What is your religion?
- Thread starter Rick van Opbergen
- Start date
Now THAT was a quick reply! Hmmm thinking of it, I can call myself Agnostic too. However, I do feel like I have a certain bond with the Roman Catholic Church (though I'm not religious and never go to church), so ...
I can't answer you Rick, I don't know. I've never been into religion much. What I was exposed to was downright scary (kids being locked in closets).
That always fascinates me from people from immigrant countries like Canada and the US: their ancestors. For what I know, I'm Dutch all through at least the last two centuries (probably longer); while you, and probably a lot of others, have ancestors from all those different countries ...
My ancestors are actually pretty boring line to follow, Rick.
On one side, I have my mother who is born to English parents in England who were originally go back to Germany (but have withdrawn allegiance to Germany). My father's background is fully German (except for the fact that he had family in both Germanies, DDR & BRD).. still Germany.
I was born on the other side of the ocean but I've been in Canada for most of my life now.
On one side, I have my mother who is born to English parents in England who were originally go back to Germany (but have withdrawn allegiance to Germany). My father's background is fully German (except for the fact that he had family in both Germanies, DDR & BRD).. still Germany.
I was born on the other side of the ocean but I've been in Canada for most of my life now.
But I can imagine that you have "tasted" a bit from other cultures, not? Or am I mistaken? Not only is my family 100% Dutch, but both my parents and even my grandparents (except one) were all born in the same city...
I've tasted a bit from different cultures.
To be honest, the whole British and German things are very similar. Where I really got a taste of different culture is when I lived in Montréal and got a taste of what it's like for them.
In this part of the country (Toronto), families stick to a lot of what they originally know.. which is why we're a multicultural country. We don't merge with eachother, but we learn a lot about other cultures.
To be honest, the whole British and German things are very similar. Where I really got a taste of different culture is when I lived in Montréal and got a taste of what it's like for them.
In this part of the country (Toronto), families stick to a lot of what they originally know.. which is why we're a multicultural country. We don't merge with eachother, but we learn a lot about other cultures.
And the last thing is what I feel I've missed (doesn't sound that melodramatic ...). Anyway, I'm very interested in other cultures, other people, and it's almost "frustrating" for me to live in an environment were people are well, all share the same heritage (the far majority of people who live here are indigenous Dutch)
I'm not religious, and am most emphatically not Christian, but I was raised and confirmed an Anglican.
RE: What is your religion
I was raised as a Catholic but I'm an atheist since a long time. I do not believe in any supreme god who got tired of our stupidity and decided to let us kill each other until the next apocalypse so he can restart it all over for the third time(or was it fourth? can't remember)!!
I was raised as a Catholic but I'm an atheist since a long time. I do not believe in any supreme god who got tired of our stupidity and decided to let us kill each other until the next apocalypse so he can restart it all over for the third time(or was it fourth? can't remember)!!
According to the geologists, there have been six apocalypses, sort of, if you call major extinction events apocalypses. And I do.
1. 500 million years ago a series of mass extinctions at the Cambrian-Ordovician boundary (the Cambrian-Ordovician extinction events) eliminated many brachiopods and conodonts and severely reduced the number of trilobite species.
2. 440 million years ago at the Ordovician-Silurian transition two Ordovician-Silurian extinction events occurred, probably as the result of a period of glaciation. Marine habitats changed drastically as sea levels decreased, causing the first die-off, then another occurred between 500 thousand and a million years later when sea levels rose rapidly.
3. 365 million years ago in the transition from the Devonian period to the Carboniferous period about 70% of all species were eliminated. This was not a sudden event; evidence suggests that the extinctions took place over a period of some three million years.
4. 252 million years ago, in the Permian-Triassic extinction event, about 95% of all marine species went extinct. This catastrophe was Earth's worst mass extinction, killing 53% of marine families, 84% of marine genera, and an estimated 70% of land species (including plants, insects, and vertebrate animals.)
5. 195 million years ago, the Triassic-Jurassic extinction event eliminated about 20% of all marine families as well as most non-dinosaurian archosaurs, most therapsids, and the last of the large amphibians.
6. 65 million years ago, the one almost everyone's heard about, the Cretaceous-Tertiary extinction event killed about 50% of all species, including the dinosaurs.
Looks to me like God, if he exists at all (which I strongly doubt) got it badly wrong at least six times, and had to start over.
1. 500 million years ago a series of mass extinctions at the Cambrian-Ordovician boundary (the Cambrian-Ordovician extinction events) eliminated many brachiopods and conodonts and severely reduced the number of trilobite species.
2. 440 million years ago at the Ordovician-Silurian transition two Ordovician-Silurian extinction events occurred, probably as the result of a period of glaciation. Marine habitats changed drastically as sea levels decreased, causing the first die-off, then another occurred between 500 thousand and a million years later when sea levels rose rapidly.
3. 365 million years ago in the transition from the Devonian period to the Carboniferous period about 70% of all species were eliminated. This was not a sudden event; evidence suggests that the extinctions took place over a period of some three million years.
4. 252 million years ago, in the Permian-Triassic extinction event, about 95% of all marine species went extinct. This catastrophe was Earth's worst mass extinction, killing 53% of marine families, 84% of marine genera, and an estimated 70% of land species (including plants, insects, and vertebrate animals.)
5. 195 million years ago, the Triassic-Jurassic extinction event eliminated about 20% of all marine families as well as most non-dinosaurian archosaurs, most therapsids, and the last of the large amphibians.
6. 65 million years ago, the one almost everyone's heard about, the Cretaceous-Tertiary extinction event killed about 50% of all species, including the dinosaurs.
Looks to me like God, if he exists at all (which I strongly doubt) got it badly wrong at least six times, and had to start over.
Well I am Roman Catholic, and ba-ba-baammm, I actually do believe in God. Don't worry I don't bite
First of all I would like to address Bevvyd...There is no christian, jewish, islamic religion out there that locks kids in closets...maybe in the middle ages, but in the 21st century no...so do not go saying stupid crap like that...if you did get locked in a closet these people are not religious at all because that is not what God believing people do...that my friend is a cult, not a religion.
Now Isengard, your message struck a cord with me. God does not get tired of our studpidity, he gets sad...He does not let us kill each other, and if you are that nieve to think that I am deeply sorry...we kill each other, God doesn't kill us, He gave us free will, so that we may choose what to do with our life, and hopefully choose a life for God...this does not mean that you will only worship God and Blah Blah Blah...but that you will only do what makes you happy, you won't kill people (so, christian's aren't the ones killing, you atheists are, so don't blame our God for your stupidity), you won't lie, cheat or steal...a life where you only surrounf yourself with love...doesn't sound too bad huh...and best of all, when you die you go to this great place called Heaven and live for ever with your Creator and all the people you love...instead of going to Hell, which is where you will be going for eternity...now think of that...eternity, kinds boggles the mind huh? Oh and just to let you know, God isn't starting it all over again for the fourth or fifth, or even second time for that matter...earth never stopped existing, nor did the human race, just some tweaking was done a long time ago, or did you forget that from your Catholic days.
I know that I am going to get some rude remarks from you non-Christians, but I don't care...I'm saying it anyway
It makes me really sad to think of the life that you are wasting, I feel really bad for you, becuase I know where you will go when you die, and unless you change your life it won't be where I am going. I don't understand why you are so adamant on your position. Why is it that you feel it stupid and impossible that something great can't exist?
First of all I would like to address Bevvyd...There is no christian, jewish, islamic religion out there that locks kids in closets...maybe in the middle ages, but in the 21st century no...so do not go saying stupid crap like that...if you did get locked in a closet these people are not religious at all because that is not what God believing people do...that my friend is a cult, not a religion.
Now Isengard, your message struck a cord with me. God does not get tired of our studpidity, he gets sad...He does not let us kill each other, and if you are that nieve to think that I am deeply sorry...we kill each other, God doesn't kill us, He gave us free will, so that we may choose what to do with our life, and hopefully choose a life for God...this does not mean that you will only worship God and Blah Blah Blah...but that you will only do what makes you happy, you won't kill people (so, christian's aren't the ones killing, you atheists are, so don't blame our God for your stupidity), you won't lie, cheat or steal...a life where you only surrounf yourself with love...doesn't sound too bad huh...and best of all, when you die you go to this great place called Heaven and live for ever with your Creator and all the people you love...instead of going to Hell, which is where you will be going for eternity...now think of that...eternity, kinds boggles the mind huh? Oh and just to let you know, God isn't starting it all over again for the fourth or fifth, or even second time for that matter...earth never stopped existing, nor did the human race, just some tweaking was done a long time ago, or did you forget that from your Catholic days.
I know that I am going to get some rude remarks from you non-Christians, but I don't care...I'm saying it anyway
It makes me really sad to think of the life that you are wasting, I feel really bad for you, becuase I know where you will go when you die, and unless you change your life it won't be where I am going. I don't understand why you are so adamant on your position. Why is it that you feel it stupid and impossible that something great can't exist?
hollaback said:
The Earth's been around for about 4.5 billion years, according to the evidence, and humans for about 100 thousand years. Ultimately, both will stop existing eventually, if only because the sun will eventually burn out, and so will any other star we might get to.
I find the second comment a little patronizing. You know nothing of the sort, you know only what you've been told to believe. There's no good evidence to suggest we go anywhere when we die or that any part of the personality survives the death of the body. It's just the end.