You have faith in your religion because you believe it to be true, even though there is nothing to base this faith on apart from what you have read in books and being told.
Is it not then correct that it is possible to have faith in anything if you are led by others to believe it is true?
A child believes in the tooth fairy until it is told by its friends it is not real, therefore would a man have faith in the easter bunny being real if all his life he was told it existed?
Is your faith in religion not the same thing?
2007-07-28 10:50:04 · 23 answers · asked by Anonymous in Society & Culture ➔ Religion & Spirituality
Faith: Acceptance of ideals, beliefs, etc., which are not necessarily demonstrable through experimentation or reason.
"Faith; noun. Belief without evidence in what is told by one who speaks without knowledge, of things without parallel."
Ambrose Bierce
"Faith is often the boast of the man who is too lazy to investigate."
F.M. Knowles
2007-07-29 04:19:13 · answer #1 · answered by Anonymous · 1⤊ 0⤋
The real question here is: Once you are spiritually aware, how can you not have faith?
What I've read and what I've been told have formed the basis for my intellectual understanding of spirituality, but many years of experiencing existence AS A SPIRIT are what form the basis of my Faith. You have to step out of the realm of words and into the realm of experience. I have Faith in the lessons I have learned by living. Books and other people offer us insight, experience offers us spiritual growth. When you know beyond doubt, from experience, that you are an immortal being there is no question as to why you have Faith. You have Faith because you are. When you lack Faith you question your very existence.
You cannot have true Faith in the words of others, only in your own Truth (actually the words Faith, Truth, and God all refer to the same thing).
Heaven is a state of mind,
Shane
2007-07-28 18:11:12 · answer #2 · answered by Shane K 4 · 0⤊ 0⤋
I have faith because of the miracles and acts that God has done for me. Things don't just happen because of coincidence, that's what evolution would teach. When I pray I pray in believing that it will come true, and it always does. Maybe instead of doubting it why don't you try it, test God to see if he will come through. He will, just remember that it was God and not something else. Now to pray for something outrageous really really depends how faithful you are to the Lord, so don't do something ridiculous, not to say God can't do it. Also I believe because there is the bible, and it is real nothing fake about it, except those new bibles get a King James Version. Hope you try this have a blessed day
2007-07-28 18:07:18 · answer #3 · answered by Anonymous · 0⤊ 0⤋
Good question. I have no answer, but some opinions based on my own experiences with religion. I had 'faith' a) because I was terrified not to! and b) because I believed what I was told to believe without thinking for myself.
Now, I just keep an open mind. I have no idea what's "true" and I'm not afraid to say so, whereas before, I was convinced, and quite self-righteous about it, that I knew the truth, and whoever didn't see it my way was going straight to hell.
2007-07-28 17:55:42 · answer #4 · answered by Meow 5 · 0⤊ 0⤋
The same reason why you don't have faith, perhaps.
In many instances belief is an a priori attitude that comes about in the minds of people from an early age. Conversely, unbelief happens early. Both are expressions of faith because neither can prove their beliefs are based on observable evidence. But both can interpret a selection of evidence, appropriate shared meaning, and remain faithful to their belief.
Belief in the big bang is based on faith, as is beleif in a Creator. Neither can produce concrete evidence but both can produce speculative evidence with which they build a canonical narrative from which they both quote 'chapter and verse' as their 'authority'. What science deemed as fact last century is blown away by new evidence in the next but those who lived under the regime of truth set up by science in the previous century were laughed at for 'believing' that their peers were wrong.
History is like a timetable for fools who say 'this is it, there is no other'.
Science books, like holy scripture, are always under review, my friend.
Scientists believe in God through 'what' they see in intelligent design of the way the universe is constructed at molecular level. Others look for data to 'prove' His non-existence. Neither can provide a paper that concludes with a definintive answer as to 'why?'.
With regard to growing up intellectually, a child believes in finite things.
2007-07-28 21:40:57 · answer #5 · answered by addendum 3 · 0⤊ 0⤋
I don't have a religion. Religion is just a thing. I only have faith in God. Plus past experiences have helped me to believe even more. My faith in GOD is not the same thing as what you are talking about.
2007-07-28 17:57:05 · answer #6 · answered by cna_all@sbcglobal.net 2 · 0⤊ 0⤋
Faith is a weakness. i have had to deal with some big obstacles in life over the last few months,i have accepted them as something hard to deal with for a long time to come.
My father is faithful to god (christianity) and i could never live like him.
We have 70 - 90 years, the only legacy we can leave is an imprint on others
2007-07-28 18:25:12 · answer #7 · answered by kiefer102 3 · 0⤊ 0⤋
The child believes its parents love it entirely and have no reason to lie, so they believe.
So it is that faith is the un-ending knowledge that God is benevolent. Where as our parents tell fibs to delight the children, so God through his energy allows us to express our free will, even though by our ignorance, misuseing our free will causes us to commit malevolence, and causes fear or greed for pleasure within us. That is why God gave us mortal form and created the material world to hold us safely, until our spirits find purity and form, and until all negativity is chiped away.
It is true that to find faith and escape the sufferings of the material world, one needs to become like a child. All children understand that they are dependent upon their parents.
2007-07-28 18:11:47 · answer #8 · answered by Yoda 6 · 0⤊ 0⤋
No, when I was told Santa or the Bunny guy doesn't exist, I accepted it, since, how wasn't always sceptical about it as a child? No matter how much anybody tells me though, I will always believe in God unless I'm given proof he doesn't exist (which is impossible).
2007-07-28 17:59:14 · answer #9 · answered by Riley 3 · 0⤊ 0⤋
religion is a comfort blanket, because without it people would have nothing to fall back on. Its not real, Same goes for the tooth fairy its all make believe to make us feel comfortable
2007-07-28 17:57:29 · answer #10 · answered by I carried a Water melon!! 4 · 0⤊ 0⤋