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Is there such a thing as an Aspie that believes in God or love New Age?

midlife aspie said:
The Mahatma had something to say about this sort of thing:
"Religions are only different roads to the same place. As long as we are going to the same place, what does it matter what road we take?"
He also said:
"I like your Christ. I dislike your Christians. Your Christians are so unlike your Christ".
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To be fair, we Christians believe that Christ is perfect and that we are tainted by sin. Ergo Christians not being exactly like Christ.
 
I think if I am to take Pascals wager seriously, I'll have to believe in all gods equally, or at least pick the nicest ones.
 
I have a very logical way of thinking. All of my priorities, what I believe to be true and almost every thing that I do are based on logical thought. I did not make a conscious decision to think this way, it is just the way that I am. I have been like this all of my life and most of the time, my way of thinking has served me well.

As I read and learn, it has become obvious to me that science and religion often disagree. Because of the way that I think, I agree with the science. I do this because it is what makes the most sense to me. Everyone should believe what makes the most sense to them.

However, that does not mean that I am against religion in any way. I would never, ever condemn any religion or any person for their religious beliefs. Their beliefs are wonderful. I have met people whose personal peace of mind is remarkable. Good people who do good things. This is not a bad thing, it can turn peoples lives around. There is a young lady here who has written about her abusive life and where it lead her. Now, because of her church and her beliefs, she has turned her life around. This is a very nice thing to read about.
 
I'm an aspie, so I don't have to be PC. The reason there are so many religions is that each starts with a different world view, sees a different problem, offers a different solution, and has a different final destination.
While they might use the same words, the meanings can be extremely different. Don't tell me all religions are the same because they aren't.
Whatever I follow must be logical, internally consistent, and livable. In my mind, that only leaves one option.
 
midlife aspie said:
The Mahatma had something to say about this sort of thing:
"Religions are only different roads to the same place. As long as we are going to the same place, what does it matter what road we take?"
He also said:
"I like your Christ. I dislike your Christians. Your Christians are so unlike your Christ".
Click to expand...
Say, that's pretty clever.
 
zurb said:
I'm an aspie, so I don't have to be PC. The reason there are so many religions is that each starts with a different world view, sees a different problem, offers a different solution, and has a different final destination.
While they might use the same words, the meanings can be extremely different. Don't tell me all religions are the same because they aren't.
Whatever I follow must be logical, internally consistent, and livable. In my mind, that only leaves one option.
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The different pantheons are surprisingly similar.

Atheism really isn't consistent. It's just Christianity without the deity.
 
I believe in God. I was also a pastor's daughter and raised in the church. I don't go to church anymore because of social problems/bullying, but I still believe in God and the Bible.
 
Sportster said:
In response to the question, yes, I believe in God and have trusted in Jesus as my Savior. And despite holding several seminary degrees, I still don't have all the answers.
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We will never have ALL of the answers, my friend. God answers us in mysterious ways, therefore, He doesn't want us to have everything all figured out. If we can believe without seeing, that's something that makes God happy.
 
My thoughts on this are pretty simple, really. If supernatural stuff exists... and I'm not one to say that it does or doesnt (I like to just say "I have no bloody clue") then to me, it's simply stuff that our science hasnt been able to get at yet. With a high enough level of science, things like that maybe COULD be understood. It actually kinda reminds me of a short story by Arthur C. Clarke, where this guy (a space traveller) had inadvertantly been at light-speed for too long, and upon coming back to Earth, found that humans were on their way towards becoming Q-like entities (the Q being from Star Trek, for those that dont know, in that series they are stupidly powerful beings with the ability to do basically anything on any scale, just by thinking about it), and it was explained to him that a scientific breakthrough had discovered that the "soul/spirit" was real, and existed as a quantum phenomenon, and could be enhanced somehow by science (because hey, sci-fi! May as well go big, right?), so they did exactly that and hit some sort of point of ascension. I always thought this was a pretty cool story bit, as it merged something that's usually considered supernatural/religious with science. And it goes along with my own way of thinking.

What bugs me, usually, is that so very, VERY many science-minded people have this bizarre assumption that the scientists of our silly planet know everything and can do no wrong; if they have not found it, CLEARLY it doesnt exist. Despite that we cant even understand our own bodies entirely, or even get off of this one stupid planet, unless we want to fly a few people to Mars at the speed of a dead frog in sludge. Yet still, that belief in the "Of COURSE they're correct because they havent found evidence" idea remains. I, personally, have always found this illogical. This is part of why I like to say "I simply dont know", which is the honest truth. Like ghosts for instance... maybe they exist, maybe they dont. How the heck should I know? I know one thing though, I'm not going to make assumptions in either direction. I simply acknowledge for the possibility, and also acknowledge that if it IS there, it's beyond our ability to get at right now. Whenever someone points out "Well there's just no evidence at all for the existence of ghosts (or whatever)" I always give the same response: "But you cant prove that there ARENT any. What you have is a lack of evidence. I have to tell you that a lack of evidence, in fact, is not evidence; thus the word "lack". By that same logic, I have 1000 pies in my room, which is proven by the lack of pies in my room".

Of course, this also applies to the religious-minded people out there, who tend to have that same "Of COURSE this is right!" mentality. So neither side is really exempt from that way of thinking. Natural psychology, I guess.

Though, to me, as long as neither side is pestering/demeaning the others for their beliefs or thoughts on the matter, then all is fine by me. Sadly, in alot of topics about such things, you get people jumping in just to say "NO, that's DEFINITELY wrong, you're ALL WRONG and this is stupid", which... yeah, doesnt help. I wish people wouldnt do that. It happens ALOT on a certain other forum I go to, and it's always irritating to see. Doesnt matter which side is doing it (and both of them do), it's still bad.

I always just refuse to argue about it though. I'll state my own opinion on the matter (which is basically what I did here) and if someone else disagrees.... oh well. That's fine. I'm not going to get into an arguement with them.
 
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I've just completed a short course in Buddhism through its Scriptures and although I still identify as athiest, it's given me a real insight into how religion works and how it reflects the culture at the time.

I think one of the biggest issues that people (not just Aspies) have with Christianity is that its teachings haven't evolved to fit the modern day.

In the course I took we were taught that the parables presented were just stories used as a delivery mechanism and we should extract the meaning and morals, then apply them to the modern day.

I used to think Christianity was impossibly far fetched and ridiculous but using this new insight as a concept, I now see all religions in a different light.

You can, in my opinion (and please don't be offended) treat the stories as just stories but still extract the meaning and identity as Christian. Let's take the Nativity as an example and forgo the story of the magic baby, etc. We are left with...

Humanity is struggling with a huge division between the rich and powerful and the poor and meek. Society can only work if all people are equal, so God sends his love to those who need it the most and empowers them to come together and stand united against oppression.

Jesus may have been a baby or he may have been a metaphor. Either way the moral of the story is the same. But I fear when people take the Bible as 'gospel' they can lose sight of the true meaning and discourage others from seeing it to.
 
I am a moderate Muslim so believe in God, as well as Angels, and also that there is an unseen world living in the same space as us but on another dimensional plane, inhabited by beings known as Jinn.
 
AGXStarseed said:
There's been a fair few people on this website who have said about their beliefs as well as other experiences. Here's two articles from the past about it:

https://www.aspiescentral.com/threads/autistic-with-telekinetic-gifts.12406/
https://www.aspiescentral.com/threads/autism-paganism-psychic-ability-and-the-paranormal.12639/
Click to expand...


I had a look at those... I'm moderately stunned by the fact that in both threads there's nobody jumping in to call everyone an idiot for believing in such things. EVERY other forum I've been to, that would happen, so.... needless to say, I tend not to really talk about anything like that, even if I might have reason to, because of inevitable bad reactions from people that do that sort of thing. Same IRL, really. But... actual threads where there's conversation about such topics yet that just isnt happening?

Seems this place might be alot more interesting than I originally thought.

There's other related stuff I could say here, but I cant bring myself to do it (as I normally never, ever do), so for now I wont. I'm probably not making a whole lot of sense here.
 
I'm a very logical person. I believe solidly in science and the laws of the universe, and I'm a neopagan wiccan. Spirituality and science aren't exclusive to each other, in fact a lot of the time they work mostly in harmony to complete the puzzle and answer life's biggest questions. I won't believe something if I cannot prove that it exists or is logical, which is why for a large time I identified as agnostic, luckily for me everything I believe in is compatible with science too. I don't think that people who believe in god or the supernatural are illogical either, everyone has their own belief system for their own reasons and I have no place doubting them.

(Short version, I could go on for hours about this topic. :D )
 
Valentine said:
Theology is one of my obsessions, being too brief would do a disservice to it in my opinion. I will try though.

If the Bible is true, then as you said a different path would ultimately lead to hell. Jesus said "I am the way and the truth and the life, and none may reach the Father but through me" (from memory so the wording may be slightly different) so if you believe Him, all other paths are paths to hell.

To some degree, all religions are exclusive. Even very open ones, as they will still reject any who directly contradict their belief systems.

When you say 'Wicca' do you mean new age ecclecticism in general or the specific religion of Wicca? The term is often used for both in USA where I live. I feel that either way you would run into moral relativism in one form or another, and that logically followed through leads to all sorts of potential evils as I understand it. Once morality becomes relative, people use that relativism to justify various abuses.

In addition to archaeological support for Biblical events, I feel that the unwavering moral teachings make Christianity more desirable.

This is all my opinion and I in no way am trying to belittle other faiths.
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Well said, Valentine, and I am one who has studied Christian theology for over thirty years. There is a tremendous hunger for spiritual experience out there, but authentic spirituality is the question, and Christ is the only one in whom I have found that.

If one checks the world views of all 'religions' then there is a great deal of hopelessness, but personally I have found the only one to provide true hope is the radical middle ground of Christianity.
 
Misery said:
I had a look at those... I'm moderately stunned by the fact that in both threads there's nobody jumping in to call everyone an idiot for believing in such things. EVERY other forum I've been to, that would happen, so.... needless to say, I tend not to really talk about anything like that, even if I might have reason to, because of inevitable bad reactions from people that do that sort of thing.
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That's because everyone here is open minded and supportive of others. Plus we all know what it's like to see the world differently than others so we've probably come to respect different perspectives and views, even if we don't share or understand them.
 
I am very solidly a spiritual empiricist. I believe in the scientific method, logic and seeking truth through knowlege. I also have a great curiosity of that which has not and perhaps cannot be known. I don't feel a need to seek hope, redemption or the everlasting through religion, but I do like the stories, lessons and debates.
 
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