goodgirl

Faith is the belief in the intangible. It is believing something despite the fact that you can't touch it, or taste it, or even prove it exists.

My faith in God is not due to brainwashing, or because I follow blindly. It does not require rules or mindless swallowing of religious rhetoric. All it requires is for me to be open to the possibility of being a part of something greater than myself.

In my opinion it takes far more strength to believe despite not being able to prove than it does to just shrug off even the possibility that you might not have all of the answers.

My faith doesn't come from a book or from a church, although I find those things helpful at times when I feel alone. I see God in the face of my son. I feel God inside of me, when I go to a church or read from the Bible it is so that I can see God in a community. I take what I feel I can use from the sermon of the day and use it as a starting point to figure things out for myself. I am not a sheep, I am a Christian.

At several points in my life I have doubted that I am a Christian and even went through a long period where I did not believe in God at all. In my arrogance I was amazed that people were so easily swayed at something that did not exist. I was angry that so many people would worship something that would allow so much hate, death and violence in the world. I came to realize that I was looking to others for explanations and dismissing angrily any that made me feel less in control.

Having faith is not about giving up control of your own life but in taking it. I do not as a rule go around proudly proclaiming my religion or talking about it. My faith is something that is deeply personal to me and the only ones I object to are those that would dismiss my faith as inconsequential. I do not feel the need to shove my religion down anyone else's throat, or to wear a cross, or to try to convert others. I don't believe those that believe differently than me are going to hell and I don't believe that the Bible is a clear cut rule of instructions.

Some accuse me of not being a "true" Christian and others accuse me of being weak minded. Faith is love, it is hope, and it is not something that can be measured or understood by someone that doesn't have it.

Religion and spirituality is a deeply personal issue to most. To dismiss it and fling out the insults is not an "enlightened" person would do. Why attack just because you don't understand? Why insult those that have faith just because you have none yourselves? My beliefs do not threaten you, my God does not hate you. You belittle my faith and you belittle me.

Peace
~GG

__________________
"No one is free when others are oppressed."

bonghits4christ

Whoa good post goodgirl. I agree with you totally. I don't parade around with a "what what would Jesus do?" bracelet, nor a cross on my neck, or any other trendy symbol to display my faith to others. I don't go around telling people they are going to hell if they don't conform to my beliefs.

My story in many ways is a lot like yours. I have gone through that time where I wasn't sure if Jesus really was inside of me. I was doubting everything, but it worked out for the better. I think most Christians backslide for a time and go through a dark hour in their lives. It seems like after that period I was able to grow and mature spiritually in Christ. I still need so much more maturing to do, but there is no doubt in my mind that Jesus Christ is the true son of the most High God!

I don't really mind posts like those from Agaric. He/she probably feels empowered in some way to curse God and get away with it. I really think that what you say in the end will manifest eventually into reality, so please Agaric watch your mouth. Don't refrain from slander because my virgin ears can't take it, but I care about your well-being, and I don't want you to reap what you sow. Our mouth is so powerful, if you knew what kind of power your tongue held you would have never posted those thoughts about the elite of God.

James 3:8
But no man can tame the tongue. It is an unruly evil, filled with deadly poison. (9) With it we bless our God and Father, and with it we curse men, who have been made in the similitude of God. (10) Out of the same mouth proceed blessing and cursing. My brethren these things ought not to be. (11) Does a spring send forth fresh water and bitter from the same opening?

goodgirl

For some reason I feel the need to add a little more to what I have said. Most of my faith has been a recent change for me and I have never really talked about it much and somehow I am finding it difficult to stop now that I have started So bear with me

My aunt used to worry about the fact that I didn't have a faith. She never tried to turn me Catholic (she knew I could never embrace it) but she wanted me to have something. She couldn't comprehend how I could ever possibly be happy without faith in something.

For years I struggled against it believing that I knew the "truth" and feeling secure in my superiority to those that believed in God. One day I was lying in my bed just thinking. I was in a particularly bad place in my life and was thinking about hope.

For me faith=hope and hope=God. When I was young I had begun to enter a depression and had given up any hope of things getting better. When you have hope, there is the chance of disapointment. When you feel like there may be a chance that things will get better and you begin to hope, you are vulnerable. For years I refused to make myself vulnerable in that way again.

It wasn't until I suddenly realized that things had been worse, and I knew they would get better that I felt hope for the first time since I was a child. I had turned my back on God when I turned my back on hope. God is love and hope and without faith we have neither.

We are vulnerable when we open ourselves up to the possibility of unconditional love because there is the chance that we are wrong. There is the chance that any hope we hold out will only hurt us more in the end. I thought I was being realistic by giving up hope and the possibility of unconditional love. Instead I realized that I was being a coward.

Throughout my life I have never been given more than I can handle if I just have faith. If I could just hold onto the hope that I now associate with God then there isn't anything I can't get through eventually.

I know that I am probably not making much sense because it is very difficult for me to explain. I still sometimes choke on the word "God" because I had gone so much of my life laughing at the word, despising it as a catch phrase of the weak minded. I taught myself to substitute the words hope or love in my mind whenever I say God and now I am able to understand much more easily what I am feeling.

Enough rambling from me....I think I have said too much as it is

Peace
~GG

dedbr

Bear with me.

__________________
Though my soul may set in darkness,
It will rise in perfect light.
I have loved the stars too fondly,
To be fearful of the night." Sarah Williams

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schwadood

Excellent post GG. I agree with you even though I am not a Christian. I am not Buddhist, Hindu, Muslim, Atheist or anything, although I have read a great deal about Buddhism and HInduism. I do beleive in God, but not necesarilly the classic Christian view of God. My beliefs come from my personal experience with what I call the oneness. The oneness is something I have experienced when high but to a greater extent when on a different drug I'm not supposed to talk about. It is that feeling that you don't end at your flesh and you are part of everything and everything is a part of you. For me, that is God. We are all God. Some of us don't know it, but we all have this undying love of the universe in us. This goes beyond any one faith because it involves something that all faiths discuss in one way or another.

Well, thats enough for me right now. I just thought this would be a good place to put some of my ideas and feelings down. peace and love

TheCleric

You make some very good points everyone, especially you goodgirl.

I feel like i owe you an appology of sorts, at one point i was exactly what you are talking about in your posts. The guy with no faith that takes his disbelief out on those that believe. I am pretty sure im the reason why you mention that you arent a sheep, as i have made numerous statements on these boards saying that those that believe are sheep.

I have had a lot of time to think about what i actually believe. I have faith, i was sitting there as you people have as well in a very dark and lonely spot, fresh out of high school not attending college this year, a confused emotional wreck. I realised something though, no matter how hard things got, no matter how bad they were they got better. I had faith in one thing. The earth would never do me in, not yet I know its probably silly to think like that but it keeps me going. My faith is in my creator, I call her Mom, she made this planet, and she made me. And I really dont think it makes a difference what you have faith in so long as you have something to keep you going.

Cleric
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"Sometimes we have to sacrafice that which is most dear to us in order to save the world, and now is that time!." Pauly Shore-Biodome.
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__________________

dedbr

Faith=Complete trust.

FullyBaked

I've always believed that faith is inside you. The world is yours. No matter how many people live on it the world is yours alone. You control your destiny, and you can control the destiny of other people.

The great power that we are given to control our lives, is dramatic. We can kill others, and we can help others. We wield such good power, but we also wield the power of evil.

Finding your place in that small balance is just part of life.

I have faith in God. I have faith that he will help me find my path in life. What path I choose overall, I still don't know.

Being happy is my favorite gift in life, second to my faith. Hopefully my road will lead to my happiness.

The Stoned Philosopher

Actually,i like Alan Watts view on faith: that faith is like trying to float on water,if you struggle with it with a closed minded blindly pre conceived notion of faith(what most christians do) you will stink,but, if have a open mind and dont struggle with it,then you wont sink.
My faith is pretty much like that,my mind is open to all possiblities even though i doubt that the christian form of "god" exists (sounds like a mad alien to me ) doesnt mean it DOESNT exist,we simply dont know because there could be someone or something running the wheels of the show for good reasons and bad.

The Stoned Philosopher

PsYcHoLoGiCaL

Though im a babtised(Spelling?) Christian i do not consider myself one... for i cant belive in something that donsnt appear logical to myself... If you look at the world you will see everything has a explanation... Science can explain everything, not that science has explained everything but by following the logical rules of science everything has the potental of being explained. By following what scientifc evidence shows i belive everyone is reencarnated, many psychic people that have also predicted furture events (which proves the legitimacy) have proformed past life trances, therefore indicating that reencarnation is what happens to ones spirt after it has expired.

Not that i dont belive in a higher being (God) but i dont belive he just rules the earth or the christians, or that there is a god for each relgion... i belive that there is one set thing that happens after death and it happens to everyone regardless to what there faith is. And that the 'God' looks over everything that happens in the universe but very rarley interferres, Because the purpose to the universe is so he can watch it evolve...

This is however, just my theory of what happens in the after life and i could be 100% incorrect, but because i belive science can explain everything i think im on the right track by only beliving things that has some scienctific eveidence to back it up... and yes every part of the my theroy even to the smallest detail has some sort of scientific evidence backing it up. I didnt just come up with this one day when i was high i came up with this after weeks and weeks of pondering the issue and there is much much more to my theroy but i am far to lazy to post it cause this post is long enough has it is heh... Oh and by the way great post GG.

psycholgoical