Have any religious people here ever questioned what they've been taught?

Question

This applies to followers of ALL religions: Christians, Jews, Muslims, Buddhists, Hindus, etc.

Please be specific.

I'm not ASSUMING that religious people have never questioned their own beliefs. However, I've known plenty who haven't.

Answer 1

Anyone who never questions what they have been taught is either a coward or a fool. If you don't investigate what is handed to you, you are not taking ownership of it. By taking things at face value, you are acting like a child, collecting mementos, attending the parties, but taking no responsibility for your belief system. Doubt leads to maturity, either by confirmation or correction of your prior understanding, or by rejection and finding a new path.

I was raised as a Roman Catholic. As a Catholic, I learned a great deal about faith, religion and western culture. But until I learned to question what I was taught, I remained very naive about the difference between truth and propaganda. I remain culturally a Catholic, I attend church regularly and I participate in parish life but I have a very different take on my faith than most of my fellow parishioners. This necessarily colors my interests and my actions in the community, but I think we tolerate one another fairly well.

I realize that facts are too boring to capture people's imaginations, so they are often cloaked in metaphor and myth. But many believers then accept the myths as literally true, and there is no attempt to disabuse them because of the stress it would cause. "Scandal of the innocents" is the technical term. I don't consider my perspective to be superior, just more honest for me. Most paths are valid, even if the results are different, because people have different needs at different times.

But even in a community, I have to be true to myself. When I recite the Nicene Creed, I note that none of the elements are defined, and it has very different meanings for me than the person in the next pew. I observe that we profess belief in Pontius Pilate but not in the devil, that the Holy Spirit has spoken through prophets but not necessarily through priests, in the Communion of the Saints but not the authority of popes. Perhaps the church may one day update its creed to include such notions, but so far it hasn't had the temerity or desire. Do other Catholics think about these things? Probably, but not the majority.

I think it's much less important what you believe than what you believe IN. I believe in the Kingdom of God, not the one in the sky at the end of the rainbow, but the one we're supposed to be building here on Earth. I believe in spreading the Good News, about proclaiming liberty to captives, healing to the ill, relief to the poor and favor from God. (Of course it's not really news if we don't make it true.) The number and type of angels currently serving God, the precise relationship of the Blessed Virgin Mary to the other saints, whether Elijah literally flew off in an actual burning chariot, these are useless esoterical if it doesn't relieve human suffering.

I often defend atheism in this forum because I think the legitimate tasks before us all are the same, making the world better by relieving suffering. I accept any expression of any religion as valid, as long as it eventually gets around to doing something useful. The only practices I have no patience with are elaborate displays of impotent piety.

Answer 2

I even have continually posed questions. it is a factor of who i'm and how i'm made. it is likewise what has given me the arrogance in my faith as a Christian. I even have had many talks with pastor, preacher, preist and rabbi over countless teachings and such. i continually inspect the failings they might say that The Bible says or different issues. some hated that, some enjoyed it. i understand that the God that I serve would not recommendations one bit for me to question Him. I even have taken examples from a number of His followers. David, as quickly as a king of Israel, Jeremiah, Ezekiel, Daniel- a number of His Prophets of previous. job, this prosperous land proprietor that lost all he had and then gained a double element a on a similar time as after. i'm an intensive Christian yet non-denominational. faith in basic terms waters down actuality. i like doing photos-so provide it to me right away up! I even have found out lots like this and that i admire my perception, faith and God. God Bless

Answer 3

Yes, every time I go door to door as one of Jehovah's Witnesses.

My beliefs are question, by "Christians", Mormons, Muslims, etc. When I"ve had to defend by beliefs, I have to reconfirm them myself.

I have yet found someone who could disprove what the bible says. Though many have tried.

Answer 4

At a stage in my life I thought that Christianity is better than Islam but when I analysed when I think this way I found that I thought so because of the way Christians around me behave and the way muslims behave; not because of the faith itself.

Answer 5

I was raised a Catholic. I started questioning what I was taught when I discovered the archeology section at the library.

Answer 6

I have questioned my belief's all my adult life and God has helped me find the answers I need and remain in my faith. I never questioned my belief's belligerently, just a simple, "how can that be" type question and God has always led me to answers that deepened my faith.

Answer 7

Yes, I have. I realized that man made religion due to his own fears, and that no one can actually speak for the God they say is there. It's all just opinions.

Answer 8

The sheer condescending arrogance required to assume that, if someone is religious that person must lack the ability and/or the motivation for analytical thought or objectivity, astounds me.

Answer 9

the more i questioned the more im confused .. the more im confused the more i asked .. the more i asked the more answers i got .. the more answers i got the more i questioned..

so what the heck? let's keep things basic and simple, follow whatever u find that you're happy with and respect others around you!

Answer 10

I thought they were taught not to question what they were taught. that free thinking, free speech and free will did not go with thier church doctrine. I think if more people questioned thier beliefs there would be less religous zealots.