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So why believe in God? Simple: Because I chose to.
It's fun and it works for me.
I need no other justification besides that.
And THAT is why they call it "FAITH"
And, hi Eusebius!
I love faith.
If you would ever like to change that to a direct experience so 'faith' turns into 'knowing'...
There are simple things you can do...first, sit.
Sit in complete stillness...almost unimaginable stillness. (The word meditation scares people so..)
Ask God internally or aloud...''Show me You..I know You are there...I will wait.''
See, God is like a moth...He can not, it is not possible for Him to resist your
sincere love and desire for Him.
Like a moth to a flame ... your heart, your love, your ache for Him is what will draw Him.
You will have no further need of 'faith or belief'.
You will know.
Yes, we understand that. We also understand that that doing 'independent research' to "Find signs of God" is not what we would call evidence, but self -brainwashing. So you needn't be concerned that it migt dilute the purity of Faith, because Faith is all that "research" is based on.
And we also understand that "independent research" and "looking at signs of God" is -NOT- a scientific evidence.
So, there is something common between believers and non-believers.
What you may want to think about is that, you can say "I don't have faith", but it doesn't make sense when you say, "I don't have faith because there is no scientific evidence."
Now, look at the reciprocal - smokers very well know that there is irrefutable, undeniable, scientific evidence that smoking tobacco is injurious to health - YET they will smoke.
So an "evidence" really doesn't do anything for them.
What would you do if an evidence of God is proved to you?
All I will say is that once you remove literal understandings of creation Myths there really isn't much there science can test anyway, and I never believed that the Bible literally tells the story of creation anyway.
If you take away the literal understanding of Genesis, then that means that humans were not created in the image of God and there's no such thing as original sin.
Therefore, there's no need for a Christ or Son of God to save us from our sins.
Do you see how troublesome it becomes once you go down that road?
If you take away the literal understanding of Genesis, then that means that humans were not created in the image of God and there's no such thing as original sin.
Therefore, there's no need for a Christ or Son of God to save us from our sins.
Do you see how troublesome it becomes once you go down that road?
Not really troublesome at all. There still is the problem of our purpose and whether or not we were achieving it. Prior to the existence of Christ, no one was. Jesus is the Firstborn of us to achieve union with God as a "born again" human Spirit upon His death. He established the connection for all humans to follow through love of God and each other.
So why believe in God? Simple: Because I chose to. It's fun and it works for me. I need no other justification besides that.
Which facet(s) of Life can you not handle? Some people feel compelled to use "faith" as a crutch, because they cannot deal with Life in general or certain facets of Life.
Quote:
Originally Posted by victorianpunk
And THAT is why they call it "FAITH"
"Faith" is believing that your alarm-clock will go off at the intended time each morning.
And before I get the inevitable "what if someone believes in a Flying Spaghetti Monster"? I will give an answer that usually makes the person who asked it very frustrated: A religion based on a Flying Spaghetti Monster, if its believers are sincere, is just as valid as my own or anyone else's.
Why would that frustrate anyone? That's pretty much the point of Pastafarianity.
The very definition of 'faith' is belief in something for which you have no evidence, of course. If you had evidence it wouldn't be called faith, it would be called science....
So since I think since we all understand what faith is, I'm unclear what point is being made here? Is it simply a declaration about your personal journey or spiritual growth? If so, that's fine and I'm happy for you. I'm just wondering what kind of responses you are looking for, if any?
You seem to have ruled out receiving responses from 'anti-theists' since you have already confidently predicted anything they might say. So I guess you are just looking for responses from fellow theists?
If you take away the literal understanding of Genesis, then that means that humans were not created in the image of God and there's no such thing as original sin.
Therefore, there's no need for a Christ or Son of God to save us from our sins.
Do you see how troublesome it becomes once you go down that road?
lets see,
no original sin, no dude risining from the dead, and no reason to go on with that line of logic.
"Faith" is believing that your alarm-clock will go off at the intended time each morning.
That is simply a definition of faith that is a straight-up synonym for "trust". And "trust" is a perfectly adequate word when that's what you mean.
Religious faith on the other hand is not trust based on empirical experience that can be verified by others in your shared reality -- as it would be for a reasonable expectation that one's alarm clock will work as it has in the past. Religious faith on the other hand is almost the polar opposite of trust ... as VP says, it is affording belief to an asserted truth without a requirement of evidence. In other words it is not trust, but credulousness.
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we understand that. We also understand that that doing 'independent research' to "Find signs of God" is not what we would call evidence, but self -brainwashing. So you needn't be concerned that it migt dilute the purity of Faith, because Faith is all that "research" is based on.
