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Seeing as how the OP rambles as if in a personal journal rather than pose a clear topic...

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Blue Key said:

OrgoneConclusion said:

*Noob Alert! Burger King does not grok the very basic message board concept of someone responding to another poster as clearly marked on the top of the post.*

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Idea: I delete entire post and instead focus on the title with the rest of you.

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Blue Key said:

Consider the fact that there are many different religions.  Also consider that there are very few people in the world who do not belong to one of them.  And of those who are followers, how many truly believe?  We can't know if someone holds true faith within their heart, so we'll just have to assume that the majority do.  And if they are true believers, they unconditionally accept something that requires faith.  And faith is trust in something unseen and unprovable.  Thus, billions around the world have faith in something that doesn't make any real sense.  Why?

I recognize that faith can be helpful to many individuals.  These people are happy believing whatever it is they believe.
And yet even though they know not all religions can be right, if I were to ask any believer from any faith if it were possible that they were the ones who were wrong, they would deny it fully and say it to be blasphemy.

So knowing this, we can assume that billions are wrong about their belief; no one is nessessarily right.  Yet these billions are content in having true faith in something that is false, because they believe it to be true.  So, their belief is like a tulpa.

I considered this.  If someone has absolute faith in an unprovable, that unprovable might as well be true.  Because it is impossible to prove, it is also impossible to disprove.  Hence, faith.

This made me realize that religion isn't bad or good.  I believe that all religion can lead to a deeper understanding of your own spirituality, but some religions have become institutions and organizations rather than an earnest effort to pursue deeper meaning.

--This realization changed how I thought about others' faith.

So now if someone says that they're a Christian, I say "That's fine.  In fact, I respect your faith."  Because if someone can use faith as a tool (unintentionally) to help get them through the struggles of life- I will let them be.  Just because I believe to have found the key to spirituality, which is only the labyrinth known as the human mind, doesn't mean I need to try and get others to agree with me about it.  I find my own meaning as others find theirs. If everyone in the world held this philosophy, all dispute and anger and turmoil would be forever dissolved. 

But this is not a world of such ideals, it is a world of dispute over them. And questions. And demand for answers, even when it is the questions that create the faith some desperately want to finalize.  But these are not true believers.  These are people in a struggle.  Hopefully they will realize on their own that there is nothing but themselves and their faith, whether it is in a god or in their own mind, but whatever the case, I will not be the one to change them. 

I am content with my own spirituality, and it is as simple as that.

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Your just as dogmatic as anyone else with "faith" in the steadfastness of your position.

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This exchange should be interesting.

fivepointer said:

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You view faith only as a useful tool to help people cope with life.  Your view is that there is no absolute truth, only relative opinions and coping mechanisms.  You state that those that oppose your relativistic view need change.  So if they need change they must be wrong, right?  Your just as dogmatic as anyone else with "faith" in the steadfastness of your position.

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No, because I don't try and change what others believe.  I accept it, embrace it.  Obviously I  have opinions, but if expressing those opinions is the same as forcing them upon others, I guess I would be dogmatic.

I do not consider myself to be that way, however, because my belief about spirituality is a mix of Existentialism and Buddhism... I feel that I understand faith- yet do not exert the will to believe in unseen, holy entities.

Blue Key said:

fivepointer said:

You view faith only as a useful tool to help people cope with life.  Your view is that there is no absolute truth, only relative opinions and coping mechanisms.  You state that those that oppose your relativistic view need change.  So if they need change they must be wrong, right?  Your just as dogmatic as anyone else with "faith" in the steadfastness of your position.

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No, because I don't try and change what others believe.  I accept it, embrace it.  Obviously I  have opinions, but if expressing those opinions is the same as forcing them upon others, I guess I would be dogmatic.

I do not consider myself to be that way, however, because my belief about spirituality is a mix of Existentialism and Buddhism... I feel that I understand faith- yet do not exert the will to believe in unseen, holy entities.

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OrgoneConclusion said:

Christians do not force their beliefs : rofl2:

Inquisition - millions slaughtered
Missionaries fucking up Hawaii
First drug warriors - Death penalty for using mushrooms
Special goverment sponsored Bible programs in prisons
Jehovas Witness and Mormons pounding doors

No, there is no pressure at all to buy a myth.

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fivepointer said:

Roman Catholics, JWs, Mormons - Not Christian.

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