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I may still be able to survive. I've done so in my younger days on more than one occasion. At various times in my life I have been lost in jungles, Arctic Tundra, and on the ocean with nothing more than the clothes I was wearing. I may be mistaken, but I think I survived.
As far as God(swt) wanting me to know something. I had no influence from any Muslims to accept Islam. That was the result of a personal experience. At the time I was a 65 year old agnostic approaching atheism. I did not want to believe God(swt) existed and was rapidly loosing any reason to believe he did exist.
Why God(swt) put his instructions in the Qur'an I do not know. It never was my intention to believe the Qur'an was true, until life sent me a twist that convinced me I was wrong.
That is a very good answer, Woodrow. Very sincere.
If you ever write your life story, I think a lot of us would be interested in reading it.
I have been lost in the woods when I was hiking, but I didn't know I was lost until I came out in the wrong place. In fact, maybe that is how some of us live our lives. We think we know what we are doing in our lives until we don't reach the place in life where we hoped to be. But you and I aren't like that - are we?
Even though I have always been an Atheist, I can accept that many people, including my own children, look out at this beautiful world and believe there is some supernatural force that keeps everything working. In other words, many intelligent people believe in a god.
In trying to understand your relationship to god, why do you need to follow what other people say? If he wanted you to live a certain way, don't you think he would tell you himself?
Did your god give you a brain just so you would believe what other people tell you to believe?
Heck, maybe your god doesn't even care how you live your life. He could have created you, an earthworm, and a sponge just the way you are, and he is happy just to let you do as you see fit.
Why are you so eager to join some kind of organized faith? Wouldn't it be more interesting to just sit under a tree like Buddah did and figure out your own answers to life?
I, too, have seen the offspring of atheists become religious, sometimes zealots - and the children of strictly religious parents become atheists. Of course, this is not always the case.
I think that there is a spiritual dimension to us. Strict religions, to me, can pervert that impulse in the individual and atheists do not nurture it.
I think the nurturing is in no way in the dogma, which is often absurd. I think it can occur in practices, prayer, meditation, yoga, Asian martial arts, sometimes keeping the mind open in philosophic or artistic or other creative pursuits.
I think there is something special that can happen in groups, which is why some people prefer live concerts and theater. We kind of share and enhance each other's energy.
This will sound stupid, but I believe, generally, most people/mammals respond to love the way plants respond to light. We gravitate towards goodness and thrive under its influence. The cases when this does not occur, I believe, are genetic or chemical or behaviorally induced abnormality.
But this is just my speculation, not something etched in stone.
I grew up in the church so the path that I'm taking was chosen for me by my folks. I happen to believe what I've been taught as a Christian. For me, God guides my life and I believe that the Bible is His word, not man's. Having that guidance from the Word and spiritual teachers in church who are well-versed and experienced in how the Word applies to life has really helped me out with different challenges in my life. It hasn't always been easy, and it's not supposed to always be easy, however, it's just a way for people to have guidance. God does speak to me through the situations He puts me in. With patience and prayer and study, I get the understanding that He wants me to have.
God guides my life and I believe that the Bible is His word
I assume you believe that your god gave his "word" to some people a couple thousand years ago and they wrote it down for you to read.
Does it irritate you that your god didn't think you were important enough to receive the word directly from him?
Did he expect you to dig up some 2000 year old book just to read his word? That's a lot for him to ask of you. I don't know you personally, Gymrat, but if I were your god I would treat you nicer than that!
I assume you believe that your god gave his "word" to some people a couple thousand years ago and they wrote it down for you to read.
Does it irritate you that your god didn't think you were important enough to receive the word directly from him?
Did he expect you to dig up some 2000 year old book just to read his word? That's a lot for him to ask of you. I don't know you personally, Gymrat, but if I were your god I would treat you nicer than that!
Hiker45: what can you offer me as a worshipper. Seriously, I'm open to offers from anyone who can make the best offer for my devotional activities. I'm not interested in inheriting the Promised Land (a little dry for my skin) - so Yahweh is out. So, let's hear it!
That is a very good answer, Woodrow. Very sincere.
If you ever write your life story, I think a lot of us would be interested in reading it.
I have been lost in the woods when I was hiking, but I didn't know I was lost until I came out in the wrong place. In fact, maybe that is how some of us live our lives. We think we know what we are doing in our lives until we don't reach the place in life where we hoped to be. But you and I aren't like that - are we?
I have my life story on line, or rather the administrator of an Islamic Site put it on the site. Here is a link to it. I named it "A long Journey to reach home"
The owner of the site (Who knows me reasonably well) asked me to write it. I wrote it prior to meeting my current wife. How I met my wife is a very strange story. I had never intended to marry again after loosing my second wife and I was in very poor health. Perhaps one day I will add that in as a 4th section.
The "accidents of birth and geography" thing might make more sense in Europe, where religion is a bit less fluid, but in America conversion is not that uncommon. True the majority of religious people are not converts, I'm not, but to act like choosing a religion is rare or unheard of is just foolishness. My father was raised Baptist, then atheist or agnostic, and then converted to Catholicism. Even in Europe St. Edith Stein was raised Jewish, became atheist for a time, and ended life as a nun.
The "accidents of birth and geography" thing might make more sense in Europe, where religion is a bit less fluid, but in America conversion is not that uncommon. True the majority of religious people are not converts, I'm not, but to act like choosing a religion is rare or unheard of is just foolishness. My father was raised Baptist, then atheist or agnostic, and then converted to Catholicism. Even in Europe St. Edith Stein was raised Jewish, became atheist for a time, and ended life as a nun.
Pointing out the exception to a rule doesn't invalidate the rule.
If taken generally - many people are 'born' into a religion, whether it is because their family is religious, whether a certain religion is the dominant one in a geographical area, what social groups they are a part of and other reasons. This does not mean they have to be a believer from birth - no, the same issues can 'convert' someone later in life.
I understand there are converts - but the plethora of religions in America, especially, has been a recent phenonenom, slowly building. It's not at all typical. What religion are the majority of Americans, and why? I think we know.
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