Christians say they have faith because they can feel God.
If that is so, then why do other people relentlessly believe in other religions claiming that they had miracles and they feel the existence of their God or whatever.
What I am saying is that there are so many other religions and beliefs that other people have and they are firm ones!
So how could you Christians be so sure of your beliefs when other people also feel equally strongly about their beliefs?
You think they definately are wrong but they strongly believe they are right and they think you are wrong.
Is this not a strong evidence that the Faith everyone got is invalid and unreliable as anyone or any religion can easily have it.
This is why your faith can easily be claimed as imaginary since other religions that you claim are wrong can easily have strong faith in their beliefs!
Do you get my point?
If you do then do you agree or not?
Don't say you feel your faith, I just explained my point!
2007-10-23 16:52:07 · 37 answers · asked by Anonymous in Society & Culture ➔ Religion & Spirituality
This just reads like so much more Psycho-babble from still another Christian-Basher.
Why not use any talents you might have to do something constructive?
2007-10-25 16:41:52 · answer #1 · answered by Living In Korea 7 · 1⤊ 0⤋
If god were real , WHY would faith be necessary ? Why wouldn't god just give us the facts plain and simple and detailed and in undeniable form ( Please don't say the Bible does that . Obviously it doesn't . It requires great leaps of faith over common sense and science .)
God could tell everyone in the world ( lets say this coming Saturday ) through a personalized interactive display : Who he is , how he got here , what he wants us to do and not do , and why . What the punishment for not obeying is and what the reward for obeying is . And why the hell he put us here in the first place .
Why does god want us to believe in a feeling rather than using our "born with" intellect ?
In fact the number of different faiths is what made me question my own faith in the beginning . There are about two doz. Major belief systems such as Catholicism , Dozens more sub-divisions such as Lutherans and Suni Muslims , And hundreds of smaller churches and cults with still different beliefs . Add to that it is very difficult (except in small organizations of a hundred or less members) to find a group were everyone believes exactly the same . Even Anglican Bishops are in deep debate over things like homosexuality . Everyone just seems to believe what gives them comfort ( security blankets ?) . And they usually learn the basics in young childhood and change things around as they get older . All the religions have the same feeling because it is the same feeling of comfort and security . The same feeling an atheist feels when he makes it home through a terrible storm to his loved ones . It's a nice feeling . Some people use drugs to get it . Some use sex . Some use group worhip of a god . Some use group singing at a concert .
It's just that atheists refuse to present themselves as someone who will imagine a god exists just in order to get that feeling . They will suspend disbelief for as long as a movie takes but not as long as it takes to be a member of a religious belief system .
Jamesmom , I have to disagree with you strongly ! If you see a bunch of cars going down a one way street you would be pretty stupid if you didn't know it was dangerous to drive your up the street the other direction . You don't have to experience something to KNOW it is right or wrong . And your brain can certainly trick you into thinking that what you are feeling is good or real for you when the opposite is true . You can experiece the good feeling of being drunk , or of being free of pain after experiencing a terrible injury ( effect of endorphines ) . You can experiece the good feeling of flying off a building while in your sleep , or while on drugs . People who get healings sometime feel better due to the mass psychology of the situation only to feel much worse afterwards . AND in fact scientists have recently learned how to electically stimulate the a part of the brain to give that feeling of the comfort of faith .
Wahid , you are using a type of circular reasoning . You are saying that the posibility of one religion might be right and all the other religions are wrong . IF there was a religion that was significantly different in concepts from the others I would say this would be a valid assumption . But the only "religion" that I can think of that comes close to fitting this is Scientology . And even this borrows from the OT . The criminals from the galaxies sent into the volcanos are the devils thrown out of heaven and sent to hell . The Aliens that put them there are the Angels . Even the clearing machine is nothing more than a confessional with a lie dector . ALL religions are the feeble attempt of men to explain a certain common set of questions with imagined situations .
The questions being : Where are we , How did we get here , Who or what put us here , Why are we here , Why do bad things happen to us , And how can we reduce the bad things that happen to us ?
2007-10-23 17:21:13 · answer #2 · answered by allure45connie 4 · 0⤊ 0⤋
Nope you've lost me, sorry. I totally missed your point and I'm not entirely sure what the question is.
You say
"So how could you Christians be so sure of your beliefs when other people also feel equally strongly about their beliefs"
I'm not sure I'm deserving of answering this because I don't consider myself Christian, but I'm going to give it a shot anyway.
Have you ever disagreed with someone about something that happened in your own life? The other day a co-worker was telling a story about one of the customers that came into the store where I work. Now I was there and I noticed that my co-workers version was nothing like I remembered. When I mentioned it to him he clearly believed he was recounting the situation completly accuratly but I'm absolutly convinced that he changed details.. So I ask you how can we both be sure that we are right when there is someone else who strongly thinks that we are wrong? Its pretty simple; we trust ourselves, our recollections, and in the case of your religion question our judgement, more than we trust someone elses.
Moving on to another of your questions, I'm going to have to answer with a question. Why is it that if I have faith in one thing and my friend in another than faith must be invalid and unreliable? That doesn't make sense to me. Yes religions that I don't believe in have followers who have faith but so what? Your not going to convince me that the fact that people have faith in different thing makes their faith imaginary because its not imagined, they have faith.
2007-10-23 17:21:48 · answer #3 · answered by Aurora 4 · 0⤊ 0⤋
Dear Axel,
Your logic is very correct but your conclusion that "the Faith everyone got is invalid and unreliable" does not seem correct.
Is it not logical that, when different religions hold opposite beliefs, then, if one is incorrect another may be correct?
For clarity I give an example, your sister tells that you are a human but your brother tells that you are a donkey. Do you think both statements are invalid because one contrdicts the other? Obviously not! If one statement is incorrect then there is a possibility that the other statement may be correct. If you are sufficiently intelligent then you will think logically and will try to find out the correct one. I pray for you.
2007-10-23 17:16:44 · answer #4 · answered by Wahidur Rahman 4 · 1⤊ 0⤋
The thing is the religions are set up the same. They are very different because of the culture and the geographic location but in the center of each of the many religions there is a God like figure that goes by many different names as you travel the world but the point is as long as you believe, the detail can sorta slip away, because theres a good chance a lot of the details are things that affected that culture only so its not relevant to someone else. Also most religions usually have morals incorporated...so why do people go to war when the structures are so similar. Easy...people always want to be superior and they want their religion to be there on top with them.
2007-10-23 16:59:55 · answer #5 · answered by Sully 2 · 2⤊ 1⤋
Wow, that's VERY intriguing, i never saw it like that, and you have a very valid point, however, I'm a christian myself, and I do believe my God is the one and only, i'll go as far as saying I KNOW He is the one and only. Lol, but see I wouldn't be following this belief by faith alone, i've seen and read plenty of fact and evidence that lead to His existance, there are soo much factual evidence out there it's a crime not to believe in this God, after seeing and reading what i have i have no doubt in what i know to be true, but because I have not actually seen God's image i call it faith, the evidence surrounding His image might as well create His image because of the amount of evidence. So...I get your point but unfortunately my friend, i do not agree, i just can't, it would be like agreeing with the person who says the sky is a vivid red. I hope this made sense...
2007-10-23 17:04:05 · answer #6 · answered by Anonymous · 2⤊ 2⤋
I think you generalize a little too much.. I think you are talking about the really preachy christans.. I fully believe in my god.. how ever.. My god is a very common god.. one that so many people belive in.. I like to look at all religons and look at the similarities between them all.. someone once said that beer was a gift from god because the discovery of beer happened all around the world in a very small space of time... Well what about believe thier is one creator.. or micromanaging with saints or spirits.. it's all very confusing.. but there are chrisitans that are open to the variations between "gods" Some people say there is only one way to worship god.. others say that there are a million ways to worship him.. Everyone clings to what they belive in because faith is personal and not science.. religion is what gets us through the day.. whether our faith is science, ourselve, mother earth or a god.. it's so general and so personal that the world will never agree with just one.
2007-10-23 17:01:13 · answer #7 · answered by wonka wonka 2 · 2⤊ 2⤋
You answered your own question. Christians believe in their religion, just as everyone believes that their religion is the true one. No one knows for sure what the Truth is, that is the hole point of Faith! It is believing in something that cannot be proven! That is why it is called faith, not fact.
2007-10-23 16:58:04 · answer #8 · answered by Shivon 5 · 4⤊ 0⤋
Religion is very ugly business dont you think. I mean people die over it and there the lovely 10 commandent thou shall not kill. but If in the name of their 'god' its okay. Not make sense. In the end all religions are th same they all believe in something more than themselves. I dont feel faith though I HAVE faith big difference.
2007-10-23 17:04:35 · answer #9 · answered by CLOSED 4 · 1⤊ 0⤋
faith is more than a feeling. Yes, feelings are used to back up our faith, but God is not silent in the lives of His believers. Other faiths and religions have their beliefs based on their own understanding of the truth. I'm not going to say that I haven't heard convincing stories for many faiths other than my own, but most lies are based on some truths. Having faith isn't a feeling, but a choice which can lead you down a path of events that continually renew you and convince you of your faith. All religions need faith.
2007-10-23 17:02:04 · answer #10 · answered by christie 5 · 1⤊ 2⤋
I think this is where Ecumenism comes in or the respect for other religions.
Since religion is based on faith yes, we feel we are right because of our faith but we can understand also why people feel so strongly in their religions because they have faith also.
That's why we don't shove our religion in other people's throats anymore if you think this religion is the one like we do then you are more than welcome to try it. If not, then we understand.
But if you are looking for evidence that would support our faith then you should look into the definition of faith more closely.
2007-10-23 17:00:27 · answer #11 · answered by Joseph Anthony Y 1 · 1⤊ 1⤋