Faith and Religion

[Dan Bert]

A religion is a set of belief belonging to a particular denomination. Scripturally speaking ...Faith is the power to get things done. Faith is the power given to us to "overcome" the world. Understanding words as they are understood in heaven is the first step in breaking the chains that keep us in darkness. You know the way Satan overcame the enmity that God set up between us and the Serpent at the beginning was to change the meaning of words so slightly that people do not understand them as heaven understand and so are deceived. What is your faith? Is the perfect example of error. What is the religion is the proper question. The faith of a man is His works in overcoming the world. I am Sharing with you guys what I know....whether you agree or not I am ok with it. If you have more on this please share...so that we can all grow in knowledge and understanding.

Dan

 

[MarkRohfrietsch]

Hi Dan,

I'm Mark, one of the Admins here at CF. Welcome to CF!
Would you like us to move it to a forum where discussion and even debate are part of it's purpose?

Let me know,

Blessings and peace,

Mark

 

[Dan Bert]

Hi Mark, Please do Move it to where its appropriate. You guys are very helpful and kind. By the way what did you think of the post? It was not too harsh I hope?

Dan

Hi Dan,

I'm Mark, one of the Admins here at CF. Welcome to CF!
Would you like us to move it to a forum where discussion and even debate are part of it's purpose?

Let me know,

Blessings and peace,

Mark

 

[MarkRohfrietsch]

Hi Mark, Please do Move it to where its appropriate. You guys are very helpful and kind. By the way what did you think of the post? It was not too harsh I hope?

Dan

No, I don't think it is too harsh; rather, I see it as a great starting point for discussion. I will be following the discussion.

This topic seems very well suited to the Philosophy Forum. The
Philosophy Forum Statement of Purpose states:

Philosophy of religion is a philosophical study of religion which seeks to discuss questions regarding the nature of religion as a whole, including the nature and existence of God, rather than examining or arguing against the theology of a particular belief system. The philosophy of religion is rational, critical thought and exploration of general religious themes and concepts. Philosophy of religion is focused on investigating religion itself, rather than the truth of any particular religion. The CF Philosophy forum is not intended for general apologetics of Christianity, i.e., the defense of the Christian faith against arguments, objections or attacks from non-Christians. Nor is this forum intended as a means for Christian evangelism (persuasion) of unbelievers. We ask that you would show respect for the Christian faith and not make posts which insult or mock Christianity or any part of the Trinity-Father (God), Son (Jesus) and the Holy Spirit. Threads which staff determines are intended for the sole purpose of attacking or arguing against Christianity will be closed.

I think your thread will be a perfect fit in here.

I'm moving the thread now, and will be editing Post two a bit before I do.

If you have any questions, feel free to contact staff at any time!

Blessings and peace!

Mark

 

[MarkRohfrietsch]

Thread moved from the MSC.

Mark
CF Admin

 

[Resha Caner]

Just to give you some feedback, this comes across to me as a summary statement that you're hoping people will accept - in other words it has a flavor of an opening effort at evangelism. But maybe I'm just reading too much into it.

I really doubt you'll change my mind ... or that of most anyone here for that matter. This is a place for stubborn people to butt heads.

But, if you have something you want to discuss/debate, I'm not quite seeing it. Are you asking how I would define faith? Or how I see the intersection of faith and religion? Or ...

 

[Ana the Ist]

A religion is a set of belief belonging to a particular denomination. Scripturally speaking ...Faith is the power to get things done. Faith is the power given to us to "overcome" the world. Understanding words as they are understood in heaven is the first step in breaking the chains that keep us in darkness. You know the way Satan overcame the enmity that God set up between us and the Serpent at the beginning was to change the meaning of words so slightly that people do not understand them as heaven understand and so are deceived. What is your faith? Is the perfect example of error. What is the religion is the proper question. The faith of a man is His works in overcoming the world. I am Sharing with you guys what I know....whether you agree or not I am ok with it. If you have more on this please share...so that we can all grow in knowledge and understanding.

Dan

What is it that makes you believe that "Satan" has "changed the meaning of words"?


You do realize that words change meanings over time ....don't you?

 

[ThatRobGuy]

As an atheist, I might not be the best person to speak on it, but I can provide and outsider's opinion...

Religion and Faith often go hand in hand (since most Religions require certain measures of faith)...for example, any religion with a deity require a certain amount of faith in order to embrace it...you have to believe in something you can't see and believe in certain claims for which there is no physical, tangible evidence.

I think, in many cases (not all, but many), people attempt to make a distinction between the two and separate the two concepts when an official religious organization gets into some less than desirable behavior.

For example, if a Christian church gets involved in a scandal, and people start critiquing Christianity as a result, many Christians will be quick to mention that "Organized religion isn't good, but faith is good"...however, attempting to separate the two ignores the causal relationship between the two.

Organized Religions are the result of multiple people, sharing the same faiths, doing just that... organizing. ...forming a collective group of like-minded people.

As far as "whether or not faith is a good thing", I'll reference this quote:
With or without it, good people will do good things; and bad people will do bad things...however, for a good person to do bad things, and a bad person to do good things, that takes faith.

I think there's a large measure of truth to that quote. There are times when a fear of a higher power and a judgment in the afterlife have kept groups of people on the straight and narrow and brought about stability in areas that would otherwise lack it...the flip side of the coin is that there are other instances when groups of people go to war with each other, when they would otherwise get along just fine if it weren't for the fact that they believe in different deities.

The Comedian Patton Oswalt does a great bit about it called "Sky Cake", I won't embed the video directly due to some of the "blue" language used, but it's the first video that comes back in the following search:
https://www.youtube.com/results?search_query=patton+oswalt+religion+sky+cake

He, comedically, sums up the pros & cons of religion and faith.