Faith, not sure where this belongs.

In biblical terms, faith is a certainty, not a custom.

In my life, I think I’d be a christian in a foxhole, but a skeptic normally. Days I think God exists, other days I think he may not.

I know that if I made the choice to believe in God, I’d soon have more certainty… right? But it was a choice, therefore it wasn’t a certainty out of ignorance… does it have to be? I feel like I’d be purposefully deluding myself to believe what would be a better custom in my life, and what I’d like to believe. If those are my pre-reasons, than is my later certainty true? If not, how is parent foisted god believing certainty true? Or is it parent forced…?

Is atheism a delusion, or theism? Or is there no delusion?

You see I bring this up, because I advocate people being understanding of others beliefs. I feel I can understand why someone believes the way they do…

But how can I be sincere. If I say I know where someones coming from, I have got to agree somewhat. I cannot however bash someone who is utterly certain, because I also understand when being certain you feel you’re right and so you must believe others are wrong for you to be truly convinced in your heart.

I want to think, if I was utterly certain of God again, I wouldn’t even have this conversation. And I would not understand where atheists come from, only I would believe that they haven’t learned what I have and progressed, or they have some issue or problem.

So please discuss. It seems I have a grip on mild skepticism, of course I believe in undeniable logical truths, but I want to believe I can understand where people come from in their beliefs… .However, me doing this makes me not have a true belief myself. Only the belief that our beliefs are chosen. Therefore, while I feel I defend others belief systems and have all the cake and ice cream I want, I also at the same time call them all worthless without knowing it.

Someone help me, thanks.

Interesting read and i share much of the same sentiments about religion. I think that when people feel a certain way that is beyond their explanation they call it “god.” So really god is just another name for feelings that cannot be explained fully although i could call them “inspiration” or “awe” and could come close to understand what “god” makes people feel.

Looking at brilliant nebulas or galaxy formations certainly give me this feeling that i’m looking at something ‘godly’ but i know that my brain is so small to really grasp something of this magnitude so it comes up with names that cannot fully incorporate what it is i’m seeing and so i can easily see how these feelings can be titled as “god.”

What i find amusing is how people attach these feelings that they cannot explain other than to use one word “god” into the notion that there are “scriptures” and “rules” about god that we need to know in order to love him and/or reach “paradise.” And that all of the other gods and religions are false because there is only their god that exists and will redeem him/her. This is where my own mind disconnects from reality to fantasy and make believe. I know i feel something spectacular yet i do not attribute my feelings to god immediately because i am not a primitive being (at least i’d like to think so) who comes up with god as my answer for every awesome experience. Nor do i choose to believe something that i cannot honestly believe because to me this is dishonest living.

I often ask myself what would happen if someone representing god came to me and said “I am the one” “Now kill your brother if you believe in me”
I already know his answer to my desirable question " Show me proof" So instead i kill my brother and he(god representative) disappears. Was he God or the Devil? Or just an impostor?

No one would know god is god if god showed himself because they wouldn’t know how to come together and interpret god as one! They would be fishing for their faith and still come to different theories! Some would say he’s satan others would say he’s god. Jesus had his detractors during the time of Jesus as well.

This is the social construction of god resulting from human emotion which has remained the same, while our advancement of technology and reason has become more refined. The difference between reason and emotion is getting wider and i often see the future as being ruled more by reason and as a result i imagine we will also see a decline in emotional based beliefs.

In summary the term ‘god’ can be viewed in many different ways, some conventionally and others unconventionally, but what matters, what the link is between god and the ‘knower’ of this god is human emotion. The bible is merely a tool(fossil now) that not only needs to be updated for any chance at survival, but is the only direct teaching that matches emotion with thinking on one’s own through interpretation.

The bible itself is religion in that one can select which denomination or section or verse that one desires and believe in those words and then attribute them to the higher being when questioned. What’s right about religion is nothing. What makes people feel good about religion is everything(or enough so that one doesn’t turn against it)

  • Joe

I’ll say something, but keep in mind it is highly subjective, as it is a personal account. By no means do I intend to throw this upon anyone else as something to bear beyond mere consideration. There was a time between my theism and atheism where I desperately wished to return back to this almost Edenic state of harmony I had had with what I thought of as God. I had since that time progressed in my beliefs and discerned many inconsistencies in them, and as much as I wished to have a complete and solid belief system, these inconsistencies made that impossible. I had to move forward, often regrettably.

Now, I am an atheist. I’m not saying that you will be too, but do not be timorous concerning what you think or where that might take you. I think it is of utmost importance to be intellectually honest with yourself, and to try to force anything, be it theism or atheism, is wrong in my views.

I don’t know if that helped, but certainly you could have gotten something from something in there.

That definitely helped, from both you guys.

I’d still like this topic discussed further.

I really hate how it all seems to be so pyschological.

If you’re interested here’s

Sam Harris’ “End of Faith” video

youtube.com/watch?v=JqNXlRMLy4E

Joekoba hit the nail on the head.
If you study the human reactions to unscientifically explained phenomena through history, the reaction is to call it an act of god, even in the scientific era of today, people still say this. Particularly interesting is when undeniably a phenomena or act has been performed by an average joe like you or me such as a terrorist act or publicised crime, people will still attribute this to god. Joekoba, this proves your theory on those experiences that instill great emotion in a person also instills a need to explain it, more often than not with a god(unless of course your a scientist). I would love an insight into any kind of genetic predisposition that has been theorised on the subject.