Belief-O-Matic: an encapsulation of my shift in faith in the past few months
1. Liberal Quakers (100%) 2. Unitarian Universalism (98%) 3. Neo-Pagan (89%) 4. Reform Judaism (85%) 5. Mainline to Liberal Christian Protestants (84%) 6. New Age (83%) 7. Mahayana Buddhism (81%) 8. Baha'i Faith (78%) 9. Sikhism (72%) 10. Jainism (70%) 11. Secular Humanism (70%) 12. New Thought (65%) 13. Theravada Buddhism (63%) 14. Taoism (61%) 15. Hinduism (61%) 16. Scientology (59%) 17. Orthodox Judaism (50%) 18. Orthodox Quaker (48%) 19. Christian Science (Church of Christ, Scientist) (47%) 20. Islam (46%) 21. Nontheist (43%) 22. Mainline to Conservative Christian/Protestant (25%) 23. Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints (Mormons) (23%) 24. Seventh Day Adventist (22%) 25. Eastern Orthodox (17%) 26. Roman Catholic (17%) 27. Jehovah's Witness (14%)
That's, well, quite a shift from the last time I took it. Sorry Catholics, at least you're not absolutely last :-p Although I'm not sure why I'm more Mormon than I am Catholic. And more Scientologist, ack.
Anyway, I find both the Liberal Quaker and UU ranks to be underwhelming, because they don't stick to much doctrine at all. Which is great, sure, but, how is one to say if he or she isn't a Quaker or UU :-p And I find Neo-Pagans to be kind of tiresome sometimes. Whatev
But my faith now is very loose and fluctuating and unstable and I love the uncertainty. Really. I need a very big dartboard to figure out what I am everyday. My very main concern is God's immanence, recognizing and being grateful for God's presence in all of creation, and figuring out how to live and the meaning of life in light of it all. The problem I've had with a lot of religion is how much it neglects life now in favor of salvation later. I want to live now and know how to live now. My entire consciousness is wrapped up in this existential...crisis? It doesn't feel like a crisis, but this existential thing. I feel very strongly monotheistic, but trending toward a process theology or panentheism, or just something unorthodox. But I've never felt so absolutely connected to my spirituality.
It was a problem I'd had for awhile, that while Jesus is awesome, I don't want to build a barrier of the cross, or believing in Jesus - whatever that means - around God. God is freely available and not brokered by having the right doctrine or worship service or stained glass windows or whatever. Therefore I'm not much for organized religion anymore. Or I am, I still go to church to connect and listen and learn, but know that I commune with God freely in my life; God is not locked up in any little box.
So my faith has transcended religion and strayed into the yard of philosophy hardcore. I'm thinking of being a Neoplatonist - God is the very highest good, but contemplation is the second highest, and I have been struggling to figure out what it means to live a good life. I've also thought about being a Jewish mystic - they seem like my best bet for monotheists who respect women, and it'd have to be something mystical rather than traditional. I've also thought about being a Buddhist - I thought that Buddhism would be much higher on my BeliefNet results - but monotheism isn't there enough sometimes for me. Or maybe I'm just a mess and need to take a break. I am happy, though. When I first came to my conclusion that God is very immanent if not panentheistic, I wanted to die just so I could get Answers. Now I want to die a little bit less, certainly not before I solve my existential whatever. Dear God, please keep me inspired and unstable and growing up in faith.
That's, well, quite a shift from the last time I took it. Sorry Catholics, at least you're not absolutely last :-p Although I'm not sure why I'm more Mormon than I am Catholic. And more Scientologist, ack.
Anyway, I find both the Liberal Quaker and UU ranks to be underwhelming, because they don't stick to much doctrine at all. Which is great, sure, but, how is one to say if he or she isn't a Quaker or UU :-p And I find Neo-Pagans to be kind of tiresome sometimes. Whatev
But my faith now is very loose and fluctuating and unstable and I love the uncertainty. Really. I need a very big dartboard to figure out what I am everyday. My very main concern is God's immanence, recognizing and being grateful for God's presence in all of creation, and figuring out how to live and the meaning of life in light of it all. The problem I've had with a lot of religion is how much it neglects life now in favor of salvation later. I want to live now and know how to live now. My entire consciousness is wrapped up in this existential...crisis? It doesn't feel like a crisis, but this existential thing. I feel very strongly monotheistic, but trending toward a process theology or panentheism, or just something unorthodox. But I've never felt so absolutely connected to my spirituality.
It was a problem I'd had for awhile, that while Jesus is awesome, I don't want to build a barrier of the cross, or believing in Jesus - whatever that means - around God. God is freely available and not brokered by having the right doctrine or worship service or stained glass windows or whatever. Therefore I'm not much for organized religion anymore. Or I am, I still go to church to connect and listen and learn, but know that I commune with God freely in my life; God is not locked up in any little box.
So my faith has transcended religion and strayed into the yard of philosophy hardcore. I'm thinking of being a Neoplatonist - God is the very highest good, but contemplation is the second highest, and I have been struggling to figure out what it means to live a good life. I've also thought about being a Jewish mystic - they seem like my best bet for monotheists who respect women, and it'd have to be something mystical rather than traditional. I've also thought about being a Buddhist - I thought that Buddhism would be much higher on my BeliefNet results - but monotheism isn't there enough sometimes for me. Or maybe I'm just a mess and need to take a break. I am happy, though. When I first came to my conclusion that God is very immanent if not panentheistic, I wanted to die just so I could get Answers. Now I want to die a little bit less, certainly not before I solve my existential whatever. Dear God, please keep me inspired and unstable and growing up in faith.