My Brother's New Religion: Categorize

[Guyon]

Here's the backdrop on the individual:

He's in the pack of the bell curve in intelligence, is an underachiever, but shows flashes of brilliance. He smokes a lot of marijuana, but is not one of the stoner-philosopher types. Ex-Catholic. Does not keep abreast on current events, relevant history, or world cultures.

1) Believe in "God" and accept him as holy savior
2) Believe that when I die, I'm going to heaven. What the [censored] did I do wrong, I didn't kill anybody, I'm just living my life, being a human being.
3) No one suffers for eternity. People don't go to hell. Biological chemicals are responsible for evil.
4) Catholic corruption (breaks off into tangent)
5) No need for church, everything is in your mind.

I tried to type while he dictated. I've been trying to get him to say anything like this (philosophy, etc) and it came randomly at this time.

How would you classify this religion?

[CaseS87]

this seems like an extremely common belief system which is probably more irrational than believing everything in the bible and taking it literally.

i dont really understand how you can choose that there is a heaven but reject the idea of hell.

[hmkpoker]

Sounds like what I call an apatheist; maintains the default position of theism with little to no investigation, just because it's not worth the effort.

I actually think this is THE religious majority of the United States.

[luckyme]

classic East-Western American Standard

[John21]

He's an Gnostic Christian. There's basically three paths: The first is the Hermetic philosophy/theology - which would be a path of the Masons and their higher esoteric degrees like the Ancient and Accepted Scottish Rite, Roscicrucianism, etc…( unlikely in his case). The second you could probably classify under the 'New Age' genre , like Theosophy, Course in Miracles, Swedenborgianism, etc… (possible). The third would be through a personal reflection on Jesus' teachings and/or the meditation on the idea that the kingdom of heaven is within, without the religious institutions telling him what Jesus and the Bible were saying (also a possibility).

Of course the fourth possibility would be the abyss, but it doesn't sound like he's that far along.

You can basically break it all down and ask yourself if he's searching for 'the truth' or 'an answer'. If you believe it's the former, there's probably no real harm. If it's the latter, well, it depends on what part of that bell curve he calls home. But you know him best

[MtDon]

[ QUOTE ]
He's an Gnostic Christian.

[/ QUOTE ]

The OP doesn't mention what his brother believes about Jesus, only that his brother is an ex- Catholic. You can not infer that he is a christian of any type.

The post says he believes that "God" is his saviour, not that "Jesus" is his saviour. This seems to me to be a very unusual statement, since in the US among christians and ex-christians the idea of a saviour is so closely associated with Jesus.

There isn't enough information in the post to say whether he considers himself a "christian" or not. Since it doen't mention Jesus at all, we have no idea what he believes about Jesus.

[Praxis101]

[ QUOTE ]
Here's the backdrop on the individual:

He's in the pack of the bell curve in intelligence, is an underachiever, but shows flashes of brilliance. He smokes a lot of marijuana, but is not one of the stoner-philosopher types. Ex-Catholic. Does not keep abreast on current events, relevant history, or world cultures.

1) Believe in "God" and accept him as holy savior
2) Believe that when I die, I'm going to heaven. What the [censored] did I do wrong, I didn't kill anybody, I'm just living my life, being a human being.
3) No one suffers for eternity. People don't go to hell. Biological chemicals are responsible for evil.
4) Catholic corruption (breaks off into tangent)
5) No need for church, everything is in your mind.

I tried to type while he dictated. I've been trying to get him to say anything like this (philosophy, etc) and it came randomly at this time.

How would you classify this religion?

[/ QUOTE ]

He doesn't care about many things really, hasn't found anything truly interesting or practical in life.

He just doesn't care enough to put serious thought into religion/philosophy and start searching for meaning.

And the fact that he discusses these things with you means that he is indeed open to new ideas, but has typically little motivation to pursue them with vigorous energy!

Yes, I am a mind reader.

Oh, and religion is silly, and he doesn't need one! (good thing)