In the Beginning - Open Discussion - (Atheist Account of trying faith)
In the Beginning
Genesis 1 - New King James Version (NKJV)
The History of Creation
- In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth.
- The earth was without form, and void; and darkness was[a] on the face of the deep. And the Spirit of God was hovering over the face of the waters.
Reference: https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Genesis+1&version=NKJV
Open minded?
I'm interested in exploring the ideas of religion and opening my mind to the possibility. I must admit that I am an atheist who love documentaries on the topic of religion and science. I would like to explain that I was brought up without any pressure to believe any sort of way and that I was responsible to believe what I deemed right.
I have been attending church quite regularly and have learnt the order of mass quite well. I have acquired the new testament, catholic books for atheists and anything I could get my hands on the try and understand the viewpoint to the best of my ability.
The reason I've indulged in this task was I always considered myself very open minded and inquisitive to science, psychology and loved understanding why people do the things they do. I always believe there are reasons for things and any unknown is just around the corner, waiting to be explained in a logical manner, as all advancements have be either found by mistake or intended but eventually we grasp how nature works.
This way that of thinking totally goes against my understanding of faith and religion and each time I tried to understand I would have more and more questions, which I would always be told is good but I never reached a place of better understanding, and feel underwhelmed and just stop trying. I find the act of faith puzzling to say you know truth when it clearly by my best definition a hope or best intention.
I would like to ask if any users have certain views any approached that I may find useful, as currently I find it near impossible to just believe or have personal experience, which I've heard been used as the reasons why believers I've spoken to profess their following so much in knowing its true.
How reliable is ones personal experience in building knowledge?
My brain tells me its not that reliable until there is a general opinion that can't be argued against or at best is open to scrutiny to check how valid the claim is. I simply believe I am a healthy skeptic, as I don't want to spend my life on something that was false, but I believe I owe it to myself to open up to various claims to avoid staying pessimistic to the world.
Good bits
I like the community of church but deep inside I dislike the feeling of saying I believe/know truth without good enough reasons. I Would like both religious and the non religious to talk about any of their personal experience and anything they believe is good information to build upon or answer questions I may have.
Many thanks for reading this! I'm looking forward to any comments or questions.
One of the things we all do is see a world view that we like and immediately adopt it in a great leap of faith. After that, every new fact is viewed through that lens, and often rejected if it doesn't fit. Only if we encounter overwhelming evidence to the contrary will we allow ourselves to be dynamited out of a world view. Any world view.
That's why Christians and Atheists look at each other with disdain. Our world views are incompatible and misfit facts just bounce off.
But remember, we first chose our world views because that's what we liked.
After a long time we have a nice filter where all the people who like the idea of God being in charge have gravitated to one world view and all those who reject Him have gravitated to the other.
And that's why God does not provide absolute proof.
It would mess up His very clever filter for "separating the sheep from the goats," as He puts it.
I believe because I have experienced God. Simply because someone else may not have doesn't mean God doesn't exist. That's like saying my cousin doesn't exist because you've never seen her.
Good luck to you on your journey.
I love this type of comment! :) The focus is on the journey, which I always think is more important than the destination. It makes me question why there is any importance of heaven/non existence. My question would be does it matter if we have different views? No. But I think its important to share what conclusions we all come to and to openly dicuss topics such as origins.
I do not make the claim that god doesn't exist, simply that I've never had a personal experience to make be believe he does, or that such an experience is even enough proof? I do not know. I keep questioning things, and even answers that are meant to console my thoughts but I find my mind wandering and never settling. I do enjoy such talks and pondering our existance just as the next person.
Many thanks for your comment,
Best wishes to you!
Do you have a strong instinct or gut feeling or do you ever practice and play with your intuition, this physical feeling of knowledge that hasn't yet been processed by the brain? You like psychology, did you know the human brain can process more than the conscious brain can? When we see someone and create a judgement, we are seeing tons of details that are clues to us. Some clues are based in reality and some from media stereotypes, but more often than not, those clues and conclusion, made faster than the conscious mind can create, can be correct. That's just an extension of faith, it's this feeling, gut feeling on something larger, and an experience of some sort that changes body chemicals.
This type of response was probably the best I have ever received in explaining the reality of faith than any other I have had. Many thanks for the response!
Funny, this is exactly how I am too. It's like, "how can I believe in something I have no proof of", but at the same time I am also like, "what's so wrong with believing in something without proof?" Unfortunately, faith isn't one of my strong traits, so hopefully something comes to light that gives me some direction.
Yes, I find its like a internal battle in being open minded and just accepting anything, which I find really hard to voice sometimes. I want to be honest at the same time not blinded by either side, I do really want reason and logic to prevail but also proof that is decent under scrutiny. Many thanks for commenting and reading! I intend on continuing through no matter the outcome.
Best wishes!
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