posted April 05, 2013 02:04 PM            

Don't say it's how they were reared because I have one atheist sister and one atheist son. All the rest are good Christians.

I'm still struggling with Astrology and do it in secret. If my friends and family knew they would think I was horrible.

Yet, I'm drawn to it, again and again.

I have Venus in Cap in the 9th with Sagg on the 9th cusp. Venus has some hard aspects to moon (4th) and Neptune in my 6th.

posted April 05, 2013 02:11 PM            

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Passion, Lust, Desire. Check out my journal

posted April 05, 2013 06:15 PM            

Lifelong interest in all things spiritual and religious, including the obligatory (and much recommended) sojourn through atheism somewhere around doommlord's age.

posted April 05, 2013 07:07 PM            

quote:

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Originally posted by doommlord:
Sun, NN, venus all in the 9th

Atheist ^^

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LOL you blew my theory out the window!

My venus is conjunct MC almost exact so maybe it should read like in the 10th??? Not sure.

posted April 05, 2013 07:34 PM            

9H

posted April 06, 2013 02:51 AM            

quote:

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Originally posted by Barbee:
LOL you blew my theory out the window!

My venus is conjunct MC almost exact so maybe it should read like in the 10th??? Not sure.

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posted April 06, 2013 02:53 AM            

quote:

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Originally posted by PixieJane:
Btw, if placements forced one to atheism, then would that mean Christian astrologers would have to accept God [b]created atheists? That is, atheists would be part of the national order created by God (interesting question: why?) and revealed by the sky, and their decision would be determined by an accident of birth rather than free will. So would such a helpless person still go to Hell for not accepting Christ when his placements wouldn't allow him to believe?[/B]

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posted April 06, 2013 09:02 AM            

I have 9H Jupiter Aries (widely conjunct Chiron) square sun and Pluto, trine Neptune and my ASC, sextile 11H Mars.

Religious quandaries have been the story of my life. I abandoned Catholicism to the shock and dismay of my huge Catholic family (and they still seem to look askance at me, although I think it's so silly for them to do so, I'm tempted to giggle whenever their expression gives away their disappointment.)

I was flabbergasted by the hypocrisy of "The Church" from my earliest memory. I honestly remember being about four years old, insisting that my parents hear me out about just how serious my disagreements with The Church were. LOL. And I never changed.

When my mother was dying the Church did nothing for us, and that's when I officially quit on them. I was one of the only kids in my class in Catholic school to refuse to get confirmed (one kid was Baptist, another was Unconvinced...years, I later dated him. Nice match. )

After being agnostic for about a decade, age 13-23, I converted to Calvinism all of the sudden...very long, weird story. I'll skip it.

My interest dropped off gradually so that by age 30, I was agnostic again. At that point my father was dying, and I was sad that I didn't feel I had Anyone to pray to.

Where I am now is trying to forge my own religious identity from my experience of spirituality. My path is about becoming more aware and receptive. For the most part it is a wordless path:

"Be still and know that I am God."

posted April 06, 2013 09:06 AM            

quote:

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Originally posted by doommlord:
Do you believe in fate?

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Do I believe in predestination, that we are merely acting out a script we're not consciously aware of created by forces or cosmic intelligences that we can't comprehend?

No.

I believe in free will and a lot of chance. That said, I also believe there are forces that affect us, from the metaphysical (such as astrology) to biological (such as genetics) to social (culture, family, religion, etc), yet even though they leave their mark on us, and sometimes can be overwhelming, even dangerous riptides can be navigated by those who keep their wits and know what to do. That is to say even though it's easy to be a leaf in the wind of the many forces that pull at us, we can still rise above them with strength of will...and even within these forces is a lot of chance that affects everything (as does how one chooses to respond), creating interesting butterfly effects. So in that sense I believe in free will (I explain for those who reflexively think in dualities, which I'm not doing here).

quote:

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Originally posted by doommlord:
Here many people believe that god has a hand in all doings.... and its usually a favorite explanation to give when people start bad-mouthing atheists

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I'm not understanding you here. First, there's a difference between "having a hand" and "being heavy handed." There's also a difference between when God (speaking in terms of Christian theory here, not as a Christian) leaves people to their own devices, tricks people (in which case one might not be tricked), or deprives them of free will (when God tweaks their brain), and I'm not even counting stories like the Tower of Babel (interesting question for Bible literalists, just what was God so scared of if God is omnipotent?) which technically also violate free will in the indirect sense at least.

posted April 06, 2013 09:29 AM            

quote:

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Originally posted by PixieJane:
I'm not understanding you here. First, there's a difference between "having a hand" and "being heavy handed." There's also a difference between when God (speaking in terms of Christian theory here, not as a Christian) leaves people to their own devices, tricks people (in which case one might not be tricked), or deprives them of free will (when God tweaks their brain), and I'm not even counting stories like the Tower of Babel (interesting question for Bible literalists, just what was God so scared of if God is omnipotent?) which technically also violate free will in the indirect sense at least.

And I'm not sure what you mean in reference to atheists. Are you referring to bumper stickers like, "God made me an atheist, who are you to question His wisdom?"

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I meant that many believe that every single thing is a part of "gods plan"

Yet they are unable to accept atheists which is a paradox in a way...unless the hate is also caused by god...

posted April 06, 2013 10:08 AM            

quote:

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Originally posted by doommlord:
I see no reference i made about bumper stickers...

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"I meant that many believe that every single thing is a part of 'gods plan'" = "God made me an atheist, who are you to question His wisdom?" (I've seen this, and variants of this, on various bumper stickers.)

posted April 06, 2013 10:59 AM            

I've always had some level of faith, though not in the mainstream type of faith.

posted April 12, 2013 07:17 PM            

quote:

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Originally posted by I'm so cappy:
Mars in the 9th and Sag Mercury. I never doubted in the existence of God and the unphisycal world. I used to practise catholicism, now I'm walking my own path far away from religions and it feels good

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That is awesome, let me caution you though that it becomes a circle, if one is wise, and the freedom eventually leads back to where you started from.

posted April 16, 2013 01:50 PM            

quote:

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Originally posted by Barbee:
What makes some people believe in God and others not.

Don't say it's how they were reared because I have one atheist sister and one atheist son. All the rest are good Christians.

I'm still struggling with Astrology and do it in secret. If my friends and family knew they would think I was horrible.

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What you believe is a personal decision. I was raised in a christian household, I even went to an all girls private catholic school. Yet, when I was a kid I held my own personal agnostic beliefs. It didn't matter what I was being told in church or at home. I choose to carve out my own belief system.

It wasn't easy but I tried not to allow my environment to have an adverse impact on my beliefs. By the time I was 18 my parents could care less what I believed and showed support for whatever faith my siblings and I chose to follow. And we are all different faiths, one sibling is a Buddhist, the second is a Jehovah's witness, the third is Anglican and I'm agnostic. I don't think it's an either or situation when it comes to your beliefs. It comes down to what works for you.