Is it really so bad to question your beliefs?

Question

I'm not gonna sit here and bash on anyone, I just want to know if people of any religions actually believe their god no matter who it is will punish them for questioning him? I know everyone will just tell me they need to have faith but blind faith doesn't seem like a good idea, that's how a cult gets started. It's ok to believe in God or Allah or Vishnu or Shiva but I'd encourage some one to question it, I think it's human propaganda that tell you not to question your lord not your lord himself. Although as a buddhist I don't believe in any god or goddesses, that's partly why I ask. Open mindedness is something I think should be encouraged, not threatened with hellfire.

I'd like to thank one_angry_wolverine for supplying that verse from the buddhist doctrine because I've read it in my studying buddhism and I loved that passage but I only have it in a book and would take forever to type out.

In response to some of the answer I'm not really on a spiritual quest, I'm following the buddhist teachings to help be a good person but I don't plan on becoming enlightened in this lifetime, I'm not the Buddha. I've just never seen anything that compelled me enough to say some divine being created me and is all powerful, although I won't deny Jesus was a great person worthy of many praise even if I don't believe the God he followed. And I don't have a quarrel with any one who does believe in God until they become overbearing, and I know it will rub some people the wrong way but I believe very very firmly in everything scientific because it provides proof that can't be disproved, and I've studdied evolution and think the evidence is more than sufficient to support it, sorry to whom this offends. But I'll always remain open minded to all proof of anything.

Answer 1

Do not believe something simply because you have heard it. Do not believe anything simply because it has been handed down for many generations. Do not believe anything simply because it is spoken and rumored by many. Do not believe anything simply because it is written in Holy Scriptures. Do not believe in anything merely on the authority of teachers, elders, or wise men. Believe only after careful observation and analysis, when you find that it agrees with reason and is conducive to the good and benefit of one and all. Then accept it, and live up to it.

~The Buddha~

Answer 2

Here, here!!!! Need more like you with an open mind and questions to get answered. Too many take what their preachers or priests say and try to build a religion on that alone to their detriment. Only way to learn is to question, no matter what it is. If you don't question your sanity from time to time, how do you know you are sane??? Would God give us the nature to be inquisitive if He were going to ge angry at it and throw us in Hell for asking questions? That would not very fair or just. In the bible, God says to question everything anyone tells you by what the bible says to see if it is really so or not. If people would do that a lot more, there would be a lot less denominations and evolutionists and all the others that follow blindly someones teaching rather than to check to see if it is really correct or not. Keep up your questioning and your curiousity. It is a GOOD thing, not a bad thing.

Answer 3

What's even more important, however, is the ability to question your own beliefs more than those of others. Which, it turns out, is rare. That's why so many athiests question christians, christians question muslims, muslims question jews, etc.; but the answers are generally stone-walled and angry. The problem with open-mindedness is anything can get in and take seed. Imagine that your mind is a window, and you decide to open it for a refreshing breeze. That's wonderful, but once you've opened it to the wind, you also allow mosqitos in. That's what really frightens people about open-mindedness, is the possibility of false information. Truly open minded people are also called gullible. The trick, is knowing what type of screen to put up.

Answer 4

I don't believe it's bad at all to question your beliefs. It's how you learn whether or not that line of faith is right for you. Maybe your parents are devout Catholics but you prefer the Protestant way of life. Or maybe your parents are Jewish but Buddhism really makes sense to you. The only way you're going to find what you truely believe in 100% is if you question what you believe in now. If you find that, on your journey, you go through a hundred other beliefs or religions before coming back to what you initally were, that's the best anyone can hope for, because you know for a fact that there's nothing else out there that suits you.

Answer 5

Skepticism is only human, tis true. But on the other hand faith is the substance of things unknown and just as you chose to believe in Buddhism I choose to believe in Jesus Christ. I am as open minded as they come with tolerance and love for everyone I am around and know, i.e., I love the sinner and hate the sin. I pray I never threaten anyone with hellfire because that is not for me to do, it is between everyone individually with God. I pray for everyone's salvation, though, because I wish that none should perish in that hellfire - for this I am not sorry, because I truly pray all shall be saved and that is a good idea, don't ya think?

Answer 6

I think that it is important to know what you believe. I spent a long time after becoming an adult deciding if I believed everything I was taught as a child. I finally decided that most of what I was taught was right on, but some of it I discarded, and I even decided my parents didn't go far enough on some issues. But, I don't know that it is a good thing to be wishy-washy either. I am willing to keep an open mind about some things but I doubt I will change my mind about most things because I have strong reasons for my beliefs and unless those things change, my beliefs won't change.

Answer 7

I think you may be confusing the issue of "faith" vs. "religion" ... Faith is, as you put it, a blind judgement to adhere to a belief in something. It is a feeling, it is the rare moment when your soul speaks to you concious mind and tells you it will be ok ... religion, on the other hand, it a set of rules and judgements of "others" to tell you how to govern yourself, and how to act and react to others. Too many times, during times of strife in humanity, people will use religion as a means to justify an end, wheras if everyone had faith, the end probably wouldn't be necessary. In a nutshell, God, Shiva, Vishnu, Allah, Pan, Santa, self, does not care how people live their lives, only that they do so peacefully and treat others as they themselves would like to be treated.

Answer 8

the complexity of human thought processes is the only difference between us and the other animals on this planet. to deliberately refuse to engage the wondrous attributes of the human mind in the pursuit of truth is, in my opinion, a crime ... a sin. there's few things more disgusting and wasteful than arrogant willful ignorance. if there is one concept that should be vigorously questioned its the concept of God, for no concept has consistently caused more pain, death, destruction, disunity, wars, elitism and cruelty than religion. and all the evil perpetrated by brother against brother is so easily justified by "faith". always Question Authority.

Answer 9

In my church people always say you need to know for yourself if it's true or not. You can't just rely on the faith of your parents or church leaders. I've been raised to believe that Heavenly Father wants us to personally ask Him if things we learn about in church (or wherever for that matter) are true or not. I think gaining that knowledge, through personal studying, pondering, and prayer, really helps people to stand for what they believe in when it would otherwise get really hard.

If anything, questioning is a process that strengthens my faith.

Answer 10

I agree with you 100%.

Religion is ultimately conveyed and spread by people. You need to question what you hear about religion just as you would anything else, and come to your own conclusions. In the end, it is only you and the divine, and I personally would rather be confident in my beliefs than lost in the beliefs of others.