Please help. Really struggling.

meritaten

Tiglath wrote: »

Ah but Pagans hold the best parties

and it WOULDNT be against my beliefs to attend those! in fact I think Paganism and Spiritualism are quite close in their beliefs.

I was brought up in a strict 'Presbyterian' church. even at the age of ten I thought the 'teachings' were wrong for me. so refused to go!
I believe in a 'higher power'
I believe we don't suddenly 'cease to exist' upon physical death - how can I when I have 'seen' the dead?
I believe in Personal Responsibility for our own actions - no 'forgive me father I have sinned' and saying a bunch of meaningless words mean we are 'forgiven'. We HAVE to take responsibility. and suffer the consequences. and that is the first tenet of Spiritualism.

rpc

You can believe in God without necessarily believing in religion!

If it doesn't feel right, then leave. Either find somewhere you are comfortable with or follow your faith privately in a way that works for you.

Torry_Quine

paulineb wrote: »

Dont hate homosexuals, but hate what they do?

Meaning, hate that two people of the same sex have sex the same way that people who are heterosexual can do without any judgements.

Boy, if thats a common view of Christian people, I am thankful I dont believe.

And I sincerely hope its not. I do know people who are Christian who dont give a hoot about people who are gay having sex

And thats the way it should be.

The Christian belief that this church and I follow believes that all sexual activity outwith a heterosexual marriage is wrong.

Tiglath

Billie-S wrote: »

Awwww, that is sad. I am sorry to hear that. Like a few have said, not ALL Christians are particularly nice are they?

Some are nice, as with any group. They tend to be the quiet ones who'd rather walk their talk, and serve people.

Money_maker

Torry_Quine wrote: »

I'm glad that you aren't into the occult but as Christians we should stay away even from 'fun' things like horoscopes

Wow, bet you're a barrel of laughs:eek:

My mum was a good christian and churchgoer but never quite reached the stage of having to stay away from horoscopes:rotfl:

Reminds me of a friend who has connections with one religious group (imagine evangelists?) where those out of favour are described as 'walking with the devil' and healing prayers involve waving hands up and down in the air with the correct cries to him up there. Religion turns some into nutters.

Tropez

This is a serious question but you probably won't like it...

Why for your first post on a Moneysaving in Marriages, Relationships and Families forum would you post about something quite so controversial and often inflammatory as religious beliefs?

Given that anybody who spends more than a week or two on this forum sees how these threads tend to go (I've already seen a few things I vehemently disagree with but just can't be bothered to argue about at the moment) it seems to me that it is such a bizarre place to make this enquiry?

Surely one of the many religious forums out there would be more appropriate or if it must be on MSE then the Discussion Time forum?

meritaten

because they googled forums and decided to post here?
I had a question about employment law and sacking and googled and found MSE, been here ever since - tho has changed from original name!

Torry_Quine

Money_maker wrote: »

Wow, bet you're a barrel of laughs:eek:

My mum was a good christian and churchgoer but never quite reached the stage of having to stay away from horoscopes:rotfl:

Reminds me of a friend who has connections with one religious group (imagine evangelists?) where those out of favour are described as 'walking with the devil' and healing prayers involve waving hands up and down in the air with the correct cries to him up there. Religion turns some into nutters.

I certainly wouldn't call someone not a Christian as 'walking with the devil'! :eek: Religion can be abused as can many other things.

I must admit that I do strongly believe that no Christian should read horoscopes, tarot cards or anything related and am surprised at any church that doesn't teach that.

balletshoes

Billie-S wrote: »

Thanks for your answers, but I just wanted to say to torry, that I am not 'into' the occult; just I am open minded and do find it interesting to watch stuff on it. I enjoy witchy type stuff on telly too. But don't practice anything. Maybe I don't mind it, because I am not a strict Christian, just someone who worships Christ, but perhaps my beliefs are not as rigid as some, as I do like some stuff that the bible forbids. I struggle with people who live by 'the bible' too, and go by it word for word and never waver from it, and judge people who do.

Re; the Church itself. They people seem fine in general, but this womens group seem judgemental, and as I said, it upsets me that a few believe that an atheist and a believer cannot cohabit.

I don't know of any of the 'alternative' churches like people are mentioning here. I thought they were all the same.

Maybe I should keep going every 3-4 weeks, but politely decline the womans group?

WHY must people be so judgemental? Why can they not live and let live?

Torry, what does Yoked mean?

I don't think it even needs to an alternative style church - I was brought up in the Church of Scotland and I've not once had anyone say anything around me, either in the pulpit, the sermon, or in Sunday school/church group meetings, about the occult or even that Halloween was a thing to be avoided (which is stuff I've read on here to be honest and was very surprised by!).

I don't know why people have to be judgmental, I couldn't in all honesty have sat around while these people discussed how teaching about the existence of homosexuality in junior school was unacceptable. I'm no good at hiding my feelings if I'm outraged, the expression on my face would have given me away.

Tropez

meritaten wrote: »

because they googled forums and decided to post here?
I had a question about employment law and sacking and googled and found MSE, been here ever since - tho has changed from original name!

But as I say, there's another board here much more suitable for this topic than this one.

Every single thread on these subjects that are posted on this board ends up in a row, usually one that goes on for 20+ pages and we weren't even passed page one before someone said something that others are bound to consider offensive to some degree and want to argue about.

Now if that's what people want to do that's fine but I'm curious as to why out of all the forums on the Internet that are much more suited to this topic, including boards on MSE, the OP chose to post this here?