By letting your guard down or never having a chance to build one. This usually happens before you become an adult or at a time of distress, trauma, and depression, crisis of the mind, crossroad in life, a life altering event, an amazing coincidence or fortunate happenstance when there is no satisfactory answer to the question Why?
How is faith in God attained?
- Thread starter nds1
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By letting your guard down or never having a chance to build one. This usually happens before you become an adult or at a time of distress, trauma, and depression, crisis of the mind, crossroad in life, a life altering event, an amazing coincidence or fortunate happenstance when there is no satisfactory answer to the question Why?
"Judge not, that you be not judged. For with what judgment you judge, you will be judged; and with the measure you use, it will be measured back to you. And why do you look at the speck in your brother's eye, but do not consider the plank in your own eye?"
"Do not judge according to appearance, but judge with righteous judgment."
Watch it Photizo. Don't start attacking me based on your personal judgments, whatever they may be.
Maybe you can answer my question though. Is Jesus still physically walking the earth today? If so, can you tell me where he is so I can see one his miracles and then believe in him? Thanks.
it requires association with persons already established in the field, much like any other field of knowledge
so when a 8 year old develops the desire to become a physicist due to associating with an uncle established in the field the child is an eternal basket case?
perhaps to save you from wearing the label of ignorance, you should also include the process you applied to determine that any knowledge given in relation to god is ignorance
PS - you might want to read this before you post, unless you like the taste of your shoes
the point is that it is impossible to remove faith from the transition from ignorance to knowledge - regardless of which field of knowledge you are talking about (even the knowledge how to be an alcoholic)
therefore you see that religion culminates, much like any other field of knowledge, in direct perception
Oh nds1 :bugeye: You really disappoint me. You come across as a very intelligent person. Why is it you come up with such a ridiculous point??
Could you not figure it out that i was talking about reading the Words of Jesus.
Are you just being pedantic to be difficult? Whats the point of replying to my post like that anyway?
All Praise The Ancient Of Days
Clearly my reply to your post was sarcastic, and it was sarcastic for the sole purpose of getting you to say what you have just said.
So your idea of gaining faith (which may be correct) is reading the Bible, or the alleged words of what Jesus probably would have said (I'm sure Jesus didn't have a note taker writing down what he said word for word while giving his sermon on the mount).
If I want to increase my faith in God, I must read the Bible, or the words of Jesus.
This unfortunately leads to more questions:
How can I increase my faith in the Bible, or the alleged words of Jesus, that it is truly genuine?
How can I truly believe or have faith that the Bible was not made up by the early church?
How can I be sure or have faith that Mohammad's visions of Gabriel were not genuine and that the Bible lied about the life and death of Jesus?
John 20:30-31
30 And truly Jesus did many other signs in the presence of His disciples, which are not written in this book; 31 but these are written that you may believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, and that believing you may have life in His name.
NKJV
Even the Bible understands that mankind needs some kind of evidence or basis for our belief or faith in Jesus. Unfortunately, we don't know for sure whether anything in the Bible was true. Was it possible? Very much so. But there simply is no hard evidence for it, similiar to the type of evidence requested by the Apostle Thomas.
So what was the Bible telling us with the Thomas story? That believing in Jesus is not easy, even when you've seen him and his miracles up close and personal for years? Possibly. Is it telling us that if even an Apostle can't believe Jesus, then no one can? Probably not. But in any case, there must be a reason for this story ending up in the Bible.
30 And truly Jesus did many other signs in the presence of His disciples, which are not written in this book; 31 but these are written that you may believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, and that believing you may have life in His name.
NKJV
Even the Bible understands that mankind needs some kind of evidence or basis for our belief or faith in Jesus. Unfortunately, we don't know for sure whether anything in the Bible was true. Was it possible? Very much so. But there simply is no hard evidence for it, similiar to the type of evidence requested by the Apostle Thomas.
So what was the Bible telling us with the Thomas story? That believing in Jesus is not easy, even when you've seen him and his miracles up close and personal for years? Possibly. Is it telling us that if even an Apostle can't believe Jesus, then no one can? Probably not. But in any case, there must be a reason for this story ending up in the Bible.
Why ask the theist? It is the skeptics who always have the more truthful answers.
What I mean is, ask a theist why they believe in god and they will spout some crap about being 'touched' by the holy spirit. But the truth is, they are unsatisfied with reality.
I have noticed this a hell of a lot recently. Popular tv programs and movies like Lost, Heroes, 23, The 'true story' of Emily Rose, fresh debates on afterlife and god on talk shows etc. Theists and superstitious people, just don't like the way the world is today. Neither do atheists as such, but some people have the ability to accept the way things are and deal with them on a logical basis, and some would just rather escape into a world of delusion.
People believe in god for the exact same reason they believe their horoscope's mean something.
My "personal judgments" have nothing whatsoever to do with the fact that by your own words you cut yourself off from attaining saving faith--and this is the judgment of the Word of God, not me... you're dealing with Him.
According to your faith be it unto you.
Maybe? Why do you say maybe?
No.
'Herod' old bean, you're expecting something from "miracles" they were never intended to 'perform'. They 'vouched' for Christ i.e. demonstrating the Truth of His claims as to Who He IS. Miracles have no inherent power to bring one out of unbelief into belief...Though some did believe on account of seeing such demonstrations of His Power, most did not: But though he had done so many miracles before them, yet they believed not on Him:
If it's faith you really want, if your heart's desire is to "believe in him" you need to 'accept' The Answer to your original question: So then faith comes by hearing, and hearing by the word of God...having been born again...through the word of God which lives and abides forever...For the word of God is living and powerful, and sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing even to the division of soul and spirit, and of joints and marrow, and is a discerner of the thoughts and intents of the heart.
The above holds true whether in reference to the Word of God Written or The Word of God Incarnate.
Photizo,
Your idea of how to attain faith in God is to read the Gospel or hear someone else read the Gospel.
The problem with this idea of attaining faith in God is that it assumes that the Gospel is true. And your proof that the Gospel is true is because the Bible itself claims it is true, which really doesn't prove anything.
Also, how many people have read the Gospel or had it read to them hundreds of times, yet their faith hasn't increased it has decreased?
How many people born Catholic become atheists?
So your method of attaining faith of reading or hearing the Gospel does not appear to be the optimum method. Lightgigantic's method seems more reasonable than yours.
Your idea of how to attain faith in God is to read the Gospel or hear someone else read the Gospel.
The problem with this idea of attaining faith in God is that it assumes that the Gospel is true. And your proof that the Gospel is true is because the Bible itself claims it is true, which really doesn't prove anything.
Also, how many people have read the Gospel or had it read to them hundreds of times, yet their faith hasn't increased it has decreased?
How many people born Catholic become atheists?
So your method of attaining faith of reading or hearing the Gospel does not appear to be the optimum method. Lightgigantic's method seems more reasonable than yours.
My faith in god is attained easily by watching the world around me, knowing what I am capable of and what the world around me is willing to except, I guess I just see the difference in my world between the truth and what certain people say or believe and know that a truly wise and confident man or women would not need or want these lies, if it was not for God I would not know what to believe because of all the lies that people have tried to convince me of over the years!
Theists seem to love talking as if they picture themselves driving the sermon on the mount, fists clenched as they impose their gods wrath upon us all. Hilarious.
Seems more likely that you prefer easy answers to hard questions and that a dream state takes priority.
Embracing the Word of God is hardly "embracing ignorance":
"Christ, in Whom are hidden all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge... For in Him dwells all the fullness of the Godhead bodily; and you are complete in Him, Who is the Head of all principality and power.
In fact it is you who "openly and proudly admit to embracing ignorance"--your reply is a fine example--and this by deliberately suppressing* what you know to be true concerning the existence of God.
*"men...suppress the truth in unrighteousness...what may be known of God is manifest in them..."
Hey Sup! Photizo claims you're 'deliberately suppressing' his version of a god. How can be so insensitive to his ego?