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want to believe but confused
I don't want to offend anyone with my questions but theres just so much that doesnt make sense about god and religion. i really do want to believe but i dont understand somethings and it makes me think god cant exist becaus of these things that dont add up.
firstly evolution. humans evolved from apes, there's been loads of scienctific evidence and documentries about it and you learn about it in science. But the bible says adam and eve were the first man and woman, so according to religion evolution cant have existed, well not in humans anyway.
If god is so great and loves us all, why does he make people suffer? i mean even highly religion people. the pope sufferd loads before he died and he's about as religios as people get, so why would god make him suffer?
Also, if god is so great and loves us all, why does he send people to hell? i know some deserve it but surely he wouldnt want anyone to be sent to hell for eternity?
This last point is not something i thought of, it's something that was talked about on the radio but it makes you think. There are lots of religions, but if any, only 1 must be true and the rest of them are lies. people must have made some religions up because some say theres only 1 god, some religions have many gods and all different types of beliefs, so they cant all be true. i hope someone can help me, because its so confusing and i honestly do want to believe.
sorry, if i offended anyone, i really dont want to. its just so confusing.
thank you x
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Want to answer more questions in the Miscellaneous category?
Maybe give some free advice about: Spirituality?
i just hope you get to read this there was this story i knew about an example to religion there was this hair salon and a guy in it getting his hair cutt and was talking to the hair stylest when the hair stylest said you know what after all of the problems in this world i dont believe in god if he loved us why is there so much corruption throughout this world? the guy replied by this world is corrupted because we donot seek god or come closer to him we are always lying,stealing,cheating we are the ones who made this world corrupted and its still gonna get worse.the guy finished and was about to leave the hair salon when he saw a old man sitting in front of the salon in a corner far away and had an idea.he asked the hair stylest why are there so much hairy ppl in the street??arent you the hair stylest?your suppoesd to help him look good!the hair stlyest was like but he does not look for me!!i would help him if he asked me for it!! the man was like you see?its the same thing!!we donot look for god and that is why he doenst help us!! and the religion i belive in is islam and its about ...Islam(muslims) is a religion that says that there is only one god and he is the creator of heavens and earth and that noone helped him creat this and that he has no sons no wife or anything like that and prophet mohamed(ppbuh) is his messenger, islma has five pillars,which are things you have to do to become a muslim...1) is bearing witness that none has the right to be worshipped but Allah(god)and that mohamed is the messenger of Allah.2)prayer....this is a very important one if you want to be muslim,muslims pray 5 times a day thanking God for all of the things he has bestowed upon them.3) is giving money to the poor in the month of ramadan.4) is fasting in the holy month of ramadan....ramadan is a month that comes each year and muslims dont eat from like 4 am till 5 pm and god made them do this so they can thank him and be happy that they have food and to feel the hunger of most ppl that dont have any food.5) last thing(this isnt a must if you dont have money) is going to hajj(pilgrimage) its a place you go to to pray and go walk around the ka'bah to ask god for anything you want and to be forgiven....thoes who go there are forgiven from all their sins......muslims are very decent people that shouldnt curse stuff like that(and NO islam is not a terrorist religion....osama bin laden can be a terrorrist but muslims arent...they dont even agree to whats been hapening in iraq and all)muslims also believe in the day of judgment which is a day where everyone will come alive from the dead to be judged about their doings and only Allah creator of this world will judge them.from that day there will be either going to heaven or hell depending on your doings.Allah is very merciful and forgiving like for example if you done something like REALLY bad and you regret it and ask Allah for forgivness he will forgive you,muslims also have signs that prove that the day of judgment is coming closer and that they should start becoming better muslims and scary thing is that most of them have already happened...all i want you to do is visit this website about the miracles of islam the word allah is written in arabic in most places ....[Link](Mouse over link to see full location) and another thing is that muslims are NOT allowed to make fun of christianity or jewish religion its totally sinfull because God said in the holy quran that muslims should have respect for others....even muslim girls....if you have seen that most of them cover their hair it is because Allah wants the muslim woman to be protected by not exposing her body to other men and being a prey of sexuall stuff.well please visit the website i told you about by just cliking on it and on that website you might not get the miracle of the mosque....a mosque is a place where muslims pray....please visit it and if you have any other questions about islam my email is written in my profile marilyn_monroe_4_arabs@hotmail.com (thats also my msn)........
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1) evolution is a huge lie made up by crazies that denied there was a God and hello... there's no way a bang created all of this (the world) check out this guy named kent hoveign or something like that he has tons of answers i think his site is .. www.drdino.com or someting like that.. google it.
2) Even christians suffer because of sins in there life or God sometimes puts trials in our lives to strengthen our faith.
3)God doesn't want anybody to go to hell but they have a simple choice.. Believe in him and go to heaven (accepting HIm in your heart) or don't believe and basically spit in His face and go to hell. He doesn't want that for anyone, but it's there choice.
4)Religions are created to avoid the truth that there is 1 God. read in the old testiment about Israel's idol worship. Look at those religions.. people like muhamed and budah died but Christ died and resurected. He beat death. Why would you ask for eternal life from someone like muhamed that couldn't beat death. Christ got eternal life by dying for our sins and resurecting. He got eternal life so He can offer it to us
*We all have questions about religion because there's alot out there. If you have anymore questions my inbox is always open to help if I can
God Bless(sorry for length)
~aeromonkey
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alrighty here we go lol
Evolution didn't happen, there had to of been God there in order for apes to even be around. Scientists have no idea what they are talkin about a lot of the time, it is simply good speculation. If they wanted to, they could prove that we came from rocks and people would believe it.
Secondly, the reason why God lets some people suffer is to see how faithful they will remain and to test them. Job from the Bible was tested greatly...he lost everything, his family, property, he was stricken with diseases, yet all the while he remained faithful to God. Sometimes He allows people to suffer in order to bring them closer to Himself and those around them.
Thirdly, God sends people to hell because they don't believe in Him. You can't get to heaven just by being a good person or sayin you're a christian. You have to believe that God sent His son Jesus to earth, He died on the cross for the penalty of sin to those who will believe, and was risen on the third day *which is the reason for celebrating easter*. People curse God everyday...why should someone who hates God and refuses to believe in Him go to heaven and spend eternity with Him?
Lastly, there are religions that man has made up. there is only 1 God and no one else that can even begin to compare to Him. At my church we are doing a study called *the attributes of God* and it has been an amazing study to learn more about the One who created me. When you finally become a christian, you will know because you will feel His presence within your heart. Don't shut God out of your life, He wants to be there and show you Himself..you just need to let Him in.
i hope i was able to help! if you have any questions, please don't even hesitate to ask because i'll do the best i can to help! i want you to feel what i feel about God
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God doesnt make people suffer, we make people suffer, the devil makes people suffer. This world is full of evil, God is all good. God is perfect. We as human have doubt, doubt is evil. Doubt therefore makes us test our faith, the doubt is one of satans tactics to get us to stray from out faith and believe all this mess in the world, he wants to get inside your mind and change what God gave you so you will die and spend your eternity in hell with him. He lies and cheats and tells you things you want to hear to get you with him eventually. Its hard to resist him, but you can if you hold truth in God.
Doubt is not something God puts in us. The bible says God gives every man a measure of faith. God has placed in our heart, but the devil tries to negate our faith by attacking us with doubt. Doubt is an exact opposition of God's word. It is important for us to know God's word. If we know the word, then we can recognize the devil is lying to us. Be assured he lies to us in order to steal what Jesus purchased for us through his death and ressurection.
It's not that we don't have faith, it's just that the devil is trying to detroy our faith with lies. God placed dreams and visions in our hearts. Satan tries hard to get us to abort our dreams and follow his ways. One tool he uses is doubt, unbelief. Both of those work against the mind. Faith is a product of the spirit. The enemy doesnt want us to get our mind in agreement with our spirit. He knows that if God places faith in us to do a thing, and we get positive and start to believe that we can do it, Satan know that then we will do damage to his kingdom.
The best advice in all this, to be strong and hold faith is that when a storm comes into your life, be prepared! Very often the storm in your life will cease as soon as you quit and give up. The devil brings storms into your life to intimidate you. During the storm remember that the mind is the battle ground. Dont make decisions based on your thoughts, for those thoughts could be the lies from Satan, check with your spirit, your heart. WHen you do, you will find the same vision that was there in the beginning that God gave us as I mentioned earlier.
Many of you might say, doubt is a choice. SO true. You can choose to belive or not to believe. Faith though is the gift from God, so we KNOW in our minds we have faith. Everyone does, even people who dont believe have faith in one or two things in their life. But the true natural faith was always planted in our minds from the moment we were made by God. The fact that we have the choice to believe is the devils warfare tactic against our minds. Unbelief is disobedience. In disobedience in our life leads to failure and lessons learned, but disobedience in God leads to an unsuccessful tormented mind. It keeps us from doing what God has planned and experiencing true peace in our life with all our problems.
Another thing doubt can do is put this question in your mind "They say there is a God, but what if there isnt?" That is doubt. That is the devil talking to you, he wants you to play that thought over and over, he gets in deep and filsl you with more lies, like "well if there was a God this wouldnt happen..etc etc." Its all a lie. God would never give anyone in their life anything that he hasnt planned to benefit them or reward them in heaven with. In this question you will not have peace, no one knows truth because we hide from the truth because it scares us, the devil scares us and he will lie and cheat us to get us to be with him. Learn to live in your faith and be strong in it, do not fall into the deception of the devil. God has a great life planned for everyone, dont let the devil destroy it from you.
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Everyone has their own set of beliefs. I don't think one person is any more right or wrong than the next. I'm always confused. Honestly, there's never a day I don't question it all. Some people might say I have no faith and obviously I'm a lost child or something. I don't pay attention.
No one can tell you what's right, because they don't know. What's right for them might not be right for YOU. We were all born with free will, the choice to live our lives the way we want to and live the way we feel is right. There's no right or wrong answer, no 'right' thing to believe in.
Some people need solid proof in order to believe in something. In my opinion, if you need proof of everything, then you're not living. It's sort of like love. It's a feeling, you can't touch it, you can't see it. You only feel it. And that's what faith is. A feeling, a conviction in something without it being physically right in front of your nose(some might disagree--but isn't that beauty of the world? ;) )
There's always going to be questions, doubts. Even the strongest of faith have their times when they're down and out and might lose faith. It's a part of being human and it doesn't make you a bad person.
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OK, so i am going to try and keep this short.
Everyone is confused about religion. Well, anyone who has not been brainwashed. You have to find what you believe in and be willing to leave some questions unanswered. In time, some things may become clear to you. I personally believe that in this day and age, there is no TRUE religion, as all of them have changed certain aspects to suit their desires. To me, religion is a creatin of man, inorder to keep some sort of control over humankind. So believe what feels right to you, but be a good person. If you really want answers to your questions, meditate, or delve into different religions to see if you can find something that they all agree on that YOU like. like hell. it isn't a teaching in all religions. nor is the belief that everyone goes to heaven, or that a man should only have one wife. So you do some sould searching and then you'll know what you believe.
Don't ever let anyone tell you it is wrong though. Stick to your convictions.
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Hey! I just wanted to point out one thing, not answer every one of your questions. -Sorry I'm tired lol!-
Well, alot of people have said that religions actually worship the same God with a different name. For example, if you practice Hinduism and worship whatever god they worship, I (and others) believe that you're worshipping the same god as other religions. HOWEVER, there are some differences that are very significant.
For instance, a Christian worshipping God and a Jew worshipping god will probably (in MY opinion) not end up in the same place (heaven/hell) because Christians believe that their God, although it is the same as Judaism's God, sent his son to save us from sin.
It is a FACT that Jesus existed, it's whether or not you choose to believe that he died for your forgiveness. Once you figure that out, you have another choice to make: whether you'll follow Christianity, a monotheistic religion (which many are considered to worship the same God), or a polytheistic religion (the worship of many gods).
Please, find a religion. I believe that if you can't decide whether or not to be religious, then just decide on a religion and follow it. If there is no God, then having a religion would be pointless, but if there IS a God, then having a religion would save you from eternal torture.
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as soon as we are born, God has our lives planned. he knows what is going to go wrong and what is going to go right. actually you have to believe in him to make all the right decisions. if you think about it, if evryone got what they wanted and didnt suffer, people would act spoiled because they knew nothing bad would EVER happen. everyone has to die sometime. that is just their religion. if you were indian, you would believe that those were the only gods. same with THE god. just believe. he does magical things. he saved my best friend from lung cancer and i had prayed every night. that is a miracal if you ask me!
kathryn
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I'm so glad that you asked this question,let me help you out here,i'm a christian myself and the lord has truly helped me with alot,some questions we will never know,we will just have to wait and ask god if and when we get to heaven,ok with the evolution thing,it is not humanly possible we could have came from monkey's I understand that you say there is so much scientific proof,but even the scientists can not explain some things in this world,example,how the earth was created,they belive in the big bang theory,this is not possible they belive that th earth is made of up space matter that exploaded in space millions of years ago,-2 ways to prove this wrong-1. if matter exploaded to create the earth where did the atmosphere come from,there is no wya that an explosion could have produced all we have out of othing,oxygen,there's no oxygen in space to begin with,the atmosephere,an explosion ould not have creadted gravity and atmospheric conditions,water,space did not have water to begin with,and also they say the earth is millions of years old,but in scripture there is only 6500 years accounted for,this makes our earth realitivly new,and if people came from apes,how did we get different skin colors?? different race3s and languages?? and with the suffering thing,-god gives everyone in the whole entire world,a chance to repent their sins and save themselves,some people decided they don not want to repent,and that they want to do what they want,but you can only do what you want in one life,you can do what you want on earth go to hell and get nothing,or live your life for god on earth and have everlasting happiness in heaven,which would you rather have?? and lastly,the one religion topic,I can guarentee you that I can prove that cristianity is the only one true relgion,no matter what it is,there are faults in every one,(i'm not trying to offend anyone)but christiaity is the one and only relgion that can prove itself true 100% by the bible and facts,I honestly hope I can help you,I'd like to talk to you about this further,please let me know if you become saved,or let me know if you have any other questions,god bless you
Jasmine,
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You asked some good questions here. The following is only my view and I'm sure there are others that will disagree.
Evolution-According to the Bible, man was created after animals. Who's to say that God didn't make ape and man similar? It would account for the DNA similarities. It might not necessarily mean that the ape changed and became man, but rather that they came from the same source, God.
Suffering-The logic here is sometimes hard to follow. I believe that God does everything for a reason. Think back to a hard time in your life. Did it change your views or make you stronger in some way? In my experience, when I go through hard times, it changes me and often makes me a stronger person because I've went through them. Also, seeing others around me suffer has taught me compassion and encouraged me to seek out ways to help people. Perhaps this is the reason behind suffering.
Hell-I was taught that anyone who believes will be saved and go to Heaven; those who don't believe will perish and be sent to Hell. I look at it this way. Would you want someone in your home that was against you? I believe that God offers all of us a chance for Heaven. If we don't accept, it's our choice, but there are consequences.
Different religions-This is something I've wondered about myself. In the Bible, I've noticed that God is called by several different names. Who's to say that the other religions are calling Him a different name but talking about the same person? In religions with several Gods, I think it might come from a split. If you add all the gods of that religion together, you'll usually find that it's the same as the one God that others believe in. As far as the different beliefs, I think it can come from interpretation. If I said something to a group of people and then asked them what I said, I would most likely get a different answer depending on who I asked. This is true of religious texts as well. Think about the various versions of the Bible that are out there. They're supposed to be translated from the same original text, but some lines are different. I think it comes from how the writers interpreted.
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As somebody else said, nobody's proven that humans evolved from the same ancestors as did Earth's other primates; that's not something which ever can be proven beyond a doubt, because we don't have the power to go back in time and see it happen.
*However*, every genuinely scientific (as opposed to creationist/intelligent-design-ist) interpretation of the available evidence points toward the gradual macroevolution of one species into another, and there's no reason to think we humans are any more special than sea slugs in that regard. I think a lot of the creationist moral objection to the concept of evolution springs from the idea that humans are somehow apart from and superior to nature just because we have overlarge forebrains and opposable thumbs.
As for matters of religion, Evolution and Christianity certainly can coexist; the Roman Catholic church manages it just fine. As far as I can tell, the only real trouble comes in where people decide to take the words in Genesis literally.
For that matter, even Darwin was a Christian, and he didn't see any conflict between his theory of natural selection and the teachings of whichever sect he belonged to (I forget which one it was). Who's to say that God didn't rig up the whole universe in utero to behave how it has, and then kick the whole thing off with the Big Bang and sit back to watch it unfold? In that scenario, it could still be literally true that Adam and Eve were the first man and woman -- whoever wrote Genesis just opted to leave out the generations of Neanderthal precursors.
With regard to your question about why people go to hell if God loves us all, the unanswerability of that question is one of the main reasons I no longer believe in the Christian god. My reasoning on the subject goes like this:
If God is infinitely powerful (omnipotent) and infinitely loving (omnibenevolent), then God could not countenance permitting anyone to suffer eternal torture, and no one would go to Hell. God therefore cannot be both omnipotent and omnibenevolent, and given the choice between believing in an incompetent god and believing in a sadistic god, I'll take neither.
Bear in mind, I don't say this to say you shouldn't believe whatever gets you through the day. It's just the reasoning that did it for me.
As for only at most one religion being true and the rest being lies -- who's to say even one religion is true? The Baha'i folks believe that all religions are sort of like funhouse-mirror reflections of the one True Religion which no human can know, and thus all religions are equally inaccurate and equally valid; that seems about as sensible as any kind of religious belief, to me.
I'm sure I've completely failed to answer any of your questions and in fact only added to your confusion. Welcome to the world of religion! It just gets more bewildering from here. Hope this helps!
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There are many different answers to these questions.
Accepting evolution doesn't mean you need to reject God. Firstly, many Christians believe in a non-literal intepretation of the creation story told in Genesis. Some say that 7 days in a metaphor for seven stages of creation. The technical definition of a day is the time it takes the earth to rotate, which obviously didn't happen before the earth was created, so 'days' perhaps represent stages of time where God was creating rather than actual periods of 24 hours, etc.
Evolution doesn't disprove God. Evolution happens when things mutate to produce changes, which can produce great changes in populations over long periods of time. The chances of complex, intelligent life however developing are very, very slim, and many Christians believe that God engineered the world and the development of specieses so that humans would come into existence and flourish. Scientists have attempted to estimate the probability of pure chance leading to the forms of life we have today, and the possibilites are truely too minute to comprehend. Some people find these facts in themselves a convincing argument that God does exists and is directing evolution and natural development so that humans may continue to survive. If you are interested in this type of argument, try googling 'The Design Argument' or 'The Anthropic Teleological Argument'.
The existence of evil is probably the biggest test of faith for most people, religious or otherwise. There are various arguments about the necessity of evil, but it is an issue that many religious people struggle with, so don't feel that you are alone in questioning things. It's good to question your faith and explore your beliefs. I couldn't do justice to the many many arguments people have presented about the necessity of evil, but briefly, some suggest that evil is necessary in order for people to be able to freely choose God. If there were no evil or suffering there would be no need for faith - but if there were no need for faith, people wouldn't have a real free choice to embrace God, and that would mean their relationship with God wouldn't be meaningful. God allows evil because it is better than not having free will to choose or reject God.
Others, taking more literal intepretations from the Old Testament, talk about original sin and suffering coming from human choice. Personally I find such arguments less convincing, as they fail to explain natural evil such as earthquakes, but it's something you should perhaps look into if you are questioning your faith.
As for there being many different religions, again, that is problematic. As somebody once put it - if all non-Christians go to hell, and all non-Buddhists never reach nirvana etc. etc. surely everyone is screwed?
Personally, I feel faith, and making that leap when you cannot ever be certain, is a big part of being religious. You need to find something that works for you and have faith in yourself that you've done the best you can to find your way. I like to think there isn't so much between the religions, them all being attempts to guide us through our lives and be moral, so I like to think any all-loving God wouldn't be contemptuous of people who tried to find Him and lived their lives as best they could according to their faith.
I hope I answered some of your questions. All the best.
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ok heres my take on it, theres a million religions, theres a million faces of god, ive learned alot about different ones and theres questions to all, i havent found the awnsers to. however i do believe in god, thats the crust of it. there are few things alot of religions have in common, both christian and native american, had a story for the flood (noahs ark) so i look at it this way, alot of history has passed before us, sometimes we cant explain it, so we make up what we dont know. take native americans, they know there was a flood and they have a story for it, they also had a story for the 1st man and woman. they dident know back then the milky way was a galaxy so many thought it was the happy hunting trail(heaven) the thing is god does exist, and he does love us, i think he wears the face WE PICTURE.
i dont think its a man or woman, i dont think it cares what we call it or how we picture it. i also know god(i personally prefer to think of god as a him) dident write the bible or any other religious dogma. i think "religions" as we know them, are humans explanation for what they cant explain, and its humans earliest form of laws. as youll see upon researching, most religions offer a good way of life if followed and not distorted to fit our own ends. like most religions, say not to kill or cheat or lie or hurt others, and to try to do good for others. i dont believe in hell, i think its something humans made up to keep people following thier laws. my suggestion is to research as many as possible, and when you find the one for you, youll know it. there are many paths to god, and thier are many faces to god, just find the path and face that comfort you. if your having a hard time believing in a religion, dont, you know wrong from right its inside you. god put it there. i dont think god cares if you believe in human writings, i think he just cares that you believe in him. i dont know about you but i been thru some shit, and when i think back on it, i still dont know how i got out of it alive, i only know it wasent me alone.
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This is coming from my viewpoint as a Christian. I'll address these one at a time:
"humans evolved from apes, there's been loads of scienctific evidence and documentries about it and you learn about it in science. But the bible says adam and eve were the first man and woman, so according to religion evolution cant have existed, well not in humans anyway." --There is no SOLID proof that humans are in fact evolved from apes. Humans and other primates share DNA that is so close, there is less than 1% of difference between our DNA and theirs, so that particular evoloutionary theory is just that- I theory based on facts. There is no way to ACTUALLY proove that humans are ape decendants. Also, many people believe in evoloution AND religion- the Bible says that time is different to God: a million years to us could be one second to Him, we don't know for sure. Sot he whole "the earth was created in 7 days" thing the Bible says- it never specifies whether it means day as WE percieve it, or day as HE percieves it.
"If god is so great and loves us all, why does he make people suffer?" --Yes, God does love us all. The Bible says that suffering does not come from God, but from the Devil. No, this doesn't mean that everything bad in our lives is eveil- have you ever been in a situation where you thought something was aweful, but later on it turned out to be the pathway for something great? God gives us trials, but never more than we can handle.
"Also, if god is so great and loves us all, why does he send people to hell? i know some deserve it but surely he wouldnt want anyone to be sent to hell for eternity?" --Hell is where non-believers go. He doesn't send just anybody and everybody. Because He loves us, He isn't going to FORCE us to believe in Him while we're here on earth. So when the time comes for every tongue to confess He lives, those who gladly choose Him NOW will be the ones to live with Him in Heaven.
"This last point is not something i thought of, it's something that was talked about on the radio but it makes you think. There are lots of religions, but if any, only 1 must be true and the rest of them are lies. people must have made some religions up because some say theres only 1 god, some religions have many gods and all different types of beliefs, so they cant all be true. i hope someone can help me, because its so confusing and i honestly do want to believe." --That is a very good point. If you will look at history, you will see that EVERY group of people throught time has worshiped SOME sort of deity, which means that at least one of them has to be right. Yes, there are people who don't believe in any God, but every GROUP of people, every civilization as a whole, has had some sort of god/dess they believe(d) in..so doesn't that sort of show that hey, if everyone believe the same thing (more or less) then there's got to be a reason for it.
I can't tell you what religion to believe in. I would prefer it if you (and the whole world) were Christian, but obviously that is not something I have control of. The most I can tell you at this point it to figure out what YOU think is true in a universal sense, and see what religion(s) coincide most closely with what you percieve to be the truth.
I sinerely hope this helped you, and that you figure out what you believe in.
-Avari
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