Is faith and belief enough?

Question

In the Old Testament God was always turning up as burning bushes and the like, sending mana from heaven, or talking directly to people etc. So those old Hebrews had no reason to believe in God 'cos you don't need to believe in something you can see. For example, I don't believe in my computer - it's right there in front of me, I know it's there. The God of today seems to require faith from his followers and isn't so obviously visible. Is that enough? Is that fair? Or have I got that wrong. NB You'll see from previous posts I'm an atheist, but I'm not bashing anyones beliefs here, just asking a good ol philosophical question.

Answer 1

NO

Answer 2

Well, I think that Gods are just spiritual beings created by humans so that they can have a Greater being to guide them. Some people wonder why there are humans on this Earth, why there are animals, and basically just why there is life. What's the point of just living and dying and going on? People have Gods so that they can believe that they were there for a reason, and that life was given for a reason. The Old Testament was written so that people will have a set of rules to follow, a sense of what they think is right and what they think is wrong. Humans need law to survive peacefully and the Bible is just like a set of laws in the form of stories. These are my personal views and I am certainly not trying to demean religious belief here. It is not really about whether or not God really exists but more about believing that we are here for a reason.

Answer 3

From what I have gathered, faith and belief are the only things that really matter in issues of religion. First you have to believe and have faith in your beliefs and the lord. So yeah, that is enough. From an Agnostic, who has no belief or faith in God, but does have a computer which I do believe in. I would also tend to agree that if God requires faith and belief from his followers, then show yourself and let all be known. Bit in today's world, God could show up, create a new mountain range from scratch and someone would still say it was a trick. See why I am an agnostic, I do not have concrete answers, and understand that no one else does either ( regardless of what they say).

Answer 4

Well considering that the Old Testament is one big fairy tale from begining to end, I wouldn't be to cought up by burning bushes. But you do bring to mind another question. Up until the 70's we use to get stories of the Virgin mary appearing to some girl in some village on the backside of nowhere, or some statue in some church would be found crying....well as I point out, I can't remember this sort of thing happening since the 70's, and since the world is in such bad shape, it's hard to comprehend how this Christian God has totally forsaken his followers for so long, and also why do we never hear about this sort of visitation from Budda or Mohammed???

Answer 5

Most religious people will tell you that they can experience god in prayer or particualr moments of awe, calm etc. Therefore many religious people feel just as strongly as the Old Testament profits that God is present in their lives and belief in god is a matter of intuitive knowlege, just as you feel belief in the existence of your computer is a matter of intuitive knowlege (here mediated through sensory experience). Perhaps the most important differance between the religious experiences described in the Old Testament and those of the average modern believer is that in the Old Testament God was manifested to a person through sensory experience (visions, dreams, hearing voices etc.) where as the modern believer's sense of experiencing god is more spiritual, or centered on mental, rather than sesorary experience.
There are numerous theories to explain both types of religious experience. Julian Jaynes work 'The origins of consciousness in the breakdown of the bicameral mind' seeks to explain the former type, and work on the structure and functions of the brain has uncovered an area of the brain which when stimulated produces in most people something aproaching a religious experience. There are also certain halucinogenic drugs, such as mescalin, which can, given the correct context and/or user, produce religious experiences. William James wrote an excellent book on this subject called 'The Varieties Of Religious Experience'.
Aside from my main point, as outlined above, there are numerous other reasons that modern believers maintain their faith. These include a feeling that faith is part of their social identity, the encouragement of faith by community and cogregational events, and, perhaps most importantly in the west, the belief that faith in God is rationally justified.
For example, the Catholic Church holds (and has since its earliest days) that all the beliefs necessary to hold an orthodox religious faith can be come upon by the application of the human mind's God given reason. Consequently, Catholic scholars have a strong tradtion of providing 'proofs' for the existence of God, which many accept to be convincing.
The idea that someone should just pig-headedly believe in God, devid of proof, reason or experience is extremely rare amongst believers, but extremely common in the perceptions non-believers have of belivers. being a non-believer myself, this state of affairs worries me, since the dismissal of religious people by atheists increases friction and tends to radicalise believers unecessarily.

Answer 6

Faith is a subject of primary level spiritual life, to give a good beginning. But living with that faith throughout life is spiritual retardation. A growing spirit will reach reality through faith.

The people who received manna from heaven must have reached a confident mental stage to know that Jehovah as a reality. That means a sign to have clear wisdom about an invisible reality.

The problem in the spiritual world is that they remain with faith and belief and never reach a stage of reality to have confidence of His existence.

Answer 7

As a christian, I have to say faith and belief are not enough. Faith and belief only get into the gates of heaven. Whether you deserve to enter or not depends your action in the worldly matters.

Granted, God seems more vengeful in OT. Yet, like any history books, the events that get recorded are the disaters and calamity. Ancient people must have some good times from time to time, but we just don't really have a good history records about them. Here are the bible verses that may answer your question:

27 Then he said to Thomas, "Reach here your finger, and see my hands. Reach here your hand, and put it into my side. Don't be unbelieving, but believing." 28 Thomas answered him, "My Lord and my God!" 29 Jesus said to him, "Because you have seen me, you have believed. Blessed are those who have not seen, and have believed." - John 20.

Answer 8

Well, one thing is true: as an athiest, you are not lukewarm. You may know more about true Christianity than many so-called Christians. I pray that you cease to embrace Law (man's own ability) and will look into your heart instead. Consult the Holy Bible (King James Version) for insight. It's the only book on the face of the earth that intelluctualism or the greatest minds in the world cannot understand. Natural man cannot comprehend the Word. He must have the help of annointed pastors, prophets, the Apostles, men from all walks of life who were involved in the writing of the Bible--including the Holy Spirit--to understand the Word. God even used a simple shepherd to write it. As well, the parables were not understandable by the audience of Jesus' time. His own deciples asked: "Master, What did you mean by this?" Jesus preached in parables because he wanted only those who were interested in his messages to find meaning in them. Likewise, God wants you to find meaning in His Word. He wants you to probe, dig and ask questions. Ask Him to reveal meaning to you as you go. By posting this question, you are at the first step. You have a thrilling journey ahead because you can't exhaust the Bible. The truth keeps flowing from it.

Answer 9

Well, those "old Hebrews" who witnessed miracles still fallen away (Read Exodus 32 if you have the Bible).

Seeing a visible God does not necessary brings people to acknowledge His existence. For the unbelieving hearts, all evidences may be explained away. Eg. Hallucination, alien invasion, etc.

At the end it is still down to faith -- a deliberate decision.

Answer 10

I get what you are saying, and my response would have to be 'no' faith and belief are obviously not enough - otherwise why is the world in the state its in....war, terrorism etc.
If faith and belief were simply enough then why would certain religions feel the need to impose the 'my gods better than your god' attitude by going around killing others - their fellow man. The world today is a mad, sad place :o(

Answer 11

You've got to remember that back in the days that the bible was written people had far less of an understanding of nature. Easier to say a god did it for a reason than not being able to give a reason at all. We understand more about forces of nature now so can discount miracles or divine retribution more readily.