Christians: Where do we draw the line between faith and logic?

Question

There are many things that I have faith in. I have faith that I will continue to breathe, that my body will continue to work and keep me alive without me thinking about it. I have faith that when I go to sleep that I will wake up in the morning. And I have faith in GOD but not in a GOD taught of in church but a GOD that I can feel within me and all around me, the “all” that is everything. That everything works in harmony because that energy that makes up everything is seeking to evolve and learn. And that pure feeling of love is that energy and I believe that there is only heaven and no hell. I believe in reincarnation because it is just a continuation of the cycle of energy to constantly change. I believe in healing and that we are all connected. And I believe that here on earth everyone has a reason for what they do, whether it be from their childhood or otherwise and we judge that as good or evil. I think that everyone just tries to do the best they can with what they have available to them. And eventually when we “die” we judge ourselves and those who cant let go of their anger and hate are stuck and remain in this plain as ghosts. This is what I have faith in.


That is where I have a problem. There have been many Christians that come up to me and say I don’t believe in GOD at all. And they try and convert me to be a Christian and go to heaven. So I read the Bible front to back and started to go to church. Then I started to question the bible and the sermons and I was told that I had to take it on faith.


But this type of “faith” seemed different to me. I felt like someone told me that 2 + 2 = 5 and that I needed to just take it on faith. Then when I questioned it, “Shouldn’t it be four?” and I couldn’t be given a clear answer, there was no explanation than just have “faith”. But weren’t there other people and other religions that had faith in their beliefs as well?


Didn’t people have beliefs that were pagan by Christian standards such as Wiccan beliefs? And weren’t they burnt to death for their beliefs? So why aren’t they right? What makes Christian beliefs different? Did you wake up one day and just know everything in the bible without reading it or going to church? Or was your “faith” taught to you?


If it was taught then why not question it? There are so many inaccuracies in the bible. In Genesis, even in creation there are inaccuracies to Noah. How can it even be true? There are people who try and give logic to these answers, but you continue to question them and inevitable you just have to have faith.


But what are you having faith in? That Jesus is GOD and he died for your sins? For what, so that you will go to heaven? And why do you have these beliefs? So you won’t go to hell? Doesn’t that seem a little selfish? What about the other 4 billion people on earth that will inevitable go to hell? Is that not your problem or GODs? So you try and convert people. And what if you do? Do you get any extra rewards? What if you die and you see one of the people that you converted go to heaven but you are sent to hell? How will you feel? How can GOD give us this little time span and expect us to have faith in only him and if not send us to hell for all eternity? And what if you have faith but GOD still decides to send you to hell? Will you be mad at GOD? How will you feel? That is not a connection to GOD but an unwilling judgmental parent.


Think about it if you’re lucky you have 100 years here. And in that time you have to decide what will happen to your soul for all eternity. There are no clear answers here. There are hundreds of religions with thousands of different ideas. How can Christianity be the only one? How is it fair at all. We are taught to be loving and caring toward everyone. Is that really what Christianity teaches? Or does it teach fear and singularity? If you are a horrible person on earth but somehow get to heaven will you feel good about yourself? Will you be happy? What if you were a mass murderer? What if you got into heaven and saw a mass murderer standing next to you? What will you feel, what will you think? Because think about it, it is not your choice who goes into heaven, it is GODs. So again I ask what is this type of “faith”? Why be a Christian? What is your ultimate goal? Why is faith in my beliefs any different that yours? I want truthful answers and insight.


Thank you.

Answer 1

My faith is not based on fear, nor was it taught to me. I was an atheist. Now a christian, what keeps my faith is the continous work in my life and the lives of those around me by god. what caused and keeps my faith is the experiences ive had with god (answered prayers, overwhelming feelings of his presence etc). I do not believe in hopes that i will go to heaven, nor do i fear of hell. I live my life as a christian because my life is all I can really give to god to say thank you. to show him that i love him. I couldnt fathom denying my own mother that she gave birth to me. I will not deny my god whom loves me and sacrificed himself so that I could spend eternity with him. I do not try to convert people, because finding god is a matter of personal drive. you must WANT to find god and ask him HONESTLY to show himself to you and come into your life. it may not happen instantly but it will happen. God will never deny you. faith comes into play after. once you honestly give yourself to god all your questions are answered and there is nothing left to question. i had many many doubts and questions about the bible, now I have none, isnt that amazing? true faith can never be swayed because true faith is honest belief, not belief based on anything else but true love for god. my faith cannot be swayed because i have evidence of god working in my life. I hope one day you can feel that too.

also, there will always be second chances, if at times you do fail

and maybe this period of doubt in your life is just a way to strengthen your faith. to answer those questions, and then later be able to identify with those who are in doubt and be able to help them. at least, thats what I look at my time as an athiest was

Answer 2

One of the most disingenuous things about Christianity is that while using the bible to defend its virus-like ideology, it tosses around words like “reason” and “logic.” However, anyone who has read the bible surely knows that it has very little to do with either. The 'holey' bible is so full of contradictions and errors that it can hardly be considered a valid source from which to extrapolate the kind of objective truth that forms the foundation of the entire Christian belief structure.

Most people believe the religion of their parents. It's the way they were brought up. If a group of parents placed a block of wood on the table and told their children that it was God and that because of it they are enjoying the lifestyle that they do, the children would grow up believing it and another religion would be born. Then we'd have even another group: Atheism vs. the Block of Wood.

At the same time, if these people were told that they were wrong and the real God is this mysterious 3 in 1 Godhead who lives in the sky and if you don't do what he says, he will send you to hell where you will burn forever without end, they would probably laugh and say, "You've got to be kidding! My block of wood makes a lot more sense than that. And look, it's real too."

Answer 3

First, I believe God is a very Logical and intelligent being, and at some point (beyond death I suppose) all our faith will turn to knowledge because we'll get to learn a lot more than we do now. I don't really imagine anyone being very surprised when they get into the after life - I think our thoughts will be something more along the lines of "Of course, this makes perfect sense, I really knew this all along."

Anyway, for now faith is an important power because it's exactly what motivates us to act on our beliefs, even if we don't know the logic of it YET.

Anyway the confusion is that some think we're supposed to take the words of humans on faith - and that's not so, when we hear a human say something we're supposed to go home, ponder on it, and pray to God to know if that's right or not. If God causes you to feel strongly in your heart that it's true - THEN you can start taking it on faith.

thanks

Answer 4

You have so many questions and so much confusion going on, feel free to e-mail them to me one at a time if you want a scriptural specific answer for sound doctrine. As it is, you are being blown about by every wind of doctrine my friend. Only one is the author of confusion and that's not God. If you understand John Chapter 3, accept the Lord into your heart, then your carnal mind will not be at enmity with God and you will begin to understand because the Lord will help you to by His spirit. Some believer's grow in the faith in different ways. Other's are deceived because at some point when the Word revealed sin in their lives, they had "itching" ears and some false prophet told them what they wanted to hear instead of the full truth. Too many Christians aren't even truly born-again by blood and water as a normal birth occurs but aren't even to the point of desiring the sincere milk of the Word much less able to feed themselves. So, first things first. Don't try to understand anything except the simplest basics found in the King James Word of God (for English speaking) about salvation. You can't dress a baby before it's born.

Answer 5

You are wrestling with the big question..god must be taken on faith. Faith is not empirically provable. Empirical science through observation and testing tells us what we can reliably prove. Here's the tricky part....
We don't know everything. At several points in our history, we often thought we had pushed the borders of science, and were pretty complacent. But then somebody comes along and upsets our apple cart...and what we thought we knew..turns out to be wrong. The only thing you can do is resolve yourself to the fact that God/Universe is unknowable. And frankly, he/it/whatever is not driven by human feelings as we under stand them. Rather think of it as a great symphony, or equation, of which we are a part of. And that we can affect through prayer, meditation, and belief....not so much that Yahweh will send an angel to give young Timmy a pony. But that by listening, and by questioning what we know, daily, and by aspiring to be what we believe to be spiritual, and hopefully a decent human being, we can learn to flow with all of this. Remember, god at any time, can choose to stop all the religious fighting. He can come down, and say "you are right, You are wrong", etc. He can end hunger, rape, all the evils of this world. But does not. And the standard caveat of all the great religious creeds is..."God is mysterious, and it is not given for us to understand". It truly is a bullshit answer. But then, most of the time, when dealing with an unpalatable truth....it often is. Faith is about tuning yourself to God and your best self, about find revelation into what a magnificient and often horrible equation we are all in. And doing your best to live happily in it.
Go with what you know. Listen to the voice inside. Try to percieve god differently daily (for instance, today...god is a dolphin...what would God the Dolphin want you to understand) Question yourself, and God, and when you realize there is no answer...embrace that horrible emptiness, and listen to that small voice that is you..in your head, when all other sensory input is gone. That is you. You are part of god. Wait and listen...perhaps insight will come. The best you can hope for is to love (unstintingly, with both hands) and to be loved, and to carry yourself with humor and dignity in this world. And to occasionally catch a glimpse of the big picture. Good Luck! Blessings....

Answer 6

Wow. This is an excellent question - far too good for Y!A R&S.

I am not a Christian, but I do believe that if this is where you are beginning your explorations of faith, you are destined to become one of the believers who I respect despite our disagreement. Congratulations for your thoughtful writing.

I agree with those who advise you to concentrate on faith. So many Christians here desperately want there to be evidence for their beliefs, apparently utterly unable to rely on faith instead. Unfortunately, there simply isn't any evidence for things like the existence of god or souls, or life after death, and so they wind up inventing things, using bad reasoning, and otherwise letting their desperation lead them to foolish and dishonest comments.

Now, some of us nonbelievers will denigrate you for believing on the basis of "mere faith", but that's our mistake: if you understand that there is no evidence, but you choose to believe anyway, that's fine. I still think that you're wrong, but at least you're honest, and not foolish.

The religious emphasis on faith is there for a reason: it's because trying to find evidence is a fool's errand.

Answer 7

Christianity is not just being loving and caring. It's turning to Christ as your Saviour and trusting in Him ALONE as your only Hope of Heaven. It means that when He died on the cross, was buried and rose again, that you are putting your faith in Him that He suffered your penalty for your sins personally on the cross in your place. You've not quite gotten the message, friend. And if the Bible is not completely true, that means God is a part-time liar, and we're ALL in a real mess; how do we know WHAT to trust Him for? Can we trust Him at all? Yes, I experience God on a daily basis since I've trusted Jesus. I KNOW He is a very real Saviour, indeed!

Answer 8

Wow, that is WAY too much to answer on here. You should set up a meeting with someone in a church that you respect and get coffee and ask all these questions. Im sure you if you get someone respectful, it would be a very good conversation.

Good Luck and God bless.

Answer 9

We will never know all the answers until we finally meet God. But we have got to keep searching for the truth. The early christians who burned pagans on the stake were 100% WRONG. That is not at all what God wants. God will bless your search for Him if you ask Him for the truth and continually seek Him.

Merry Christmas!

Answer 10

What type of "faith" is this? It's trusting what you are read and taught and are told beyond all questioning. If you question it, you do not have faith. Period. Why be Christian? It's the only way to go to Heaven. What is my ultimate goal? To go to Heaven. Why is your faith in your beliefs different than mine? Because I don't question my faith. I blindly follow, yet stay acute to lies. That is what you must do.