I am from a Buddhist background, but as I grew older I started to get more atheist because I lost faith in humanity and I shunned the mainstream. One of my pet peeves are close-minded people, but I can be pretty stubborn on certain subjects myself. I like to think I'm pretty open-minded.
I used to believe that there was nothing out there. Nowadays, I think there is something...the universe maybe, but I don't think it's G-d. I believe that the universe was created and took on a life of its own.
The only hell I believe in nowadays are the ones running on this earth. The ones that we create ourselves and torture ourselves with. The ones that are created by mankind or really bad spirits. Person against person. If there is a G-d, I believe that he only has love for mankind, there is no wrath.
My concept of afterlife isn't all that hopeful, but I believe that we are just repeatedly reborn. We can either choose to stay as spirits and perhaps stay with our families, or we can be reborn again. If you choose to stay as a spirit, there's another system run by higher/old spirits that can recognize/appoint you as a spirit guide. We just strive to make the best of each life, rather than there being some kind of all-encompassing heaven.
I look at Tarot cards as guidance when you really get in a jam, but usually it takes a lot to convince me to serious take action (like knowing what words I thought.) I look at Tarot cards as not only a psychological tool that aides in introspection, but also in the more spiritual sense, that someone is looking out for you out there (something I want to believe, don't know if it's really true). Not to mention I love the art. I like helping people, but it scared me the first time that someone relied so much on what I said. I also use them to predict things.
Surprisingly, my friends are very open-minded about the whole thing, but I think you have to be to understand crazy ol' me
. No soul has ever told me that it was evil. I've been met with silent skepticism "Are those Tarot cards?," but no one has plain told me that it was the "the tool of the devil." (Probably because I didn't go telling the whole school.) My Catholic SO told me that the church was against divination, but he didn't say himself that they were evil. He's officially a Catholic but has made his own views. Strangely, by talking about the way he approached this, I've realized more about why he was so against them
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I believe that anyone in a religion is meant to synthesize and create their own view, not parrot. In a way, religion is meant to be a guide, a starting point from which we create our own views. Perhaps, this is only my ideal of a religion. Unfortunately, religions can also be too strict and try to control/oppress instead of guide. Some people just don't grow from the beliefs they began with. They choose to stick to the LWB to be safe, so to speak.
I don't know why people censor G-d, but in my ignorance, I did it in case I might offend someone.