Why do people of 'faith' act like their beleifs are fact?

Question

It is true- you always hear believers telling you 'you may think that, but I /know/ I'll be in heaven, and you'll be in hell'..

They refuse to ever accept the FACT that their faith, like my anti-faith, is a mere opinion, but atleast my opinion can be corroborated and proven a little further than theirs can..

Christians say they 'know', but they really dont.. If all it is is 'faith' in god, then for all the world, it is only faith, and not fact.

It is not a proven deal then, that my sexual preferences or personal choices will land me in hell, or that your lack of self-esteem and your need to devote your life and mind to being controlled by a book and false deity will land you in heaven..

Until you, me, EVETYONE dies, we don't /know/..



/c/ in details, please wait..

And in response to the response i will likely get, yes, I don't /know/ what happens when I die, any more than a beleives /knows/, I will know when my life is ended.

But just the same as a christian would claim 'atleast my soul is indeed safe, should thre be an afterlife' I can say, 'atleast my life was lived for /me/, if there ISNT an afterlife..

And until you know, why make descisions for myself and others? Concentrate on your own soul, and stay out of the lives and minds of the rest of the world- should we want 'salvation', we'll ask..

Answer 1

what i 'know' is that when i accepted Jesus, there was a physical and spiritual change in who I am... and there are things within once the Holy Spirit becomes part of us, that cannot be 'explained' because they are an experience not of 'this place'

just because you do not have this, does not mean it is not real and not true and not the only truth. I know that I will have a place in heaven because I am assured by Christ... have i 'seen' Him with my eyes? no... but i HAVE seen Him in the Spirit

Answer 2

You obviously have not read the Bible.. which is why you're asking the question here... (flip... flip... flip...) Ahh... here it is... your entire "argument" already discussed in Hebrews 11...

"Now faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen. ... But without faith it is impossible to please him: for he that cometh to God must believe that he is, and that he is a rewarder of them that diligently seek him."

Our FAITH is what convinces us that what we believe IS true, it is the evidence of our spiritual beliefs.

Logically speaking, if we do not believe (have faith) that God exists, how CAN we believe in Him? Without our faith, God does not exist.

Oh, as for faith being an "opinion," an opinion is a BELIEF stronger than impression and less strong than positive knowledge. How can you say your opinion is any more valid than the Christian's, especially when you hedge your own "opinion" with, "can be corroborated and proven a LITTLE FURTHER than theirs"?

For the Christian, their FAITH IS their FACT. For you, your NON-faith is your fact, and so be it. ALL your "rantings" about not a proven deal... sexual preferences... personal choices... etc... are YOUR facts, not the Christians. Again, our book is the Word of God, who for us is NOT a false deity. In YOUR opinion is it, but in OUR opinion it is.

And we DO know before we die what will happen... again because our Lord has TOLD us what will happen, in that book you so vigorously condemn. Fine... YOU don't have to BELIEVE it, and we are not saying you HAVE to. But what we are saying is, that what we are TOLD is the TRUTH...by FAITH we believe as FACT... is true and factual.

Hmmmm... do I hear carousel music??? We seem to keep going around and around in circles!

Answer 3

Anyone who judges is being a hypocrite, 'thou shalt not judge' kindly remind them of this when some ignorant Christian spurts his stupid verses at you.

atleast my opinion can be corroborated and proven a little further than theirs can..

Really, go ahead and try tell me WHY the world began, tell me the meaning of life? Tell me why we ask these questions? Do you honestly believe the only reason for us being on earth is for reproduction? because that's what the biological text book says, do you actually accept that as a reasonable explanation as to why we are put on this earth...

I hate this, having actually studied atheism I can accurately say while its valid, it has many many many holes in it. Its explanations are cold and dry as a text book. I'd like to see if you could explain in simple language the basis of atheism and I bet you can't.

Answer 4

Are you saying that they should behave in a manner different to what they believe to be true ? Now that makes a lot of sense...not. As for believers always telling you things, seems to me there are more posts attacking beliefs than pushing them here on YA.
Must be where you live, I haven't experienced anyone personally offering me salvation in years. But then I don't go looking for confrontation either. Live and let live.

Answer 5

It is more than faith, it is a relationship, and I have it and you don't. You can't have a relationship with someone that does not exist, and I know I have a relationship with the Father in heaven and with His Son, Jesus the Christ, who was with the Father in the beginning before the worlds were formed.

I just wish you had that relationship, but you don't, and you will never have it unless you quit demanding physical proof and ask Jesus into your life.

Living your life for yourself is a pretty poor substitute for a relationship with the Creator, and His Son.

grace2u

Answer 6

X-ians don't know how to connect biblical dots:

Whatsoever is "not of faith" is sin: Rom 14:23
The law is "not of faith": Galatians 3:11
Allegory Clue: Law = Sin: Rom 4:15; 5:13; Etc.
Solving allegoric mystery is by seek & find clues.

Prayer: Our Father, deliver us from "evil": Mt 6:13
Answer: We are delivered from the "law": Rom 7:6
Allegory Clue: Law: "both good and evil", ends "evil".

D-evils "believe": James 2:19
So "believe not": Matthew 24:23,26; 1John 4:1
Grace us ppl don't "believe". Grace us ppl "know".
Know-ing the truth makes you free of Believe-ing lies.

Let's get to the Root of the Problem.
Everything else: bla bla black sheep.

Answer 7

The reason why Christians take their faith so seriously is that (a) they believe they are made righteous, that is to say, justified before God by their faith [Rm 1.17, 4.3, and 5.1] and thereby, according to 5.1, we have peace with God meaning that we are reconciled to Him and (b) they believe that it is by faith that we are able to accept God's word which those outside the Christian faith are unable to accept, in fact they are said to be foolishness to these people [1 Cor 2.14].

In other words, we have a rational way of presenting the non-rational basis of what we accept. Now as far as judging others, this same Bible teaches us very clearly that we are to judge no one in this life. We may correct our brothers and sisters on the basis of our common faith in God's word, but we cannot judge them or those outside the faith. Only God can and will judge them. I can only tell you that "no one comes unto the Father except through Jesus Christ" [Jn 14.6]. This doesn't judge anyone. We Christians believe this but we leave it up to God to judge those who do not believe it.

Answer 8

My faith to God is not a mere opinion but true according to the bible.
You lack the intelligence to believe the truth but you have the intelligence to believe the false opinion of others that have enticed you to believe on it. I should say, under the influence of S......n or E.....l spirit.
jtm.

Answer 9

Hey people! Please don't rate answers as "Bad" just because you don't believe in what they are saying! Everyone can believe what they want and they are answering the question good enough. I see no reason why there are so many low ratings.

As for me, I am a christian and giving me a low rating will not make me reconsider whatsoever. As for the rest of you, I am sorry about your fate.

Answer 10

How do you define "facts"?

One should start these short of discussions by stating the justification for the presuppositions informing your epistemology and ethical system.

One cannot simply state “I believe in {evolution, God, young earth, etc.} because anything else is not rational”, for to say this or similar things is irrelevant until one has first defined their presuppositions of truth, knowledge, and morality.

On the topic of "facts" and rationality:

No person attempts to make their interpretation honest to “the facts”, but rather “the facts” are determined by reference to the individual’s system of interpretation.

Therefore, our systems of interpretation (presuppositions) determine how we look at the world. No one is a neutral explorer.

For example, the cumulative case arguments for the existence/non-existence of God are often constructed without proper consciousness of the system of interpretation being applied to the evidence.

As the arguments are presented in this fashion, they purport the myth of objectivity. Therefore, everyone should quit acting as if they objectively evaluate the evidences in some neutral laboratory before arriving at the likely rational conclusion. Both explorers (believers and non-believers) possess different commitments that control their interpretations of the evidences.

As a Christian, I presuppose a Triune God exists. Therefore, I am obligated to see all of reality in the light of who God is and what He has revealed to me in His word, the Bible and in the world around me.

I am a Christian rationalist of the order of Augustine and Calvin. My rational system does not exalt the human mind as autonomous; instead, it affirms Biblical revelation as axiomatic. Divine revelation of Holy Scripture is a rational revelation. This revelation is internally self-consistent, non-contradictory, and non-paradoxical. A rational Christian reasons from revelation, not to revelation or apart from revelation. My Christian faith is intellectually and logically defensible.

While all of my questions will never be definitively answered, I find that rationally my belief is on solid ground. There are many things in the world I do not fully understand or experience with my five senses, yet we have no problems in believing them. For example, solar physics is not fully known, yet we all objectively accept, using our presuppositions and scientific discourse, the "fact" that the sun will rise tomorrow.

Persons that seek absolute proof of something are inconsistently applying logic and rationality, for they do not seek this absoluteness in all things. Hence, their epistemologies are not fully formed; they speak without proper understanding of the nature of knowledge.

Why is it we can believe in many things using rational analysis, even when what we believe is only partially known, yet when it comes to matters like a supreme being, we suddenly want the "show me beyond a shadow of doubt" proof? As Aristotle once stated, "It is the mark of an instructed mind to rest satisfied with the degree of precision which the nature of the subject admits, and not to seek exactness when only an approximation of the truth is possible."