Posted by finelinebob on August 14, 2006, at 21:47:11
In reply to faith and doubt, posted by runner01girl on July 1, 2006, at 16:30:01
Hi runner01girl,
You know, all forms of Judiasm, Christianity and Islam essentially teach that we worship the same God. And no one, even within denominations of subdivisions of divisions of each branch, can agree on what the proper way to worship is.
Personally, I think that faith has little to do with religion. Your religion might teach you how to worship, what you can do, what you cannot do; but all these are means of "proving" your faith. Different paths, same goal. Again, personally, I think they all fall short, because faith for me lies beyond proof.
Maybe I'm saying that faith, in a sense, is truly "blind". It's a "trust fall", if you know what one of those are. I believe in a God that is the essence of love and forgiveness, and I cannot see such a God "dropping" me when my time comes.
And the only way I've come to such an understanding is by questioning my faith.
I have no proof that God exists, that any one holy book is true, that any teacher had all the "message" and that the "message" that teacher had has been passed to us faithfully. Given all the different translations of the Bible, Christians can't even agree among themselves of that last point. I do not know, nor can I prove, that God is loving, that God is forgiving, that God even exists. But I have faith in all of that. Proof is for science and math and logic. Faith is for matters of the spirit, of the soul, and faith is all I believe I need.
I don't know if any of that helps, but maybe this will: questioning your faith is good, but not good enough. You cannot question then give up. You have to pursue that doubt, find its roots. Maybe you'll find a weed; maybe a flower. Either way, you cannot find an answer to your doubts if you fear them too much to turn the tables and chase them down. However you do it, you need to just do it.
poster:finelinebob
thread:663295
URL: http://www.dr-bob.org/babble/faith/20060614/msgs/676496.html