophet and the 12 Successors of him, as well as his daughter Fatima. I don't follow scholars. This is because I feel they go against many things that logic and human nature confirm, or are against clear teachings of the Quran and have made religion into a business.

5) What is your train of thought in deciding what to believe?

I showed this in many threads. So I will not elaborate too much. But I feel I have logical reasons to believe in a Creator, to believe it's ultimate greatness, and hence to believe it is One, and to believe in it's grace and way of guiding, and to believe in the utmost sincere servants who he exalts and uses majestically for guidance and reminders.

6) What would it take to make you lose your faith (hypothetically)?

Finding unsolvable problems in the Quran, I did lose faith because I thought I did, however I solved them all.

[Longhorn]

There are only about seven or eight active believes on A F. A religious forum would give you more representative answers.

Probably, but here there's a nice diversity and otherwise I'd have to go to muslim, christian and jewish forums separately. Plus I'm more interested in the people here who are willing to discuss, not sure how that would go elsewhere

@MysticKnight thank you for answering, that was interesting to read, especially since I don't get to talk to muslims often

[Dystopia]

I was never very devout or never really believed strongly god existed but in my childhood I thought Christianity was true - My household was semi-secular. My experiences may be more light that some members here

 Are you of the same religion as your parents or that you were born into?

Yes - Catholicism. But my mom was more devout (she hated churches though) - My dad was a deist

b) If so, have you questioned your religion, tried other ones?

No

2) Do you follow the bible/Quran/Torah?

Yes but only the doing good and loving your neighbour part.

a) Do you interpret it literally or metaphorically? To what degree?

Mostly metaphorically and never took it literally (unless it's obvious)

b) Would you consider the bible/the Quran/Torah to be the base for your beliefs?

Well since the bible is a pillar of Christianity yes

c) Would you say that the bible/Quran/Torah is the main source of your morals?

Some of it, but the morality I learned from the bible the way I was taught was useful, most were good principles

3) Do you follow your religious organisation's doctrine? (please state what your church is, if any)
a) Why/why not?
b) If so, would you say that you do it because it corresponds to your personal beliefs or are your personal beliefs shaped by the doctrine?

No, my mother disliked churches but I was baptised anyway - Generally we considered ourselves catholics but we didn't agree with most of the church

4) Are there any pastors/rabbis/imams/priests/theologians/etc that you follow?
a) If so, what made you follow their teachings?

No. The priest of a church I went to once knew how to tell jokes though

5) What is your train of thought in deciding what to believe?

Can you please explain this better?

6) What would it take to make you lose your faith (hypothetically)?

Just thinking a little and realising I never saw or heard or smelled a god in my life. I was 13 years old. But I didn't generally think much about it - When I hit 18 was when I consciously became an atheist

Ex-theists are welcome to answer what was true for them when they were religious and include why and what and how changed

I Don't think my experience was bad and I wasn't indoctrinated. I think I learned some basic principles on morality that can be applied secularly (like doing good, being kind, etc) - The difference is that I don't believe in heaven anymore. I also think the church taught me how to organize and captivate people in society if I ever want to form a social group with any purpose.

[Pizza]

I really never had a bad experience with religion and my moderate-conservative mother and grandmother never forced religion down my throat. We never went to church. I think grandmother was Brethren but stopped going to church because of snobbery in the church culture. I remember mom reading kids Bible stories to me and I watched some Christian children's VHS; however, we never really read the Bible. I held many woo woo beliefs and conspiracy theories as a kid and young adult. I was a very weird Christian but never devout. I don't know when I stopped believing honestly. As I got older I rejected the idea of divine revelation and holy books. Deism made more sense to me than Christian theism mostly because of the problem of evil and the problem of religious disagreement. I also stopped believing stupid conspiracy theories , seeing that shit for what it really was. I think my deism and skepticism in regards to conspiracy theories led naturally to atheism. I really prefer skeptic or freethinker to the word atheist since they are broader terms.

[Polaris]

1) Are you of the same religion as your parents or that you were born into?
I am the same religion of one of my parents, but they never had me go to religious services until I was the one who wanted to go.


b) If so, have you questioned your religion, tried other ones?

Looked into Islam before becoming a Christian, but it was not for me.


c) If so, what made you come back to your original faith and what was interesting about the religions you tried?

A. I started to drink alcohol and B. encountered the Holy Spirt.

2) Do you follow the bible/Quran/Torah?

I follow the Bible and take most of it (after the start of the Kingdom) as literal and the rest as a version of what happened. The Holy Spirit is the basis for my faith and the Bible is just a foundation to build upon that basis.


3) Do you follow your religious organisation's doctrine? (please state what your church is, if any)
I don't adhere to my organization's doctrine since I go there for the community and not because of what Church it is.


4) Are there any pastors/rabbis/imams/priests/theologians/etc that you follow?
A few pastors.

5) What is your train of thought in deciding what to believe?
Argue with it enough times that the Holy Spirit finally sets me straight.

6) What would it take to make you lose your faith (hypothetically)?
Nothing.