Is Faith Transformative?

[Sunstone]

Is faith transformative? Can it change a person? If so, how do you reconcile your belief that faith can change a person with the obvious fact that not all people of faith live lives in harmony with the moral principles of their faith?

In what ways, if any, is faith transformative? In what ways, if any, is it not transformative?

Can faith lead to mystical experiences, such as a direct experience of deity? If so, would such an experience be transformative? If so, how or in what ways?

Is faith without transformation pointless or meaningless?

Last, is it true that Circle One is training her mastif to shake hands and kiss babies in the hopes that he will run for high elective office, or is this just another silly RF rumor that no one knows how it got started?

 

[RevOxley_501]

Is faith transformative? Can it change a person? If so, how do you reconcile your belief that faith can change a person with the obvious fact that not all people of faith live lives in harmony with the moral principles of their faith?

Sure, faith is transformative by the means that it generally provides the desire to transform. Faith is generally required by men because they are inadequate, and thus to adhere to a faith they must change some sort of inadequacy. Even so, the fact remains that the majority of the faithful suck at being faithful---and often display hypocrisy.


In what ways, if any, is faith transformative? In what ways, if any, is it not transformative?

It can change your morals, or it can leave them the same. It can provide you with guilt for your past sins, which makes you regrettful and even give the desire to reverse the things you did. It can provide a sense of freedom from the past or a more distinct connection to it. It can be non-transformative in how often times it takes a "bad" person (as a relative term mind you) and lets the become a "bad" religious person--the transformation is merely in name.

Can faith lead to mystical experiences, such as a direct experience of deity? If so, would such an experience be transformative? If so, how or in what ways?

Surei think so, and most any time one expereinces G-d changes are required, or have already been achieved. Isaiah 6 comes to mind

Is faith without transformation pointless or meaningless?

"You shall know them by their fruits"---lets just say it is evidenciary(is that a word?)


Last, is it true that Circle One is training her mastif to shake hands and kiss babies in the hopes that he will run for high elective office, or is this just another silly RF rumor that no one knows how it got started?

no comment

see bolded

 

[Revasser]

I remember when I was about 6 years old, I was really into wolves and werewolves. Man, was I obsessed with werewolves! I saw all the movies I could, read all the stories I could find.

Back in primary school we still had scripture classes once a week (and this was a couple of years before I expressed my boredom with Scripture class and went to a Baha'i class instead). We had this creepy old Anglican chaplain come in to teach it and one day he read us a passage about God answering prayers. He told us that if we prayed for something, God would make it so. He discussed how to pray and what kind of things we should pray for.

So that night before I went to bed, I decided to give this prayer thing a shot. I mean, I was told at school of all places that prayer would "work." So I went through a few minutes of thanking God for the world and generally trying to curry some favour and then I got to the point. "God," I said, "God, please make me a werewolf. When I wake up tomorrow, I really want to be a werewolf. I'll do whatever you like if you just make into a werewolf. Thanks God. Um.. Amen. Bye!" Then I went to bed and quickly fell asleep.

The next morning I awoke and rushed to the mirror. And what did I see looking back? Not a werewolf, I can assure you. Just the same pasty young boy that had been in that mirror the night before. I was not impressed with God's power, nor with the creepy Anglican chaplain's lies. But still, I thought, maybe it'll only work on the full moon. So I waited and full moon came and went, and I was still not a werewolf. I didn't really bother to pray again much after that. If God was real, he obviously wasn't strong enough or cool enough to transform me into a werewolf and thus probably wasn't worth my time.

So that's my round-a-bout and facetious way of saying no. Not transformative.

*nod*

 

[RevOxley_501]

<wants to be a werewolf slayer

 

[PureX]

Faith, for we humans, is mandatory and inevitable. We can't really move without it. So really the question becomes "faith in what", and then, "how does what we've chosen to place our faith in, effect us?".

I used to place my faith in the inevitability of life's misfortunes. And of course I was always miserbale, because this had me focussed on the negative all the time. Finally someone managed to show me that this is what I'd been doing, and that I could choose to put my faith in something more positive if I wanted to, so I did. And now I'm a much happier person because I stay focussed on the positives in my life.