Is it possible to be unfaltering about faith without being totally brainwashed?

Question

and does the fact of demographic-influenced religion support that notion of brainwashing?

Demographic Influenced Religion:
"I am so lucky to have been born and raised where the main religion is the one true religion"

or

"I am the same religion as my parents, or the same religion that I was brought up in"

or

"I just changed one delusion (religion) for another, because my demographic is a delusion-oriented area (The Southern and Midwestern United States and Afghanistan)"

Answer 1

I have no religion but my faith is absolute.

Love and blessings Don

Answer 2

Why do people with faith have to be categorized as being brainwashed? Perhaps you yourself were brainwashed with the ideas you have. Aren't you being a bit hypocritical? I mean no disrespect but everyone has a belief system, can everyone's belief system then be attributed to some sort of so called brainwashing? I think not my friend. We all have the power of freewill and intellectual capacity to choose our own path. While many do follow the faith they were raised in, there are many others who don't. Just as you have chosen yours so I have chosen mine. Having faith has nothing to do with being brainwashed otherwise the reverse must be true as well.

Also consider the simple fact that children often end up being like their parents. Is that a result of brainwashing because of the environment they grew up in? If that's the case then we are all brainwashed and the playing field is leveled. Religion and faith would fall into the category of upbringing in many instances but again their religion or faith or lack there of might change when they are adults.

Answer 3

With brainwashing, they dont want you to question the truth of what they are doing, they just want blind obediance. The great thing about being a believer is that Jesus OPENS your eyes and you can see the world like you never saw it before and more appreciate God for his truth. Quite different.

Well that is why believers spread the Gospel because we dont think and neither does Jesus think it should be confined to one nation or even one continent. That is why Jesus said to go and preach and teach to the world and in fact Christianity has spread globally!

Actually if you talk to a number of believers, you would see how many of them were converted from something else apart form what they grew up with.

Answer 4

In 1914 at WW1, the KJV Bible 1611 published was 303 years old, at 93 years ago to 2007 after Christ was in Roman Empire #6 of the world, is the world past world Empire #7 and how many Empires is the world going to have, and who is learning in which?
It has been 62 to 69 years after WW2 and the holocaust, it has been 33 years since the Vietnam conflict ended, SO AT WHAT AGE ARE THE PEOPLE AND WHAT AGE OF THE WORLD EVENTS WHEN THEY ARE READING THE BIBLE?

WHAT DOES WORLD HISTORY HAVE TO DO WITH BIBLE STUDY?
Who is God?
How many gods besides Satan, 2Cor.4:3,4; or others, Deut.17:10; so who is God?
If God creates, what was first?
Were things created in order, which time element [ God's ],was first and [ man's or plant life ], last or next?
What was first creation created in the image of God, what was next?
How old is creation? Col.1:15-17; Rev.3:12,14;
Who is Jesus? John 17:3; Is Jesus son of God? Who all is a son of God?
How old is man from Adam only? Gen.1:26;
What are the angels all about? Job 38:4-7; Rev.5:11; Job 2:1,2; Matt.25:31-34; 26:53;
WHAT DOES THE EARTH REVEAL ABOUT TIME?
What is the difference in angels that sin and humans that sin? Gen.6:2,4; Jude 6;
Are angels that sinned burning in a hell fire, if not why? 1Pet.3:18-20; 2Pet.2:4;
What happens to angels that sin? 1Cor.6:2,3; Rev.12:3,4,6-11,12 [ 1/3 and Satan ];
TIME:
When is Satan and the 1/3 angels cast out of heaven, what is a short time to Satan?
Who and what is Satan and what has he done? John 8:44; Isa.14:12-14; Eze.28:13-15;
Do angels die? Luke 20:34-36; Matt.25:41 [ Fire is everlasting, is anything else ? ].
What happens to Satan and when, what is the time limit for Satan?
What happens to the beast and when and why, how old is the beast?
What Happens to the flase prophet and when and how old is he?
How do bible students know if there is a trinity, and what is truth here?
How do bible students know if there is a rapture, is it a proper term, what is truth?
How do people and bible students know what heaven is and who its occupants are or will be?
How do people or bible students know what hell, hell fire and eternal fire is in truth?
What is the soul as created, as born and as resurrected?
What is death? Why any different than Acts 2:27-31; until resurrection?
What is the spirit in people, where does it come from, what does it do, who's is it?
What is life?
What is sin? What is deliberate sin?
What is the imagination of man's heart that is evil from his youth? Gen.3:22; 8:21;
People in the bible had faith, why so few, what did they have faith in? Heb.11:1-40,12:1,2;
What is of the world and belongs to the world and must be avoided?
What commandments to keep and why? Matt.22:37-40; Rom.13:8-10;
How do people pray properly and how to know for sure? Matt.6:9-13; John 14:13-14,26,28; 16:23,26;
Is religions a set of beliefs, why are there about a 1000 religions?
What is prophecy, what is it based on, why do we have prophecy?
How much time was spent to write the Old Testament, how many write and how much can we learn about it?
Who handeled the bible, could we have done better, was it contaminated or did those that handeled it, have as little understanding as any one who approaches it new, now?
How can anyone approach the bible to get at the facts and comprehend any errors?
Who is Noah, Abraham, David, Jechoiachin [ Nathan of David ], and Jesus of Mary?
Why did Jesus die, why did we get the New Testament, how does Jesus save all?
When did Jesus ascemd to heaven, and when does he raise up others after him? John 3:13-17; 6:39,40,44; 14:3; Mark 13:27; Heb.12:22-24; Rev.3:12; 1Thes.4:15-17;
Can a birth and a death years be given to all the people in genealogy of Jesus? Matt.1:1-17;
Is the age of the earth and the age of Adam, all together two different times?
Is there a good reason for the cause of untimely [ not old age ], deaths penalties by God?
How many ways does man rule over man have to cause untimely multi-deaths, as war or?
Does mankind die in earthquakes, storms, valcanos, various activities on planet earth, was earth ever life sustaining, then LOST to come to be not life sustaining?
Why does there have to be a new heavens and a new earth, what happened?
Why does man have to be resurrected as 1Cor.15:22-28,51-53?
Who all do you know that can answer all your bible questions, in or outside the bible?
What are the most vital questions to ask and facts to know about the bible?
Can it be that the more questions answered to ones satisfaction, the greater the faith?

Answer 5

It requires the ability to think for yourself, however without the total disregard for what others have already had revelations about before us.
for example when you are young take everything you hear with "a grain of salt" then when you have heard the bulk of the basic content then it is time for your "vision quest" or "confirmation"
You must make the final decision. Will you believe or not? Do you know it in your heart? But dont trust the heart, it can decieve you. Good luck.

Answer 6

Yes, my beliefs are totally different then the demographics religion I was around, different than my parents, I had no religion before being saved. You are deluding yourself into thinking everyone was brainwashed into what they believe or that they are deluded in what they believe..

Answer 7

Doubtful,funny, sad and unfortunately true.This is why I don't belong to any church. It is interesting that prophecy seems to be more of a program and prediction of human nature along with natural disasters. I wonder if a rapture is just another word for abduction and being Saved ?....Beam me up Scotty. Is that like between Iraq and a hard place? Pucker up it's time to pray again. Just try not to breath thru ur nose.

Answer 8

As a Christian, there are some of the coolest examples of faith in the Bible. Several key characters (Moses, Jeremiah, Gideon, Peter, etc.) challenge God, sometimes resorting to name-calling. For example, Jeremiah accuses God of forcing Himself upon Israel, with language that has the same meaning as the word "rape." Faith can falter. God's watching the motives.

Answer 9

Great point. Everyone in a certain region with a certain religion is absolute that theirs is the true one. They all have all the proof they need and God speaks to them. Funny how some Christians can't even decide whether or not to believe in Hell and the Trinity.

Answer 10

There are *two* opposite errors in existence regarding faith and reason|

These are *fideism* and *rationalism|*


Fideism maintains that all of our important knowledge comes from divine revelation, discounting reason|

Islam and classical Protestantism subscribe to that|

Rationalism maintains that all important truth comes from reason alone| But reason without a higher illumination of the intellect by God, leads only to the brier patch and to the outer darkness| One becomes stupid in one's self-confessed brilliance|

Fideism, on the other hand, is merely superstition without reason to justify it and to explain why a putative divine revelation is credible|


Only Catholicism has the proper balance of reason and faith as it subscribes to the *analogy of being|*

Now every religion in existence has a fundamental philosophy of existence that underlies it|

The analogy of being is the fundamental philosophy of existence that underlies Catholicism|


What the analogy of being states is that for two given terms in existence, there is both an *identity* between them and a *difference* between them at the same time - and they have this without contradiction| To give an example of how this works, if we have two cats, they are two in being two distinct individuals, but have a oneness in having "catness" in common that determines that they are both the same kind of thing, which is a cat|

This is opposed to *monism* on one hand that holds that all things are one with perceived differences being illusory, and *nominalism* on the other that holds that all things in existence are unique individuals with nothing *real* in common, as the perceived commonalties are held to be only apparent|




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