Do you believe in religion?

[Noon84]

Do you believe in religions? I have been doing some researches and was really confused and disconnected to spirituality and religion.

like if we are all in this earth? whats the purpose?
why life has to be hard sometimes and unfair? if God is good?

How can I connect with God?

[Native spirit]

In my opinion religion is the cause of all wars it is about control I am a spiritualist I walk my own path I follow no one,
many others will have their own opinion but that is mine


Namaste

[Rah nam]

Yes I belief in religions.
I belief they are a man made construct.

They are designed to control the masses and to prevent the massed from awakening.

It depends on the religion. Some have uses, others are more limiting, in the end, all has it uses. Belief based systems are limiting, in my opinion.

[Honza]

Are you trying to say "do you believe in God or spirituality"? Religion and God are two separate subjects.

[MARDAV70]

Religions (try to) define God and what he/she/it expects of us. Yet, all the worlds great religions have some form of The Golden Rule. In searching for just what it is God expects from us, rules are made (dogma). If one truly understands and practices The Golden Rule there is no need for religion.

So to answer your question, no, I don't believe in religion. It's a pathway to division, indifference and control.

[Miss Hepburn]

"...designed to prevent the masses from awakening..." TOO FUNNY!

Originally Posted by Noon84

like if we are all in this earth? whats the purpose?
why life has to be hard sometimes and unfair? if God is good?
How can I connect with God?

Lol You don't ask much...just, *what's the purpose of life here?
*How to connect with God?

If you're going to ask questions...might as well start at the top!
So far VERY good answers from the regulars here, hahaha

If I may, as I do when this stuff comes up...lemme start with a message
from a Master, Meher Baba
that clears up so much...then, I will tell you how to connect with God Himself, directly, intimately,
up close and personal, as they say.
Others can jump in and add anything! But here:

God is love. And Love must love. And to love there must be a Beloved.
But since God is Existence infinite and eternal there is no one for Him to love but Himself.
And in order to love Himself, He must imagine Himself as the Beloved whom He
as the lover imagines He loves.
Beloved and lover implies separation.
And separation creates longing; and longing causes search.
And the wider and the more intense the search, the greater the separation and the more terrible the longing.
When longing is at it's most intense, separation is complete, and the purpose of separation, which was
that love might experience itself as lover and Beloved, is fulfilled; and union follows.

And when union is attained, the lover knows that he himself was all along the Beloved, whom he loved and desired union with;
and that all the impossible situations that he overcame were obstacles which he himself had placed in the path to himself.
To attain union is so impossibly difficult because it is impossible to become what you already are!
Union is nothing other than knowledge of oneself as the Only One.

[Molearner]

Without a sense or concept of the divine there is no spirituality. I reject the idea that religion or spirituality is an either-or proposition. Many of history's famously spiritual people have been deeply religious. In my personal case, it was religion that introduced the concept of divinity to me and that(divinity) was the path I chose and it has made all the difference.....:)

[Shivani Devi]

I believe that the rejection of religion in totality is akin to throwing the baby out with the bathwater.

I identify with being a Hindu, when I could just as easily identify with being "Spiritual" or even being "nothing at all"...in fact, most times it is "all the above" so, why do I?

The difference between religion and spirituality, is that religion has an established framework or a set of tenets, rituals and traditions whereas, spirituality does not.

Spirituality is sort of "open ended", based upon the premise of "do whatever you like but harm none" and while that may be great for some, for others it can be very confusing when they ask the question; "so, what makes a spiritual person, spiritual then?"

If they asked the same question of a religious person; "what makes a religious person religious?" That is easily answered; "one who follows the beliefs and traditions of an established institution is religious".

Also, when most think about "religion", they tend to think of the Abrahamic ones...or the Judeo-Christian ones, but Hinduism and Buddhism are ALSO classified as "religions" which don't have such a "bad reputation" as the Abrahamic ones.

For a person like me who IS religious, there is always going to be a teaching or a scripture to explain stuff...to present things in a way I can understand it, because if I could not, I pretty much wouldn't belong to that religion in the first place.

In the West, religion has almost become a "dirty word" but I really don't care because I am a social non-conformist anyway and that has never been a conscious decision.

Miss Hepburn,

I hadn't heard of Master, Meher Baba, but agree with that

Agreeing also with Molearner & Shivani Devi, it's not an either or proposition. And depends on the teacher/religion/seeker also.

JL