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May-11-2006 15:34

I'm a senior in high school and so close to graduating... but I still have a homework assignment to do that I need your help with. I have to make a survey of people and what they believe. Is there anyone willing to aswer about ten questions for me? actually, if a could get three people, that would be better. I appreciate any and all help. Thanks!

May-11-2006 15:38

Any takers?

May-11-2006 15:47

I'll just list the questions here in the meantime:
1. Do you believe in God?
2. Why or why not?
3. Who do you think God is/ what is He like?
4. Is Jesus the Son of God? If not, who is he?
5. If not God, who/what do you put your faith in?
6. Do you believe in an afterlife? What is it like?
7. How does one get to heaven?
8. How did you come to believe all of this?
9. What do you think about the Bible?
10. What do you think about the modern American church?
11. What would you change about church?

May-11-2006 16:11

Heck, I'll do it.

1. Yes
2. Because I was raised as such.
3. I think God is compassionate beyond belief and we can see aspects of him in people like Mother Theresa.
4. Yes. I'm a Christian, so I believe that.
5. I do believe in God, so yeah...
6. Yes. It is either torture for eternity or complete equilibrium in paradise and contentment (hell/heaven).
7. By making the most of the time you are given on Earth.
8. Attending Church and being raised as such by my parents.
9. I think it is God' Word in the words of human beings.
10. Which chuch? If Catholic, then I think it is more liberal than in other parts of the world, yet still conservative (since it is Catholic).
11. It's hesitance to change.


Hope that helps.

May-11-2006 16:21

Alright. I'm going to say this now. With any thread of controversy, we always run a risk of a flame war. I'm going to answer this one honestly anyway. Please, lets behave like adults. I don't want a repeat of the Pope thread.

1. No
2. Because upon analysis of the basic mythology, I found it to be of human narrative origins, an evolving story that is based off of earlier stories, which themselves are natural mythological allegories.
3. A basic all-character, typefied by no real traits, being without limits in all directions, thus conforming to the identity marker of being "Infinite".
4. Jesus was not a character of supernatural composition, or believed to be one, in his lifetime. That element of the story comes later, with the biblical foundation of the church laid by St. Paul and later by the 1st Ecumenical council.
5. Faith is belief without logic or evidence. By its very nature, I think it is to be avoided. However, all things eventually come down to a question of faith, so I would say that my faith is best placed in evidence.
6. The patterning of human thought waves and their overall significance is still a mystery. It is possible that they freeze at death, in essence trapping the dead mind in whatever state it believes is most justified. In short, from the perspective of your perceptions, you go to heaven or hell depending on where you believe you're going to go.
7. See above.
8. Research, contemplation, and even-handed perusal of the facts.
9. An interesting work, comprising both philosophical treaties, historic accounts, and mythological allegories. However, like all cases of these three written forms, they are not meant to be canonized.

May-11-2006 16:21

10. Which one? Broadly speaking, no real statements can be made. The Protestant element of American religion is, while not all bad, dominated by a breed of psychopath that we all know well. I am referring to the likes of Falwell and Robertson. While it's not to be taken as a total account of the American Protestant establishment, most of the noteworthy powers within the American wing are poor company to be associated with. As to the Catholics, they vary, as the others do, except the crimes of certain members of the establishment create much the same situation that the Protestants labor under.
11. Abolish it completely. Spirituality chained to archaic writ does more harm than good, as it suppresses the human spirit, mind and capacity. It is not a bad mechanism, just morbidly unsuited to the tasks it faces.

May-11-2006 16:23

Do you have to be American to participate in this? I don't really know much about the modern American church besides lawsuits that involve pedophile priests...

May-11-2006 16:29

No, you certainly don't have to be an American, it can be about any church with which you are the most familiar. And thanks so much for responding guys! I really value your contributions!

May-11-2006 16:44

Well, J.H. It certianly seems like you've done a good deal of thinking about all of these issues. If you use one word to describe your worldview, what would it be?

May-11-2006 16:47

1. I believe in "God" though I must say the concept of it is poorly defined due to our lack of comprehension to this matter, which induces several belief systems to adopt a rather childlike vision of a super creature.

2. Look around you and try to explain the origin of things. Science provided us with lots of explanations but failed so far to give us an answer to the most vital question of all.... which is "why?"

3. I hereby refer to answer no 1. It's beyond our understanding.

4. For Christians, Jesus is the ultimate shaman but I don't believe in the immaculate conception. So the answer is "no".

5. Like I said, I'm willing to accept the existance of a supernatural force but I'm not sure what to expect from that.

6. Personally the idea of reincarnation appeals the most to me. A well-worked out system of balance, force and counter-force. A life in which you're poor or rich, male or female, smart or dumb, beautiful or ugly etc.

7. Not all religions adopt the same idea of heaven or share the same beliefs as how to get there. I just belief there's higher realms of spirituality, where mind is less obstructed by matter than is the case over here.

8. By mere gathering of information, opinions and reflections of all this data in combination with experiences in the personal realm.

9. A nice bundling of stories that has trumendous historical value but at the same time should be dealt with great caution. The Old and New testamant substantially differ from eachother, particularly in the relationship with men to God. Also most of the manuscripts in the Bible are written ages after Christ's death. Which makes it inevitable in my humble opinion that a lot of these stories are changed and modified while passed on from generation to generation.

10. I hereby refer to my former post.

11. The Church as an institution is old glory. Yet completely abolishing it doesn't seem the right idea to me as we lack noteworthy substitutes for that.

May-11-2006 17:00

The same question goes for you BA. What word would you use to describe your worldview? And thanks for your reply.