Where do I belong?

I want to go to church. I really do. I was born and raised Catholic. I think that there are a lot of faults with that religion, so, I am not a Catholic any more. Since that was the way I was raised, I am finding it hard to find another church to go to. I want my kids to go to church every Sunday. Finding a church that share my beliefs has been tricky to say the least.

I believe that Jesus is the son of God. I believe you should only worship God. I believe that both the Old Testament and the New Testament are of great importance. I believe that Jesus perfected the old law and did not replace it. I believe that the Kosher ways of eating are very important and would love to learn more about it. I believe that you should celebrate the birth, and the death and resurection of Jesus. I believe in ceramonies and traditions because they help remind you of the seriousness of the matter. I do not believe that you should discourage anyone from going to church because life delt them some crappy cards at one point. I believe in Baptism. I believe that even if you were sprinkeled, or even if you were a child or infant, you were baptised. Saying someone was not baptised because they were sprinkeled at infancy, is rude and uncalled for.

Now, with all that said, as you can see it is quite difficult for me to find a church. So, please if you have any pointers I would appreciate it. I really do want to go to church. My spirit is craving it. I just dont know where I belong. Finding a new denomination is scary. Especially since I dont know much about other denominations.





[edit on 12-11-2005 by mrsdudara]

"Where do I belong?"



If you are where you are you are there because you belong there.

It's not a place you are looking for. It is a GOD that is everywhere and is omnipotent and omnipresent that you are looking for.

No one can define what religion will fullfill the requirements for you if you don't use your own mind to determine what GOD would be able to fullfill the expectations you put on GOD. But, understand your true intentions within you dictate what perception of GOD you will ultimatley be willing to fully believe in.

Be true to yourself.

"What you are looking for is what is looking"
Saint Francis of A sea see?

I took this test once just to see what it would say and I found it very revealing and interesting and surprisingly accurate.

www.beliefnet.com...



I agree with E. Teacher (hey! We agree on something!) that you are, by definition on your path, which is where you belong.

[edit on 12-11-2005 by Benevolent Heretic]

Apparently I should be a "Mahayana Buddhist".

A church is a gathering of people in the name of Christ. Use your intuition, check out any church you like and see what it feels like. To me that is much more important than their beliefs, which to me are not that important.

Well, I'm not sure what to suggest other than to learn about as many Christian religions as you can. I would suggest learning about other religions as well, but since you mentioned you believe in Jesus and baptism, it looks like you're already pointed in that direction. I'd go with reading the Bible and then deciding for yourself which church most closely fits with its teachings.

Also, that beliefnet link that Benevolent Heretic suggested; I took that test about 6 months ago, and found it quite accurate, since it picked my first choice (at 100%) as the religion I actually practice, Mormonism. I also scored in the high 90s for Bahai and Buddhism, and I think 7th day adventist was fairly high up there, as well.

My personal top choices for (Christian) religions would be Mormonism, 7th day Adventist, and Catholicism, in that order. Of course, I am biased, since I was raised as a Mormon. I also find a lot of similarities between Mormonism and the Adventists beliefs, and several of my relatives on my mom's side of the family are Catholics. Modern Catholicism is pretty good, but I don't like a lot of the things they did in their history, which is why it's 3rd on my list.

Honestly, as long as you don't go scientologist on me, I'd support whatever you choose. (I don't like scientology at all)

My results of the test - 1. Reform Judaism (100%)
And I was born Muslim! my mother would die! lol



I have often wondered about the religion I was born to, yet do not practice, as I don't agree with all of the "rules" and wonder how it would be if I had been born of another faith.
I do believe in God, but not a book to live my life by.

However I have at times, wished I was born into a different religion, and feel I would probably then practice faithfully.

I feel ashamed for feeling this way but cannot help it. Is this bad ?

I'm sorry for flipping this on to me mrsdudara. I unfortunately do not know of churches or a direction to suggest to you. The othe rmembers are doing an excellent job in responding to your questions though

100% Quaker What the heck?

Well, thank you very much for the link. I read up on the Quakers and found that it didnt match me very well, but the second was protesant (sp?) That link was very helpful. I was able to find out what I wanted to know about all the different religions. I think I am going to go with protestant thing. Lutheran to be exact. I have been reading up on it quite a bit today and found it right on (so far) with my beliefs. What a relief. I cant wait to go to church.

Esoteric teacher, I do truely believe that God is everywhere. This time though, a place is exactly what I was looking for. A place to learn more, a place that would help me teach my children, and a place to gather with others and celebrate what is important. Hopefully I have found it. Thank you for your wise advice though. However I have found that your remarkable knack for teaching in brain twisters has knotted my brain and left me in need of an asprin. hehehe. (no offence or disrespect intended)

Im Jaded, no problem, Im in the same boat. I hope that someday you can find where your faith belongs. When that day comes I am sure you will practice faithfully. I didnt believe in most of the rules of Catholicism, but it is important to me that my children get the education they deserve. So I am out there learning all I can and finding where we belong. That link seriously helped a bunch, I am totaly dumb on other religions.(seriously, I knew that jews dont believe in Jesus, and thats it. That is all I knew about all other religions. still kind of confused on what muslims believe in) With a strict Catholic, firey, Irish tempered Moma, I was too scared to ask about other religions HAHA. She would have had me in confession and praying for a month. Unfortunatly, she is not like that anymore. She doesnt even go to church anymore. My dad left her after 26 years. He divorced her and since divorce is a no no, she no longer has a place in the church she went to at 8:00 every Sunday morning with out fail for some 30 plus years. sorry, kind of went off subject there.

Anyways, Thanks again everyone.

I say and harm none do what you will. Live your life in perfect love and in perfect trust, at least strive for this tall order.

I took the test and here are my top 5 results:

1. Neo-Pagan (100%)
2. Jainism (97%)
3. Mahayana Buddhism (93%)
4. Hinduism (93%)
5. New Age (78%)

Me a Pagan? heheh

My Mother-in-law is a Quaker and they are really great people. But yes, your beliefs sounded a bit more traditionally Christian than Quaker to me, too.

I like how that site has information on many religions.

Hahahha...that test is very interesting:
Sikhism 100%
Reform Judaism 98%
Baha'i Faith 97%
Islam 94%

I suppose it's logical, as all those religions have some influence of Islam (my religion).

Mrsdudara, there is also the option of believing what you believe, and just going to any church. When something comes up that you don't agree with, just don't agree with it. When you get back home explain what your opinion is to your kids.

babloyi, that is easier said than done hon. You see, some dont believe baptism is important. Others frowned on me because I was sprinkled....well so was my 8 year old, he wouldnt understand that. Theres the Catholics who are now saying listen to us not the bible because the bible has faults. My mom was not able to go to church when she needed it the most. I am prolife others are strongly prochoice. My Dad and his side of the family are RLDS (a break off the mormans), I personally do not believe in the book of mormon, or half of their other beliefs. Just because I dont believe in those things, does not mean I do not like the people. I dont want to be associated to a church whose number one goal is to judge other religions. Those are too big to just explain to the kids when we get home. I am not going to be on this earth forever, and some times my kids will need someone to talk to other than mom and dad. So, I want a safe place for my kids to go if they ever need to talk to another adult. It will be better and less confusing for them if those other adults share the same beliefs. I also want to know that they will always be welcome there. So, you see, finding the right church for me and my family is very important to me, and not an easy task.

Benevolent, nothing aginst Quakers. To be quite honest, I didnt even know it was a religion untill I checked out your link.

Any faith that aspires to have its people proliferate in a world where tolerance and acceptance of others are its highest goals, and attempts to achieve this through intolerance and unacceptance is not a choice faith for me, personally.

The test questions did not always offer the most appropriate answer option for what I truly believe, so I answered some questions by simply picking the closest to what I believe in, although it was not my real belief.

Keeping that in mind, here were my results:

1. Unitarian Universalism (100%)
2. Liberal Quakers (92%)
3. Mahayana Buddhism (92%)
4. Mainline to Liberal Christian Protestants (90%)
5. New Age (89%)
6. Neo-Pagan (88%)
7. Theravada Buddhism (87%)
8. Hinduism (80%)
9. New Thought (73%)
10. Jainism (72%)
11. Christian Science (Church of Christ, Scientist) (70%)
12. Orthodox Quaker (69%)
13. Sikhism (68%)
14. Bahá'í Faith (66%)
15. Scientology (65%)
16. Reform Judaism (63%)
17. Taoism (61%)
18. Secular Humanism (56%)
19. Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints (Mormons) (46%)
20. Seventh Day Adventist (46%)
21. Jehovah's Witness (42%)
22. Orthodox Judaism (41%)
23. Mainline to Conservative Christian/Protestant (40%)
24. Eastern Orthodox (32%)
25. Roman Catholic (32%)
26. Nontheist (31%)
27. Islam (31%)


But, do these results define me and my true beliefs, or simply offer me a roadmap to understand those faiths in existance that come closest to what I choose to believe, or what society/culture and my environment have supplied me with?

P.S.

Benevolent Heretic: I think we agree upon far more than you may currently know of.

I don't know what size town you are in. I attend an Evangelical Free Church. Go on the internet and do a search for Ev. Free Churches in your town or near you. Until then if you have TV you probably can watch Charles Stanley, he speaks the truth. David Jeremiah also. Keep looking and don't give up.

What kind of faults?



I noticed you didn't say "I believe that what you believe is what really matters."




Have you checked out a local UU church?

Water baptism is an outward sign of an inward condition, and also a public statement of a person's faith placed in Christ. As such it should not be done until the person is old enough to know what it means and to have done what it means.

I'm beginning to see that, because that's my exact first line, too!

Well, as for what kind of faults, I could really go on and on to be quite honest. However, they are faults through my eyes. I am not going to condim any religion. I am not saying anyone is wrong....well except devil worship, that is wrong. Other than that, everyone is entitled to what they believe. As for the Catholic beliefs, I do not believe that you should give someone the boot in their hour of need. My husband was in a bad marriage, and after 10 years divorced her. They will not baptise our children now because of that. BUT if we get it annauled they will. Having it annauled, is saying he didnt believe it was a holy matrimony. He did believe it was. He worked hard to make it work, but sometimes things dont work out. Anyway, I believe that Jesus told the children to come to him. I think it was wrong that they would not allow my children to be baptised and go to their church. They incouraged us to get the annulment saying that it was just paper work. In my mind that is an out right lie. That is breaking one of the 10 commandments. A church should never incourage you to sin. We could only go and our kids could only belong their and be baptised if we sinned.....sorry but I dont think so. Also, I went to church every Sunday. Went through the classes every week the whole nine yards. Through all that, I learned very little about the bible. The more I read, the more I realize that much of what I did learn is in fact not written anywhere in the bible. Now they are putting out a book and saying to trust the church not the bible because the bible has faults. SORRY so NOT COOL with that. Last for now, Mary is not the mother of God. It doesnt matter how you twist that around and look at it, she is not the mother of God.

On a different note, I am finding that quite a few denominations do not believe in Satan. that hit me from out of no where. Sorry if that offends anyone, but that is the first I ever heard that Satan is not real. So I recon I will narrow my search down to these belief requirements:

God
Jesus is the son of God
Satan
baptism
bible (only)


Again, I am not in any way trying to dis any religion. This is my search for a church with my beliefs. I just want to make that clear so that no one is offended.

Also, spamandham, what is the UU Church?

Why is that wrong?



I've never heard of children being held responsible for the actions of
parents, but I suppose it happens. I an understand your frustration.



The Catholic church does not consider the Bible the final authority, but rather, the church itself represents god's authority on earth to them. Considering the church of Rome is reponsible not only for the books that ended up in the New Testament, but also the versions, I find it odd that people ridicule that church's authority while simultaneously accepting the authority of the book they assembled.



Why do you?



Unitarian Universalist. A lot of former Catholics end up there or Methodist.

I think devil worshiping is wrong because it is. Worshiping Satan is a bad thing. I dont care how it is described or justified......it is wrong. Doing evil things and worshiping the prince of all evil things is a bad thing.

About your question of Satan,
I believe in Satan because he is real. I believe in hell because hell is real. I believe in God because God is real. That is my faith. TO ME, asking me why I believe in satan is as silly as asking me why I believe in God.

I looked into the UU church, and I think I am still going to go check out the Luthern Church next Sunday. I have found that I believe in most of the Evangical Luthern Church's beliefs.

If anyone has any other suggestions, please let me know. I would love to look into it. This has turned out to be an intersting journey to say the least. It is surprising to see how differently Christians believe. They all believe in something different.

I personally attend a Assembly of God denomination church, but find that Church of God, and Baptist to be fine as well. I've attended a Church of Christ service, and liked the teaching, but found their obsessiveness on the absence of musical instruments odd. These denominations can best be summed up as Protestant, which I believe you would find most up you alley. They all have varying difference of belief but I don't believe that there are any issues of difference that are core issues.

Core Issues:
Christ is the only mediator between God and man: (Sorry Pope)
The Bible is the Word of God. (All other scriptures that differ are incorrect)
Faith in Jesus and his work on the cross is all that is needed for salvation.
Salvation is by Grace alone. Your which may reflect your faith have no part in salvation.

Having read the Lutheran list of beliefs, I think you're on the right track.

You're going to hear all sorts of things like "That denomination is post-trib, or that denomination doesn't like music. Again, look at the core set of beliefs in the Protestant movement and you'll see that these are not core issues, or not necessary for salvation. For instance is water baptism necessary for salvation? I submit for evidence the thief on the cross.

Communion...does the bread and wine actually turn into the blood and body of Christ. It still tastes like grape juice to me, but if you want to believe it does, then that's fine with me. It's the meditation on what Christ did that's important.