Why did you choose the specific religion you did?

You are correct for some of the younger people. When you are younger, your parents kind of decide your religion which usually is based off of where you were born, but when you get older, it's your own decision. You can become go from a Christian to an Atheist (although that's not a religion) or vise versa. You can start off as a Muslim your whole life, then decide you want to be a Christian. It happens. I believe there some are some religions that don't let you in unless you have part of it in your blood though such as Judaism though.

My family was from Europe and brought Christian beliefs to America. North America is a melting pot and there are MANY beliefs there, not just Christianity.

When Jehovah/ God answers prayers, you tend to listen.

Because he saved our lives during a traffic accident a few years ago (with an 18 wheeler), he stopped us from being killed. Just 1 of many reasons

In the Vatican briefing, Cardinal Bea told us this story:

A wealthy Arabian lady who was a faithful follower of the pope played a tremendous part in this drama. She was a widow named Khadijah. She gave her wealth to the church and retired to a convent, but was given an assignment.

She was to find a brilliant young man who could be used by the Vatican to create a new religion and become the messiah for the children of Ishmael.

Khadijah had a cousin named Waraquah, who was also a very faithful Roman Catholic, and the Vatican placed him in a critical role as Muhammad’s advisor. He had tremendous influence on Muhammad.

Teachers were sent to young Muhammad and he had intensive training. Muhammad studied the works of St. Augustine, which prepared him for his “great calling”. The Vatican had Catholic Arabs across North Africa spread the story of a great one who was about to rise up among the people and be the chosen one of their God.

While Muhammad was being prepared, he was told that his enemies were the Jews and that the only true Christians were Roman Catholic. He was taught that others calling themselves Christians were actually wicked impostors and should be destroyed. Many Muslims believe this.

Muhammad began receiving “divine revelations” and his wife’s Catholic cousin Waraquah helped interpret them. From this came the Koran. In the fifth year of Muhammad’s mission, persecution came against his followers because they refused to worship the idols in the Kaaba.

Muhammad instructed some of them to flee to Abysinnia, where Negus, the Roman Catholic king, accepted them because Muhammad’s views on the virgin Mary were so close to Roman Catholic doctrine. These Muslims received protection from Catholic kings because of Muhammad’s revelations.

Muhammad later conquered Mecca and the Kaaba was cleared of idols.

History proves that before Islam came into existence, the Sabeans in Arabia worshiped the moon-god who was married to the sun-god. They gave birth to three goddesses, who were worshipped throughout the Arab world as “Daughters of Allah”. An idol excavated at Hazor in Palestine in the 1950s shows Allah sitting on a throne with the crescent moon on his chest.

Muhammad claimed he had a vision from Allah and was told:

“You are the messenger of Allah.”

This began his career as a prophet and he received many messages. By the time Muhammad died, the religion of Islam was exploding. The nomadic Arab tribes were joining forces in the name of Allah and his prophet, Muhammad.

Some of Muhammad’s writings were placed in the Koran, others were never published. They are now in the hands of high ranking holy men (Ayatollahs) in the Islamic faith.

When Cardinal Bea shared this information with us in the Vatican, he said:

“These writings are guarded because they contain information that links the Vatican to the creation of Islam.”

Both sides have so much information on each other that, if exposed, it could create such a scandal that it would be a disaster for both religions. In their “holy” book, the Koran, Christ is regarded as only a prophet. If the pope was his representative on Earth, then he also must be a prophet of God. This caused the followers of Muhammad to fear and respect the pope as another “holy man”.

The pope moved quickly and issued bulls granting the Arab generals permission to invade and conquer the nations of North Africa.

The Vatican helped to finance the building of these massive Islamic armies in exchange for three favors:

Eliminate the Jews and Christians (the latter were regarded as true believers, which they called infidels)

Protect the Augustinian monks and Roman Catholics

Conquer Jerusalem for “His Holiness” in the Vatican

As time went by, the power of Islam became tremendous—Jews and true Christians were slaughtered, and Jerusalem fell into their hands. Roman Catholics were never attacked, nor were their shrines, during this time. But when the pope asked for Jerusalem, he was surprised at their denial!

The Arab generals had such military success that they could not be intimidated by the pope—nothing could stand in the way of their own plan.

Under Waraquah’s direction, Muhammad wrote that Abraham offered Ishmael as a sacrifice. The Bible says that Isaac was the sacrifice, but Muhammad removed Isaac’s name and inserted Ishmael’s name. As a result of this and Muhammad’s vision, the faithful Muslims built a mosque, the Dome of the Rock, in Ishmael’s honor, on the site of the Jewish temple that was destroyed in 70 A.D. This made Jerusalem the second most holy place in the Islamic faith.

http://www.bibliotecapleyades.net/vatican/esp_vati...

Well if this is true it must apply to you most of all, right.

And the prime choice as any historian, ethnographer, or sociologist will tell you is the belief in God and since that occurs across all the cultures you mention you have actually proven the opposite, namely that GOD is something beyond culture, time, or geography. I am using your 'logic' too [ smiles ]

IN academia the distinction is this

1) Belief in God -- an utterly trans-cultural phenomenon (pace your position)

2) Revelation of God which is cultural but again preserves many similar moral positions, inexplicably by your hypothesis.

Here is the really cool thing that even your argument supports : In order to say that people are victims of their culture you have to argue that you have had no influences !!!

Finally we have the most stunning data of all in recent scientific studies of children of EVERY culture. Check it out.

• Children tend to see natural objects as designed or purposeful in ways that go beyond what their parents teach, as Deborah Kelemen has demonstrated. Rivers exist so that we can go fishing on them, and birds are here to look pretty.

• Children doubt that impersonal processes can create order or purpose. Studies with children show that they expect that someone not something is behind natural order. No wonder that Margaret Evans found that children younger than 10 favoured creationist accounts of the origins of animals over evolutionary accounts even when their parents and teachers endorsed evolution. Authorities' testimony didn't carry enough weight to over-ride a natural tendency.

• Children know humans are not behind the order so the idea of a creating god (or gods) makes sense to them. Children just need adults to specify which one.

• Experimental evidence, including cross-cultural studies, suggests that three-year-olds attribute super, god-like qualities to lots of different beings. Super-power, super-knowledge and super-perception seem to be default assumptions. Children then have to learn that mother is fallible, and dad is not all powerful, and that people will die. So children may be particularly receptive to the idea of a super creator-god. It fits their predilections.

• Recent research by Paul Bloom, Jesse Bering, and Emma Cohen suggests that children may also be predisposed to believe in a soul that persists beyond death.

I'm not a Christian and I live in North America. More than that I live on the buckle of the bible belt and I'm still not Christian.

I decided not to choose any one religion actually. Just continue to explore on my own and take what is beneficial from various traditions.

Choose?

I'm an agnostic atheist, because I cannot honestly bring myself to believe anything else. I've lived my whole life in the USA and was raised Catholic, for reference.

A BABY IS BORN PURE AND CLEAN LIKE A PIECE OF WHITE CLOTH AND IT IS THE PARENT WHO WILL MAKE HIM A JEW A CHRISTIAN OR A SUN WORSHIPPER.

they had no choice, they were brainwashed