[Extraverted Delusion]

Although I do not associate myself with any organized religion (I was born Catholic but ignore it now), I have found a keen interest to the likes of many religions in my teen years. Whether it was buying the Qu'ran, visiting a Synagogue, meditating under the influence of zen, or interviewing Hindus, the idea that a prophecy of sorts that coralls millions of people to change their lifestyles is absolutely astonishing.

I'm not talking about each individual religion, but the idea of a religion, a cult, a following, a mass adherence of people that cling onto your every word as if their lives depended on it. The fact that they have been so well established and followed (with some controversy however) is something that most should understand.

Because of this interest, I have incorporated a little of each religion in my life in my day-to-day, experimenting where one philosophy works, and where others utterly fail. They are good instructional guides in dealing with certain situations.

Has any other ENTP here "experimented" with religion, or do you just shrug it off?

 

[QuiB]

Christianity used to really piss me off, but recently I've come to accept its role. Some people really do need it.

One of my friends at college used to be an official Buddhist monk. I told him how interested I've been in it, and he taught me about his experiences, like meditation techniques. I've never been religious before, but I wouldn't be surprised if I became Buddhist at some point in my life. Figuratively, it makes a lot of sense to me.

And Islam has always fascinated me too. Seeing documentaries about the hajj reminds you of religion's great potential for unification.

 

[Psyphon]

Although I do not associate myself with any organized religion (I was born Catholic but ignore it now), I have found a keen interest to the likes of many religions in my teen years. Whether it was buying the Qu'ran, visiting a Synagogue, meditating under the influence of zen, or interviewing Hindus, the idea that a prophecy of sorts that coralls millions of people to change their lifestyles is absolutely astonishing.

I'm not talking about each individual religion, but the idea of a religion, a cult, a following, a mass adherence of people that cling onto your every word as if their lives depended on it. The fact that they have been so well established and followed (with some controversy however) is something that most should understand.

Because of this interest, I have incorporated a little of each religion in my life in my day-to-day, experimenting where one philosophy works, and where others utterly fail. They are good instructional guides in dealing with certain situations.

Has any other ENTP here "experimented" with religion, or do you just shrug it off?

I grew up in a SEVERELY Christian home. Growing up my parent always thought it was odd that I would go to different churches constantly with different friends (all still christian) because I wanted to experience ALL the different denominations, and trust me i've run the gambit on this one. Currently my major coarse of study in college is philosophy and comparative religions (I'm actually going there to learn the Chinese language primarily, but I needed other classes to fill in the blanks and have a major ... so philosophy and comp religions is ).

So to answer your question I'd say YES. I'm very interested in this subject.

 

[bellisaurius]

Religion's is like swedish meatballs. Everyone has a recipe for them, but they don't call them the same thing.

I wish I could find the ceremony aspects interesting, but I don't. I do however, find theological systems quite intriguing. There's just something about metaphysics.

 

[basher83]

I was raised as Roman Catholic but never really followed any of the rules. For a brief 5 month stint about 4yrs ago I though god was real then I realized it was mainly because I was dating a super religious girl and I left her influence me. So I do not consider myself religious in any way. I do thoroughly enjoy learning about why people believe in what they do. I am interested in talking with people of all faiths about how and why they believe what they do. Heck I've even invited the Mormons into the house to get a better understanding of their religion. Only this tactic backfired as they interpreted my curiosity as a possible recruit so I had to cut that off.

 

[King_Moonracer]

Lately ive been into spirituality-type psychological things, and have been watching hours worth of youtube videos on things like the "ego", meditation, buddhism, and other things related. So far, ive basically kept my Christian beliefs of the supernatural, and taken Buddhist type teachings and combined them. Buddha taught very similar things as Jesus, but the Buddhist teachings are more "self" oriented, and less altered than the Bible. I didnt realize until a few months ago that there are a bunch of other books that were rejected from the Bible, showing me how man chose what to believe and what not to believe. You can never be too sure about what it originally said before it was a single edition of books.

The thing that sucks though, is that i use the internet to use research these things, and i want to find articles about how the teachings of Jesus can be integrated into your life like Buddhist "Zen" or mindfulness, living in the "now". But i go to look up "Jesus teachings" in youtube or wherever, and am bombarded with these diehard Christians who have no idea what they are talking about. I have to dig deep down through all of the bullshit to find anything significant, and its usually from a completely non-Christian source.

Its horrible to see all of these people who think that they are great Christians, but are really completely lost. I checked out a Jehova's witness church with my mom, who is a hardcore Christian, and even though these weird ass Jehova's witnesses take everything in the Bible literally, at least they fuckin analyze what things mean, as opposed to dancing on the ceiling, swingin around a flag...The Bible even says "dont do that stupid shit, be modest".

So, using what i know about psychology, and takin a look at stuff Buddha said, i can figure out what some things in the Bible actual try to tell you, particularly the gospel. This all started for me last year when i took a positive psychology class. I saw the connection between psychology and religion. It basically all breaks down to, well, exactly what Jesus was doing. Loving everybody haha. The humanistic psychologist Carl Rogers, in the 50's and 60's, even came up with a way to live to reach the tip of Maslow's hierarchy of needs pyramid. Rogers said that by showing everybody "unconditional positive regard", you could reach self-actualization, or enlightenment, nirvana, Heaven, in religious terms. Same shit Jesus said, except 1950 years later haha.

Before that you had Jung, and he said "All yall motherfuckers is connected! By a collective unconscious!". Jesus said "yall is one under the eyes of Goodddd". Same shit, different words. And most spiritual teachers talk about how we are all connected, and one consciousness and shit. If God made us in his form, how do we know he wasnt talking about his spiritual form? A big ass universal consciousness? Good stuff.

Thats the whole story of the gospel. Even if douche bags nail your ass on a piece of wood, don't hate anybody, even if you can summon a 7 headed fuckin dragon, because in the end, doze mutterfuckers is miserable and un-enlightened. I try to live by that, and its funny to see when someone is being annoying or a douche to me, usually a family member. When people talk shit to me, i just tell them that its ok and i know what they are going through...pisses them off more, because they are expecting me to be a douche back.

 

[Extraverted Delusion]

Religion's is like swedish meatballs. Everyone has a recipe for them, but they don't call them the same thing.

I wish I could find the ceremony aspects interesting, but I don't. I do however, find theological systems quite intriguing. There's just something about metaphysics.

Hell of a lot of mathematics in religion. I find some of the numerical references to be quite consistent with modern day equations.

 

[Jabberbroccoli]

I've 'experimented' with a number of different practices and faiths.

Conclusion? It's dumb.

 

[marybluesky]

I believe in God but am not interested in religion. I can`t limit myself into what religion wants me to do.

 

[mayhamfx]

I can`t limit myself into what religion wants me to do.

Why should people be told what to do? And what makes religion right? Sorry I'm not in favor of religion at all. You (the collective you) should just know right from wrong and be good to fellow humans.

Religion =

1) root of all evil
2) for weak minded
3) obsessed with death

If followed to the letter of the teachings all religions, well most major ones, say to kill everyone who doesn't believe. HUH, what sort of crap is that. Oh just take what you want peple say. Problem is everyone takes a different part so they're all on different agendas, ecept the hardliners (who want to kill anyone who doesn't agree with them). The world would be a better place if religion disapeared.

/rant

 

[marybluesky]

The world would be a better place if religion disapeared.

/rant

I`m not personally that anti-religion. I`m not into that, but think everyone should be free to choose their way in life. I have no problem with religious people as long as they`re not willing to "correct" me.

 

[Psyphon]

Why should people be told what to do? And what makes religion right? Sorry I'm not in favor of religion at all. You (the collective you) should just know right from wrong and be good to fellow humans.

Religion =

1) root of all evil
2) for weak minded
3) obsessed with death

If followed to the letter of the teachings all religions, well most major ones, say to kill everyone who doesn't believe. HUH, what sort of crap is that. Oh just take what you want peple say. Problem is everyone takes a different part so they're all on different agendas, ecept the hardliners (who want to kill anyone who doesn't agree with them). The world would be a better place if religion disapeared.

/rant

Actually very few religions (percentage-wise) adopt a "kill the infidels" mentality.

If we're talking about WORLD religions and not just western religion (like I assume we are) then the primary focus, by a slim margin, tends to be conversion.

Oddly enough if you count ALL of the worlds religions the closest thing (ratio-wise) to that conversion mentality is actually a "live and let live" ideology. It only loses by a little bit though.

A large amount of religions DO focus on death, but there are actually quite a few that focus on balance of life and death, and even some who's primary vision deal with life.

In all things lies equal potential for both good and evil to any extreme. Religion does not, in any way, corner the market in the evil department.

 

[Devin87]

I've got a interesting history when it comes to religion. I was raised nominal Catholic (we went to church maybe once a year, but I went to weekly religion classes after school).

When I got to high school I had a sudden vision of God as a man sitting in outer space somewhere zapping planets into existence and I thought it was utterly ridiculous (and it was-- that's not what most religions think God is) so I became an atheist. I used to argue against religion every chance I got. I convinced my parents to let me and my sisters drop out of religious ed and was just a very militant atheist right up until college.

In college I started to experiment more. I tried out the "philosophies" first-- those religions that don't require a belief in God such as Buddhism and even Satanism. I also looked into Judaism once I started working through the idea of God more. Then after my first year in college I went back to Catholicism and got really into it for a few years. I even spent my spring break on year living with monks in a monestary. I was hard core.

After graduating college Catholicism started to seem ridiculous again, so I spent a year in private classes with a Rabbi to formally convert to Judaism. After converting, I took a job at a Catholic school (not by choice-- it was the only job I could get) and that's where I am now. Over my two years here the seperation from the Jewish community and the emersion in Catholicism has sort of jaded me to theistic religion period. At the moment I'm considering myself agnostic, but I know I'll start exploring more religions soon.

My family thinks my constant changing of religions is somehow a sign that I'm flighty and none of my life decisions are to be trusted or respected, and that really annoys me. I see it as a good thing. Sometimes I get frustrated that I have no solid beliefs and can't make up my mind, but generally I'm happy going where my interests take me. For instance, right now I'm really interested in Vulcan philosophy (not the mystical stuff, but the logic and control of emotions). If someone were to make a Vulcan church I would totally try it out for awhile (they've got a Jedi church[which I explored for a little bit], so why not). It's fun to try all these different philosophies and religions.

 

[Eylrid]

(I'm jumping into your thread here because this is a subject I'm interested in. DWI.)

To me there are two aspects to religion: the belief set, and the cult following that the OP mentioned.

The idea of cults is definitely a compelling one that I've put some thought into. Both the idea of being a leader and the idea of being a member of an organization have their own powerful draws. A group of people can be far more powerful than an individual alone, for good or ill. The more someone gives over their identity to the group, the more they can feel that the power of the group is their own power.

 

[Stelmaria]

Hell of a lot of mathematics in religion. I find some of the numerical references to be quite consistent with modern day equations.

Only the cubits are totally different from qubits. :tongue:

 

[Extraverted Delusion]

Only the cubits are totally different from qubits. :tongue:

Conversely, snow lepoards are not like their fibrous fruit cousins in the form of an operating system

 

[Laguna]

Hell of a lot of mathematics in religion. I find some of the numerical references to be quite consistent with modern day equations.

Some faiths belief the "proof" of them is a mathematical certainty. Connecting the dots through science. Or when you see those medical doctors witness a miracle on their very own closely guarded watch .... they suddenly "believe."

It really can be amazing- although I shouldn't be commenting on these kind of posts because I don't want to get into religious debates in any way shape form here. I leave that to other forums for me personally.

But always an interesting topic. So many perspectives. So many perceptions. just endless

 

[Kevinaswell]

I can't wrap my head around the concept of 'experimenting' with a 'belief' system.

It honestly boggles my mind.

Experiment with reality, and go from there?

Most healthy way to develop a 'belief' system I believe.

At that point it stops being belief though, and more-so a sense of knowing your experiences and awareness of ideas that have happened.

So I guess completely ignore me if you specifically need​ a 'belief' system.

 

[Theyknow]

I'm honestly still finding myself, but I think that I'm an agnostic atheist for the time being. I have hard time wrapping my head around experimenting with religions because a religion (or just being spirtual) is something that should come to you and not be questioned. Sort of like a "I believe in this and it has never crossed through my mind that God may not of been real" thing. I never had that kind of spirtual connection, even when I was around 4 or 5 and was first introduced to spirtuality I had a hard time believing it.

 

[Jonny0207]

Has any other ENTP here "experimented" with religion, or do you just shrug it off?

I'm as secular as they go. No experimenting what-so-ever.