| Moderator  Join Date: Jun 2008 Location: Dallas area, TX Gender:  Posts: 1,253 Country:  Points: 17,173, Level: 83 | Level up: 65%, 177 Points needed |  |  Quote:
Originally Posted by knowuryder  Faith is a funny thing, because it seems in order to have it, you must have no doubt whatsoever.....and that is where I disconnect. | I don't know that I agree. Personally, I have a lot of doubts. I don't think I know the whole truth - I don't think I could understand the whole truth. But what I believe makes sense to me because I have examined it and looked at the world around me and the beliefs of others to find my own understanding - and my understanding includes the idea of a Divine. Could I be wrong? Sure. I probably am. But I don't know that anyone else has it any more "right" than I do. Quote: |
I was always skeptical, and as soon as someone says they have no doubt that God exists and that things like virgin births and talking snakes and resurrections are real, you lose me.
| Those things don't exist in all religions or all concepts of the Divine. And even in the religions where they do exist, they aren't necessarily meant as "literal interpretations of the truth" by all who believe it. You're right, though, that there are several that do require that you believe the stories as depictions of actual, literal events, and I also am skeptical of that. Quote: |
AT one time, man struggled to make sense of the world, but we know a lot more now so logically we should let reason replace dogma....and if we don't know, we can say we don't know without inventing the "other" to believe in.
| "The God of the Gaps". I'm perfectly comfortable with scientific explanations, but for me it doesn't necessarily conflict with the idea that there is a Divine that created stuff in the first place. When you start going back to "but where did all the matter and energy that went into the start of the universe come from in the first place", I know that many theories (String theory, etc.) have been created. To me, giving credence to that sort of extreme hypothetical isn't really that much different than giving credence to belief in a Divine. Quote: |
Secondly, religion is nothing more than the beaurocracy of faith. It is a group of people telling another group of people that this is what you must believe and this is how you must interpret and these are the rules....why, because you say so? Bullshit. If you are strong in your faith, bully for you, if you require protocol and a hierarchy, and you feel that we must ALL subscribe, then you are just another victim of brainwashing.
| Again, not all religions follow this. There are religions out there that actively encourage the individual to seek their own answers, their own understanding of the Universe, their own relationship with the Divine. The religion may offer guideposts and landmarks, but ultimately the path is up to the individual.
Granted there are also religions out there (and individuals in any given religion) that use one or more of the "reasons" in the essay at the start of this thread to try to force followers into submission. PROPAGANDA: What lies behind us and lies before us are small matters compared to what lies right to our faces. FactCheck.org - Check it out! | 
07-28-2008, 11:04 AM
(07-28-2008)
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