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Dealing with doubt
- Thread starter maggie2
- Start date
I try to cultivate doubt, as a way of challenging my beliefs, helping to keep me intellectually honest, and to avoid delusions that might cause needless suffering.
I find one of the best ways to cultivate doubt is to seek out other points of view, especially from intellectually honest people of good faith.
Living with doubt can be uncomfortable at times, and is not always easy, but the consequences of a false belief can be worse, IMO.
I find one of the best ways to cultivate doubt is to seek out other points of view, especially from intellectually honest people of good faith.
Living with doubt can be uncomfortable at times, and is not always easy, but the consequences of a false belief can be worse, IMO.
zombieharlot
Some Kind of Strange
Right now I'm sort of agnostic. So, my religion basically is doubt. I guess my biggest doubt is of finding a religion that suits me.
zombieharlot
Some Kind of Strange
Opethian said:Why try and find a religion if you can find a philosophy?
Because philosophy itself does not satisfy me.
That I am going where the Lord wants me to be at... I pray...
James the Persian
Dreptcredincios Crestin
My biggest doubt would be that I am actually following Christ as best I can. I don't actually have doubts about the teachings of the Church but I do have doubts about my own ability to follow them. The way I get past this is to pray for mercy (because we believe above all that God is a God of love) usually using the Jesus Prayer:
'Lord Jesus Christ, Son of God, have mercy on me, the sinner.'
James
'Lord Jesus Christ, Son of God, have mercy on me, the sinner.'
James
Fluffy
A fool
I agree fully with Sunstone - frubals to him for setting out how I feel so eloquently.
Doubt is a wholly positive thing. It is our reaction to it, that of fear, which causes our discomfort. Therefore, I try and deal with this emotion, rather than deal with doubt itself. This has led me to be completely comfortable with the fact that everything I believe might be totally wrong. Why do I find such an unsettling concept so comfortable? Because I now know that through my acceptance of doubt, I will be totally willing to alter my beliefs according to what reason and evidence dictates and therefore I shall have no trouble adapting when this near inevitability happens.
Doubt is a wholly positive thing. It is our reaction to it, that of fear, which causes our discomfort. Therefore, I try and deal with this emotion, rather than deal with doubt itself. This has led me to be completely comfortable with the fact that everything I believe might be totally wrong. Why do I find such an unsettling concept so comfortable? Because I now know that through my acceptance of doubt, I will be totally willing to alter my beliefs according to what reason and evidence dictates and therefore I shall have no trouble adapting when this near inevitability happens.
Green Gaia
Veteran Member
I doubt myself. I doubt that I will be able to live up to my faith, to have the strength and courage to act on my beliefs. I generally come across as very self-confident, but there are usually always lingering doubts and issues of confidence swirling around in my head. How do I deal with it? I just keep plugging along and try to remember that when I do put my mind to something I rarely completely fail. It may not turn out exactly how I thought it would, but it is usually not a complete failure.maggie2 said:
I also at times lose faith in my fellow human beings. We stupid humans will do something once again to prove just how evil we can be and I lose hope in ever acheiving our goal of a world community with peace, liberty, and justice for all. For UUs (or at least this UU), our faith in not put in some unseen deity, but in each other and in ourselves that we can and will make this a better world. Some days it's harder to believe that than others.
pdoel
Active Member
I often think back to high school and junior high, when we studied Greek Mythology. It was actually humorous to hear of the many Gods these people believed in. Because they couldn't prove why things happened as they did, they invented Gods to explain these events.
It seemed funny that people could be so gullible.
Yet, I have to admit, after I quit chuckling, I realized, we aren't much different. Sure, we have narrowed it down to one God, but it's still the same principle.
My faith tells me that we aren't gullible. That there really is a higher power, and all that I've come to learn is true. But, that nagging doubt does rear it's ugly head every so often.
It seemed funny that people could be so gullible.
Yet, I have to admit, after I quit chuckling, I realized, we aren't much different. Sure, we have narrowed it down to one God, but it's still the same principle.
My faith tells me that we aren't gullible. That there really is a higher power, and all that I've come to learn is true. But, that nagging doubt does rear it's ugly head every so often.
Buttercup
Veteran Member
maggie2 said:
It's perfectly normal to have doubts about your faith. When something is based on faith of the unseen....it can't be a huge surprise that we all wonder if it's really true. We can't touch or see God and then we're given all this written material that describes him (Abrahamic God) and told to believe it with no doubt attached at all! And to make matters worse some people condemn for having doubt about your faith so you fake it. I find that really depressing.....to criticize a person for having doubts. Well of course we will.....if you have a brain in your head it's natural!
I have had doubts my whole life. What I try to do when I have a day, week or months of doubt is to pinpoint the reason....Is it because I'm finding the historical evidence lacking? If so...I try to do research until I am satisfied. I don't generally have doubts about my faith because other 'Christians' are acting like morons....It's not God's fault they are being idiots.
Anyway, my best advice in a short post would be to just relax when you have doubts, accept the fact that you will, and try to find out why specifically you are doubting and go looking for answers. And then of course to remember that much of your belief in God boils down to faith in the end and be happy with that.....