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Dr. Bob is Robert Hsiung, MD,
bob@dr-bob.orgShown: posts 1 to 6 of 6. This is the beginning of the thread.
Posted by Dave1 on July 10, 2002, at 14:38:34
Has anyone had a strong faith when they were a teenager and now as a adult has virtually no faith?
Dave
Posted by Dinah on July 10, 2002, at 18:07:04
In reply to loss of faith, posted by Dave1 on July 10, 2002, at 14:38:34
I've come full circle Dave. I was raised in a religious home. Then I lost my faith in a history of religion course taught from what I would swear was an athiestic outlook at a Catholic University. It made belief seem foolish somehow, and the belief in God a human psychological phenomenom.
Then many years later, I again regained my faith, but on a different level perhaps. My favorite story is that of the rabbi and his atheist friend. His friend was talking one night about the world and human life, etc having evolved by unguided evolution. The next time the rabbi saw him, he gave him a scross full of beautiful poetry written in elaborate calligraphy. His friend was dumbstruck by the beauty of the scroll and asked his friend if he had done it. The rabbi answered that his cat had knocked over the ink and walked all over the paper, and that was the source of the scroll. His friend of course did not believe him and told him "You can't possibly ask me to believe that such a beautiful creation came about by random chance."
That's not the exact story, but I think I've conveyed the idea.
The more science discovers about just how small the odds of this planet hosting life, the more the belief in God seems easier to believe than the huge amount of chance that would be necessary. If the orbit of the earth did not keep us within the same general distance from the sun, the extremes of temperature would make life impossible. If Venus was not so large as to pull space debris towards it and thus miss earth, earth would have been hit by many meteors etc. that would make life impossible. And so on and so on. Each thing perhaps not so great, but added together they make the existence of life here miraculous.
Or at least that's how I've interpreted it.
Posted by SandraDee on July 10, 2002, at 19:15:22
In reply to Re: loss of faith » Dave1, posted by Dinah on July 10, 2002, at 18:07:04
Also, the wonders that make us up... The amazing way a woman can support a baby for 9 1/2 months and give birth. The whole process and all it entails is miraculous to me. I have had two babies now in the last 3 years and to feel them wiggle around inside of me was amazing (for lack of a more amazing word)... and to know that we have what it takes to nourish them outside our bodies for about a year also (for those that CAN/WILL nurse that long-because I didn't have it in me mentally, only did it for 5 months), it is amazing. God is amazing. I will stop here for fear of having a new "sex" board started. (HA-HA)
Posted by fachad on July 11, 2002, at 0:04:52
In reply to loss of faith, posted by Dave1 on July 10, 2002, at 14:38:34
I was raised a devout fundamentalist Baptist. I believed it all thru childhood and into adolescence.
Around age 17 or 18 I began reading philosophy and developing critical thinking skills and cultivating rationality. This resulted in my rapidly becoming an agnostic/atheist.
I have cultivated spirituality since that time, but I could never go back to a literal belief in a personal God or in the historicized myths that form the core beliefs of the world's major religions.
> Has anyone had a strong faith when they were a teenager and now as an adult has virtually no faith?
>
> Dave
Posted by tabitha on July 11, 2002, at 3:28:10
In reply to adding to what Dinah said » Dinah, posted by SandraDee on July 10, 2002, at 19:15:22
Welcome back, SandraDee :-)
Cool image, babies wiggling around in the womb.
Life is really amazing isn't it? Even it was just rock planets rotating around each other, I'd still be amazed by gravity and comets and stuff. Just that there's Something instead of Nothing would be amazing enough, but all THIS? We have a lot to be grateful for.
-tabitha
Posted by SandraDee on July 11, 2002, at 11:44:40
In reply to Re: adding to what Dinah said » SandraDee, posted by tabitha on July 11, 2002, at 3:28:10
This is the end of the thread.
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