Every religion makes sense in its own context. Does faith depart when experience fails to fit in that context?

Question

If you grow up in a religious faith, you learn the circular arguments that allow everything to make sense within the faith.

For example, we are all sinners (Adam & Eve), God needs a sacrifice to atone for sin (Old Testament Judaism), Jesus comes as the ultimate sacrifice (New Testament Pauline Theology), Jesus will return and the dead will be raised as testimony to their new connection with God (various New Testament writers).

However, human experience often falls outside the framework of the faith. (For example, this fellow in the following 20-second video):
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CxaaIP-D0XI&feature=PlayList&p=7D6338FA4A19B4C3&index=0

Does your experience always confirm your faith, or have you found your faith challenged as experience outside of faith's structure shakes the foundation of your faith?

These are among the best answers I have ever read in the Y!A's R&S section. I'm honored to have read them. Unfortunately, someone has to win 10 points, but if I let the community vote, maybe the answers will gain some more exposure.

SO

VOTERS: SOME OF THE BEST ANSWERS ARE FAR DOWN THE PAGE. IF YOU WANT TO BE FAIR, PLEASE LOOK AT ALL 9 ANSWERS BEFORE CASTING YOUR VOTE. THIS IS A RARE OPPORTUNITY FOR R&S PARTICIPANTS TO READ ANSWERS THAT REFLECT BOTH FEELING AND THOUGHT.

Answer 1

I have found faith in Jesus Christ and a proper understanding of His word is the only thing that enables me to see all things in their proper light. Christ puts all things in context. He is the Logos out of which true logic proceeds.

Answer 2

Growing up in a religious faith can give a person an advantage of exposure, but I personally believe every reaches a point in life where they have to find their faith in what they were taught or another belief on their own. You can only go so far in life leaning on the faith of those around you. This is really what is taught in the parable of the 10 Virgins waiting for the bridegroom. The oil was developing their own faith, testimony, reinforcement with the Spirit and personal relationship with Christ. You can't say at the last minute, loan me your faith.

Sadly, this brief clip does not explain this man's journey on how he reached this point. It seems very incomplete to me.

No, challenges help me grow and learn. I may not see how things confirm to my faith initially, but later I can.

Answer 3

i was raised catholic- began to suspect something was really wrong in my teens... did lots of rsearch, read many different spiritual texts from many differnt religions. began to open my mind to the all possibilities...dropped the fear

where i am now-

i believe in the Process of Life, the inter-connectedness of everything, the power of Presence (consiousness) and believe that we are all super powerful creators- creating our own experiences as well as co-creating Life and all the experiences here on Earth and the many different consciousness and belief systems to which you can belong.

you can substitue God for the word Life in that last paragraph and it does not change a thing. the definition of God is debatable, and i certainly do not imagine God as a human-like being who passes judgement and governs justice in "the afterlife"

also- every religion can be interpreted in different ways- i see them as tools to help guide you to the truth. the problem is when people follow an interpretation literally- and get lost in the words and dogma....and therefor missing the entire point. like looking at the finger instead of where it is pointing.

i understand faith to have a different meaning as well. i see it as the ability to consciously choose or create something. onepointedness. creative visualization and manifestation. could be anything. you choose.

i think it's good to question everything. use your mind. don't let it use you.

Answer 4

If the world view is flawed and experience falls outside of that world view one shoould lose faith in that world view or at least try to reconcile the differences.

That is one of the reasons that I believe in god. My experience has always reconciled with my belief in god. Experience should help you understand truth better. It is important to be willing to learn what an experience really means rather than clinging to your own assumptions.

I hope you can reconcile your experiences with the whole truth.

Answer 5

You're touching on a crucial theological issue. But before I answer your question it's necessary to give a little background. The teachings of a given religion (but I'm thinking specifically of Christianity) do provide a framework for understanding the world and if we were never exposed to any other frameworks or parts of frameworks (for example, Buddhism, rationalism, atheism, liberalism, romanticism, etc.) we would never have cause to question that given framework of our own religion. But we do encounter other frameworks, especially in the kind of world that we live in now, where it's taken for granted that everyone ought to decide their 'belief system' for themselves. (And by the way, note well that that is itself part of a certain type of framework.)

The reality I've just described is the background for answering your question. Here's another part of the background: 'experience' itself is always conditioned by one or more of those frameworks. There is no such thing as raw experience prior to a framework, prior to 'understanding'. This can be proven by trying to describe an experience, any experience, apart from some kind of cultural assumptions. You won't be able to do it. If nothing else, the very words you use will carry a huge freight of belief with it.

Now to answer to your question -- yes, at least partially, in a sense. If by 'faith' we mean the specific 'framework' that provides a lens for understanding the world -- then yes, any experience that carries elements of other frameworks will tend to undermine that 'faith'.

This leads to a dilemma for Christians. How do you remain Christian if this is true? Two major answers are popular. 1. Become fundamentalist and exclude any type of influence from 'outside' frameworks of experience. 2. Become a liberal and reinterpret one's faith completely in terms acceptable to the outside culture. These two answers take many forms, but they are almost universal.

The real answer lies in the specific character of Christ's life and death -- namely his kenotic self-emptying, as described in Philippians 2:5-8. We must embrace Christ, and have a christ-mind, in such a way that we become willing to abandon anything we cling to while opening ourselves to the world with love. That means we accept that we will not be able to reconcile various aspects of experience with our understanding of Christian doctrine -- and we allow that lack of understanding to lead us deeper into the paschal mystery.

This is only a hint of how to go about dealing with your problem, but to go further would take too long. Try reading some of the better contemporary theologians -- Rowan Williams, for example.

Answer 6

My faith is confirmed daily as I walk through this world trying to walk in the spirit.

I know I am a child of God and highly favored. Even my parking spaces come easy. However, when problems come I count it all joy, because God chastens and disciplines those He loves. It is wonderful to know He never leaves me nor forsakes me and nothing can keep Him from being there for me.

Answer 7

In spite of folks affirming various creeds and then asserting the veracity of each creed, people still reserve the right to a personal interpretation, no matter WHAT they claim to the contrary.

And that personal interpretation does inevitably conflict with every creed that exists. Consequently, when the conflict does occur, these folks can experience what is called a 'crisis of faith.' In this instance, 'faith' is misleading.

They have in fact experienced a 'crisis of compatiblity' between their own personal interpretation of their faith, with their creed of choice. At this pont some folks create scisms, build new churches, storm off in rage, become bitter, etc.

Faith is Universally available, even to people who reject any belief in a religion or creed. Many atheists, have faith, but reject God. True 'faith' is a form of human confidence in Life itself. For some it's a sense that, ultimately, 'all will be well.'

People accept the local idea of where they should direct and focus their faith (that belief in Life I mentioned), which is usually the religious creed system of their parents, etc. But eventually, something will 'rock' their world, and they will question their creed's credibility.

Creeds are notoriously inflexible, but not very sturdy in times of human need. Faith is remarkably flexible, and difficult to grasp with mere words or ideas. It is dependable, but it's description eludes most people. They often confuse creed with faith.

Since faith is our enduring confidence in the promise of Life itself, faith is what we focus on when experience is confusing or difficult to understand.

When everything is going well, we seldom exercise our faith. But when the whole world goes to Hell in one day, then we need to exercise our faith.

In moments of personal despair, no matter what you believe in or don't believe in, most humans discover within a sense of faith.

Experience can conflict with faith, but faith prevails, because our experience is often but not always reliable or discernible in times of chaos.

Because people mix-up together their creeds with their faith, they become threatened when we challenge their creeds. They think we are trying to separate them from their faith, which they naturally will defend to the death.

It requires great wisdom and endless kindness to gently reveal to people the distinction bewteen their creed and their faith. Some refuse to see it. Some have their eyes opened when creeds crumble in the face of illness or death.

It doesn't matter. Life is Love and life doesn't need to convince anyone of anything. Life, just is. And you can depend on that, because you, like everyone else, have an innate sense of 'faith.'

Answer 8

depends on how much your religion makes sense for example
if judisam was true then how come god let 6 million jews die ruthlessley ???
if your religion doesnt make sense convert to someother religion

Answer 9

Romans 10 (how to believe)