Do You Ever Question Your Faith?

[bugatti]

I question aspects of my faith almost daily. There are certain aspects I don't agree with or understand. Example from a recent thread, the Church's stance on birth control. I'll never agree with their stance on that and I question why they're so strict about it.

 

I've never once doubted that the faith I believe is "the Truth". Never doubted that Jesus is God's son, that he died to save us, and that through him we will all have eternal life. Those are the fundamental aspects of my faith, and I've never once doubted those beliefs.

 

I don't know if that answers your question or not. I'll try to put it another way. To me, to question is to seek understanding or answers. To doubt is to struggle with whether something is real or not, or is true or not.

I understand what former was asking, but I am with you on this.

 

It is a daily battle with me. What scares me is I start to question if I am doing something wrong by questioning or going through these daily battles? I think it is natural, but should it be?

[UKMustangFan]

I understand what former was asking, but I am with you on this.

 

It is a daily battle with me. What scares me is I start to question if I am doing something wrong by questioning or going through these daily battles? I think it is natural, but should it be?

 

 

I agree with what Randy said earlier....Jesus questioned what he was to do. If Jesus is questioning things, I think we're alright to do so as well.

[Randy Parker]

To me, to question is to seek understanding or answers. To doubt is to struggle with whether something is real or not, or is true or not.

 

I had the same question FKYT did, but this clears it up & makes a lot of sense. :thumb:

[bugatti]

I agree with what Randy said earlier....Jesus questioned what he was to do. If Jesus is questioning things, I think we're alright to do so as well.

 

So I need to go buy a WWJD bracelet?

 

JC had his doubts I am sure, but considering the times and his mad skills, I would think it happened for a reason so that I would not question things. Yet I still do. But it is natural, I feel, and part of the faith in that it makes us explore more.

[Science Friction]

I understand what former was asking, but I am with you on this.

 

It is a daily battle with me. What scares me is I start to question if I am doing something wrong by questioning or going through these daily battles? I think it is natural, but should it be?

 

 

Absolutely. We are conditioned(some may say brainwashed) over the course of our lives not to question. Our religious leaders say we shouldn't question their teachings. Our governments want us not to question their authority. Jim Jones, Koresh, Marshall Applewhite.... the ones with the courage to question them are the only ones left alive today. Once I was young and accepting of everything that was supposed to be "Truth." I grew up and actually started thinking critically about all I had been told since I was a kid. I couldn't believe some of the things that I had never really allowed myself to question.

 

So yes... there is nothing at all wrong with questioning. Questioning and thinking critically will be very enlightening in the end.

[Science Friction]

 

 

 

Questioning is a very good thing...

[B-Ball-fan]

Being raised a strict Catholic, questioning one's faith was highly discouraged.

 

You were just expected to have blind faith for what you were taught, and if you braved asking valid puzzling questions of some of the priests and nuns it was often met with a sort of frustration that typically resulted in them telling you to just believe. A biblical reference to the "Doubting Thomas" would routinely be used as the regular go to in situations such as these.

 

As a result I experienced a ton of religious guilt during my teen and early 20's when I became more analytical, and started to lean towards more critical thinking.

 

It became apparent to me that man-made religion had a certain built in fear factor attached to it making one worry that if they were to question things that it was a sign that Satan was behind any temptation to ponder outside of what one has been raised to believe.

 

I wasn't aware that it is completely normal in some people's development to start to ponder and seek truth through rational forms of thought.

 

No disrespect to my parents, but I never got the impression that they themselves had ever experienced what I was beginning to experience in my questioning. If they ever did they never expressed it, and I'm pretty sure not to dilute that which they were raising me to believe, and standing the chance of creating any doubts. For their sake, I truly hope that what they believed in proved to be the truth.

 

Initially, I wasn't completely conscious, or felt at the liberty to allow myself to think freely, and to realize that my mind had for years been manipulated through religion much like you might find from someone raised in a cult, but with that said I do not regret the exposure that I had to it, and can look back and see some of the benefits that I gained from it. I can't say that I ever found it to be abusive, and I understand the loving spirit in which my parents presented it to me.

 

Do I regret finally allowing myself to question freely with the absence of guilt?

 

I do not.

 

Have I discovered all, or really any concrete answers in my quest?

 

I have not.

 

In questioning have I completely ruled in, or ruled out anything completely?

 

I have not, except for points that scream to being ridiculous no-brainer man-made nonsense.

 

I know that I have a true passion for the truth, and that my questioning was not related to rebellion, but an honest passion to have a better understanding.

 

I have great hope, and have experienced a confidence that I could at least discard, and separate most of the man-made fluff of religion with the aims at concentrating more so on truth in a more pure simplistic form, absent of all the complexities that man has created, that for me only lead to contempt for the confusion that I felt those complexities created for me. For my personal journey, it was no doubt for me enriching that I'd explore.

 

I don't live under any particular label that I can offer myself, or to others that seems to be so imperative to many. I shy away from specific man-made labels, but this does not mean that I don't have a personal sense of spirituality.

 

There were times in my life I had thrown my hands up and concluded that as a human being I have no real way of knowing anything with any certainty, all the while though holding out hope that something might help me stay eager in forming a deeper understanding, or that something might show me something that could continue to encourage hope and/or learning.

 

I'm content in saying that life experiences have opened doors for me to feel a better sense of understanding where I once thought it to be impossible.

 

I experienced for myself "signals", as I will call them, that were personally, and dramatically effective in keeping hope alive, with a certain sense of peace of mind in feeling closer to a truth without having the benefit of completely understanding everything, and learning to be content with my human limitations, while feeling a sense of sureness that I can rely on those "signals" to continue perhaps helping me to see more. I could not simply rely on what others had to offer in their understanding of truth, and had to experience them for myself.

 

To avoid spelling out all of these personal experiences, I will refer to these "signals" in generality form. I keep them in my mental/spiritual file cabinet to occasionally reevaluate them for their potential validity, and allow myself to question them to discern whether or not I find them to be possible reality, or a result of personal delusions.

 

I know that as a human I am limited in what I can ultimately know, but do not disallow myself from feeling a sense of spiritual growth, or the chance to learn if life presents anything that helps to ensure a justification of accepting special significant personal experiences that are worth noting to myself as being possible indicators of proof. If they are not completely explainable I will still consider them to be valid enough to give consideration.

 

Before my physical time in human form has expired, I presently have no way of knowing if I will feel any greater sense of understanding anymore than I already do, but if past experiences are any indicators, I will keep myself open to them if they present themselves, and keep hope alive that maybe in this life, or possibly in an afterlife, I will.

 

I have nothing to lose by having hope, and if there is a supreme God behind all of this, I have to believe that he/she/it has a firm understanding that we as humans haven't exactly been served the ultimate truth on a platter, and that questioning is completely normal for those with a passion to know, and couldn't possibly hold it against me for doing so.

 

Personally, I feel that it has benefited me greatly to allow myself to develop a guilt free rational form of critical thinking and questioning, for in doing so I feel a stronger sense of personal spirituality, faith and hope than I would have by just blinding following the teachings of a religion that encouraged one not to question. I deserved to be more fair with myself, and to allow myself to freely ponder. As far as I know, it is my life after all, and certainly should be allowed to, free of guilt.

Edited January 29, 2015 by B-Ball-fan

[B-Ball-fan]

[formerkywrestler]

I question aspects of my faith almost daily. There are certain aspects I don't agree with or understand. Example from a recent thread, the Church's stance on birth control. I'll never agree with their stance on that and I question why they're so strict about it.

 

I've never once doubted that the faith I believe is "the Truth". Never doubted that Jesus is God's son, that he died to save us, and that through him we will all have eternal life. Those are the fundamental aspects of my faith, and I've never once doubted those beliefs.

 

I don't know if that answers your question or not. I'll try to put it another way. To me, to question is to seek understanding or answers. To doubt is to struggle with whether something is real or not, or is true or not.

So could it be phrased as, "you don't doubt what you consider the CORE beliefs but you have doubted other aspects"?

[UKMustangFan]

So could it be phrased as, "you don't doubt what you consider the CORE beliefs but you have doubted other aspects"?

 

I wouldn't say that.

[Capernicus41]

In college I went through a stage where I questioned a lot. I was also taking philosophy and that really helped me think. There are several reasons I stayed a devoted Catholic. My parents and my aunt (through the way they live, not pressure) were major factors. I also thought that the alternatives are just too easy and not for me.

[kygirl]

If you question are you not doubting? Not trying to get hung up on words here, but struggling to see how they wouldn't go hand-in-hand.

I put a 'Like' on UKMustangFan's post so I wanted to answer your post as well. I see questions and doubts separately-questions, even tough questions, can be answered. And when they are answered, the questioner grows in his knowledge and understanding. Doubts are another thing altogether. A doubt cannot be answered in principle. Doubts are counterfeit questions. They have a surface resemblance to questions but are far removed from them in one major respect: they have no answers. An example would be-A questioner asks, “Is the Bible the Word of God?” Then he/she proceeds to seek the answers which are there. A doubter wonders, “What if the Bible is not the Word of God?” Questions breed answers. Doubts breed more doubts which result in greater insecurity. The doubter is at the mercy of his/her emotions. I prefer to ask questions to get answered rather than waste my time on doubts that don't have any answers.

[Capernicus41]

Science Fiction: I haven't spent too much time on this forum but from what I gather it seems to me that you believe that any rational person that gives serious thought to the idea of God would conclude that there isn't one?

 

Are you trying to get us "brainwashed" simple religion folk to try and think outside the box? I just don't get what's in it for you... Why does it matter to you what others believe?

[HoopsLady]

You have :

 

1) Creation

2) God's Word

 

I don't need any more evidence than that.

[DragonFire]

My current faith? No, not really actually. The faith I was born into I rejected, so once upon a time, absolutely.