BELIEVERS: If your faith gave you NO emotional fulfillment, would you still believe & practice? Why / Why not?

Question

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If religion offered you only an intellectually satisfying way of considering your life, would you still consider it worthwhile as an endeavor?

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Answer 1

I tried to stuffing myself into the fundamental Christian beliefs and the questions piled up giving me less emotional fulfillment. There is no intellectual or emotional satisfaction in being a fundie - certainly not for me anyways.

I tried fitting myself into atheism, which I have great respect for, but it left many of the coincidences and feelings in my life unaccounted for. I was emotionally void.

I need both. I need the emotional fulfillment I find from believing there is more to life than what can be seen and the intellectual satisfaction that comes from freely exploring, questioning, and considering all possibilities - regardless of the source.

So to answer directly, I would not believe and practice if it did not give me emotional fulfillment but I would consider it worthwhile to learn more if it gave me an intellectual satisfaction.

Answer 2

I think you’ll be reading a great deal of denial here... when, in fact, you are on the money.

It appears to me that faith based belief is a combination of an emotionally lead desire to believe combined with a willingness to accept dishonesty in order to achieve it. I haven't been able to identify any other necessity of the belief phenomenon. Assuming that the god-idea is untrue, and that certainly appears to be so, there is no other explanation I can offer beyond this simple hypothesis.

The emotional portion of god-belief, if it is truly delusional as Dawkins has popularized, and if it involves a true manifestation of psychotic signs, i.e., the hearing and seeing of hallucinations, can be treated by medication for cases of severity; but, the willful dishonesty may be a stumbling block, a portion of the problem that offers something different altogether, and I think that finding the solutions for what it offers is the greater of the challenges to overcome.

It's an interesting subject to speculate upon and I certainly hope that our professional communities will begin to recognize and see the need to begin addressing it seriously since nothing less than the peace of the world is very possibly at stake by failing to do so.

http://i209.photobucket.com/albums/bb62/Randall_Fleck/Solve_DishonestyGIF.gif

[][][] r u randy? [][][]
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Answer 3

I feel human nature needs more than an intellectual satisfying way of considering life. We need meaning, purpose and yes, that's emotionally fulfilling. Should I apologize for that?

Answer 4

I am not really so much in that situation, but if I was I hope I would be able to do what is right. It is very hard to assess what an individual would do if put in a specific situation. Religion really is mainly an intellectual pursuit to know and understand G-d. However, it does provide an emotional fulfillment, but this isn't supposed to be the focus.

Answer 5

That's a hard question. I can't say.
It's like asking me if I would like apples if they didn't taste like apples. More to the point, it's like me asking you if you'd love you significant other if there personality were completely different.

The emotions that I feel in regards to God complete me. It's how He reaches us at times.
I've lived life at one time calling myself a Christian without ever honestly feeling the emotional aspect, and I tried to follow God's word under my own strength and you know what? It didn't work out. I needed to feel like God was there. Then again, if I'm absolutely honest with myself I don't know that if I really had faith then.

Now I have a personal relationship with Him and I feel like I am complete now. Now that i live a life of faith, I know He's there, I know he's my rock and my shield.
But whose to say? It's not all about what I feel, it's that I am His child.


-B

Answer 6

No, I will not, coz it is not meeting my needs. Jesus fulfill my emotional need and that is why I will not trade Him for other faith. The minute I accept Jesus I can feel He is living in me.

Answer 7

I follow the teachings of Jesus, not because they make me "feel" good. But rather it is the only thing that makes sense to me. Nothing else satisfies my longing to know who I am, and why I am here.

Answer 8

Yes, absolutely. Everything is not about me, so I don't always put my own fulfillment first.