Where does your faith come from?

Although people have taken supposed photographs of UFOs/aliens and have written accounts and books about them, I do not have enough convincing evidence to create "faith" that such things exist.

Similarly, unless God speaks to me directly, or I see something so divine with my own eyes, and I can be reasonably sure I am not in a trance or something, I have little reason to create "faith" that God exists. The burden of faith is not upon me, but instead is upon the thing demanding faith.
 
Although people have taken supposed photographs of UFOs/aliens and have written accounts and books about them, I do not have enough convincing evidence to create "faith" that such things exist.

Similarly, unless God speaks to me directly, or I see something so divine with my own eyes, and I can be reasonably sure I am not in a trance or something, I have little reason to create "faith" that God exists. The burden of faith is not upon me, but instead is upon the thing demanding faith.

I must say that this is my viewpoint as well; UFOs are a very good analogy with religious faith. I am merely glad that my own religion does not demand faith. (Faith being conviction without reasons, of course.)
 
I was born a Christian and since then I lived like one.

_________________________
fred07
Alcohol Rehab --Have more options on alcohol rehab
 
I was born in a christian community, but my parents didn't ever speak about religion much. I was forced to attend weddings and funerals, but that's about it. My aunts have hammered christianity into me since I was little. I still get miniature bibles and whatnot for birthday presents. I'm not sure if I'm an atheist or agnostic, but I don't care if god exists or not.

My faith is probably ignorance. If someone close to me dies, I feel sad and cry, but I'm not going to a funeral. What's the point in grieving over a piece of meat?
 
So, how did you come to your faith?

Did you have a sudden revelation? Were you "saved"? Did you study and come gradually to something that worked for you? Have you stuck with a religion you were assigned at birth?
My mother was a lapsed catholic, my father was a humanist but died when I ws young (5 yo). We weren't religious as a family but my self and my brother went to a strongly CoE school with daily services in School Assembly and termly full church services - only the Jewish kids escaped, atheism was not an acceptable excuse!

This is perfectly applicable to atheists as well. Did you reject a religion you used to buy into? Were you simply raised without it and never found a need?
To be honest I did feel a need for something 'bigger' than me to believe in, possibly as a result of my father's early death or possibly it's an innate need.

My elder brother was a regular in the church youth group (great for pulling chicks!) and I went along for a while, but to be honest I found the whole process intellectually demeaning - most of those involved accepted religion without asking any meaningful questions, and that wasn't me.

At school I got into frequent trouble as a result of questioning the more dogmatic views of our headmaster (who also took RE lessons and a weekly session on social science which was basically an obligatory hour-long right-wing rant).

After leaving school I lost interest, but a few unpleasant things in my personal life again left me feeling very bereft and lost - I guess as a convential response and as a result of talking with some devout friends I took my void to church and asked, with all sincerity for help.

My experience was that there was no response - no release, no support, no change; just - after repeating the experience a few times - a strong feeling of disappointment.

Since then I have concentrated on applying intelligence and rationality to my difficulties and found a comfortable equilibrium in which I can accept and even feel very comfortable without requiring a guiding purpose provided by a third party.

Also, no fair saying "I was born with it". It's very nice if you think that, but it's not a meaningful contribution.

What I'm most interested in is the "born again" moments, that serendipitous realization that you know "the truth". Have you experienced that? What were its implications?
I would say that I have had an 'epiphany' but it was to do with my own realisation that I was capable of managing my life without external direction, and moreover I was happier when the opportunity for others to tell me what I should think and believe was removed.

To be honest it was an immense relief when I realised that I didn't actually NEED to go searching for a meaning any more....

BFR
 
I was raised into a Baptist Home. My mum is the reason that I am this way because since I can remember I have been going to church. My dad is an atheist and has only been to church a few times. Technically I am an Anglican since I was baptised as a baby, but I have never been to an Anglican Church in my life.
I think there have only been a few times that I have been to a church that is very different from the one that and only once has been due to the fact that I have been in the same city as my regular church. The only time that I have been away from my church was to go to our cousin's church. Boy was that a rude awakening to a different style of church. We (me and my brother) had begging my mum to see what it was like and when we saw the church, we both realised that is was not what should be happening in a church. It certainly scared us and it was the last time we ever thought about going to a similar church.

I have been born again ever since I was six years old. I know that even before that I have been going to church because I have been told by other at the church and by my mother also. The first thing that I knew when I was younger was that I was a sinner and that the only destination that was fitting for me was hell. I also knew that I did not want to end up in a place like, so it was at that time that I knew that I needed help if I did not want to end up in hell. It was at that time that I realised that I needed to trust in Christ or otherwise things would not be so good for me. And ever since then I have been faithfully going to church. Naturally there were times where I did wonder if I really was saved, but in the end I know that God is faithful even to the end of the earth, even though many times I have not been as faithful to him as I should be.
 
Top Bottom