"Nothing can ever change my faith"

[Noxot]

hmm according to the christian faith, Jesus is the only way to salvation. so then it would be going against our faith to not listen to the originator of our faith. also, knowledge is a very needful thing in the christian religion. and we gain knowledge by forsaking the world and ourselves and following Jesus.

so really if our faith was to be changed and we followed after other things like Buddhism, then we would be following a faith in ourselves or a faith according to our own understanding inasmuch as we would not be following what Jesus taught but rather what we think is good.

but the christians do take the "gold" from the world and refine it into something good and for the purpose that God has set forth. but sometimes christians fall away and end up making a "golden calf" with this "gold" and that is not good. (according to what Jesus says)

indeed I praise Buddha for anything good he teaches or says because all true virtue is a gift from God. just as I often rejoice at cartoons such as "bleach" and "full metal alchemist" when I see something of virtue or truth in them. but my brothers justin martyr, irenaeus, origen and others have already refined "gold" for me in the area of philosophy.

 

[bsd31]

If the answers you get from other places make more sense, then why do you choose willingly to follow Christianity? Also, its easy to translate "keep myself immersed in" into "keep myself in my safe bubble". I find so many Christians don't go READ the works of the great philosophers, the works of other spiritual masters because they are "afraid" it will "pollute their mind". I call this ignorance.

I said the "answers" from other places are more pleasing to me. I didn't say they make more sense. By pleasing I mean they are more pleasant, kind of like a bowl of ice cream is more pleasing than a bowl of spinach for most people.

The reason I can state without a doubt in my mind that the real answers lie in Christ is because I have been open-minded and I have explored other beliefs, and philosophies. I don't need to read more of the garbage from other so-called spiritual masters because I've learned to recognize what garbage is. Just like I don't need to step in dog poop everyday to recognize it in the middle of the sidewalk.

 

[Faulty]

"Nothing can ever change my faith."

I have heard this said by countless Christians on this website repeatedly when asked if anything would make them change their minds.

How can someone say this? Is this not the definition of a close-minded statement? No evidence, no life experience, no argument, no authority, no discovery...nothing can ever change your faith?

What if archaeologists found a new site full of ancient documents from the 1st century similar in scope to the Dead Sea scrolls that gave very detailed accounts of Paul and other apostles admitting they made it all up? Would you just call it a hoax and ignore reality?

What if you go to India and have a profound, spiritual experience in a Buddhist monastery in the Himilayas in which you realize the folly of your ways? Would you chalk it up to demonic possession?

What if you have a vision or dream where God comes to you and vividly explains that the Bible is a miscommunication and he is giving you a new covenant to write down and spread? Hallucination again?

So, anything that confirms your faith, like a dream or vision from God telling you Jesus is the Son of God, is TRUE while all other dreams are visions are from the devil? So anything that confirms your faith, like a profound spiritual experience in your Western church during worship is an act of God while any other profound spiritual experience in a Buddhist monastery is dangerous and evil? So any evidence that confirms your faith, like chariots in the Red Sea or seashells on mountain tops is legitimate while all else is a hoax or false or incomplete?

And within all this you expect other people to change. But what if they have the same degree of faith in another thing? You are saying that you will never change but you expect other people to change through missionary work and the like.

If you ask me to try to be "open-minded" and try to understand the Bible and God and try to alter my worldview, then can I legitimately ask you to do the same and perhaps you will find a greater truth and find the folly of your current ways?

Your vision from God is demonic possession to another. Just as their demonic possession to you is a vision from God to them.

What would it take for someone to convince you that your mother didn't exist and never had?

You may not realize it but this is the type of question you are asking. You may say you know your mother exists because you're here and you see and talk with her, etc, and I could simply say that I don't believe you because I've never seen or talked to your mother, therefore she don't exist. She's never done anything for me, or fixed any of my messes, or whatever.

And yet, these are the types of questions christians get concerning God. You have reasons for not not only faith in your Mother's existence, and even personal relationship with her, and just because none of that means anything to me doesn't make it any less so.

It's the same with my Father. People ask all these same questions and don't realize just exactly what it is they are asking.

 

[leftrightleftrightleft]

I said the "answers" from other places are more pleasing to me. I didn't say they make more sense. By pleasing I mean they are more pleasant, kind of like a bowl of ice cream is more pleasing than a bowl of spinach for most people.

Pleasing in what way? Do you have an example or two?

The reason I can state without a doubt in my mind that the real answers lie in Christ is because I have been open-minded and I have explored other beliefs, and philosophies. I don't need to read more of the garbage from other so-called spiritual masters because I've learned to recognize what garbage is. Just like I don't need to step in dog poop everyday to recognize it in the middle of the sidewalk.

One man's junk is another man's treasure. One man's garbage is another man's gold.

I actually am of the opinion that its all a bit of impure gold. There's gold in there somewhere, in any philosophy, but there are impurities that obscure us reaching the gold. I find that there's a lot of "truth-overlap" between spiritual/religious teachings; these seem universal and many seem to be more likely from a loving, just God.

 

[leftrightleftrightleft]

What would it take for someone to convince you that your mother didn't exist and never had?

You may not realize it but this is the type of question you are asking. You may say you know your mother exists because you're here and you see and talk with her, etc, and I could simply say that I don't believe you because I've never seen or talked to your mother, therefore she don't exist. She's never done anything for me, or fixed any of my messes, or whatever.

And yet, these are the types of questions christians get concerning God. You have reasons for not not only faith in your Mother's existence, and even personal relationship with her, and just because none of that means anything to me doesn't make it any less so.

It's the same with my Father. People ask all these same questions and don't realize just exactly what it is they are asking.

I've heard this argument before. My mother is defined in physical space. I perceive her through my five senses. The sensations I receive are the "effects". The "effects" could be seeing her with my eyes, feeling her hand when I hold it, hearing her when she speaks. The "cause" which I attribute to these sensations is "my mother". So, what would convince me or sway me towards the possibility that my mother doesn't exist is if someone proposed another "cause" which leads to the same "effects".

If someone can propose a cause which is not my mother but leads to the exact same sensations and experiences as my mother, then I might be convinced. Some possibilities of how this could happen:
1) Neo contacts me and gives me a red pill thereby making the matrix the new "cause" rather than my mother.
2) Aliens abducting me and telling me that "my mother" (a supposedly biological organism who gave birth to me) is actually a complex, mechanical robot thereby making the robot the new "cause".
3) A brain scan and neurological diagnosis which labels me as highly schizophrenic in which I have, somehow, managed to hallucinate my mother since the first time I have been able to form memories. This would make my own messed-up brain chemistry the "cause".

All these are possible, hypothetically. But I choose to live by my current definition of ascribing the cause as my mother because it is the best condition that leads to the most coherent universe as I've experienced it. If any of those three options were true, it would involve me making the universe highly incoherent in that various pieces would not fit together logically.

In another vein, it seems foolish to make an analogy comparing my mother to God. My mother is defined in physical space. She is composed of atoms and molecules which reflect light. She emits sound waves. I can hold her hand and my nervous system can respond to the feeling of her hand. Everything about her has a physical, material basis. Not only that, but other people also see her in the exact same physical, material way. And anyone who has seen her, when given a series of photos of people, will be able to pick her out because people will all agree exactly on what physical attributes of a face make a particular face my mothers.

Everything I've said in the above paragraph can not be said of God. He is not defined in physical space. He is not composed of atoms or molecules which reflect light. He does not emit sound via sound waves. I can not hold His hand and feel physical nervous stimulation. He is not defined on a physical or material basis. If I ask people to describe God, I get different answers and no one can agree on any definition of what God's attributes are.

So, in conclusion, not only are there things which could convince me my mother doesn't exist, but also, comparing my mother's existence to God's existence doesn't work because one has a material basis while the other does not.

Also, it might be worthwhile looking into other "causes" other than God that produce the same "effects". This is the essence of the creationism/evolution debate. If I can think up things that could cause me to question my mother's existence, then surely you can think up things that would cause you to question God's existence. If you do this then something WOULD (hypothetically) change your faith which comes back to my OP.

 

[Cuddles333]

"Nothing can ever change my faith."

I have heard this said by countless Christians on this website repeatedly when asked if anything would make them change their minds.

How can someone say this? Is this not the definition of a close-minded statement? No evidence, no life experience, no argument, no authority, no discovery...nothing can ever change your faith?

What if archaeologists found a new site full of ancient documents from the 1st century similar in scope to the Dead Sea scrolls that gave very detailed accounts of Paul and other apostles admitting they made it all up? Would you just call it a hoax and ignore reality?

What if you go to India and have a profound, spiritual experience in a Buddhist monastery in the Himilayas in which you realize the folly of your ways? Would you chalk it up to demonic possession?

What if you have a vision or dream where God comes to you and vividly explains that the Bible is a miscommunication and he is giving you a new covenant to write down and spread? Hallucination again?

So, anything that confirms your faith, like a dream or vision from God telling you Jesus is the Son of God, is TRUE while all other dreams are visions are from the devil? So anything that confirms your faith, like a profound spiritual experience in your Western church during worship is an act of God while any other profound spiritual experience in a Buddhist monastery is dangerous and evil? So any evidence that confirms your faith, like chariots in the Red Sea or seashells on mountain tops is legitimate while all else is a hoax or false or incomplete?

And within all this you expect other people to change. But what if they have the same degree of faith in another thing? You are saying that you will never change but you expect other people to change through missionary work and the like.

If you ask me to try to be "open-minded" and try to understand the Bible and God and try to alter my worldview, then can I legitimately ask you to do the same and perhaps you will find a greater truth and find the folly of your current ways?

Your vision from God is demonic possession to another. Just as their demonic possession to you is a vision from God to them.

Well, if certain documents were uncovered from the 1st century revealing that the resurrection story was all made up, I'd have to surrender my belief. Until then.....

 

[Chanya]

"Nothing can ever change my faith."

I have heard this said by countless Christians on this website repeatedly when asked if anything would make them change their minds.

How can someone say this? Is this not the definition of a close-minded statement? No evidence, no life experience, no argument, no authority, no discovery...nothing can ever change your faith?

What if archaeologists found a new site full of ancient documents from the 1st century similar in scope to the Dead Sea scrolls that gave very detailed accounts of Paul and other apostles admitting they made it all up? Would you just call it a hoax and ignore reality?

What if you go to India and have a profound, spiritual experience in a Buddhist monastery in the Himilayas in which you realize the folly of your ways? Would you chalk it up to demonic possession?

What if you have a vision or dream where God comes to you and vividly explains that the Bible is a miscommunication and he is giving you a new covenant to write down and spread? Hallucination again?

So, anything that confirms your faith, like a dream or vision from God telling you Jesus is the Son of God, is TRUE while all other dreams are visions are from the devil? So anything that confirms your faith, like a profound spiritual experience in your Western church during worship is an act of God while any other profound spiritual experience in a Buddhist monastery is dangerous and evil? So any evidence that confirms your faith, like chariots in the Red Sea or seashells on mountain tops is legitimate while all else is a hoax or false or incomplete?

And within all this you expect other people to change. But what if they have the same degree of faith in another thing? You are saying that you will never change but you expect other people to change through missionary work and the like.

If you ask me to try to be "open-minded" and try to understand the Bible and God and try to alter my worldview, then can I legitimately ask you to do the same and perhaps you will find a greater truth and find the folly of your current ways?

Your vision from God is demonic possession to another. Just as their demonic possession to you is a vision from God to them.

Best post ever.

 

[talitha]

"Nothing can ever change my faith."

I have heard this said by countless Christians on this website repeatedly when asked if anything would make them change their minds.

How can someone say this? Is this not the definition of a close-minded statement? No evidence, no life experience, no argument, no authority, no discovery...nothing can ever change your faith?

That's right - nothing. See, you are assuming that there is no such thing as the truth. It's okay to search for the truth, so long as you never find it - is that right? I've never understood that. Why search for something that you truly don't believe exists? To understand our point of view, think of it this way. When I learned that two apples plus two more apples equals four apples, then I did not need to keep trying to find out the answer. That was the real answer.

 

[christtoevo]

I went from having visions, seeing in-explainable things and walking across death safely to starting from the very beginning and asking if god exists. I once said nothing could change mine, but it was like someone was waiting for me to say that, just so i could be proven wrong. I didn't really like the way the things mentioned above made me judge others, so shortly afterward i lost it completely. I only hope if there is a god and he is good to not have to suffer an ETERNITY in a fiery hell after being the devils play thing.