September 2009 Weddings
Dear Community,
Our tech team has launched updates to The Nest today. As a result of these updates, members of the Nest Community will need to change their password in order to continue participating in the community. In addition, The Nest community member's avatars will be replaced with generic default avatars. If you wish to revert to your original avatar, you will need to re-upload it via The Nest.
If you have questions about this, please email help@theknot.com.
Thank you.
Note: This only affects The Nest's community members and will not affect members on The Bump or The Knot.
Our tech team has launched updates to The Nest today. As a result of these updates, members of the Nest Community will need to change their password in order to continue participating in the community. In addition, The Nest community member's avatars will be replaced with generic default avatars. If you wish to revert to your original avatar, you will need to re-upload it via The Nest.
If you have questions about this, please email help@theknot.com.
Thank you.
Note: This only affects The Nest's community members and will not affect members on The Bump or The Knot.
The Friday Five
Nothing like a good ol' religious questionnaire to get our Friday rolling!
1. What religion, spirituality, or belief system were you raised in?
2. Do you subscribe to the same belief system now? If not, what do you believe/identify with now?
3. Is belonging to an organized religious community important to you? Why nor why not?
4. Have you read any holy texts? (Of your faith or another). Have they had/do they have any impact on your worldview? In what way?
5. Do you participate in any spiritual rituals? (Eg: prayer, religious services, nonsecular holidays, etc).
Re: The Friday Five
1. What religion, spirituality, or belief system were you raised in? I was raised Catholic
2. Do you subscribe to the same belief system now? If not, what do you believe/identify with now? Jon & I both converted to being Lutheran. I found it to be a bit more laid back and I was much more comfortable going to church there than I was any day at my Catholic church. Probably because it was forced upon me until I was 16.
3. Is belonging to an organized religious community important to you? Why nor why not? Not very. We have not been back to church since our wedding day. Unfortunately it just has not been at the top of our priority list on Sunday morning, but I wouldn't mind starting to go back.
4. Have you read any holy texts? (Of your faith or another). Have they had/do they have any impact on your worldview? In what way? Nope. I thought about getting a bible to read but just never have.
5. Do you participate in any spiritual rituals? (Eg: prayer, religious services, nonsecular holidays, etc). I usually just pray on my own. It probably doesn't make sense but, my feeling is that I can have a one on one relationship with God on my own without needing to go to church every Sunday.
1. What religion, spirituality, or belief system were you raised in? I was raised Catholic. I was baptised, had my First Communion, and have been Confirmed.
2. Do you subscribe to the same belief system now? If not, what do you believe/identify with now? No, I do not. I believe it was some time in middle school when I started questioning my personal beliefs, and it wasn't until I moved out of my parents' house that I finally followed my own path. To this day I consider myself Pagan, focusing on the elemental aspect of Wicca.
3. Is belonging to an organized religious community important to you? Why nor why not? I can understand how it could be, but being Pagan it's hard to find an organized group. In fact, the solitary to it is sometimes the appeal to those who practice. Of course, one could join a coven, but from what I've seen personally those are few and far between. The upside is that my close circle of friends is on a similar belief system, so we still have that community above everything else. Bust sometimes, I do miss the social aspect of an organized group, and if I REALLY wanted that I believe that is something a Unitarian Universalist church could provide, if I ever wanted to travel down that road.
4. Have you read any holy texts? (Of your faith or another). Have they had/do they have any impact on your worldview? In what way? I had to read the Bible when I was in college as a course requirement. Other than that, just my Wiccan texts, and yes, it was those that changed my worldview from the beginning.
5. Do you participate in any spiritual rituals? (Eg: prayer, religious services, nonsecular holidays, etc). I consider myself a solo practitioner, and I try to celebrate the Sabbats as best as I can. It's hard though, because it takes time, and that seems to be the one thing I don't have these days. But now, with Samhain (Halloween) and Yule (Christmas) coming up, I find it easier to make the time because there are secular celebrations during those times anyway. Personally though, so long as the spirituality is in your heart, I don't believe ritual is a requirement, but rather an added bonus.
updated 10.03.12
MFEO ?
updated 10.03.12
1. What religion, spirituality, or belief system were you raised in? I was raised Catholic. Went to Catholic school for 12 years.
2. Do you subscribe to the same belief system now? If not, what do you believe/identify with now? Yes and no. I still identify myself as Catholic, but I wouldn't say all of my beliefs are totally in line with Catholicism. The basics are still in line, just some of the downline from it is where it gets a little fuzzy. But it isn't important enough for me to find a community that is more in line with what I think, I don't really feel like the label is what's important.
3. Is belonging to an organized religious community important to you? Why nor why not? No, see above.
4. Have you read any holy texts? (Of your faith or another). Have they had/do they have any impact on your worldview? In what way? I've read various parts of the Bible several times in my life (Catholic school and all). Wouldn't say they were life changing, but interesting nonetheless.
5. Do you participate in any spiritual rituals? (Eg: prayer, religious services, nonsecular holidays, etc). We don't go to church, probably should more. We hit up the major holidays (Christmas, Easter), but I find that I'm more in touch with my spirituality in other ways here lately. Praying with several other hundred people doesn't make my feel closer to God. Being up in the mountains makes me feel closer to God. I do pray, but in a very informal way. Again, formal, memorized prayers feel stoic to me, not personal.
1. What religion, spirituality, or belief system were you raised in? - Christianity.
2. Do you subscribe to the same belief system now? If not, what do you believe/identify with now? - I still have some beliefs that line up with what Christianity teaches, but I don't identify myself as a Christian. I freely admit that no one religion is absolute. I think we can learn from them all.
3. Is belonging to an organized religious community important to you? Why nor why not? - No, it is not. As a child, church was at least a bi-weekly event, if not more. I honestly don't think it's necessary. I can learn on my own, I can fellowship with others on my own. I don't need a scheduled meeting time.
4. Have you read any holy texts? (Of your faith or another). Have they had/do they have any impact on your worldview? In what way? - I have. I have read the Koran, the Bible of course, some Hindu texts, some Buddhist texts, some Wiccan texts. I took a few religion courses in college so it was required reading, but as I said before, I think we can learn from all of these. no one religion has all the answers.
5. Do you participate in any spiritual rituals? (Eg: prayer, religious services, nonsecular holidays, etc). - I do pray. That's a personal thing for me. Sometimes I sing religious songs. I guess the only non-secular holiday I celebrate is Christmas, but that's been secularized so much I don't know if that qualifies. I haven't attended a religious service in about 5 years.
1. What religion, spirituality, or belief system were you raised in? Christian, Southern Baptist to be specific, but my stepdad and his family are Catholic, so we attended both churches growing up
2. Do you subscribe to the same belief system now? If not, what do you believe/identify with now? Yes, still Christian. We go to a Southern Baptist church, but I don't get that hung up on denominations.
3. Is belonging to an organized religious community important to you? Why nor why not? Yes, church puts things into perspective for me. I get too wrapped up in the stress of daily life and sometimes forget how blessed I really am.
4. Have you read any holy texts? (Of your faith or another). Have they had/do they have any impact on your worldview? In what way? I don't read the Bible enough, but I feel like it and everything about Christianity affects my worldview. I don't really see how it couldn't.
5. Do you participate in any spiritual rituals? (Eg: prayer, religious services, nonsecular holidays, etc). I pray and talk to God often. We go to church regularly. During religous holidays, we try to keep the focus on Christ. We still do Santa and Easter eggs and all of that, but remember what it's really about for us.
1. What religion, spirituality, or belief system were you raised in? Catholic
2. Do you subscribe to the same belief system now? If not, what do you believe/identify with now? No. Technically I'm Agnostic, but I would say that I am spiritual, just not in an organized religion kind of way.
3. Is belonging to an organized religious community important to you? Why nor why not? I can see it being important to some, but I'm afraid my particular experience with the church community left a very negative opinion in my mind. I do also think that spirituality can be fully experienced as an individual venture.
4. Have you read any holy texts? (Of your faith or another). Have they had/do they have any impact on your worldview? In what way? I've read the bible, a Hare Krishna book, and a few Wiccan texts. Although I would say these have all had an effect on how I view things, I think my college philosophy book also played a huge role in shaping my opinions, particularly the sections/discussions we had involving religion.
5. Do you participate in any spiritual rituals? (Eg: prayer, religious services, nonsecular holidays, etc). Not anymore. I think I've mentioned before, in high school I was a practicing Wiccan, but not so much anymore.