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Trisk · 02-24-2006, 11:06 AM

No, I'm not Christian.
This may be hard to comprehend from a Christian point of view, but I consider myself Jewish - not so much religiously as culturally.
I'm not sure if I believe in a God, or all of the events and miracles in the Torah. I do, however, believe that there is probably some historical basis for the religious texts - considering that various other ancient writings speak of similar events occuring, such as the flood from which the story of Noah's Ark comes.
Why am I going into this? Well, some non-religious people claim that they're not religious because they don't believe the things in the texts existed or happened. I'm not claiming certain events and people didn't exist or happen, but I'm just not sure if I agree with the reasons and ways that they happened. For example, I do believe Jesus the person existed. I just don't believe all the Christian texts associated with his birth and mission. To me, he is just a person that preached Judaism from a different perspective and ended up having a lot of influence.

As for my religion - well, Judaism is just rich with tradition. I mean, nearly every Jewish person you meet can probably come up with fond memories of grandparents and passover and latkes and matzo ball soup and singing, dancing etc. There are also certain values that Jews hold highly which I respect and agree with. I feel that I share, through lineage, a history. Most Jews were born of Jewish mothers (as opposed to conversion, as Judaism doesn't try very hard to convert people) and therefore, to me, it is almost like a race. I mean, if people can dig up traces of that lineage from our past and murder us for it (as has been done), it really does bring it out of the realm of religious belief.
So, while I do not really act like a Jew in the religious sense, I feel strongly connected to the religion, history, and to other Jews.
Also, while I am not so much a believer in any specific religious texts, I do believe that there are supernatural forces of some sort on earth. I won't go around preaching their existance, however, because we can never really know, right? I just like to think there are.

02-24-2006, 11:06 AM	#14 (permalink)
Trisk Insane	No, I'm not Christian. This may be hard to comprehend from a Christian point of view, but I consider myself Jewish - not so much religiously as culturally. I'm not sure if I believe in a God, or all of the events and miracles in the Torah. I do, however, believe that there is probably some historical basis for the religious texts - considering that various other ancient writings speak of similar events occuring, such as the flood from which the story of Noah's Ark comes. Why am I going into this? Well, some non-religious people claim that they're not religious because they don't believe the things in the texts existed or happened. I'm not claiming certain events and people didn't exist or happen, but I'm just not sure if I agree with the reasons and ways that they happened. For example, I do believe Jesus the person existed. I just don't believe all the Christian texts associated with his birth and mission. To me, he is just a person that preached Judaism from a different perspective and ended up having a lot of influence. As for my religion - well, Judaism is just rich with tradition. I mean, nearly every Jewish person you meet can probably come up with fond memories of grandparents and passover and latkes and matzo ball soup and singing, dancing etc. There are also certain values that Jews hold highly which I respect and agree with. I feel that I share, through lineage, a history. Most Jews were born of Jewish mothers (as opposed to conversion, as Judaism doesn't try very hard to convert people) and therefore, to me, it is almost like a race. I mean, if people can dig up traces of that lineage from our past and murder us for it (as has been done), it really does bring it out of the realm of religious belief. So, while I do not really act like a Jew in the religious sense, I feel strongly connected to the religion, history, and to other Jews. Also, while I am not so much a believer in any specific religious texts, I do believe that there are supernatural forces of some sort on earth. I won't go around preaching their existance, however, because we can never really know, right? I just like to think there are.