Posted: May 25, 08 6:30pm
I am going to throw out a probably controversial question but truly I want to know everyone's thought on this, personal and otherwise.
Do people who belong to an "organized" religion follow a spiritual path or is it that they belong to a religious organization because it is or was a family tradition or they felt they needed to belong to a religious group?
I was born and raised in a strict Catholic home. When I became an adult and married a divorced man I really didn't know where to go. My spouse and I went to a non-denominational church. That was good until that pastor left. After that I wondered around a bit to a few different denominations and ended up with a small Southern Baptist church.
When I moved to Florida, I couldn't find a church that fit me although I felt it was important to raise my children in a church. I finally settled on a very large Southern Baptist church. I was saved and had full immersion baptism and so where my children. I thought we needed to belong to a religious group because that had been ingrained in my mind since childhood. This was the "right" thing to do even though it didn't befit me spiritually.
Once my kids where grown and my life turned upside down (long story), only then did I search a spiritual path. I personally find this different than going to a church. I am following my spiritual instinct. I feel a connection which I had never felt while attending church in any of the denominations.
Also, as an additional thought on the same topic, do you think Atheist/Agnostic just haven't sought out their own spiritual path? They follow science which has debunked biblical belief and in as such they have denied any existence of a Diety or Dieties. Have atheist explored spirituality beyond biblical belief? Science has not, as of yet, excluded all spiritual theories and philosophies.
