Hello, I am a Christian and I would like to be able to answer any question that you may have. Ask me one question at a time about religion or my faith. Thnx

Greetings. Welcome to the forums!

It would be cool if you could just tell us a bit more about yourself first...that's what the introduction forum here is for..

Ok a question about religion or faith.

I will ask you: Why do you 'have faith', presumably, in God?
Because if you actually had any evidence then THAT would be a good reason to believe. Since 'faith' is without evidence and to me is always blind.

So I repeat my question: Why do you 'have faith'? I mean - how is it rational to you? How do you justify the rationality of it?

And as I said - welcome to the forums!

EvF

Thank you for welcoming me to the forums.

Faith in Greek means persuasion/persuaded. So through my research, study, examination and experiences I have thus come to the conclusion what I believe is true hence faith. It is a collection of years of studies and experiences that bring forth the mindset that I have today. Faith does not mean blind faith or faith without any form of logical reasoning.

Do I have physical evidence to prove God exists? Nope, but thus faith. It would not be faith if there was physical evidence for his (God) existence.

Well I myself define faith as belief without evidence you see...because practically always when you hear someone say they "Have faith" they don't have any evidence to back it up. If they did they wouldn't need "Faith".

Question: So what reason(s) do you have to believe in God?

EvF

(May 24, 2009 at 3:35 pm)EvidenceVsFaith Wrote: Well I myself define faith as belief without evidence you see...because practically always when you hear someone say they "Have faith" they don't have any evidence to back it up. If they did they wouldn't need "Faith".

Question: So what reason(s) do you have to believe in God?

EvF

Indeed.

Well, as I said before.
"So through my research, study, examination and experiences I have thus come to the conclusion what I believe is true hence faith. It is a collection of years of studies and experiences that bring forth the mindset that I have today"

What is your views on religion or more specifically Christianity and how can you be so certain there isn't a God?

Also, might I add I think these quotes are incorrect. Specially from Richard Dawkins. The man more known for his weak philosophy and religious debates then his scientific achievements.

'Faith is belief without evidence - and that's irrational. So the term 'rational faith' is an oxymoron.' - EvF
"Faith is the great cop-out, the great excuse to evade the need to think and evaluate evidence. Faith is belief in spite of, even perhaps because of, the lack of evidence." - Richard Dawkins

Well you said that you had examinations, study, research and experiences that persuaded you to believe in God... - but you didn't say what those examinations, studies, research and experiences WERE.

What are they? What are those examinations, etc? And how are they evidence of God? If they aren't then you IOW don't have reasons for your belief because if you did they'd IOW be evidence...

So...what evidence is there?

And why am I so certain God doesn't exist? I am not 100% but I'm at least as certain he doesn't exist as I am that there are no rainbow-coloured flying elephants with 3 spearmint flavoured tails...

God is very complex and I require a lot of evidence to believe in him...

Why don't I believe in him? Because I hear the very same question in my head that I asked you above "So...what evidence is there?" - and the reply I get back is "Zero. I don't know of zero evidence at least for the time being so IOW no reason to believe"

EvF

Well, I just like to add this in.

If someone said there is no such thing as pink unicorns in the universe they need absolute knowledge of the universe in order to make that claim. Now, if there is a person that says there is such thing has pink unicorns in the universe they do not need absolute knowledge of the universe in order to make that claim, but a little knowledge.

Now I know you are not claiming absolutes, but I thought I just bring this up.

Studies, examinations, research, experiences. These words are used from as such through the Bible and the personal experiences that I have went through. Are you asking the specifics of these words and how I came to the realization of my mindset? If so that would take quite a long time as it is a years of collections and collaborations of studies and personal experiences.

I am asking for any reason to believe whatsoever, any VALID reason would IOW count as evidence. So IOW I am asking for: Any evidence whatsoever (i.e. - valid reasons to believe in God's actual existence).

EvF

As I stated above I do not myself have physical evidence to support the existence of God that would change your mind within 10 minutes.

What I would like to do is discuss the term faith and rationality or irrationality behind it. It seems we differ on the definition of that by your qoutes and the discussion on the other thread. If you don't mind.

P3rfect,
You say you are a "Christian", so my question for you would be, from which branch of "Christianity" have you put your faith in?

Also, how do you view other sects of "Faith based beliefs" that believe in a higher power or life? Islam/Judaism/Hindu/Buddhism/Pagan etc. etc.

Do you put your faith in the Christian Bible and if so, which version? Also, do you believe people need the Bible to believe in the same "god" you have put your faith in?