Why do you believe in your religious texts/traditions?

Question

Okay, it probably sounds like I'm trolling, but I really want to know. How are you sure that your religion is right? There are many religions that all teach different things, and some people do not practice any religion at all. How can you be sure?

Quoting scripture doesn't count. You can't say the bible is the word of God because it says so on page 9.

Answer 1

I prayed about it to Heavenly Father & asked if this religion was right. Since I prayed with a sincere heart Heavenly Father had the Holy Spirit fill me with joy & let me know it was the right path.

Answer 2

I feel very strongly about my spirituality and not because I read it somewhere or because I'm supposed to but because I have seen in working in my life. I am a Christian but I do not go to church and I don't make a daily ritual out of reading the Bible, I don't like church and I already KNOW what is in my heart and in my soul so I don't need to know "the word" letter for letter.

I believe that if there was only ONE religion that could get you into heaven then God would not allow there to be ALL of these other religions at all. Therefore, by my beliefs no single religion is the RIGHT religion. If you believe in God (or your equivalent of God), you live a good life, you are honest and unconditionally loving of all people, you will be rewarded, plain and simple.

Answer 3

Look, the fundamental belief of Christianity is that Jesus is the way, the truth, and the life, and that no man comes to the Father but through Him. The path of salvation is a narrow straight one.

You cannot take 2 roads in opposite directions at the same time. It is impossible. No other religion on Earth agrees with Christianity. They may not agressively attack Christianity, but they do not believe the above fundamental truth.

I believe it to be true because it is rational, logical, and proven sufficiently. I have seen plenty of evidence to convince me that this is truth and worth believing in.

Some of the main evidences I have been persuaded by are the thousands of fufilled prophesies throughout the Bible, parallel books (Matthew, Mark, Luke and John) that match up perfectly although they were written by different people at different times, non-Christian historical evidence (writings of Tiberius) that affirm the story of Jesus, archeological evidence that never contradicts the history of the Bible, the fact that life as we know it exists because of a razor thin perfect environment that could not have been any different, and the reserectection of Jesus, which was a fufillment of several prophesies made hundreds of years earlier in itself.

How can I believe that Jesus died and was reserected? Simple, there were 11 faithful diciples. They were hiding and feared for their lives right after Jesus was crucified. All of a sudden, for no other reason, they became bold and fearless. They believed so strongly that Jesus was dead and now alive that they all were tortured and 10 died horrible deaths because they would not say it was a lie. John was, according to Tiberius, was forced off of a plank into a boiling pot of oil and then pulled out before he was banished to the Island of Patmos (spelling?). All of them were given the option to avoid all of this pain on one condition, that they denounce Christianity and admit that Jesus was dead. None of them did so, they died painful deaths because they beleived it so stongly.

I don't know about you, but even if something was true and all I had to do was say it wasn't to avoid crucifiction, beheading, or toruture, I would probably be very tempted to do so. The counter argument that a lot of people die for something that is not true cannot be used for this reason: If I were a Muslim and became a suicide bomber, I am basing my action on what I have been taught or told. If I were one of the diciples, I would have first hand information. That is, I would have actually seen the evidence. This is not something they were told. This was something they knew. If it were not true, why would they die for it? They would absolutely know if it were a lie, not just believe it was true, they knew for certain. Nobody dies for something that they KNOW is false.

Sorry, about writing a whole book, I wanted to be clear.

Hope this helps you understand.

Answer 4

What do you have faith in? Do you believe in things that can't be proven? Religion, no matter what the faith, is only right for a person if that person can have faith in things they cannot prove.

On the flip side, religion will seem wrong to you if you cannot take leaps of faith to explain things. If you always are looking for proof or the truth then you will never be at peace with yourself and be able to have faith in a religion.

Not sure if that makes sense, but its how I can explain that religion is so widespread. The # of people who practice a religion and are fantatical about it are a very small percentage... most just practice it. And those that don't have a tough time understanding that fact.

Answer 5

lol! So true. I don't know that my religion is 100% right, but it has certainly helped me a great deal in getting to know myself and in helping me reconnect with the natural world. My experiences (I am scientifically minded, believe it or not) have proven to me that it's the right path for me.

I look at religious texts (because there are some I enjoy and quote) as collections of ideas and philosophy (written by people!) meant to make people think. So I know my religion is right for me, but would never assume it was the right way for everyone. And I don't believe religious texts prove anything.

Answer 6

That's a really great question!

One of the most important criteria is that a religion has to make sense out of the world; it has to fit our observations and deepest intuitions about it. So, if it told a historical tale, like the Book of Mormon does about the Americas, that had absolutely no archaeological, genetic, or documentary verification, then that would be a big strike against it. Or if it claimed that the world was an illusion, like Buddhism, in spite of everything in your experience (and the actual behavior of Buddhists) indicating the contrary, then you'd have a big rational barrier to deal with. Or if, like Christian Science teaches, it insisted that there was really no such thing as evil, in spite of all the horrors to be witnessed in the world, then you might conclude that they were out of touch with the truth.

Important themes that any belief system must wrestle with are things like origins, purpose, morality, and destiny. A worldview needs to be able to answer questions like, "Where did it all come from?", "What are we?", "Why is there evil and suffering in the world?", "How should I live my life?", "Is there any meaning to life?", and "What should we be striving for?"

Many belief systems either fail to give much of an answer to all of these or they give unsatisfactory ones. For instance, paganism deals quite a bit with the world itself, but isn't much good with explaining where the whole cosmos came from. Eastern religions don't give much traction for asking the "what are we" question, since there's supposedly not really any individuals to ask it ("we" are part of the One). Many cannot make much sense of why humans would find themselves in such a sorry state (i.e., there's no "fall of man" type of doctrine). And the issue of morality is a vague or even meaningless concept for others.

Atheists don't get off the hook simply by rejecting religion. They've also got to answer these questions. Unfortunately, most of their answers are "don't know," some form of speculation, or some kind of subjective construction. For instance, what causes the Big Bang and why the laws of physics are so fine tuned is just an invitation to a science fiction discussion for an atheist. And trying to ground an objective ethical system without any transcendent source for moral principles is something that most astute atheistic philosophers have abandoned. And, while not really a logical strike against atheism, answering the question, "What is the meaning of life?", with something like, "There isn't really one. We just make our own meaning.", is very unsatisfactory to those who believe that the very drive to ask the question suggests that a real answer must exist. You might just as well tell a hungry man that food is a figment of his imagination and that he go satisfy his hunger with whatever he sees lying around that looks interesting.

The bottom line is that I think Christianity is the best historic, philosophical, scientific, and intuitive fit for the world I find myself to inhabit. The fact that some of what it teaches does not fit my preferences is no strike against it, since I also understand that truth can sometimes be inconvenient and painful, but it generally works out for the best in the long run.

Answer 7

Because I have faith that YHVH is the one and only true God and that the Holy Bible is His inspired word that the Holy Spirit has guided the authors without error. God would not allow error. Faith is the huge part of it. I have read the history of the early fathers of the Catholic Church and am learning ancient Hebrew and the Torah on my own with help with friends who are biblical scholars in knowing that the English translation I have is correct. With that and talking with many others of the same faith and having friends of other faiths and friends that are atheists, I have faith that my faith is the right faith.

Answer 8

I even have been very much encouraged by potential of my Calvinistic (Presbyterian) upbringing besides because of fact the well-known Existential Theologies. For me, I won my splendid perception into faith once I examine a e book written by potential of psychologist William James, "The varieties of non secular journey", (1902). i'm basically a "Deist." each little thing centers on God greater desirable than on the Holy Scriptures. My greater non secular pals say that i take advantage of the "smorgasbord" attitude to faith, accepting issues i like and rejecting issues i do in contrast to. Others say that i'm a "Secular Humanist." If this is real, I even have something in straight forward with Voltaire, Rousseau, and Jefferson.

Answer 9

Because it makes sense to me, and it offers me an understanding of the world around me and my place in it.

Is my religion "THE RIGHT ONE"? Who knows... all I know is that it's the right one FOR ME. It's my personal connection to the Divine as I understand and accept it.

Answer 10

Your question (unlike many similar ones) is sound: you are looking for objective evidence. With respect to the religions that I have examined, there isn't any, which is why I am an atheist.