Believers: would you think it a good or bad thing if people believed in God for bad(faulty) reasons?

Question

That is, no matter what the reasoning one used to believe in God, would it be a good/OK thing in the end because they believed in God?

Would it be OK if YOU believed in God for bad(faulty) reasons?

Mark: an example... "I believe in God because this book says there's a God."

Answer 1

Maybe Christian do believe in God for bad reasons.

There are actually some 200 gospels, epistles and other books concerning the life of Jesus Christ. Writing such material was a popular literary form, particularly in the 2nd century. The pious fantasies competed with Greek romantic fiction. Political considerations in the late 2nd century led to the selection of just four approved gospels and the rejection of others. After three centuries of wrangling 23 other books were accepted by the Church as divinely inspired. The rest were declared 'pious frauds'. In truth, the whole lot belongs to a genre of literary FICTION.

Would the partisans of Christ have set out deliberately to lie? Were they such barefaced charlatans that they concocted falsehoods and deceits merely to advance themselves and their designs? By their own admission, YES they were. They may well have been believers, in that they held to a certain faith. On this was built the fanaticism either to die, or to kill others, for that faith. But faith absolves the believer from any fidelity to objective truth.

Religious fantasy advances in small steps by which those who already ‘see a higher truth’ help the less gifted to achieve that sublime state by using various devices. In Jewish tradition, one such a device was ‘midrash’, the teasing out of new, contemporary meanings from antique, sacred texts. By such means, the scribes could resolve a current issue by interpreting what the scripture had ‘really meant’ all along. Was that a lie?

False accreditation was another much used method, common practice during antiquity. Most of the texts in both the Hebrew bible and the New Testament were forged in the names of their authors to give them ‘authority.’ This merely helped others recognise 'the higher truths' presented to them. Who could argue with Solomon, say, or Apostles of the Lord?

Once the Church had grabbed mastery of much of Europe and the middle-east, its forgery engine went into overdrive.

'The Church forgery mill did not limit itself to mere writings but for centuries cranked out thousands of phony "relics" of its "Lord," "Apostles" and "Saints" … There were at least 26 'authentic' burial shrouds scattered throughout the abbeys of Europe, of which the Shroud of Turin is just one … At one point, a number of churches claimed the one foreskin of Jesus, and there were enough splinters of the "True Cross" that Calvin said the amount of wood would make "a full load for a good ship." ' (Acharya S, The Christ Conspiracy)

Ignatius Loyola (1491-1556), the tireless zealot for papal authority – he was the founder of the Society of Jesus (the Jesuits) – even wrote:

"We should always be disposed to believe that which appears to us to be white is really black, if the hierarchy of the church so decides."

The Reformation may have swept away some abuses perpetrated by the priesthood but lying was not one of them. Martin Luther, in private correspondence, argued:

"What harm would it do, if a man told a good strong lie for the sake of the good and for the Christian church ... a lie out of necessity, a useful lie, a helpful lie, such lies would not be against God, he would accept them."
– Martin Luther

Answer 2

You know, everything I can think of is really not something I'd regret. My upbringing was a little rough. My parents go to church, but it's sort of a burden to them. A list of rules. Growing up, the Bible was something they threw at us or bashed us over the head with. I remember hearing a sermon as a teen about the Gospel being good news, and wondering what that was about. They raised us not to have any external bad behavior, but they never taught us any good way of dealing with our emotions. There's only so long you can bottle anger and resentment before they bubble to the surface, no matter how much trouble you get into when it happens. I had a crisis of faith in my twenties, and what I ended up with was more of a relationship rather than rules based religion. I still think the fundamentals are important, but it's from the heart that good behavior flows - not the other way around. What I've struggled with is vengeance. I know I'm supposed to leave things in God's hands when someone slights me. Part of me would like to retaliate. But really, forgiveness - even though it's tough short term - is really better for me long term. There have been times when I've thought about ditching my relationship with my husband. Husbands can be mightily difficult to deal with some days! But because of our commitment to God and each other, we've worked through those things and have come through stronger. There are times when it seems like a lot of work. But it always proves to be work worth the effort. I'm a better person because of my relationship with God than I would have been without it. It pushes me to grow and let people in, where my upbringing taught me not to trust anyone or anything. In the end, if I'm wrong, I still don't regret it. The life I've lived is better (and I've been better for others) than I would have been otherwise. I think the people who are truly miserable in their faith (and there are some!) are the ones who are serving out of a sense of guilt or external pressure. When you decide it's what you want, what you give up, doesn't seem like much of a price at all.

Answer 3

Have you ever heard of karma? It would NOT be ok to believe in GOD for bad (faulty) reasons. How can a person do that? I don't understand, I can't even comprehend the action much less wrap my brain around the concept. I think that is what you wanted to know, I hope that I have helped, Blessings.

Answer 4

Man, intelligent question. I hope you're sincere. I'd say most believers believe for the 'wrong' reason, by your standard. They believe out of fear, or greed, or just because it's written somewhere, someone told them so. Oh yea ... I get it.

So right, answer your question. Hmmm.... I wouldn't call it 'bad' for whacked believing. But, right, could be better.

People just start believing and then they get sucked in by religious authorities - they go to war over religion. Cuz they didn't take time to really discover God, and they are maybe then fighting someone who is worshipping the same God!

But this blind belief and religious authority thing killed them all. Yea, I guess it could get real bad, more i think about it...

Still, that's not really the belief thing doing it. The religious authorities who guide the lost and believers to war...they're accountable for this.

Answer 5

I'm not sure what you mean by 'faulty' reasons, but I will say that it seems to me that the more a person knows about who God really is, the less likely he is to fall away from faith when trials come. For example, if you believe the lie that God *wants* you to be healthy and wealthy and that all that is required for that is enough faith, when you end up sick, you will either be extremely discouraged and disillusioned by your lack of faith, or think that God can't keep His promises to you. But since God never promised that, if you don't start out with that misconception, that's not a problem.

God will only act according to His character, and so if you truly know His character, you're not going to end up disillusioned and walking away from Him.

If you're asking if it's good that people believe in God *simply* for 'fire insurance' --- Pascal's wager, e.g.---, I'm not sure that that's saving faith. I really believe that saving faith involves truly loving God. However, I know that some people come in for the fire insurance and end up staying when they realize how rad God's character is. It's hard not to love Him when you truly see Him for who He is.

Answer 6

I don't know because my reasons are not faulty. It is not enough merely to believe in God, you also need to be kind and considerate to all those around you, something the more rabid Christians fail to do. I believe in living by example, not proselytizing and driving people away from, rather than toward, God.

Answer 7

A good thing. Much rather see a religious zealot that has slightly unique views of religion and God not shared by the common majority of people than someone who does not believe in God. Maybe my beliefs fall into this category. Not entirely sure. Guess that would be okay and better than locking up a seat in Hell for me personally.

Answer 8

What would be a "bad" reason for believing in God? I'm seriously asking, just trying to wrap my mind around the question, because it's a very good one!

Answer 9

Yes. The simple reason is "who is to judge another person for "Why" they believe what they do". A little child believes for different reasons and far less educated ones than adults do. And most beliefs are based on their experiences with people or books that come into their life.

That is my opinion.

Answer 10

A Bad thing.

James 2:19

"You believe that there is one God. You do well. Even the demons believe—and tremble!"

James 2:14 What does it profit, my brethren, if someone says he has faith but does not have works? Can faith save him? 15 If a brother or sister is naked and destitute of daily food, 16 and one of you says to them, “Depart in peace, be warmed and filled,” but you do not give them the things which are needed for the body, what does it profit? 17 Thus also faith by itself, if it does not have works, is dead.

Without the truth in them, they cannot become true believers. Any belief based on a lie is doomed to fail in the end.