What brought, and keeps you, to faith?

[superconductor]

A quick bit of background before the question.

 

I was raised in an agnostic household. I was occasionally hauled off to Sunday school and church as a wee lad, but didn't care for it. I found it tremendously boring.

 

Years later, I started to develop a faith and became very active in my local church community. That lasted a couple of years, when, in a slow dawning of understanding, I saw that the regular church-goers - myself included - had lives that were just as miserable, or moreso, than non religious folks.

 

Prayers went unanswered. Big questions left me confused. Pain, loss and tragedy were too rampant, both personally and amongst the congregation.

 

I left the church, and put my faith away. I came to realize that there is either no God, that God existed but played no part in human affairs, or that God was powerless when it came to working in the lives of people.

 

Giving up on faith and God was one of the most difficult things I've had to do, because it meant dismissing an important part of my life.

 

Now, to the question: For those of you that continue to have faith, what brought you to faith in the first place, and in light of the personal and collective pain and tragedies that the world experiences on a daily basis, what keeps your faith strong?

[Becoming]

God. I did find the divine reality the church is always talking about. Unfortunately, the church also too often gets in the way of faith instead of helping others to find the reality of God they're always talking about.

 

I'm not talking about some cranky guy in the sky kinda God, but the force at work in the universe that brings about common good, peace, healing, wholeness within and in spite of all the evil that results from our selfish choices. That's what the crucifixion and resurrection is about for me. Not a virgin in a volcano appeasement of an angry god, but a life dedicated to God's Way of goodness in the world utterly devoted to the divine in such a way that even though evil tries to kill it, lives on as part of the divine and continues sharing that force with others.

 

God's not a big Santa Claus granting wishes for me, but a real power that helps me endure and live through all the bad stuff that just comes with being human. People still get cancer and die, but God is the force that cares and demands justice when folks are being hurt and helps mend the broken.

 

That means the compassion and wisdom we share with one another on LS is a manifestation of the divine.

 

Maybe your old faith needed to die so that you can find another church and get involved in a spiritual quest of your own for the Reality the church talks about. Belief in the church and human beings IS a sham. But belief in what believers and the church point to when they point beyond themselves is really real, though each of us experiences it somewhat uniquely. The fact you've posted this on LS indicates something in you is still searching for that reality of God--not just talk about God.

 

Prayers and blessings for the quest.

[Outcast]

Prayers went unanswered. Big questions left me confused. Pain, loss and tragedy were too rampant, both personally and amongst the congregation.

 

Unfortunately, a lot of people seem to think of God as some sort of Cosmic Santa who's there to grant all their wishes. He is not. He gave humans free will and then gave us sensible rules to follow to not cause our own selves grief and harm. He did not promise life would be grand in any way.

 

As with anything else in life, if you set yourself up to have unrealistic expectations, you've only yourself to blame when they are not borne out.

 

God is found in moments of love and beauty. The experience of God is not unlike the experience of nirvana is supposed to be - a oneness with all living beings; an understanding of the love which permeates all creation.

 

At the depth of all creatures is the light of God. We have trouble seeing it sometimes because worldly concerns can obscure our vision as well as their own knowledge of their own light.

 

But in moments of divine blessing, you can see glimpses of the true beauty of life. And that makes the rest bearable.

[bluetuesday]

your question supposes that god could, if he wanted, remove pain. it also supposes that healing (or the removal of imperfection) is something that god withholds, for mischievous reasons of his own.

 

the god you refer to, the 'santa claus' god as becoming puts it, isn't god. that god doesn't, in fact, exist. the god people have told you about is an image of god that is false.

 

however, there is a god. and that god does not withhold healing or health or happiness. YOU withhold it from your life, by denying the reality of god. i know this will be an alien concept you probably won't understand, but it's nonetheless true.

 

god is within you. look at your hands. they are god's hands. look in the mirror. see the face of god. look at your neighbours. god is living next door to you. god is the name we give to the pure consciousness that created the universe and everything in it. god's own being IS the universe. you are a part of that. and the only problem you have is one of recognition. you don't think you are a spark of divinity. you think it's impossible. but you are a spark of divinity. and nothing is impossible with god.

 

there is evil in the world NOT because some remote and unfeeling god allows it, but because you and i allow it and we are individualisations of god on this planet. god exists. you are the living proof. deny it for the rest of your life if you like. it won't change what is true. you will just have missed this unique opportunity to be god in action.

 

to answer your question: i parted company with the faith i was brought up in when i realised that jesus wasn't the only son of god and didn't die to wipe the slate clean of all our sins.

 

the reason i didn't become an atheist was because for me that would be as impossible as denying the existence of the sun. when you experience something on a daily basis, either it is real or you're mad. and i am not mad.

[Fun2BMe]

Belief in the church and human beings IS a sham.

Why do you think the church and humans are a sham?

[Fun2BMe]

i parted company with the faith i was brought up in when i realised that jesus wasn't the only son of god and didn't die to wipe the slate clean of all our sins.

 

Why did he die then and who else was the son of God?

[blind_otter]

Now, to the question: For those of you that continue to have faith, what brought you to faith in the first place, and in light of the personal and collective pain and tragedies that the world experiences on a daily basis, what keeps your faith strong?

 

God. And trust, oddly enough. I am not egotistical enough to assume I know why everything happens to me, nor do I believe I am omnipotent enough to see the big picture at all times. I believe that, to put personal understanding of your life cricumstances ahead of all things is ego to it's highest, worst form. Because that causes you to lose faith.

 

I feel God with me. Sometimes when I get angry I try to ignore it, but the kingdom of God is always within me. Even if I'm too pissed off to let myself be aware of it.

[quankanne]

Now, to the question: For those of you that continue to have faith, what brought you to faith in the first place, and in light of the personal and collective pain and tragedies that the world experiences on a daily basis, what keeps your faith strong?

 

what brought me to my faith? example from a parent with a deep-seated faith, who rolled with the punches but never stopped believing when things got too deep. Which helped me understand that I am His and He is mine, and our relationship is an incredibly strong one even when I'm down and out. I guess you can say it's that connection, that bond I sense that keeps my sense of faith alive ... like having a dear, dear friend who understands me better than I do myself but still loves me anyway.

 

Giving up on faith and God was one of the most difficult things I've had to do, because it meant dismissing an important part of my life.

 

maybe it's less about giving up on God and more about rethinking how your relationship with him works. Just like any other interpersonal relationship, it goes two ways; you've got to do your part just like the other fellow. So if you don't see instant results maybe it's because you're only looking at it from one viewpoint?

[bluetuesday]

Why did he die then

 

he died because the religious authorities wanted him killed for blasphemy - for saying he was the son of god - and because the romans wanted to appease those authorities. and he died because without dying he couldn't conquer physical death by rising again.

 

and who else was the son of God?

 

we are all sons and daughters of god. that, i believe, was jesus' point. that what god did through him, he could do through us. i believe jesus was an example of what we can all become - not an idol of what we cannot.

[Godsproperty777]

What brought, and keeps you, to faith?

 

I dont want to go to Hell! .

[Rooster_DAR]

Personally, I don't believe in any divine intervention. We live in a predictable universe, and the laws of nature and physics disprove the beliefs of any religion to date. Religion and gods were created by man at the dawn of our own consciousness to fill the void of being alone in the universe. A good question to ponder is (Why are there so many gods and religions). Simple answer, we need to believe there is a higher power than us, and we feel empty without it. The fact that there are such an assortment of religions and gods, should be evidence enough that they were all created by man.

 

We all grow up with what's familiar and we all take a part of what we learned as children with us well into our adult lives. What we learn from our parents (and others around us) at childhood becomes a vital part of who we are when we grow up. Religion has passed down from generation to generation so this is just another concept we have learned to accept. For lack of a better analogy, we have been brainwashed by what we have learned to be the truth and protect that with the very substance of the belief that drives it.

 

Clever were the writers of the scriptures when they stated, anyone who doesn't believe in me shall perish (worded differently between religions). What better way to convince people from deviating from what they have been taught to be true by using these kinds of manipulations. I believe that religion was introduced to help solve many problems, including the need to feel a higher power is at work. Also, before any real fundamental laws were introduced, mankind would have had a real problem without some form of civilized structure. I also believe that religion is a really good thing for a lot of people.

 

With that said, I am open to believe there is some creator, but god in the traditional sense does not work in our universe. We have a long way to go as a human race, but I'm quite confident we will understand where we truly come from and where we are going. Generations from now, I believe they will look back and see exactly what I'm talking about.

 

Regards,

[Fun2BMe]

What brought, and keeps you, to faith?

 

I dont want to go to Hell! .

 

If no concept of hell existed, would you therefore not have faith?

[maoserr]

I have faith in myself, does that make me a god?

[burning 4 revenge]

we are all sons and daughters of god

if that's true why do you spend so much time focusing on one?

 

i don't see how jesus declaring himself a god was any more or less valid than when caligula did it several years earlier.

[bluetuesday]

if that's true why do you spend so much time focusing on one?

 

sorry, i only just saw this.

 

you mean jesus? i don't spend so much time focusing on him. i'm not a member of any christian church. but he is an example most people in the west will recognise as a human being living a spiritual life. but he's by no means the only one.

[quankanne]

if that's true why do you spend so much time focusing on one?

 

because Christians recognize Jesus as the Son of God, part of the Holy Trinity. So, not only was he a spiritual human, he was divine.