[Louthcoombutt]

Hello all, I have not introduced myself, but my name is Joe and I have been looking into Buddhism for quite a few weeks now, but before I begin, I think I need to tell you a short bit about myself before I rant on with questions otherwise some things may not make sense...

For beginners, I grew up in a Christian household, I was Christian through indoctrination of course, I never chose to be a Christian, but it was just the hand I was dealt and as a child you pretty much don't have much of a choice... As a young child, I was always a realist, always using logic for everything, never believing anything until I saw evidence for it, this can be a good thing and it can aswell be a bad thing too, but I started this way of thinking from the time I was very young and remain that way.

So back to what I was saying, I was always questioning things that were strange to me, which was pretty much everything in the Bible, it seemed like a whole lot of non sense to me, from the very beginning, although as a child I never really did question the idea of Jesus, but then again, I was a child... I was always told by the people at my church such as the youth ministers, the pastor, the fellow church goers and such not to ask so many questions, and that the Bible is not to be taken literally in all parts, one of my main questions at the time was that if this was the book of a God, why are sooo many things omitted... The answer was Jesus came and died for our sins, that is all I ever heard over and over and that what it all came down to was faith, that of course was a problem for me...

At the age of 15, one day I just decided that I had enough with all this faith stuff and the whole thing was pure non sense and decided not to associate myself with any religion because they all seemed to require faith, they claim things with no evidence whatsoever, I cannot accept that... Now to me 6 years later:

I am 21 and have considered myself an Atheist for the past 5 years, I look into religion every now and again, but that is just because I am very into Philosophy and sometimes it leads me there... I have been very into Atheist related books and documentaries and media of the such and I enjoy it quite a bit... Me being into Philosophy, I bumped into an interview with the Dalai Lama a few weeks ago, I always knew of him as this nice guy that seemed to be charming and had words of wisdom to say to people, but never really sat down and listened to him... By the end of the interview, I found myself watching every interview that there was available on youtube by the Dalai Lama and any Buddhist that I could find really... Soon after I found myself watching Documentaries of the Buddha, Siddhartha Gautama, of his life and his journey and I just found it so amusing I thought to myself this is really inspiring....

There were things I had trouble with, such as another virgin birth, the Buddha being born by an elephant carrying a lotus flower and entering the Queens womb, but I was willing to put that aside for awhile, as tales and legends of the character seem to happen over time, especially when it comes to topics such as these... I was and have been entranced by Buddhism and their way of life for quite some time now, I have become a much happier person in general...

However today, I read over another aspect of the "religion" (if you will), that really bothers me sooo deeply now, just when I thought I found something that didn't incorporate faith or make any outlandish claims such as how the universe started and what happens when you die, etc, I bump into the topic of rebirth, now this I have an extreme problem with, another claim that is being made based upon what? Is there something that I am not understanding about this whole rebirth deal, because what I read seemed to be rather specific on details aswell, and that is why I seeked out these forums to find a Buddhist who I could get answers from that has more knowledge in the subject than I do... Could someone please lay this aspect of the religion out for me? Why is it believed? Is there a reason to believe it? etc... I would be much appreciative...

Also, if I offended anybody in this post, I apologize in advanced, I am not meaning to offend anyone of any faith, I just would like answers to better myself, my life...