The Question of Faith (reject, Earth, beliefs, minority, theist)

[Ronald]

Originally Posted by Mr_Spinkles

'Now faith is the assurance of things hoped for, the conviction of things not seen.' ~Hebrews 11:1

A positive attitude is very similar, but much healthier and does not lead to credulity and superstition.

Mr_Sprinkles, on another thread you said God limited your ability.

Who does the limiting? The Bible tells you you can move mountains, move a tree and walk on water, Peter walked on water!

When you don't exercise your faith, why blame God?
Does God have to do everything for you?
That's the crux of the matter, he won't with out your exercising your faith.
You doubt! Just as Peter did. No faith, no miracles.
Could it be your fault?

[LittleNipper]

Originally Posted by Gerani1248

"I wear one piece of jewelry and it's a ring that says "faith." I believe that faith is the most important thing we can have. It outweighs hope and love, because without faith you have nothing. I have faith that on a daily basis I am renewed and will evolve into something higher. I have faith in the unknown, because it is the unknown that holds all hope and love."

beautiful, lightkeeper.

"Faith", in what? People placed their "faith" in the view that the TITANIC was practically "UNSINKABLE". How many even today could imagine that a luxary
liner WOULD SINK on its first trip. How many people have "faith" that the building they are working in is going to be still standing by days end???
I have faith because GOD has given me faith. I trust GOD because HE pulls me toward HIM-----not because I first loved HIM. GOD first loved me and gives me the faith to place my trust in HIM and HIM alone for today and tomorrow. I'd love to introduce you to the unknown. The unknown has revealed HIMSELF in the person of Jesus Christ. I am renewed through HIM and by HIM. It isn't of my doing---it isn't MY faith but rather a faith founded in GOD's love.

[Hope]

Mr. Spinkles,

Faith does not necessarily lead to credulity and superstition. Having faith does not mean leaving your brains at the door. Just because you have faith does not mean you should not also have common sense and use the tools God has given us. Such as modern medicine, for instance. If I become very ill, the first logical thing to do is go to a doctor. I can still have faith in God, and pray for healing, while doing this. I don't believe faith and 'brains' have to contradict each other. God does not want blind, stupid followers. Yes, sadly with some, their 'faith' can become distorted and lead to superstition, or worse--but this is not always the case. I think real faith--the kind of faith God wants us to have--will show itself by its good fruits.

[Lightkeeper]

Well said, Hope. Faith=Action. If you don't take action you don't have faith.

[Mr Spinkles]

Originally Posted by Ronald

Mr_Sprinkles, on another thread you said God limited your ability.

Well, I don't believe in a god, but assuming a god exists, then yes.

Who does the limiting? The Bible tells you you can move mountains, move a tree and walk on water, Peter walked on water!

Lots of religions promise things if you believe in them...every scam has a hook. And we don't know Peter walked on water any more than we know Hercules defeated the hydra.

When you don't exercise your faith, why blame God?

I don't blame the nonexistent for anything, I try to be self reliant.

Does God have to do everything for you?
That's the crux of the matter, he won't with out your exercising your faith.
You doubt! Just as Peter did. No faith, no miracles.
Could it be your fault?

If I can be blamed for showing as much skepticism towards Christianity/Judaism as you do towards all other religions in existence, then yes it could be my fault.

Just think about this for a moment: If you give people a bunch of non-alcoholic beer, they often act differently, because they believe the beverage will have an effect on them. In actuality, it is all in their heads...the effect is entirely psychological. The truth is, people often see and feel what they want or expect to see and feel. I'm sure if I believe I can perform miracles, I will think I can perform miracles....or I will interpret ordinary events as miracles...but that won't make it true. As it is, I will have faith in miracles AFTER I see them, not before (and I'm not holding my breath).

[Ardhanariswar]

the titanic was fallible. but God aint. sumthing so good and so devine cannot be false, God cannot crash....


"Lots of religions promise things if you believe in them...every scam has a hook. And we don't know Peter walked on water any more than we know Hercules defeated the hydra."

i believe anything is possible if you believe in yourself.

Amy Tan (my favorite author) wrote a book of musings called The Opposite of Fate. it was a well written collections of stuff that happened in her life.
one such wierd event went like this. amy tan had this friend Pete who was rooming in an apartment with amy tan and her husband. pete had two premonition like dreams. the first was that he would be attacked by two strangers and would be strangled. the second was that he would return to his deceased wife (who was waiting on the other side). Amy didnt believe in him. but robbers came into thier appartnemtn and attacked. they were safe, but the gang had not been apprehended. pete broke one of the robbers nose and it was likely that they would be attacked again. so they moved to another apartment. during amy tans birthday, pete was sick, so amy and her husband went for a joy ride. when they came back at night they had learned something bad.

two strangers strangled pete and he died.

amy and her husband and friends had a night vigil and they got drunk of vodka because they were sad. amy heard petes voice and she said aloud to the people in the vigil, the names of the killers were john and ronald. the next day, the police apprehended the two suspects from the evidence of fingerprints. they also found the calculator they stole from pete, the serial number matched the one on the reciept that amy had (pete bought the calculator on her credit card). the two suspects were ronald and john.

throughout the next few monthes, pete kept reapperaing in amy's dreams, and they all contained metaphorical meanings. Amy always was conscious of how she was alive and pete was dead, in her dreams.

one dream went as follows.

they were in this colorful land, with waterfalls, canyons and mountains. pete says "wanna go flying?" amy says, "I cant, remember that im alive."
pete gestured her towards a shop where they sold plastic wings for a bargin price of 25 cents.

they went flying. then amy tan thought how can such a cheap pair of wings make her fly, instantly she dropped, the wind rushed in her face, her body falling down. then she asked how she was flying just seconds before and was now falling, then instantly she began to float again. she then wondered how plastic wings can make her fly, and then she dropped. then she wondered how she could have been flying just seconds ago.

she asked this to pete. pete says: "and now you see, its your belief inb yourself that enables you to do what you wish.

_________


this faith in yourself can be called anything you wish. God fosters it.

[Mr Spinkles]

the titanic was fallible. but God aint. sumthing so good and so devine cannot be false, God cannot crash....

Just like the titanic, God is an invention of man and can indeed be false.

[Ceridwen018]

the titanic was fallible. but God aint. sumthing so good and so devine cannot be false, God cannot crash....

Cancer, fetal harlequin syndrome, multiple sclerosis...what were you saying about goodness again?

[HelpMe]

unlike the titanic, you cannot prove that a supreme being is an invention of man.

cerid?you blame the bad things on goodness?say that a few times until you see what i'm cought on.

concerning the flood(why not?)

It(our population) does prove that mankind cannot be very old, as it would have crowded our planet many millennia ago. It also give the flood sage, being about that time, enormous credibility.

This calculation would start with the sum of 6 [ the fertile three couples surviving the flood], doubled every 50 years or so. Three sons of Noah and their wives would have become 12 people 50 years after the flood, and this would be 4370 years ago.

These 12 would be 24 another 50 years later, 4320 years ago.
24 would become 48 another 50 years later 4260 years ago.
48 would become 96 another 50 years later 4210 years ago.
96 would become 192 another 50 years later 4160 years ago.
192 would become 384 another 50 years later 4110 years ago.
384 would become 768 another 50 years later 4060 years ago. Etc. Etc.
Carry on another 28 times of doubling until you come to 2660 BCE, about the time when the children of Israel came out of Egypt.

If you keep on at this same rate, and allow the older to die off, you will come at least at a number around and above 1 billion people living on earth, at the time of the Exodus.

As this is a very simplistic calculation, with obvious fluctuations of growth due to massacres disasters and famine, it is nevertheless sufficient to prove that re-population must have occurred only about 4000 years ago, from near to nothing, to what we have today.

To believe that mankind as was placed in the Garden of Eden has existed tens of thousands or even hundreds of thousands of years, is therefore absolute ridiculous. The world population would have been in the thousands of billions by now.Ask someone why so many cultures/religions other than christianity have a story of a great flood.


HF athies?


--$

[iwilliam]

Faith is ignorance in the purest form. Faith is unproven just like believing. Knowing is Knowledge. If you have right knowledge,faith and belief goes right out the window. Faith and belief is not tangable. Knowledge is tangable and cofirmed with out a shadow of a doubt. The bottom line faith is not a proven fact. The God that you religous people have faith in has not been proven.