Blind Faith
October 5, 2007 by Mark Pogue
We humans are born without a religious belief. It is learned from society and in many cases indoctrinated into our minds and thoughts, leaving one vulnerable to a lifetime of fear.
The fear of your soul being damned to Hell forever is what keeps your basic average Christian in line. In other words, you must conform to the teachings of the Bible which itself highly is contradictory and open to thousands of interpretations. It is an impossible task. Simply speaking…it’s flawed. Why would people claim this reckless conglomeration of scriptures that was written decades and sometimes centuries later after Christ, is actually “God’s word”? If it is “God’s word”, why didn’t God write it? After all, according to “his word”, he can create. He/she cannot create a perfect book that is indisputable? Why would God need his fallible and errant humans to record it?
The basis of Christianity and Christian faith…the Bible, is flawed. So what are the other alternatives for finding your “daily bread”? What is left besides “Blind Faith”?
>The fear of your soul being damned to Hell forever is what keeps
> your basic average Christian in line.
Fear is not at all what motivates Christians, or at least it shouldn’t be. First, salvation has nothing to do with what you do. “For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith—and this not from yourselves, it is the gift of God— not by works, so that no one can boast.” (Ephesians 2:8-9).
But Christianity isn’t fire insurance either and obedience to God’s Word is crucial. The Bible is God’s manual for living. He created us and He loves us. He loves us so much He died for us. So the correct motivation for obedience is that it makes sense follow The Designer’s instructions and gratitude for what Christ has done for us.
>The basis of Christianity and Christian faith…the Bible, is flawed.
The claims you make about the reliability of the Bible are unfounded, unsupported and simply false. Anyone seriously considering questions like this may want to read “The Case For Faith” by Lee Strobel (http://tinyurl.com/2j4tet). Feel free to email me as well.
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Brad,
You said: “The claims you make about the reliability of the Bible are unfounded, unsupported and simply false.”
I suggest you look at these sources before we talk again about making false statements about the bible:
An extensive list of essays and resources on Biblical Criticism in the format of an online Encyclopedia:
http://www.skypoint.com/~waltzmn/
Wiki containing arguments for various errors in the Bible:
http://www.errancywiki.com/index.php/Main_Page
Regards
Lu
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Brad,
In my experience, I’d have to say you are full of it.
““For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith—and this not from yourselves, it is the gift of God— not by works, so that no one can boast.” (Ephesians 2:8-9)”
In my experience, Christians are the most arrogant of religious people. This is actually the first time I’ve seen this particular passage quoted - most Salad Bar Christians pass on that particular vegetable. Your choice to follow this passage says nothing about the majority of Christians who do not.
As for the Bible: It is a work of literature, an ancient book. There’s no problem with studying and practicing ancient philosophies. Unfortunately, it is treated as though it were THE scientific test book.
ALL faith is blind, by definition. Faith is everywhere - when we believe a reputable scientist’s conclusions without verifying them, that is faith. When we trust the refutations of the original scientist’s theories, this is faith.
The difference between faith in a scientist and faith in God is that the Scientist’s theories can be tested - God cannot. Neither can the Flying Spaghetti Monster, the Dragon in my Garage, or an orbital Tea Pot.
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Rivalarrival,
I’m sorry to hear that you’ve been hurt by Christians so much in the past. Sounds like there’s a lot there.
I would also say in my experience Islamic Extremists are probably the most arrogant religious folk that I have met. That and some Orthodox Christians.
Cheers,
Aaron
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@Aaron: What makes you say rivalarrival has been hurt by christianity? There’s no mention of it in his comment.
Reading between the lines is kind of arrogant sometimes.
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Hi Alpha,
This is what made me think that.
“In my experience, Christians are the most arrogant of religious people. This is actually the first time I’ve seen this particular passage quoted - most Salad Bar Christians pass on that particular vegetable. Your choice to follow this passage says nothing about the majority of Christians who do not.”
I fail to see how me saying that I’m sorry for how he feels is arrogant? He was saying it was based on his experience, and knowing that it makes me sad that that would be the only thing he’d have to say about Christians. That of course being based on his own experience. This also seems appropriate at times like this.
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Reading between the lines is what I feel may be arrogant, perhaps he hasn’t been terribly injured, just hasn’t met many christians of value to the human race. It’s not arrogant to apologize, but if you apologize for something that didn’t happen, that seems a bit foolish, no?
But on the other hand, I have no knowledge of what rivalarrival has experienced either, and so can’t speak for him. I can only say that we shouldn’t jump to conclusions.
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I have been told so many times (by believers), that the reason for my atheism must be due to Christians hurting me. Nothing can be further from the truth.
If I did not started to question the dogma and doing some serious research I would still have been a Christian.
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Luci..
They think that we reject Christ also. How can one reject what one has no belief for???
If you’ve never seen a UFO…how could a Ufologist expect you to believe?
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“How can one reject what one has no belief for???”
That is an illogical statement. Whether or not you believe if the being in question exists their existence is not contingent on whether you acknowledge them or not. This is a weak argument, I could just as easily say I have never seen George Washington therefore I can’t believe that he ever existed. I have never seen the Northern Lights so they must not be there.
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“If I did not started to question the dogma and doing some serious research I would still have been a Christian.”
The fact that there is dogma attached has no bearing on the argument of whether God is who he says he is or whether he is just a pleasant fiction invented by the weak fearful mind of men.
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Aaron….
There’s a difference between existence and self-declaration of being “the son of God”.
We know George Washington existed. He himself kept a journal and we have hundreds of copies of his signature and many other writings.
I’m not disputing Christ’s existence as much as his “super powers”.
We have more proof of UFOs and ETs than ANY god…but yet most do not believe. They call UFO witnesses “crazies” and such.
There is NO proof of supernatural intervention…but yet the majority believe…that IS sad. It’s a societal belief.
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Even sadder, and much more frightening are people like our president who actually hears the voice of god, and then act on it - with disastrous repercussions.
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Religion is simply a crutch for those who cannot face the reality of death.
When the body dies that’s it, everything stops. No one has EVER found any proof of any kind of existence after death, asking where the mind goes after death is like asking where the music goes when the band stops playing.
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