Comments on: What do you believe?

By: Webfoot

Webfoot — Sun, 07 Oct 2007 03:46:48 +0000

Okay, I don’t usually do this, just so you know. But you did ask a very direct question and I have a direct answer.
If your faith does not follow logic or common sense, then your faith is misplaced, or so I believe. I’m a Christian and questioned my faith severely as an eighteen year old. I tried it against logic, science, common sense and other religions expecting it to crumble. It didn’t. It still hasn’t, no matter how experienced I have become in my life.
My faith in a nutshell: “The Apostle’s Creed,” The Laws of Thermodynamics, and Physics, and the measure of wisdom I have been granted through grace.

By: wayfarer scientista

wayfarer scientista — Fri, 05 Oct 2007 01:26:25 +0000

I’ve been thinking about your post and whether I dare to even say it…but I don’t believe. And I don’t have sharp words to describe it either but it is deep and unwavering. Non-belief. Anyone who says it is easy to not believe has never been there. It’s hard. I wish sometimes that I could have the comfort of belief but I cannot. It is beyond me. People think that because I am an aethist I must be a thief, a liar, and many worse things. But as someone who doesn’t believe in an anything beyond this I find the moment very precious, the now an incredible opportunity - I act as if I will be judged in this life, not another. There are no second chances for me. There is no way things are meant to be, no grand plan, and anything that is worth doing takes work and passion and a lot of it. I don’t usually tell people I’m an aethist because I’ve found that while people are often accepting about varying beliefs they flat out refuse to accept disbelief. But I have come to my stance through as much hard work and intangible emotion as those who believe. And I respect that we all might come to a different conclusion and that’s okay because that is why it’s faith.

By: christina

christina — Wed, 03 Oct 2007 21:09:01 +0000

Thanks Nancy & Nicole (for the source) for that quote. Also rings true for me. I’ve loved reading these comments so much.

By: Nicole

Nicole — Wed, 03 Oct 2007 17:58:05 +0000

I came back to read through the comments again, and am glad that I did. The quote from Nancy spoke to me deeply as well. A quick Google search attributes it to Gerry Spence, a famous trial lawyer.

Yes, I’m a geek. I’ve stopped apologizing for it.

Thanks again for this discussion, Christina.

By: steph

steph — Wed, 03 Oct 2007 07:37:18 +0000

I believe in the mind of a child. I wish I knew how to preserve that, for my own children.

By: Lyric

Lyric — Tue, 02 Oct 2007 19:36:09 +0000

Nancy - love the quote about a mind opened by wonder!

A few additional thoughts, albeit random ramblings… LOL

What I believe has a solid foundation in Scripture but it’s also intimately interwoven and tailored by my experiences in life. The two can’t be seperated for me. And when there’s any dissonance I find that living inside the question simply leads me deeper into areas of trust and gratitude. I believe in Emmanuel - God with us. How He expresses Himself in my life, however, isn’t a prescription I dictate to others. Finding” the way, the truth and the life” is a personal journey.

I don’t hide my faith at all, it’s paramount. My blog is a testimony to the hope, healing, grace and mercy that God’s love has brought into my life. Perhaps some of my baggage comes from having been a PK, because I cringe at the label “religious” but delight in being known as spiritual. See I told you it wasn’t rational…

By: Nancy

Nancy — Tue, 02 Oct 2007 03:12:05 +0000

A very thoughtful post, and many very thoughtful comments. Love the line about “knife sharp words”.

Something important to consider:

I would rather have a mind that is opened by wonder than one closed by belief.

(Can’t remember who said this, but it speaks to my very soul.)

By: Sam

Sam — Tue, 02 Oct 2007 03:04:18 +0000

Oh, darling you, I don’t know that my words will help any argument. I myself am absolutely no good at this sort of thing. But faith…well, it’s just, inexplicably, there. Now I feel that the Almighty deals with me gently, but there have been many times where I felt slammed up against the Big Whatever He/She is and was and shall be. I’ve never been able to escape the presence of the Divine, when it wanted its way with me. The only way that the grip on my heart would lessen is when I sighed and said, “Okay, come on in…”

But I do believe, and deeply. There is no logic to anyone rising from the dead, no apparent logic to the many stories that I believe are true. (And I mean true in that they did happen, one way or the other. I used to think, when I was a kid, when Jesus spoke in parables, that he just was using an example from SOMEONE SOMEWHERE, you know, since he was God and could see everything…still an interesting thought, don’t you think?) I believe in a good God, a loving Creator, and that we are his most beautiful handiwork. I believe, incredibly, that Jesus was his Son, or really that such a simple explanation is only the barest skimmer of what we can absorb. (Much like John 1 - In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God…so powerful and beautiful and deep beyond deep.)That he longs to be in relationship with us, like you and I long for relationship in our lives. I’m not interested in debating it at this point - only interested in soaking in God’s love and spreading it as I go about my life. The love spills over, that’s all I know.

By: Kerri

Kerri — Tue, 02 Oct 2007 01:01:24 +0000

I don’t even try to talk logically about faith. The word faith itself implies not having any need to explain or justify. I simply justify my Christian faith to myself in this way. EVEN IF Jesus is not the son of God and God is not well…God and all that entails, his example and teaching are what are best for humankind. The teaching of Jesus Christ and The New Testament provide the most common-sense ways to ensure we treat each other, the earth and ourselves with the utmost respect (without self-indulgence). Thinking back about 10 years ago, the phrase WWJD (What Would Jesus Do) was a popular phrase in the teen Christian culture. That in essence is all I need to inspire me. I just need to ask myself What Would Jesus Do? When I consider that, I know what the right thing to do is most times. Some people call it integrity, morals or character. I call it my faith. I BELIEVE. I don’t need to KNOW logically because that isn’t the important question or answer. I am reading a great book by Max Lucado about doing just that…becoming more like Jesus. This is the most worthy goal I can have a citizen, mother, wife, friend, daughter, and counselor.

By: Paul

Paul — Mon, 01 Oct 2007 20:39:42 +0000

I find I do not believe in God, although I do believe that the universe is structured in a way as though there were a God. As brief a description as I’ve ever encountered is to call myself a non-theist, one who does not believe there is a being separate from the fabric of the universe who sometimes operates in the affairs of human beings.

I do feel – and have felt for many years now – an overwhelming sense of a presence that supports all that is: a kind of “ground of all being.” My experience has been that, from this presence, this ground, everything not only arises but is also nurtured by the past and (in the case of conscious beings) an occasional remembrance of the future. I have a deep background in the theoretical sciences that makes it easy for me to imagine such a presence. To me, it makes sense, even though it would be easy (but incorrect) to interpret this presence as a conscious, intentional presence – like a theistic God-being. I feel, deeply and powerfully, minute by minute, the presence of a universe surrounding me that supports me in ways that I often find overwhelmingly supportive and loving – much the same as a child nurtured by a father or mother. I am especially aware of this presence when I can manage to remain calm, centered in my self, mindful of all which surrounds me, and fully absorbed in each moment as it comes upon me.

My experience has been that nearly everybody has these same feelings, sometimes often, sometimes only occasionally, and that each of us interprets the feelings in different ways, but usually as a spiritual or religious experience.