Share the heavens

[pablo]

One question:
If you have a faith, lets say christian for now, do you believe that other religions beliefs are justified and fundamentally true? This applies to other faiths against christianity please, i have no personal favourite, just a interest in your replies.:dunno:

[UVsaturated]

Religion is not the truth but a means to get to the truth. It is God who calls you, regardless of the religion.

[pablo]

With respect, how do you know this for sure?

[Cartesiantheater]

Some of them have doctrines that are mutually exclusive. What then?

[UVsaturated]

With respect, how do you know this for sure?

I just have faith in it. I can't prove that God calls a person any more than I can prove God. You just know it within you or you do not. I try to leave as much proof out of it as I can, so it is always based on faith.

[UVsaturated]

Some of them have doctrines that are mutually exclusive. What then?

Like I said, religion is just a stepping stone to God, not a way in itself. This is one of the faults of man made religion in that whether by control, false belief, or literal interpretation they lead people to be bound to only their exclusive interpretation of God. I do not see God as being rigid enough that he cannot have personal relationships with each individual. I base this on three observations. First, people are all different in their passions. Second, as a parent I spend time with my own children on different levels because they have different personalities. What I would do with one, I would not necessarily do with the other. Third, I believe God is love, and love does not judge or discriminate, nor does it demand service for its giving.

[pablo]

So whats the difference between a blind faith and maybe just accepting the fact it's all a nonsense and nothing more then centuries of rolled of stories created via fear to control the masses, that is all fact based, the idea of an all seeing god as no facts to substanciate it only the blind beliefs of the scared and the weak, no offence.

[UVsaturated]

So whats the difference between a blind faith and maybe just accepting the fact it's all a nonsense and nothing more then centuries of rolled of stories created via fear to control the masses, that is all fact based, the idea of an all seeing god as no facts to substanciate it only the blind beliefs of the scared and the weak, no offence.

Sorry I did not get back to this question right away, Pablo. When you first proposed it, I had about 5 minutes to get ready for work and superficially it seemed like a mystery to me on how to answer it. I even questioned faith for a moment because of this question because it makes a lot of sense in every respect - the way you phrase it - and I wanted to give you an honest answer and not some gobbledy gook.

Paraphrasing you, what is the difference between blind faith and agnosticism from the viewpoint of having no evidence. There really should not be a difference if everyone draws their logical conclusions upon tangible evidence, yet there are those who believe in God and those who do not, and those who just don't know (but we will exclude those people).

For the purposes of my explanation, I don't want anyone to be confused about faith in any way. Faith is not what most Christians think it is; believing in something because you were taught to, or the bible says so, or the trees are intelligently designed, or that the universe is so damned big that it could not be chance. That is not faith, but drawing unprovable bogus arguments to support what you hope for.
When I am using faith in this context, I mean supporting your belief with nothing tangible at all but what you know within you about God.

The problem with this comparison between this faith and being agnostic is that you are assuming blind faith has no evidence to the person. In other words, a faith that is based on external evidence alone, and that is simply not true - there is self-evidence, something mentioned in our Constitution by the way. It is actually an all encompassing question that everyone asks and that is; just because I am, does that mean that person over there experiences things too? The agnostic says without any evidence of something a person cannot know anything because they are subjective body, but I personally believe we are connected to God and can know both a part and hopefully all of God at some point in time.

Here is the reason why. Proof of the world is obvious. You can look around and see things. That is pretty cut and dry, but for the one who wishes to believe in God, they cannot rely on physical proof, because God has ordained a mystery to reveal his self at the appointed time to basically wrap up everything. Part of this mystery is to "prove" his divinity by revealing his spirit through us without anyone knowing of it or about it. To those who ask for physical proof, they won't find any until the revealing occurs, and for those who have faith, they receive the spiritual proof they need on a regular basis. It is an unseen proof that speaks of the world in a spiritual language that the eye cannot see, and the world cannot grasp. The only way to obtain it is to ask God.

Therefore, true faith has a proof that is within a person that you cannot see.

[weederbro]

Pablo

Why do you presume people believe in God because they are scared and/or weak?

[Godsgifttomankind]

Hello Pablo and thank-you for the question,

UVsaturated has presented some very astute points in relation to coming to know God and the need for connection from within.

One of the greatest challenges for each of us is that of ascending Jacob's ladder and finding our way into the realm of the knowledge of God. Aka the heaven of understanding.

This is not an impossible challenge but there is a great need to evolve in the way that we see that which can not be seen. It is understandable to say that that which can not be seen is impossible to see but what we are talking about is perception. The wind can not be seen but it is possible for us all to be aware of it's presence.

The five outer senses tell us about the physical world but it is our five inner senses that allow us to sense those things that are unseen and yet exist. A battery can contain energy but it is only evident when that energy is made manifest.

The existence of God is clearly definable and can be proven beyond a shadow of a doubt, the problem is that the majority of people lack the tools to make God clearly manifest. This is not because they do not know God but has to do with the lack of training in the mystery of God.

Bill started a thread asking God to reveal himself and yet he failed to see God. This is not because God did not answer but because physical eyes will never see God, if we want to see God we must move into a realm that is not physical in nature but is another dimension of existence. It is the dimension of reason and is not limited by place or time.

In order to traverse the boundary that exists between heaven and earth, we all must be willing to let go of that which is unreasonable for that which is reasonable. This is completely contrary to what the average person of faith teaches and yet all people of faith know that God is a God of order and being a God of order there is no room for disorder, thus all that God creates is reasonable and while God has power that is beyond our limited capacities, this does not mean that they can never be reasoned out.

His Faithful Servant

David.

[Mystery]

I am torn on this. Being a christian, it is said the thru Christ is the olny way. But then why do some many religions mirror each other? Take for example Islam, almost idenical to Christian. I belive we beleive in the same God as well. I just don't know. This is the one question that tugs at me over and over. I have trouble believing others who have different religions, and live wonderful loving lives are going to hell cuz they chose wrong. Or that I am going to hell cuz I chose wrong. I really think man mucked up the whole religion thing. If there is only one way, then why is it not plain as the nose on our faces?