parent and friends can stand a baby up and maybe try to hold it's hand to help it learn to walk,but when the baby's hand is let go,the child must ultimately decide to move it's legs and feet to walk or if it's just gonna fall back down to the ground and continue to crawl at best.
So also while theist can teach and tell atheist and agnostics about God,Satan,heaven,hell,prayer ect ect. we cant hold there hands all the time and it ultimately falls on the individual to decide to have faith and excercise their spirit or not have faith and go back to the sin dominated life and acheive moderate success compared to what they could have If they would of trusted and God and been obedient.
Agree or disagree?Good analogy or bad analogy?Why or why not?
2007-11-04 12:38:07 · 47 answers · asked by Maurice H 6 in Society & Culture ➔ Religion & Spirituality
a few spelling a gramatical erros.Sorry about that.
2007-11-04 12:40:08 · update #1
" become as humble as a little child."
Children are taught so much by the time, it is time to use your own mind.
2007-11-04 12:47:37 · answer #1 · answered by jeni 7 · 0⤊ 0⤋
As good an analogy as any, I'd say, but I find just holding tight to my own faith far more difficult than learning to walk. That was a breeze by comparison. All we can do for atheists is just present God's Truth in love and hope they believe, and if they don't that we planted a seed that will eventually sprout and grow. It's all up to God. If we do manage to harvest a soul, it's probably because of a seed that was planted by someone else long ago. Keep the faith, run the race and fight the fight. Above all else, put on the whole armor of God so that you might be able to stand, and when you have finished this, STAND.
2007-11-04 12:52:07 · answer #2 · answered by Steve 5 · 1⤊ 0⤋
Pretty good analogy.
The toddler needs to learn to use the muscles and nerves he has and to have faith that walking is possible. He needs to believe that the laws of nature will always work. Your hand will not always be there for support.
But if you are talking about atheists and agnostics, they probably don't even want to trust your hand. You can offer it, but if they don't take it, you have to let them struggle on their own with God.
Just as a child who gets no parental help in walking may walk better when he finally does walk, an atheist who struggles and meets God may have a stronger faith than somebody who has received spiritual support all his life.
You never know. Personal choices and other experiences also enter into it.
Another analogy: when you walk on a sidewalk, do you believe it will support you? If you do, you will step onto it confidently. If not, you won't walk on it, or you will be very cautious. In life, do you believe you should live as God says you should? If you do, you will try to do it. If you don't try to follow God's way, you don't really believe.
2007-11-04 12:51:23 · answer #3 · answered by The First Dragon 7 · 2⤊ 0⤋
I am going to have to respectfully disagree on this one. The reason being that regardless of what mom or dad does, baby WILL eventually walk because its part of his natural development and is not a conscious decision. Parents do not "teach" a child to walk. The child walks because there is an internal drive to do so. You will not find a child who has made a conscious decision NOT to ever walk. Some may take longer to do it, but unless there are developmental complications, they all walk at some point.
Faith on the other hand, IS a conscious choice. Faith must be taught and the person must consciously chooses to accept it or not. Regardless of how much "help" that person receives, they may chose to never have faith.
2007-11-04 12:51:46 · answer #4 · answered by ImUURU? 3 · 0⤊ 0⤋
I agree and believe that the Spirit and Wisdom of God is contained upon conception, per each person. But in the Holy Bible it tells us to bring the child up in the way we want it to go. So if parents instill the true meaning of God as what they have known, into the child, they will know God. Parents who as children were taught the true meaning of God and did not raise their children up with what they have been taught, area guilty of depriving their children to fully know God. Some parents did not teach their children any thing about God and as the children grow older, they have such a caring Spirit, that they reached out all alone to know and Love God. We are all born with this special connection to God the Father. Some keep connected and some don't. The connections are God and the inner Spirit and Wisdom that are all contained in the womb. We are all born with this.
2007-11-04 12:49:05 · answer #5 · answered by Norskeyenta 6 · 0⤊ 0⤋
Well I'm agnostic, any religon is a form of some paganistic religon which is created to explain unexplainable events. It is nothing more than mental masturbation to beileve there is an afterlife of paradise. I don't want to change anyones thoughts but to express my own. Faith in a god or gods may be like learning to walk, for "god" teaches us a way to live our lives in his favor. It is a good anology because religon teaches how to do things with our lives and what is the best way to go about living.
2007-11-04 12:50:11 · answer #6 · answered by Anonymous · 1⤊ 0⤋
Faith is the substance of things hoped for the evidence of things unseen. So yes, the baby doesn't know that they can walk but they believe that they can so this is faith. Great analogy!
To the guy that said Christians just need to have God hold their hands evey step of they way...
Thats right, I need God to hold my hand the entire way, I don't want to do it on my own. I want him there with me holding my hand the entire way. I don't want to be alone and I am never alone with God by my side. Praise be to God! AMEN!
2007-11-04 12:47:37 · answer #7 · answered by Anonymous · 2⤊ 0⤋
Agree, good analogy.
Faith is a continuous learning experience.
Try to follow Gods teachings and sometimes go astray and then have to find your way back again.
Sometimes you fall down and have to pick yourself up and realize it is a struggle to do the right thing.
Even just helping yourself get through the faith journey is tough to say the least.
2007-11-04 12:43:26 · answer #8 · answered by Tigger 7 · 1⤊ 1⤋
I agree, and it is a good analogy. A parent can teach there child about religion but everyone has there own mind and beliefs and when the child is old enough to think for them self and make there own decision they will ultimately choose to believe or not. I have a friend who went to christian school till 8th grade then he switched to a regular high school and became atheist because he felt his beliefs were not his own but those of his mother who pushed religion on him. So everyone will ultimately choose to believe or not.
2007-11-04 12:44:56 · answer #9 · answered by Anonymous · 2⤊ 1⤋
I believe the analogy is mostly apt. Faith is a process, and it is something you should seek after all your life. With walking, however, there does come a finite point at which you have adequately learned the skill.
2007-11-04 12:53:01 · answer #10 · answered by Chantal G 6 · 0⤊ 0⤋
Faith in God is really like a person learning to walk. There are different ways to approach this. Most people like to march.... follow the mob mentality. So people tippy toe like a ballet dancer and don't shove their strict idealogy in someone f**king face. The world would be a better place. Some people use a wheelchair because they lost there way. I like piggy back rides because it funnier and more exciting. It is always better to have a solemate.
2007-11-04 12:47:38 · answer #11 · answered by sparkles 6 · 1⤊ 1⤋