I thought this was an interseting topic so here are my two cents. I know that my God is the only God(not to sound biggotty but that is sincerely how I feel) because there are situations that happened in my life that I know for a fact that resulted that way ONLY becuz of God himself. I grew up in with an emotioanlly abusive father who loved calling me names, hore **** b*tc* u name it i was it and for the longest time I beliveed it.. I mean he was my father right?? I remember being 7 years old... yes 7 and I was doing the dishes and I remember picking up the knife i was washing and wondering how bad it would be if i just "accidently" pierced myself... When I stop to think about it, statistically over 75% of girls who live with abusive fathers grow up to be in gangs or become druggies or sell there own bodies. I was young and I was sick and it's only becuz God made sure I didn't do all that crazy stuff that I am here today. that is how I know that my God is the true GOd.
As for people who pick and choose what they want to believe, I don't really understand the sense in that. One person could say that they believe that shooting people is his own beleif and you know what... sickly enough, in his mind he would be right. How can something be the absolute truth if you made it up??Last time I checked, none of us are God right? I am for searching for what feels right in your heart and I show no disrespect for anyone who is a religion different from me please don't get me wrong. All I am saying is absolute truth is based on something HIGHER than your understanding, not something you yourself created.
God Bless,
Katie

New religions are formed from the ideas of other religions. Example: Lutheranism branched off of Catholicism because there were certain things that were not in agreement. Christianity developed from Judaism, and the two religions constantly feed off of each others ideas on certain things.

Meshing together several religions to create one you feel more comfortable with makes sense to me.

Islam and Judaism believe that their prophets were representatives of God and therefore able to describe the character of Him, they were also capable of doing this because of His activity among the people, in particular, inhabiting the tabernacle. Buddhism believes that Buddha was a real person who was on Earth and described the way to Enlightenment. Christians believe that we know the character of God because of the things listed under Judaism, and because God actually walked on Earth and spoke to those that formed the Christian church. I'll be honest, I don't really know how Wiccans claim to know the characteristics of the goddess. (Maybe this topic's question does pertain to them, it seems like each Wiccan chooses the characteristics of her.) All of these religions claim some type of divine intervention or inspiration as the source of knowledge of God's character.

Dante, my topic was not about inventing new religions, as the people I am addressing simply mesh together ideas from all the religions and claim no divine inspiration or intervention that would display their god's character. Maybe they innovate...but in reality they make nothing new.

quote:

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Why is anyone else more qualified to structure your beliefs than you are?

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Because they spoke to God through a burning bush. Because they were chosen by God to lead His people, because they were chosen by God to tell of future events. Because they spoke to Jesus face to face when He walked on Earth in human form. Because they saw Jesus risen from the dead, because they were the first to receive the Great Commision, because they saw Jesus ascend to heaven.

Why is anyone else more qualified to structure your beliefs than you are?
What is the innate value of someone else's idea regurgitated?
Why *not* something new?

well i basically, have my own beliefs and the way that i got them are from researching all religions, and picking out the parts that make sence and feel right. ive studied christianity, judeahism, wicca, buddhism, and many more. when you research them you will see how different they all are, but only some make sence, and i believe that thoose are the ones that are right. but thoose are my beliefs, dont get me wrong. if you think other things are right based upon the religion you follow then go ahead and believe that.

Okay, then. I still don't get why you can't include the major religions. I mean, think about it, when Christianity first started, some one(s) had to create the image of God, I'm not saying they made it up, but more that they had to set it down in words/stories etc. for the followers. This is what people who make up their own religions do, in all actuality.

Well...yeah. I might not agree with you saying that somebody else created the image of my God (we can, and have, discussed Christianity's validity in other forums, so lets please leave that out), however the topic at hand is people creating their own image of God, not following one that has been set before them.

Oh so because someone else created the image for you, it's not valid? (I'm not being harsh or sarcastic, I'm truly wondering how we're defining this...)

Ha ha...it took only about 10 minutes before that question was asked! The reason why the religions you listed (with exception of Greek mythology, Pagan, and Wicca...if you mentioned Wicca) are not subject to this is question is that those religions have holy books written by either the founder of the religion or through people representing God, and they are thus following a set idea of God instead of creating their own.

The Christian God differs from the Jewish God, and the Muslim God, even though they are technically, theologically the same being, does it not?

Your question does not even have to pertain to those who mix and match their religions. Zeus differs with Allah, Dagda differs with Zeus, the Christian God is all on Its own, really. Yet, whether you are Christian, pagan, Muslim, Jewish, Hindu, Buddhist, and whatever else, you believe your God is the True God, the supreme being.

So, the question pertains to absolutely everyone who believes in a deity: How do you justify believing in your God?

What gets me is when people say that they believe in Jesus, change the things he tought to better suite them, and then advertise it. Yes God is a forgiving God, but he will not conform to your views.