Welcome to the forums, Pinja.
I think that a person going through a crisis of faith is fighting two battles: that of the conscious versus the subconscious mind, and that of reason versus emotion. The conscious mind has begun to have doubts about his religious beliefs, but the subconscious still holds tightly to the core beliefs (such as that god exists) and will not easily release them. He has used reason to create those doubts, but he may be facing a tremendous amount of emotional pressure to reaffirm his beliefs. He might be facing ostracism from his family, from friends, from his community, possibly from people who can help advance his career.
He seems to be reacting emotionally (see bold above, and his argument that 'you are a nice person, therefore god'). I think your best option is to respond with reason. It may not be enough, but responding emotionally would simply help him to reaffirm his faith, IMO. Emotion should not substitute for reason when considering such important issues.
(July 28, 2013 at 11:41 am)Pinja Wrote: He’s no longer attending church, he’s just (in the past few weeks) confessed to his parents that he can no longer accept Christianity as it was taught to him, and while he still believes in a god, he’s hurt and angry at that same god.
I think that a person going through a crisis of faith is fighting two battles: that of the conscious versus the subconscious mind, and that of reason versus emotion. The conscious mind has begun to have doubts about his religious beliefs, but the subconscious still holds tightly to the core beliefs (such as that god exists) and will not easily release them. He has used reason to create those doubts, but he may be facing a tremendous amount of emotional pressure to reaffirm his beliefs. He might be facing ostracism from his family, from friends, from his community, possibly from people who can help advance his career.
He seems to be reacting emotionally (see bold above, and his argument that 'you are a nice person, therefore god'). I think your best option is to respond with reason. It may not be enough, but responding emotionally would simply help him to reaffirm his faith, IMO. Emotion should not substitute for reason when considering such important issues.
"Well, evolution is a theory. It is also a fact. And facts and theories are different things, not rungs in a hierarchy of increasing certainty. Facts are the world's data. Theories are structures of ideas that explain and interpret facts. Facts don't go away when scientists debate rival theories to explain them. Einstein's theory of gravitation replaced Newton's in this century, but apples didn't suspend themselves in midair, pending the outcome. And humans evolved from ape- like ancestors whether they did so by Darwin's proposed mechanism or by some other yet to be discovered."
-Stephen Jay Gould
-Stephen Jay Gould
