Can someone explain this to me???

Question

Yeah i'm just wondering i'm not having a go at religious people here or belittleing your faith. I'm just wondering how you can rationalise basing your beliefs on a book, a piece of fiction like any other book, written thousands of years ago? I'm just wondering because it seems a bit superfluous to me.

To add to this i am not an atheist, i do belive that something exists, but i dont want to place my faith into a piece of text written with no relevance to the times we are in now.

Im not american num nuts.

Zzz thats not what i am saying, im not saying that religious people are idiots or anything, im just asking how they can have faith, when id ont have any.

Answer 1

I'm not very crazy about regurgitating old answers, but I'll make an exception in this case.

What the vast majority of the world's population fails to realize is that there isn't one true religion . . . it's impossible. If you do enough research, you will find similarities in all religions which means they all came from a central belief at one time or another. Unfortunately, the information on this central belief system has been twisted and perverted through repeated translations from one language to another so many times over, that the original meanings have been lost for a very, very long time.

The only thing we can truly do is to live a life where you try to do good at all times, be a good person, help your fellow man, be loving, kind and considerate and if there truly is a Heaven, you'll go there. If there's not, well, you did your best to make your corner of the world a better place for everyone else.

People can search for a lifetime looking for truth and meaning and fail to realize that peace comes from within. If you find a religion that helps you to realize your inner peace, then congratulations . . . you have done what so few have aspired to do and even fewer have been able to accomplish.

Answer 2

Well, you question is very valid. My answer is that the Bible is not a piece of fiction, many scholars have studied these works that make up the Bible with the utmost scrutiny. Believing in the Bible is not a tangible way of belief. To truly believe you must have faith. Faith is kind of like air, you can't see it nor know when you are touching it. Yet you still believe or trust that is there when you breathe. I hope that this has shed a bit of light on your question.

Answer 3

Your statement is based on a series of assumptions: 1. that the Book of a religion is based on a book that is like any other book, 2. it is a work of fiction. Neither of these assumptions are true in the case of the most prominent world religions.

Starting with Islam, the Koran is based on the writings and sayings of Mohamed. Mohamed was a real, historical person. This clearly places the text in the realm of non-fiction. As to being like any other book, I'm not sure what basis you would put for that. All books are different from one another, but in the case of the Koran, is a book of poetry written in a specific style which is unique to the Koran.

Zen Buddhism is based on the writings of Taoism and Buddhism, and the Tao Te Cheng is again a collection of poetry on theological matters. Being poetry places it, once again, in the field of non-fiction. According to tradition, it was the wisdom of the wisest man in China that was collected and given to the gate in Laue of a gate tax. Certainly there are few books that can boast as having been used as currency.

Now down to the religion to which I belong and believe: Christianity. We are based, of course, on the Bible. More than half of the Bible is the history of the Jewish race, recorded by their leading historians. It is no more fiction than any other historical book you would read. Other aspects are collections of laws and commands. These are not fiction. There are a few stories which could be historical fiction, or possibly strictly fiction. For example, the Song of Songs. But they are so few that the Song is the only one I don't think people would dispute your classification as fiction. Yet again, the Bible is unique in that it contains prophecy that can be verified for the date the prophecy was made, an the fulfillment of the prophecy at a much later, but often eerily accurate time.

So I suppose your question would have to be ammended to "How can you rationalize basing yoru believes on a book, a historical, philisophical book that is unique in he world of literature?" At which point your question sounds kind of foolish to me.

Answer 4

I'm not a Bible advocate I believe it is inherently flawed and should be regarded in a different manner than it is in Christian society but this is the cut and dry of it.
There is as so many other "Books" tell us a supreme ruler of the universe we call him God He goes by other names and the individual religions give His nature different characteristics, but He is the embodiment of power and love and holds the world together.
Your "faith" should be in what you believe not in some book, text, person, etc. What you believe may be influenced by these people and texts but ultimately by what your heart tells you.
I feel most "Christians" do believe in this manner, the Bible is a book, fiction, flawed truth or what have you that points to the gentle, loving nature of God and is a great collection of stories and histories that help us deal with life and understand our religion(as any other religious text does for their respective religions).

Answer 5

In many cases, this is what they're indoctrinated with from birth on. Some have been known to entirely reject what they were raised with, some have been dissatisfied with their particular sect and have joined another that they like better. And there are even some who were not raised with religion but felt a need for it.

But I think that for the majority, it's because it's how they were raised. And they don't question it, because they're told not to.

After all, there are so many awful untruths that we learn while growing up - it's very difficult to unlearn these things. And some of us never do.

Answer 6

To say it's fiction in the first place is the problem. I don't believe we were put here to live a short time then die off like animals or insects, just as some don't believe in God because they can't see him. By the way, over 2,000 prophesies have come to pass from the Bible, do you know of another 'book' like that?

Answer 7

Well my suggestion would be to read the Bible. I think you will see that it is very relavant and has alot of useful information for you. As Christians we believe the Bible is basically an owners manuel. We believe that the Bible contains everything we need to guide us through our daily lives. Read the Bible and I think you might understand better why we believe so strongly in its teachings. The Bible I read is the King James Version. Check it out.

Answer 8

All religion is something to believe in, to give you hope that something bigger is out there for you to look up to and get hope from. There's a ton of "gods" that different religons believe in. Plus, anything that is written thousands of years ago and has been preserved, has some strength to it. Its up to the individual to take from it what they want.

Answer 9

The key word is "rationalise." It's faith. Faith is believing in something that you can't rationalise. It's just that simple.

Answer 10

that is what Faith is. I've found my proof. it may be in my heart and it may be something physical that makes me believe. and just so you know almost everything happening in the middle east right now has been profecied in the Bible. The Bible has a lot to do with the world today. read some of it and you may change your mind.