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  1. #1
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    What are your doubts about religion/Christianity

    I saw this today from a pastor I started following on faceboook as I read a great book of his "Believers should acknowledge and wrestle with doubts. It is no longer sufficient to hold beliefs just because you inherited them."

    So, I was wondering what peoples doubts are about religion, specifically Christianity? Do you kinda believe, do you think it's impossible or probable, do you understand it, or never investigated it etc.





  2. #2
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    Re: What are your doubts about religion/Christianity

    I don't have any personal doubts in a higher being. My life journey has me firmly convinced there's a God or higher being and something past this mortal life. My doubt lay with organized religion and putting faith in them.

    We are finite beings so organized religion is an attempt to explain the infinite, which by definition, is completely impossible. It's also was / is a substitute for science during a time when we couldn't explain the things we observed as humans. I have a hard time believing that an infinite being, a God if you would, takes attendance, needs money, wants Americans dead, has the vanity required for reverence, etc.. That's personifying a being that is anything but a person.

    I do think the code of morality of some organized religions serve a great purpose. For example, I would not be opposed to sending my kids to a religious private school based on the outcomes I've seen, but I'd hope that my kids would have a healthy amount of skepticism when they're done with their schooling.





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    Re: What are your doubts about religion/Christianity

    Quote Originally Posted by HoustonRaven View Post
    I don't have any personal doubts in a higher being. My life journey has me firmly convinced there's a God or higher being and something past this mortal life. My doubt lay with organized religion and putting faith in them.
    I hear you there! What about Christianity in general? Do you believe Jesus is or could be the Son of God, or have you ever even really given it thought? I'm not trying to challenge anyone, I'm looking for others doubts to challenge my beliefs.





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    Re: What are your doubts about religion/Christianity

    Quote Originally Posted by NCRAVEN View Post
    I hear you there! What about Christianity in general? Do you believe Jesus is or could be the Son of God, or have you ever even really given it thought? I'm not trying to challenge anyone, I'm looking for others doubts to challenge my beliefs.
    I don't believe any of the Gods mentioned in any organized religion is the right answer. As I said, we are finite beings. Any attempt to define the infinite is impossible.





  5. #5

    Re: What are your doubts about religion/Christianity

    Quote Originally Posted by NCRAVEN View Post
    I hear you there! What about Christianity in general? Do you believe Jesus is or could be the Son of God, or have you ever even really given it thought? I'm not trying to challenge anyone, I'm looking for others doubts to challenge my beliefs.
    I don't think it matters whether he was the son of God or not. What matter are his teachings about how to be a better person through love and acceptance of others.





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    Re: What are your doubts about religion/Christianity

    Quote Originally Posted by HoustonRaven View Post
    I don't believe any of the Gods mentioned in any organized religion is the right answer. As I said, we are finite beings. Any attempt to define the infinite is impossible.
    Okay, not what I was hoping for, but that's my problem, not yours





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    Re: What are your doubts about religion/Christianity

    Quote Originally Posted by OhThePossibilities View Post
    I don't think it matters whether he was the son of God or not. What matter are his teachings about how to be a better person through love and acceptance of others.
    Why does that matter? I mean, if he wasn't who he said he was, what weight do his teachings hold, or why do they matter?

    Again, hoping to here what and why you doubt so I can challenge my beliefs. Not trying to challenge yours.





  8. #8

    Re: What are your doubts about religion/Christianity

    Quote Originally Posted by NCRAVEN View Post
    Why does that matter? I mean, if he wasn't who he said he was, what weight do his teachings hold, or why do they matter?

    Again, hoping to here what and why you doubt so I can challenge my beliefs. Not trying to challenge yours.
    Personally, they'll always hold weight with me because I was raised Christian (Presbyterian if we wanna be specific) so it will always be ingrained in me.

    Where I saw people lose sight of the basics was when they became more concerned about how they could get to heaven and used faith in Jesus as a get out of jail free card. And when they used other people's lack of belief in Jesus or belief in another religion as a division that allowed them to look down on others and disregard them. Hell, even within Christianity people squabble over who is more right in their practices.

    This is my main beef with organized religion. That its divisions only build walls between various peoples of the world. It really only tends to be a problem the more fundamental and hardline the sect is though.





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    Re: What are your doubts about religion/Christianity

    Quote Originally Posted by OhThePossibilities View Post
    Where I saw people lose sight of the basics was when they became more concerned about how they could get to heaven and used faith in Jesus as a get out of jail free card.
    Understood. But that's not quite how it works. Look at Paul's letter to the Roman's 5, 6. Faith in Jesus doesn't mean a free pass to do as you please.

    Quote Originally Posted by OhThePossibilities View Post
    And when they used other people's lack of belief in Jesus or belief in another religion as a division that allowed them to look down on others and disregard them.
    Well, I wouldn't let faults of imperfect beings influence what I believe. There's a reason Jesus said "small is the gate and narrow the way that leads to life, and only a few find it."





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    Re: What are your doubts about religion/Christianity

    Quote Originally Posted by NCRAVEN View Post
    Understood. But that's not quite how it works. Look at Paul's letter to the Roman's 5, 6. Faith in Jesus doesn't mean a free pass to do as you please.



    Well, I wouldn't let faults of imperfect beings influence what I believe. There's a reason Jesus said "small is the gate and narrow the way that leads to life, and only a few find it."
    Well stated. A lot of hate and evil comes from people who seem to miss the point while saying they follow Jesus

    Sent from my XT1254 using Tapatalk





  11. #11
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    Re: What are your doubts about religion/Christianity

    I have some thoughts for you NC - I'll post tomorrow morning.

    Good topic.


    Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
    Disclaimer: The content posted is of my own opinion.





  12. #12
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    Re: What are your doubts about religion/Christianity

    Quote Originally Posted by NCRAVEN View Post
    I saw this today from a pastor I started following on faceboook as I read a great book of his "Believers should acknowledge and wrestle with doubts. It is no longer sufficient to hold beliefs just because you inherited them."

    So, I was wondering what peoples doubts are about religion, specifically Christianity? Do you kinda believe, do you think it's impossible or probable, do you understand it, or never investigated it etc.
    I have a lot of doubts about Christianity, but I feel the same way about any religion.

    As HR said, religion was a way for uneducated people (by no fault of their own) to understand the physical world around them.

    "Why does the sun come up?"

    -God said, let there be light.

    -Apollo rides his chariot across the sky every day.

    "Why are there different seasons?"

    -Persephone travels to the underworld to live with her husband, Hades, during fall and winter. Then, during spring, she comes back to earth from the underworld where she can be with her mother.

    Re Jesus, I don't believe that he was the son of God because I honestly am not even sure such a thing exists. I do believe that Jesus, the man, existed. I believe that he was likely a highly evolved and intelligent man. I also believe that he was well versed in multiple cultures (which was unheard of at the time) and there is evidence to suggest that he traveled around the middle east and Mediterranean. But I don't think that there was anything supernatural about him. I just think that one needs to consider that a vast majority of people at that time were uneducated and inexperienced outside of their small bubble, so when someone like Jesus comes along and he knows herbal remedies for ailments, he knows how to brew beer and make wine ("turning water to wine"), he knows how to talk to people, he knows how to organize and accomplish social desires. In a sense, Jesus was not all that different than other revolutionaries throughout history. It's all relative, but if you were to take someone with a highly evolved sense of being and a high intellect and put them in a group of uneducated and unworldly people, that someone is by default going to look supernatural. We saw this during World War 2 when American GI's would land on a remote Pacific island with primitive tribes that had no idea of how big the world actually was off their island. Those tribes truly believed that the American GI's were gods because of their clothes, ships, and aircraft. To them, it was supernatural that American GI's could fly (in an airplane).

    I also think that there are so many differing opinions on God, faith, the afterlife...who is really right? Is anyone right? No one knows and I think that telling someone that they're wrong because they believe something different is a terrible thing to do.

    What I will say is that having kids and getting older, I have been thinking about my own mortality a little and I would love to think that there is something after this world/life so that when I'm gone, it's not equivalent to turning a light switch off in a room. It's scary and sad all at the same time to think about. But what are you going to do? That's life.
    Disclaimer: The content posted is of my own opinion.





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