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I don't think it has anything to do with intelligence as I know people on both sides of the coin who are equally intelligent and can articulate just as well as each other to there beliefs.So why do some people have faith in a higher power and others do not?
That can be summed up in two words.
Free will.
Free will doesn't really answer the question. You can choose to follow or practice a religion freely but you can't choose to believe in it if you don't. It's like saying you choose to believe the world is flat while knowing full well that it isn't. So why do you think some have faith and others don't weather you practice faith or not?Quote:
Originally Posted by smoothy
Yes it does...
Free will. People are free to chose WHAT religion to believe and to not believe in any at all. And the different reasons for those decisions are almost as numerous as there are people. And yes you do get to choose. People do it all the time... and sometimes they change their decisions over the course of their lives, some more than once despite influences from family and peers.
No, they are free to choose which religon to follow, belief is something different, you can't make a conscious choice to believe in something if you don't.
Whether, not weather. Some people need stone cold proof while others rely on faith.Quote:
Originally Posted by Palmer Eldritch
And that's exactly why some people don't believe.Quote:
Originally Posted by Palmer Eldritch
Sure you can... people do it every day. Billions of them in fact.Quote:
Originally Posted by Palmer Eldritch
The weak minded that are susceptible to being brainwashed into doing exactly what they are told are in the minority. The rest of us base our beliefs on a number of factors.
People don't practice a faith they don't believe in.
'People don't practice a faith they don't believe in'
I think some people do practice a faith they don't believe in, i think at least some go to church because there friends and family do, not because they have been brainwashed but because it may be a social norm.
Obviously you believe you already know an answer, since you wish to file an "Inaccurate" if you do not like what is being told.
The issue of god, is that most people do believe in some level of god. Even if they do not feel it is. Man has always had a place where something was missing, they may have looked to the sun, or moon or earth to be a god, or they may look at man and his science as a god.
In the idea of religion, it is a matter of free will and if they wish to have faith. Faith is the problem, for too many, they do not believe in faith. Faith has to something, each person decides for themselves.
If I knew the answer I would not have asked the question. The truth is some times I wish I did believe in God as it seems to offer comfort to many. Some one close to me has passed and at the funeral there were religious texts read, I remember thinking that I wish I believed in it but I don't. This is why I don't see belief as a choice. This is what got me thinking as to why some do believe where as I can't.
So rather than hearing other opinions on the subject, this is more about your own inability in reconciling your own lack of faith or belief.
In the UK, as a more secular society, we are free to choose to follow any religion we please, that includes atheism.
The same cannot be said for any number of Arabic nations.
So what have you done, to learn, to attempt to find God. It is a issue of finding faith. But that faith is just that, accepting something you can not see, can not feel, and can not touch.
I have not studied mass amounts of religious texts but I understand the idea of God. To me the idea sounds pretty far fetched and I say this with no disrespect in mind. Some times I wish I did have faith such as losing someone close to me. Religious people seem to be able to mark it down as gods will, or dying for a purpose that we can not see. It's times like this that I wish I did believe in a god.Quote:
Originally Posted by Fr_Chuck
It does seem too far fetched for many, and i think some people dont want to even consider the possibility because they think that there would be too many rules or that they would have to stop some of the behaviours that they engage in.
Everyone dies at some point. Some sooner, some later. We'd all like to write the perfect script for how WE think things should go in life, but that isn't how things work, is it?
What do you believe, and why do you believe it?
You believe incorrectly then... you also don't grasp the nuances of what we've said. Particularly what being brainwashed signifies. Tagging along is far different than actually believing. And believing because you made the decision to based on what was presented to you is different than being brainwashed which someone forces you to believe and behave in ways contrary to what you wish... usually involving submission of ones will in deference to another's. And yes there is a percentage of the population predisposed to that. In others it might become a survival technique... (while I was intentionally trying to keep my answers non-denominational) where you believe or you will be killed. But for MOST people, it's a choice they make.Quote:
Originally Posted by Palmer Eldritch
While to some..it appears to be far fetched...the reality is people actually know very little about everything. Example. How many High School or even college graduates believe they leave school knowing everything or almost everything there is on certain things. Now those of us who are old enough to look back to those days...knows differently. And the more educated you are...the more you understand how much there is to learn and how little you actually know. A less educated person doesn't have that perspective and thinks they know more than they do.
The vastness of what we don't know easily allows for the possibility of many things. The existence of a God being one of them.
If you have to ask why others do what they do, or believe as they do, then you have not figured out why YOU do as you do and believe as YOU do.
The simple answer is they WANT to. As Smoothy said before, free will, individual choice. It's human nature to be apart of something greater than ones own self and natural for us humans to congregate with like minded human. We do it for validation, and protection. It's how we filling the blanks of what we don't know to survive the reality we find ourselves in. A coping mechanism if you will.
It's this core belief that allows us to understand, learn, and evolve. Is that why you ask about why others believe (or have FAITH if you will) so that YOU might be connected to something other than yourself? Or has your FAITH been so shaken, that now you want that connection back?
Back to you.
Palmer, what DO you place your faith in? As has been said, people put their faith in different things; some in God by whichever name, some in Science (capitalized as an object of worship), and some believe in only themselves. Or did you start this thread to try to figure that out?
I gave up a lot of either/or yes/no questions decades ago.
Belief that God exists?
Faith in God, even if you aren't sure, or don't care, because it's soothing and helps you?
That latter notion turned up in an anonymous survey of hundreds of clergy. More than half of them didn't believe that God exists, but they liked the idea of God as a vehicle for Goodness in man.
Then there's all the different concepts of what or who God is.
A male figure? A spirit? A vague mystery to explain the existence of the entire universe? An electromagnetic force? The goodness that is in a creatures?
You can be an agnostic til you die, and not have to decide.
You can change as you age.
No direct answer from me!
Buddhists for example, have 1000's of "gods" of various levels and degrees. Although they do not always believe they will interfere in the life of man. They believe (simple version) that each person is on their own path, to find a higher level of being (enlightenment) They will continue to return to earth in search of that higher level. For most Buddhists, it is not really a religion but a life style on how to live each day.
For some others beliefs, they seek a spirit connection with the spirits of those past, to give them guidance.
Many believe there is a "god" who created everything, but he does not do anything after that, but watch perhaps.
I find that atheism is the default stance until we are taught otherwise. Personally I feel no need to put my faith in anything. It's a personal mater for every individual.
These are conversations where you'll never change anyone's view. Same goes for politics. Threads like this end up just looking for echo chamber responses.
That's not necessarily a bad thing. Many people do not grow up with a foundation in faith. Some even turn away from believing for awhile often due to a life experience. Quite often, people learn more about God, and or have another life experience that then brings them to believing.Quote:
Originally Posted by Palmer Eldritch
There can be many paths, come by at different times.
Practicing a faith you don't believe in, in some instances, is perpetuating an untruth basically against yourself.
I was raised Anglican and in adult years embraced the Wiccan way. It let me be myself in many respects and now stand by everything the Wiccan religion believes in and it is all encompassing.
Becoming Wiccan was a true choice for me. My higher power is everything around me not just one God.
You answered your own question. It is a matter of choice. Knowing doesn't equate to believing.Quote:
Originally Posted by Palmer Eldritch
I don't believe, I never really have. There has been no proof that anything exists beyond what I can perceive as a rational human being. My wife believes and always has because there is no proof that anything beyond what she believes as a rational human being DOESN'T exist. Take a solid and sealed Concrete box and two people. Person 1 believes that there is a ball in that sealed concrete box, but since they weren't there when it was sealed, they don't know if there is or not. Person two believes that there is nothing inside the concrete box, but since they weren't there when it was sealed, they don't know if there is or not. Who is right?
It doesn't matter. Both believe two different things about the box and neither can prove what is in the box. They both have faith about the contents of the boxes.
Just remember you are not right because no one is. Your faith and beliefs are solely that, yours. You have no right to dictate or try to change another person's faith or judge a person based upon it.
I agree with smoothy! Its free will!
Jesus said to him, “Have you believed because you have seen me? Blessed are those who have not seen and yet have believed.”
You won't impress an atheist with bible verses LOL.
@KARMA, LOL! I am not trying to impress him. I just felt this word of God backing up my answer to him. :)
@ palmer - Why do some people don't believe in God?
Any thoughts!
Would choice verses from the Koran work to help you understand a concept?Quote:
I just felt this word of God backing up my answer to him. :)
How about the Bhagavad Gita? Torah? Elder Edda? There's lots of religious writings availableQuote:
Originally Posted by NeedKarma
Agreed.
Nope! It will not be of any help for me.Quote:
Originally Posted by NeedKarma
Well that's exactly what a non-christian would think of a bible verse.Quote:
Nope! It will not be of any help for me.
Yes, there's a millions of religious writings available. But what I said or wrote was not based upon the religious part but My personal Relationship with God! and I can only speak for myself and according to my experiences in life.Quote:
Originally Posted by Catsmine
Which is all anyone can do. Also the reason I don't pay attention to preachers.Quote:
Originally Posted by Precious7
So? What's your point?Quote:
Originally Posted by Catsmine
To each his own seems to be the whole point.
I don't believe in God. I believe in myself.
There are too many inconsistencies in the faith and that prevents me from joining a faith. The idea is awesome, comforting, and all that fluffy bull pucks, but it isn't the faith for me. I could write much more here, but a lot of my faith, being that of an atheist, is complicated and personal.
There is no right or wrong answer and no one can say that one answer is right over another. You pick what works for you and what lets you sleep at night and call it a day.
The joke runs: Religion is for those afraid of Hell. Spirituality is for those of us who've been there.
That's good Cats.
So, is it relationship with God, Spiritual relationship with God, is not Spirituality?
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