Questions are good but answers are bad

[Drich]

You know, Polar bear, some of us started off exactly as you did questioning everything and we ended up absolutely convinced the Gospel road is the right one.

Some delusions are more firmly entrenched than others.

Praise be to those who do pay attention to what's behind the curtain.

Then please toto pull the curtain back and show us what is there.

[polar bear]

Drich, thank you for your, what I feel is sincere, answers. Yes, you have answered my questions. I can not accept faith as being part of the equation. That seems to be the default answer for christians when logic fails. I had enormous faith, I stuck with religion for a long time. When it comes down to it though faith is what eventually failed me. My world changed when I started questioning every facet of my life and accepted honest answers, even though I didn't like the result of some of the answers. The easy way in this journey would have been to continue my relationship with the christian god. If, however, I want to live my life consistent with my true beliefs then I must accept logical answers as truth.

[Drich]

Drich, thank you for your, what I feel is sincere, answers. Yes, you have answered my questions. I can not accept faith as being part of the equation.

Neither can most people. Christ made a provision for those who can not live by faith alone. When Thomas wanted proof He got it. We have been offered something better in the way of the Holy Spirit. what better proof of God is there than God Himself? For this 'proof' all we must do is Ask, Seek, and Knock for it as outlined in Luke 11.

That seems to be the default answer for christians when logic fails.

.. and what you have said is the default answer atheist use as an attempt at a general dismissal, so they do not have to try and employ 'logic' to dismiss a specific point.

I had enormous faith, I stuck with religion for a long time. When it comes down to it though faith is what eventually failed me.

In all your experience in the church did you ever come accross the parable of the wise and foolish builders? In short the wise man builds his house on the rock, The is who Christ/God actually is, and the foolish man builds his house on his own religious idea of who Christ is.

Our houses are our faiths our beliefs our religious works. it is the outward expression of our inward beliefs. we can build a house identical to the guy we sit next to in church, and when the storms come (Your questions/the trials of life) our house can fail while our neighbor's identical house will survive.

Why? Because you have built your 'religious views' on a corrupt version of God. God will not support a corrupt version of Himself that we may hold dear, no matter how sincere we are. Think about it. If you believe: to know God one must only be of only faith, and God wants people to know He offers proof, then why should He support your 'Faith' Only religion? In truth He doesn't. This causes your faith to fail 'washing away' the house you built on the sand. giving you oppertunity to rebuild. This is why 'Knocking' (In A/S/K) is so vitaly important.

My world changed when I started questioning every facet of my life and accepted honest answers, even though I didn't like the result of some of the answers.

So did I. My whole life changed when I started questioning my faith as well. The difference between you and me is that if someone where to take the time to go line by line and answer every single question I had.. In the intrest of following the truth where ever it may lead, I would have responded line by line to those answers in an attempt to test those answers with everything I had. If they stood my best efforts to shake them I would adopt those answers and continue to test them until something better came along. Meanwhile I would use those answers as my new foundation.[/quote]

The easy way in this journey would have been to continue my relationship with the christian god. If, however, I want to live my life consistent with my true beliefs then I must accept logical answers as truth.

Then take the answers I provided and do your best to test the truth I have provided you.

[dyresand]

Drich, thank you for your, what I feel is sincere, answers. Yes, you have answered my questions. I can not accept faith as being part of the equation.

Neither can most people. Christ made a provision for those who can not live by faith alone. When Thomas wanted proof He got it. We have been offered something better in the way of the Holy Spirit. what better proof of God is there than God Himself? For this 'proof' all we must do is Ask, Seek, and Knock for it as outlined in Luke 11.

That seems to be the default answer for christians when logic fails.

.. and what you have said is the default answer atheist use as an attempt at a general dismissal, so they do not have to try and employ 'logic' to dismiss a specific point.

I had enormous faith, I stuck with religion for a long time. When it comes down to it though faith is what eventually failed me.

In all your experience in the church did you ever come accross the parable of the wise and foolish builders? In short the wise man builds his house on the rock, The is who Christ/God actually is, and the foolish man builds his house on his own religious idea of who Christ is.

Our houses are our faiths our beliefs our religious works. it is the outward expression of our inward beliefs. we can build a house identical to the guy we sit next to in church, and when the storms come (Your questions/the trials of life) our house can fail while our neighbor's identical house will survive.

Why? Because you have built your 'religious views' on a corrupt version of God. God will not support a corrupt version of Himself that we may hold dear, no matter how sincere we are. Think about it. If you believe: to know God one must only be of only faith, and God wants people to know He offers proof, then why should He support your 'Faith' Only religion? In truth He doesn't. This causes your faith to fail 'washing away' the house you built on the sand. giving you oppertunity to rebuild. This is why 'Knocking' (In A/S/K) is so vitaly important.

My world changed when I started questioning every facet of my life and accepted honest answers, even though I didn't like the result of some of the answers.

So did I. My whole life changed when I started questioning my faith as well. The difference between you and me is that if someone where to take the time to go line by line and answer every single question I had.. In the intrest of following the truth where ever it may lead, I would have responded line by line to those answers in an attempt to test those answers with everything I had. If they stood my best efforts to shake them I would adopt those answers and continue to test them until something better came along. Meanwhile I would use those answers as my new foundation.

The easy way in this journey would have been to continue my relationship with the christian god. If, however, I want to live my life consistent with my true beliefs then I must accept logical answers as truth.

Then take the answers I provided and do your best to test the truth I have provided you.
[/quote]

your not so bad Dirch.

[Ravenshire]

Some delusions are more firmly entrenched than others.

Praise be to those who do pay attention to what's behind the curtain.

Then please toto pull the curtain back and show us what is there.

It's been pulled aside for all to see by generations of great men and women. If you're too blinded by your iron age beliefs to see what's there, you have no one to blame but yourself.

---

your not so bad Dirch.

You say that now. Give him time.

[ThomM]

When I started my journey about a year ago to make my life consistent with truth and what I believed, I started asking questions about everything.

I questioned my psychiatrist and ended up in the hospital, I now have a new doctor and have never been better or more stable in my entire life. Including before I was diagnosed with a mental illness.

I questioned my religion. At first I was told it was healthy to engage god like this. As I continued asking further questions to answers that did not seem logical, I was told I was crossing a line that I should not. I was then mocked for my apparent lack of belief. The funny thing is though there was no lack of belief at that time, there where only questions. Religion could not handle logical questions appropriately, so they turned to fear and peer pressure.

I have started meditating and with some practice, the feeling I get after I have been able to control my thoughts, is exactly the same feeling as what I used to feel with prayer. The only difference is that when I continue my day I am not conflicted with the guilt of being a sinner.

My point to christians here is simple. After asking several questions in a couple of threads, your response leaves a lot to be questioned as I see it. Some people saw humor in the questions which I enjoyed reading. Some people brought logic to the table. Every christian, though, used the basic approach...an "argument". If it made sense, we would not need to argue. Don't let your beliefs that you have held (in anything) control you. Question EVERYTHING, you will be better off for it.

Actually simply pose the same statement over and over again - WHAT would it take for YOU to accept a DIFFERENT god of a Different religion to be the truth.

Most will not even consider it - but most would want ABSOLUTE proof. And then ask why Absolute proof is not something we should always ask for then?