spirituality/religion-what do you believe?

Ok, first off, I'd like to set guidelines for posts in this thread, or it'll go downhill really quick.
Please don't contradict other people ("You're wrong, this is how it really is." "You will go to hell for that." etc.)
State your opinion, or your belief, again, not "This is how it is!" but rather "This is how I believe it is."
Just your beliefs is all I ask. I posted this cause I'm really curious about what you believe in, are you of a specific religion, or branch of a religion? Are there parts of your religion you don't agree with, or don't choose to follow? Do you disagree with religions entirely?

I consider myself to be religious. Not of any set faith or following, although I suppose I'm closest to Protestant.
For life after death, I believe that whatever you believe in is what exists. Personally, I believe in a Heaven, or at least a "better place" but not in a Hell. The basis of my belief is my sig line: "Every action in life is a single brush stroke, only in death is the final painting revealed." Basically saying that your entire life, and your actions during it, ad up at the end, and that is how you will be immortalized.
I believe in Evolution, and that a higher being directed it.
I pray, and when I pray, I address "God." Not any specific God, not male, female, animal, or human. Just God.
I believe that everyone serves a purpose in life, and when that purpose has been served, that person dies.
I believe in reincarnation.
I believe that God loves us all, regadless of our beliefs.

That's a basic sorta outline of my beliefs, what does the rest of NSMB have to say?
Please don't turn this into a shit flinging debate on whether or not God can exist and still let people die/be unhappy/etc.
Feel free to comment on other's beliefs, but please keep it civil.
Thanks
Sam

For the most part I don't belive in God, then I see something like this OH MY GOD!!! and tend to rethink my position

Ya know i totally agree with your beliefs and spirituality but with all do respect this is a really a dumbass forum to post this kinda stuff on. i mean thats cool that you wanna know what other people think and everything but (without trying to sound rude) dont you have anythink better to do??

Ya know i totally agree with your beliefs and spirituality but with all do respect this is a really a dumbass forum to post this kinda stuff on. i mean thats cool that you wanna know what other people think and everything but (without trying to sound rude) dont you have anythink better to do??

my to do list:
vacuum living room
Make dinner
find something to do tonite.
shower/clean new piercing
I have 3 hours in which to do all that, so no, not really.

I could have gone through your post and tried to find spelling mistakes too, but I decided that that was too much of a waste of time. I'm simply curious as to what people believe. I'm sure everyone here has some thought on the topic, and I'm interested in hearing them.

No such thing as god IMO. our mind runs on electical impulses like a computer. When we die our mind shuts down. My thought is, if our mind is like a comp then does that mean a comp has a spirit? no.

But I toally respect people who are religous. I can see how people want somthing to live for. And people like to believe in a higher power.

Also, if there is a god, I dont think im screwd as far as getting into heaven is concerned. I mean, i have morals, i try to lead a good life. If god turns me down at the gates for not going to church and questioning his existance, than he is not the god that other people say he/she is and i wouldnt want to be a part of him/her.

I'm a Christian, and like you Squamch, I don't consider myself to be of any particular denomination, but since I'm not Catholic, I guess I'm closest to Protestant beliefs. And yes, there are many things I don't agree with about Christianity, but I don't have the time to go through them all. For me, being a Christian means that I believe that Jesus died for my (and everyone else's) sins so that I (and everyone else) can be with God after we die.

I guess my biggest differing belief is that I'm not sold on the accepted Christian idea of Creation. I do believe in Creation, that God had a hand in what the universe is today, but I also believe that that includes evolution, and more than likely the Big Bang, or something like it.

i don't believe in god but i believe jesus was a real person but i don't believe they part where he came back a live. i believe when people die we come back as other ppl but that we just don't know that we were others. sorta like reincarnation. but our minds are put into others bodies. and we get reborn sorta. kinda hard to explain. deja vu's are from our past life.

Agnostic.

[edit]
For those who don't realize what that is

No. An atheist, like a Christian, holds that we can know whether or not there is a God. The Christian holds that we can know there is a God; the atheist, that we can know there is not. The Agnostic suspends judgment, saying that there are not sufficient grounds either for affirmation or for denial. At the same time, an Agnostic may hold that the existence of God, though not impossible, is very improbable; he may even hold it so improbable that it is not worth considering in practice. In that case, he is not far removed from atheism.

Found a decent explanation online. I believe in something greater than myself, but think all religions ony have it partially right.

I kind of forgot about that issue, People say god put fossiles on earth to test our faith. Not my belief. I dont know how we got here, but i dont think it was in seven days thats all.

The Christian holds that we can know there is a God; the atheist, that we can know there is not.

Another problem I have with my religion. Philosophically speaking, you can't claim to know whether there is a God or not. You can believe one way or the other, but you can't know.

i believe there is something greater out there. not really a "God" as he is made out to be but a higher spiritual power.

For the most part I don't belive in God, then I see something like this OH MY GOD!!! and tend to rethink my position

I'm an atheist. The idea of a boogeyman that created the universe seems incredibly silly to me. However, Gooch, you have a very good point. I mean, that's what I would do if I was all-powerful.
But how do you explain those ugly, chinless people?

I'm jewish. I don't believe in god.

I'm jewish. I don't believe in god.

You mean Jesus.