OK - In another thread dianaiad said:
"if we hold to what we truly believe to be true, and have faith that God will straighten things out if we are faithful, then...He will straighten things out. "
... if we hold to what we truly believe...
I do not think it is good to hold onto beliefs. We are all misinformed, when we get new information we should let go of old beliefs, and follow where the new information leads, correct?
Example: Let's say your church taught the earth was flat, or that the earth was the center of the universe, and you believed your church leaders and thought holding onto that belief was somehow showing faith in God.
Then - new information comes along, people are saying the earth is not flat afterall.... so.... do you
a) ignore what everyone is saying, and "hold onto your beliefs"
b) study it out using only church approved material, and rationalize how the church beliefs in a flat earth are correct
c) study it out using materials from multiple organizations, test it out yourself, and come to your own conclusion - then re-evaluate your beliefs. (Keep some beliefs, get rid of others)
So... what beliefs have you discarded? what beliefs would you have a hard time getting rid of?
What pieces of your faith do you hold onto, and what pieces are you willing to let go of?
I think your example is misleading yourself. If a church taught you that the earth was flat, you should leave it at once
The reason being and I think the majority of people, that believe in the God of the bible, if we use that as an example, would agree that its not a scientific book and therefore not a place where you would go to seek answers to such questions. And it shouldn't be attacked by science either I think. Its obvious that some of the things written in it doesn't reflect reality, which I personally think is fine. Even though it can cause some problems.
Faith is basically just to trust something or someone without "hard" evidence. So "I have faith in you doing the right thing" is basically just me saying "I trust that you will do the right thing", with "hard" evidence I mean, even if you have faith in your best friend, you would never be able to really proof that he wouldn't kill you at some point or whatever, as you can't read his mind and he is able to make choices, which could surprise you or you could misunderstand. So it doesn't mean that faith as such is wrong or bad, because we all have faith in each other, but its not a way to really expand our knowledge, as we can never know for sure. At least not yet
So you could look at what the church have as argument for why they believe the earth is flat simply out of interest, but following the principals below it would fail rather fast I think. But if you want "truth" about these things, and the reason I write it like that, is because there is not really anything as absolute truth, it becomes a bit sketchy thinking like that. So lets just say that, you want to get as close to the truth as possible, then the best method is critical thinking as it is also the best defense as i see it, against not believing everything and anything you hear.
So if you follow these principals I think it could help you be able to do good critical thinking and stay true to yourself. Which is basically what you want, right? You want to not fool yourself into believing something that might be wrong.
If you agree with that, I would put several things forward that I would stick with as your basis for obtaining knowledge:
1. Never get attached to anything you believe as if they were absolute truth.
If you do that, its very difficult to be objective towards your belief in that.
2. Understand the value of being wrong
Its very common for people to not want to be wrong, which is sort of understanding as you might appear stupid. But when it come to being true to one self, its actually quiet important to know why being wrong is not a bad thing. I think the best way to explain it is through a question, which I think hold a lot of meaning and surprising truth to it.
"What does it feel like to be wrong?"
Most would as I mentioned above say, it makes you feel stupid etc. But in fact its feels like you are right. And I think once you understand that, you know why being wrong is not a bad thing.
3. Never have complete faith in anyone
Just because someone believe that something is the way it is, doesn't make it true. Be very careful when people explain things, whether they present them as facts or mere opinions. When you start paying attention to this, you will notice it everywhere, doesn't matter if its scientists or priest etc. The amount of guessing that is going on is insane.
4. Be true to the evidence
Be honest about the evidence, if truth is what you are after. You have to be able to throw your beliefs away, which is why point 1 is crucial. If the evidence doesn't match what you think they should, you have to accept it.
5. Always question the evidence
By that I mean, if evidence show one thing, try to find alternatives that say the opposite, so you know as much about each side, if there are such. Also because people might make mistakes, misunderstandings, intentionally try to force their belief on others etc.
6. Accept that you are not really looking for absolute truth, but merely what is most likely to be true
As mention in point 3, the amount of guessing and lack of knowledge once you start paying attention to it, is beyond believe. So being able to accept that you just want to get as close to the truth as possible to avoid fooling yourself is the goal.
7. Keep questioning what you believe is true
On a regular basis go through what you believe and see if new information or alternatives are available and then put them through the whole process again.
8. Know the difference between claim and evidence
Should probably have been the first one, because if you don't know this or understand what good evidence are, there is little chance of being able to be true to one self
Obviously this is no guarantee that you will end up with knowing everything, but at least to me you tried to be honest to yourself and that is what matter in the end I think
