Poll: Why did you join this Group?

Remember you can vote anonymously we don't mind :)

I voted.....YAY!!!!!!!!!!!!!

If you want to see the poll results without voting, I don't know how to do that but if you vote it will show you the poll results to you! :)

I love polls! I'm an "experience and history" gal. Grew up in a haunted house and while I was scared at first am now most intrigued. Same old story ... I feel like that's the POV a lot of folks in the field are coming from. :)

It's almost as if a person needs to have their own experience before really being able to believe in this type of thing. Yet there are millions upon millions of church going folk.............................makes me wonder about that sometimes.

You are right there Kaspr I have to agree with you. A lot of my friends would not beleive in the Paranormal thought it was a joke until something happened to them.. thanks for sharing. and it too makes me wonder as well...

I voted too! Thanks Mainemom- this is so clever. Have no idea how you did this- but really cool!  I agree summer, I love polls too. 

As far a "church-going folk"...I think its a bunch of reasons; fear,denial, a firm belief that when we die there are only two options- immediate judgement and your ticket to either Heaven or Hell, just to suggest a few.  Folks from Christian- Based religions are instructed to not entertain spirit activity because of the deceptiveness of other entities. There really is no way of knowing if you are talking to deceased relatives or something else. I was sort of at that mindset until my encounter with a relative I had never met. A lot happened to finally convince me that some people do not move on-they can stay for brief periods of time or hundreds of years. So I agree with kaspr- I think people need their own experience to spark a desire to try and figure it out.

I am glad you all like the polls I will have to take up some new creative ones here soon.
My son wants to be a minister of his own church which I find enlightening that is his goal in life.  I am all for it the family is too.
He has been to friend's churches before and has seen things with his gifts.
So for us we do church at home. We have Bible time and prayer time on Sunday and he talks with Grandpa endlessly on the word in the Bible and every night he reads  to Grandpa from the Bible.
Which I find wonderful for them both!

It's interesting. I actually am fairly spiritual, especially since I'm married to an atheist! I was raised in a protestant household and attended baptist summer camps as an adolescent but I'm not church going now. I pray most nights (though I catch myself doing it more in times of stress or when I "want something" - shame on me!) but I'm working on it!

I try to  pray every night and light a candle for those in need of prayers.
And try to send them prayers and blessings to them.
Some nights are harder then others for me..with my disease and all but I do it most nights.
I have to ask you something Tulip.  Please take no offense to this but I would like to know something. What is it like living with an Atheist and you being a spiritual person? How does that affect you to raising your child later with religious beliefs? I am just curious...Like as your child gets older and wants God in his life, would there be a problem on your husband's part with that? Knowing that mom accepts his wishes but dad probably won't...how would you two approach that with him? And how does it work for you two in your marriage being that one of you has religion and the other does not beleive at all?
It is okay if you don't want to answer if it is too personal I understand. I was just curious. Thanks in advance.

It's a great question, Lynne. I tend to play towards the middle when dealing with them both and not necessarily talk about God but emphasize the core character traits of spiritual people, if that makes sense. So even at 2 and a half, I talk to him about honesty, trust, perserverance, responsibility, kindness, generosity etc. He "writes" thank you notes for all gifts received to practice appreciation etc. I tend to just try to focus on the character traits and will let him make his own decisions about what path he wants to follow spiritually as he gets older. It's the best I've been able to come up with, because I think hubby would have some serious opposition if I wanted to take him to church, though honestly, I've never felt like regular church attendance had any bearing on how spiritual I was, so that's not a huge loss for Jake or I in my estimation.

Does that make sense? I think I got rambling there, SHOCKING I know! LOL 

I don't put a  lot into Church participating I think Church is and has become more of a Social Event to show "Airs" that people really don't have these days and show off then anything else..it seems everyone in churches are more into their clique's then recognizing why they are actually there to worship Him and not to put on "Airs" of how much money you have and/or that you are doing better then others... etc... most of the churches I  have ever been to that is all it seems to be I don't see the brotherly/sisterly love that should be there and the messages captured in any of the churches I have attended.

And the character is good that you are showing him... there is nothing wrong with that.. we tried to do that with our child.. I think we did okay lol best we could anyways! But we did also let him know there was a God and a Jesus and that he should respect them both and refrain from using either one's name in vain kind of thing and well he has taken the path himself of where he wants to be with to a Spiritual aspect of things now. We have explained when he asked the differences from Protestant, Catholic, Mormon and Baptist and Southern Baptist beliefs and Jehovah Witnesses beliefs from others beliefs...
And he has taken his own route.. that he wants to be a minister and have his own church...
He wants to help the poor and in need..with a soup kitchen with him cooking and open his church to donations and help others with it.. which is a good thing.. and he loves to cook so he is all set there.  :)

So like you for us not going to a church gathering is not a great loss for us.. I find it to be more a social affair then a worship affair...
But we also did not lead our child to a direct religion either..
So it is pretty much what we did with our son :)
I just was curious how having such two opposites religiously, it worked for your son and household and I thank you for sharing that with me and the others here...thank you again :)

Of course! It was a great question. I'll certainly support him in what he wants to do. It's interesteing with DH being a selfproclaimed atheist. His mother was VERY spiritual before she passed and I think that her passing caused a lot of his distrust in an afterlife or god of somekind. Otherwise, his mother wouldn't have passed in her 50's of lung cancer, kwim? What god would let that happen, in his thinking. He's got a point!

True but when we lost my mother in law to Cancer in her late 50's Lymphnode Cancer and Breast Cancer..we never questioned God in the process.. we looked at it as her time to go and everyone has a time to go.
Your ticket is handed to you and well you have to go... sort of like that show Dead Like Me.
They made a movie that continues that story you know I watched it, it was an awesome movie really..
Interesting though how something like this can happen and change a person's outlook on religion and God..it is understandable but everyone is different and how they see things in life and relate to things in life...
I cannot relate..but I do understand where he is coming from and how he must feel.
And his point of view on it..
Thank you again for explaining though.. it is appreciated...

I think it is common that people will question their beliefs when something terrible happens in their lives....... how could someone believe all their lives that their "creator" is a just and loving God that turns around and allows your first born child to be born with a terrible disorder that makes them severely disabled and dependant on others for the rest of their lives. Some of these kids will never talk, walk, or eat normal foods. Some suffer medical problem after medical problem, and every day is a challenge for them ...... what kind of a just and loving God would do that to an innocent babe, or the loving family they are born into?  Why would a God allow a 23 year old mother to develop and die from Cancer leaving her young children without her?  Or a 9 y.o. girl who develops a cancer and has to suffer an amputation and horrible chemo only to end up passing away as her family sobs by her side.?   I prefer to think that these things happen because they were meant to happen, possibly because of an error on a cellular level sometime during development, or through genetic interference. And that also it is possible that toxins that we put into our bodies, through breathing or eating, can affect the 'start date' that these abnormal cells start multiplying and making us ill. So that being said, there is no blame to be placed as to why these things happen...... no one is singled out for punishment, or to test their faith. Because the truth is , these things would happen whether you were a strict Catholic, or a self professed atheist because that is what your body has been wired to do.         (these views in no way reflect the views of MGHS, and are solely my own thoughts on the matter.................LOL)           Lisa B.

You are very right with your ideas there Lisa I have to agree there are people out there just like you stated.. and it is very understandable. Thanks for posting and sharing.. lots of things for thought here.

Yes, this has turned into a very interesting conversation!! I love it!

Yes it has and you know what i like about this group that no matter our opinions we are all adult enough to accept them and realize that everyone is different and we don't have the drama about it like most groups...you know?

The dead sea scrolls have a passage called the Scripture of Thomas. Carbon dating has aged it to around the first century, and is considered to be the closest writings to the time of Christ, and in them it states that a person doesn't have to go to Church to commune with God. All they have to do is sit and think about it. It states that a person is just a close sitting under a tree for an afternoon, as going to church for an hour on Sunday.