the quote ends '...if it returns to you then it is real love'
Can a person of profound faith set that aside in an effort to learn and truly understand the beliefs and ways of thinking of another? If they do not then they are always looking at those other beliefs through a significant filter. Is a faith that is strong enough to provoke certainty also strong enough to withstand intentional doubt?
2007-09-20 03:50:21 · 14 answers · asked by Anonymous in Society & Culture ➔ Religion & Spirituality
All I can ever do is star your questions. I just get this profound feeling that I could sit and discuss things for hours with you. This is one of those things I could not possibly answer in even a short essay. Much like most of your questions, I feel connected to you when I read them and long to just sit and chat with you.
OK now that I started getting all sappy on you. Im going to end it with this...sweety you are agnostic. Agnostic in the true sense...not the wishy washy way others tend to describe it. Embrace this as it is a good thing and yes if the faith is true it should come back. If not, then enjoy the journey...for many times it is not the destination, but rather the journey that means the most.
I'm not sure if I answered your question but I have said something I have wanted to say for some time...just never have for whatever reason!!
2007-09-20 05:38:30 · answer #1 · answered by Anonymous · 6⤊ 0⤋
The problem with belief systems is that they become defining: the person who was previously their own definition takes on the adjectives of their new-found faith, and this, in the process, becomes persona for them. Before long, there is little distinction between them and others of like belief, at least in terms of their interaction with others in an exchange of religious beliefs. Dogma becomes a fortress into which the warriors for the various faiths huddle, united by those adjectives they have adopted as their own.
There are exceptions, of course, but in the general sense these exceptions are peculiar for not adhering to the line of thought of the majority. Few people of great religious faith are able to set aside that faith for a completely unbiased exchange.
For this reason it is perhaps an advantage to not have any belief at all, as regards unbiased consideration of religions. When there is no particular merit assessed to any religion, all religions become equal.
For religious thought: Atheism = Egalitarianism
2007-09-20 06:39:08 · answer #2 · answered by Jack B, goodbye, Yahoo! 6 · 4⤊ 0⤋
Good question. I spent several years being a p-poor Christian who wasn't really sure she could buy all the stuff in the Bible and what she was told to believe, so I just decided not to think about it anymore.
I was afraid that I would decide that I really didn't believe much of it at all, and then what would I do?
But, I've decided that I want to find Truth, if possible--even if it's far from what I used to think it was and the journey is uncomfortable at times. So, I'm looking into a lot of different things and trying to be open minded but evaluate them as logically as is possible for these kinds of issues.
I think once something becomes YOUR faith, it will be strong. If it's been spoon-fed to you, you'll be afraid to examine it, as I was.
2007-09-20 04:03:55 · answer #3 · answered by Anonymous · 1⤊ 0⤋
Interesting question.
My family are all Christians and I have always been the "black sheep",mainly because I have always wanted to explore all other possibilities.
After many years on the spiritual path, I found some profound truths that changed my life! I love sharing the results of my exploration!
One night, my older brother (a minister with his own church), started "witnessing" to me. He always felt that I was lost and worried about me. We stayed up all night talking!
I saw a certain "dawning" come over him as we reasoned together. He was visibly struck by what was being said.
He said something so truthful that it shut us both up! "I cannot turn back now...all my family, friends, the church, all that I have read and learned...well, I would have no home, no place to go. This has become my way of life...there is no turning back". His honesty touched me, very deeply.
Our belief systems run very deep. We build our lives around them. Very few can break away and explore other possibilities...especailly, as we age.
I really admire the adventuresome spirit, not ruled by fear. It can cause family rifts, but "To thine ownself"...one must be true!
2007-09-20 04:37:21 · answer #4 · answered by Eve 4 · 1⤊ 0⤋
This question is simply great (I don't say this for the 10 points, I don't give a fig about 10 points). Yes, a strong faith should stand all that and more and the person should try to understand, to learn, to see that "the others" are not really different after all. It takes lots of effort, you have to put yourself to test so much, this is really true understanding.
2007-09-20 11:42:09 · answer #5 · answered by remy 5 · 2⤊ 0⤋
nicely, permit's see. i'm a Christian. a good number of folk seem to think of that being a Christian involves being brainwashed, believing that the Earth grew to become into actually created in six days 6-10,000 years in the past, hating homosexuals, being uneducated, in no way examining different religions, basically believing what our pastor/priest tells us, and not in any respect having examine the Bible. I grew to become a Christian merely approximately 2 years in the past, after having studied many diverse religions. i could no longer have a school degree, yet i've got examine a lot of a similar books assigned to pupils in college. i don't have self belief that a school degree is mandatory with the intention to be knowledgeable. multiple the main smart human beings of the previous few centuries in no way went to college. case in point, Thomas Paine, who basically had 5 years of grammar college. did no longer Albert Einstein flunk out of faculty? i think in evolution, and settle for the medical theory on the age of the Earth. I have no problems reconciling the Bible with technology. i do no longer hate every physique, least of all homosexuals. i'm at the instant examining the hot testomony. i'm going to start on the old (i've got examine the 1st 5 books, yet i'm going to admit that I have been given caught on Numbers for a time) while i'm completed with the hot. I not often attend church, and that i've got in no way been nicely-known for merely taking what every physique says at face value, in spite of in the event that they're a clergyman or a pastor.
2016-10-05 01:39:52 · answer #6 · answered by ? 4 · 0⤊ 0⤋
I think so. While I was working on my philosophy minor, I questioned so much just because of the differing viewpoints I read and the different religions I learned about. I still do question and wonder, but I also feel my faith is just as strong as it has ever been.
2007-09-20 14:07:14 · answer #7 · answered by Purdey EP 7 · 0⤊ 0⤋
Yes, I think so. I have set my beliefs free a lot of times and they always come back to me in other ways... I even doubt ithem sometimes. No problem about being flexible, search other religions, browse a little bit, so that we return to what we believe even stronger.
Peace!
2007-09-20 04:00:00 · answer #8 · answered by Janet Reincarnated 5 · 0⤊ 0⤋
What a lesson right here in your great question! Once again I stand strong for the undoing of unreasoned fear, the ultimate mind fraud. True freedom can only come from true courage. That's my story and I'm stickin to it.
Peace VC
2007-09-20 16:45:25 · answer #9 · answered by Valerie C 3 · 0⤊ 0⤋
i had my answer before i read your detail's. getting to the point where you think you have figured your religion out then, to find out that i was wrong i'm willing to be open enough to swallow my pride for the sake of learning more to become closer to god
this has happened to me hundred's of time's.
2007-09-20 08:02:05 · answer #10 · answered by Anonymous · 0⤊ 0⤋