Methods of determining truth

[NejTilSvampe]

Hi, new here, first thread.

I wanted to know what methods religious people use to determine what to believe and not to believe. As a skeptic, I want to treat all supernatural claims equally.
As I see it, when ever you have an extraordinary belief, like the belief in any omniscient, omnipotent or omnipresent being is; you should have extraordinary evidence to justify that belief.
What is it that makes the bible a more reliable source than the torah or (my personal favourite) the Iliad?
And how do you determine which bible to pick. There are so many copies and translations that I can't even fathom how you go about that one..

 

[WonderBeat]

Well, my position is that the default stance is the one most obvious TO YOU in whatever mode of experience you are in.... It is hard for me not to underscore the complete obviousness of what I take to be the Self - the fact that we and everything are all One - so I argue from the position of Wholeness.

Skepticism against oneness is like a crank call by a youngster. It has no validity. Answers should be defused. Craziness should not be offered a serious hearing.

As for religion.... that's a whole other can of worms nobody HAS to get into..........

 

[NejTilSvampe]

Ah I see then. That makes a lot of sense actually. But you've got to realise then that using this method you're extremely susceptible to brainwash or dogma.
If you're brought up as a muslim, christianity will seem foreign to you and Islam will be the 'obvious' choice.
So do you acknowledge that as a default standpoint, a muslim and a christian has equal justifications of their beliefs?

 

[Paradoxum]

Well, my position is that the default stance is the one most obvious TO YOU in whatever mode of experience you are in.... It is hard for me not to underscore the complete obviousness of what I take to be the Self - the fact that we and everything are all One - so I argue from the position of Wholeness.

What does it mean to say we are all One? We are all in the same one universe and all connected by space-time so in some sense we are all one.

Also what is the Source? Is it conscious? How do you know?

Is this Hinduism? We are all sparks of God/the Source.

 

[Going Merry]

I simply have studied history to make my decision.
It is why I am Christian and reject other faiths.
I also reject many faiths in Christianity.
I became aware today after learning what liberal, fundamentalist, conservative and moderate views are that I cannot possibly adhere to any of these. And most Christians do I believe. A little study and attempting to find truth is difficult when you have so many people telling you different ways to believe.

it is personally easy for me to disregard faiths such as catholicism, EO, baptists, lutherans etc from looking at its PAST. I am able to disregard the quran from studying the QURAN and its history. I am able to disregard peoples atheistic claims and what not because I just fundamentally think differently about proof differently.

Its not a big deal, of course its big in the overall picture. i struggled a lot searching for the truth, and there are untruths everywhere.

 

[Going Merry]

I don't see it as logical to expect some sort of miraculous sign when looking for God... though if you don't get that after finding the truth and accepting it then I would have issue with that view

 

[AlexBP]

Hi, new here, first thread.

I wanted to know what methods religious people use to determine what to believe and not to believe. As a skeptic, I want to treat all supernatural claims equally.
As I see it, when ever you have an extraordinary belief, like the belief in any omniscient, omnipotent or omnipresent being is; you should have extraordinary evidence to justify that belief.
What is it that makes the bible a more reliable source than the torah or (my personal favourite) the Iliad?
And how do you determine which bible to pick. There are so many copies and translations that I can't even fathom how you go about that one..

A broad question, obviously. For brevity's sake, I will limit my answer merely to consider the gospels and why I believe them.

In the gospels, Jesus makes some claims about human nature and morality, some about the future, and some metaphysical claims. I have found the moral claims to be true. Jesus says to love everybody including one's enemies. I tried doing so and found it to be good advice. Jesus says to turn away from material things. I did so and was much happier with my life. Jesus says to not worry about the future because God will take care of us. I have worried less and trusted God to provide, and that approach has always worked for me.

Furthermore, factual claims have turned out to be true, such as that the gospel would be preached and converts made in every nation on earth. It's extremely unlikely that anyone could have predicted such a thing happening without some sort of divine foreknowledge.

Because Jesus was correct about so many large and important things that I can verify, I trust Him to be correct about other things which I cannot verify.