Belief vs Truth

[eleos1954]

What is true to you, might not be true for somebody else. It’s about application of the ideas pertinent to your life. I’m not talking about life on Mars or if the speed of light is a constant or variable. It’s about what treatment to choose or which university program to pursue or weather to start a business or remain an employee etc.

Our beliefs shape our truth. What you believe in is what determines your life.

Absolute truth is something that is true at all times and in all places.

Beliefs effects our behavior ... it doesn't necessarily determine our life.

Beliefs can change at any given time ... does truth change? No ... absolute truth does not change ... but what we believe is true ... or is not true ... can change.

Truth is subjective or objective is where we end up.

Subjective truth is mostly what we have and from them we form beliefs and they vary.

A subjective truth is a truth based off of a person's perspective, feelings, or opinions. Everything we know is based off of our input - our senses, our perception. ... All truths are subjective.

 

[Clare73]

Please re-read my OP.

It’s about power of faith

Which you translate to mean the power of "believing for the sake of believing," rather than the power of the one in whom your faith is placed.

Yours is not the definition of "faith". . .and definitions matter.

vs “truth” imposed by other people. The blind man healed by Jesus Christ probably heard all his life about being punished for sins of his parents and that there’s no cure.

Until one day Jesus walked by, and his faith made him see again

His faith in Jesus Christ made him see again, not his faith in his sight.

He didn't need Jesus if simply faith in his sight could heal him.

You're inventing another language here.
That is not going to work out well.

So it's the "if you believe it, you can make it come true" theory.

Not putting my money on that one. . .it's the definition of delusion.

 

[Clare73]

Yes I completely agree. I don’t aim at high truths here in this thread. It’s too big of a question.

I’m looking at a narrow angle at how to defeat disease or maybe choose a career or bring up children or approach other important decisions in life

Uh. . .a lot of "this stuff" (i.e., those things) has already been "invented," vetted, "saucered and blowed."

Did you learn of none of them in your education?

No need to reinvent the wheel.

 

[Clare73]

Absolute truth is something that is true at all times and in all places. Beliefs effects our behavior ... it doesn't necessarily determine our life. Beliefs can change at any given time ... does truth change? No ... absolute truth does not change ... but what we believe is true ... or is not true ... can change. Truth is subjective or objective is where we end up. Subjective truth is mostly what we have and from them we form beliefs and they vary. A subjective truth is a truth based off of a person's perspective, feelings, or opinions. Everything we know is based off of our input - our senses, our perception. ... All truths are subjective.

Meaning subjective only. . .or there is no reason to make the declaration.

Is the existence of the earth just subjective?
Is the gravity of the earth just subjective?
Is daylight and dark just subjective?

Don't think so. . .

 

[Martinius]

I recall a famous person asking Jesus: "What is truth?" I think Pilate was saying that Jesus' idea of truth could be different than his own idea of truth.

Unfortunately, truth is subjective. One could use January 6, 2021, the Kennedy assassination, or the landings on the moon as examples. You and I may disagree about what is true regarding those and many other events.

It appears that we are mixing up the words "truth", "belief", and "faith". A belief can be "true" in the sense that you accept it as true. Those kinds of beliefs and truths permeate all religions, and is the basis for them. The word "faith", when used in many situations, including religion, indicates trust. Having faith in a thing means I think it is good, that it will work. Having faith in a person means placing trust in them to do the proper and right thing. The phrase "In God we Trust" could also read "We have faith in God".

I mentioned earlier that things can be factually true, such as that gravity exists. But other truths are based on faith. Different types of "truth" operating here.

Side note to James: You may want to avoid getting into long arguments with some posters. They can turn into useless words going back-and-forth, which just muck up the thread. Best to just ignore them.

 

[Bible Highlighter]

Yes I completely agree. I don’t aim at high truths here in this thread. It’s too big of a question.

I’m looking at a narrow angle at how to defeat disease or maybe choose a career or bring up children or approach other important decisions in life

Does Jesus tell us to defeat disease? Does Jesus tell us to choose a career to bring up children? Granted, it is not necessarily wrong to do so if one is seeking to do so according to glorifying God’s purposes like spreading the gospel or His Word in some way with that or in supporting your family, etc.

I think the key here is tying in everything you do with God’s plans, and praying to make sure that it is God’s will before you act in anything and strive to align your plans with what His Word says. That to me is the faith. That to me will lead us to the ultimate truth (Which is Jesus and His words). But faith and truth are not exactly the same in my opinion. They can slightly be connected but faith in something does not equate that one is holding to a truth always. A person may have faith or a belief they can fly by their own power, but that would simply be a delusion and an improper faith. Such a faith would not be true and would not help them. It may be true to them, but it will only lead to their destruction if they take it seriously that they can fly by faith on their own power. One needs to have a reasonable faith. This is believing and trusting in God’s Word by faith and abiding in Christ. This is the best faith or the ultimate faith to have in this life. No other faith can compare. A faith about being the best athlete or the best person to be able to jump through hoops of fire backwards while poodles bite their fingertips is not exactly what God calls people to do in His Word. Could they do these things to the glory of God? Only God would know. But I choose to do those things as close to alignment with His Word as I can. Sometimes we cannot help but to work at the job in order to put food on the table because of our skills and life choices we made. But even these things should be done also to God’s glory. We should not think of how we should be great, but we should uplift the One (Jesus) who is great. We should preach and boast of Jesus. For Jesus can cure disease if He wants to. Could we help in being great in solving the problems to certain diseases? Sure we could. But I would rather follow what Jesus says in His Word (the Bible) instead because this life is short and I don’t want to waste my life doing my own thing. Jesus says for us to deny ourselves, and to pick up our cross and to follow Him.

 

[OldWiseGuy]

Hello.

Jesus said, “According to your faith be it done unto you.” Matthew 9:29

Did you know if you look up the word 'belief' in the thesaurus, its antonym is truth? I was shocked to find this out. If truth is the opposite of belief, then wouldn't that imply that beliefs are untrue? But in my experience, what you believe is far more important than what others might convince you as being true.

When I got sick, I was stuck in the middle of two truths. While going through conventional Western medicine, the holistic healing practitioners I had also been seeing believed I was committing suicide. However, when I immersed myself in the holistic approach, my medical doctors believed I was killing myself by giving up on the medical approach. Hearing these two different “truths” had me constantly worrying that I was making the wrong choice. Meanwhile, I became sicker and sicker - mostly from the stress and fear of not knowing which choice to make!

I realized that the actual truth was that it wasn't that either practice was objectionably the correct choice. In the end, the only thing that mattered were my beliefs about what was good for my body. I needed to believe that I was doing the right thing, that my body was strong and that I was on the right path.

Belief is not the opposite of truth, belief seems to be what shapes your truth. It doesn't matter what type of treatment we do or refuse to do, it's about believing in the power of our bodies, believing we have purpose, and having a passion for our lives. In other words, belief and truth are not opposites. Your beliefs are what shapes your truth!

Does any of this make sense to you?

Revisiting the OP, as you suggested.

Ten years ago I had bypass surgery (CABG) and was put on blood pressure and cholesterol meds. The cholesterol meds made my muscles weak and the bp meds screwed up my bp, so I quit both, without consulting my doctor. My bp returned to normal and I have had no problems since. I don't know what happened to my cholesterol levels as I haven't been back for a "lipid panel" since I went off the meds. Since I have never had high blood pressure or high cholesterol levels I saw no reason to take the meds. I feel fine and will not return to the meds (although I realize that I might drop dead tomorrow).

It wasn't an act of 'faith' or 'truth', just a decision to try and feel better. It worked and now I do have a little more faith in my body than I do in those particular meds.

 

[Andrewn]

It doesn't matter what type of treatment we do or refuse to do, it's about believing in the power of our bodies, believing we have purpose, and having a passion for our lives. In other words, belief and truth are not opposites. Your beliefs are what shapes your truth!

A lot of messages have been posted in this thread, so, if my message is redundant, just ignore it.

I agree that belief and truth are not opposites. Obviously, one can believe the truth. But one can also believe untruths.

Scientifically speaking, either the medical treatment you received was truly what you needed, or the holistic treatment, or a third treatment, or a combination of the above. You are not the standard through which one can decide which modality is true and which one is false. But if we test the effects of these modalities on 100 or 1000 people, we should get closer to the objective truth.

If the condition is physical, the outcome does not depend on your beliefs. But if the condition is psychological, it might.

But here is what truth means in the Bible:

Emet: the TRUTH of who you are

 

[eleos1954]

Meaning subjective only. . .or there is no reason to make the declaration.

Is the existence of the earth just subjective?
Is the gravity of the earth just subjective?
Is daylight and dark just subjective?

Don't think so. . .

Subjective truth is mostly what we have and from them we form beliefs and they vary.

 

[dms1972]

Did you know if you look up the word 'belief' in the thesaurus, its antonym is truth? I was shocked to find this out. If truth is the opposite of belief, then wouldn't that imply that beliefs are untrue? But in my experience, what you believe is far more important than what others might convince you as being true.

Out of interest which Thesaurus was it. My Pocket Oxford Thesaurus only has disbelief and doubt for opposites.