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Why do some believe?
- Thread starter brightlights
- Start date
S
seeking Christ
Guest
Interesting stuff. Not too long ago I began to wonder if it might really be as simple as wanting to believe, or not? I have seen many atheists object to that idea, and I find that reasonable. (To object to it)
Perhaps there is something else; intuition, not necessarily apart from, but distinct from emotion? I do believe it is the revelation of God Himself that Jesus is the Christ that is the Rock the Church is built on. And yet simply having such a revelation guarantees nothing. We still need to act on it.
I see this as the main message of the story of Moses, when God first called him. If Moses hadn't taken several minutes to question and ponder something highly mundane, he never would have noticed that this burning bush wasn't being consumed by the fire.
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S
seeking Christ
Guest
Makes perfect sense to me. I first started seeking because I was confronted with several things for which there are simply no natural explanation. I had to know why. I had to question, and ponder.
It took quite a lot before I started seeking Christ.
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So, what´s the meaning of "faith", in your usage?
In another thread you insisted that Jesus is the omnipotent, omniscient creator of everything. I´m wondering what "faith" would mean in regards to such an entity, if applying your definition - and whether it has anything to do with the faith that is required to believe there´s a god.
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What does "faith" mean, in your usage, and what would "questioning your faith" mean when applying this definition?
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Well, you would have to discuss that with seekingChrist - he was claiming it was the Calvinist position. I was responding to her statement.
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S
seeking Christ
Guest
I don't mean to be pedantic, but if you look closer I think you'll find I wasn't arguing for omnipotence. Not without some hefty qualifiers anyway, which then changes it away from what most people mean by that term. I do maintain Jesus to be God the Son, and specifically that aspect of God that did the making - but not the creating. (Design / planning)
That gets confusing, because obviously God was never confined to human form. (That seems to really throw Muslims)
Faith grows. I don't think Jesus ever doubted God's existence, but I can't really know. We only get faith from God, so obviously He must have it.
I think this is a really tricky thing for any Christian, and within Christianity itself. So often some well-meaning person tries to verbalize it concisely, and especially on a website like this gets lambasted from 20 different directions all at once. All of which are valid, but not necessarily helpful to the person who made the original statement.
Abraham is "the Father of faith." I don't think the concept can even be broached without mastering his story, and realizing what it signifies. Surely this goes well beyond what words are capable of, and that's PERFECT. Because faith isn't mere words nor is it expressed by mere words.
Faith can only be expressed via action, and when that happens the result is always love. And this can't happen without hope.
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Trusting evidence based methods is an opposed idea to faith defined as trusting without solid evidence.
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We were talking about the creation process, and you mentioned Jesus as the person doing it.
Word salad.
That´s not my problem. You introduced the term, you define it if you want me to follow your reasoning.
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Fair enough. However, that´s not a particularly atheist thing.
Theists trust science just as much (the ones I know personally).
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K
kenvin
Guest
Ya know, there's an interesting question that's never really crossed my mind
Anybody?
Themselves?
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An atheist can have faith in whatever (except for the existence of god), just like a plumber or a dentist or a redhead or a... can. It´s just not his atheism (or his plumbership, his dentistry or his read hair) that causes him this faith.Ya know, there's an interesting question that's never really crossed my mind
Anybody?
Personally, I admit that I have faith in quite some ideas of mine. However, I would never have the guts to claim that they are true. I consider matters of faith my very personal thing.
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FrenchyBearpaw
Take time for granite.
Ya know, there's an interesting question that's never really crossed my mind
Anybody?
Define "faith."
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S
seeking Christ
Guest
Got me. I could posit that we both have faith our cars will start next time we put the key in the ignition. In my case that might take more faith because its been awfully cold here, but I bought I big battery this past fall so maybe not.Is there anything you place more faith in than that?
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