Do you have doubts?

Justme

Senior Member
I am of the opinion that doubt where one's stance on faith is concerned is much healthier than claiming to have the 'truth' as some do. Without any evidence to substantiate whether or not a deity exists, none of us can be absolutely sure our position is correct however much we wish it to be. I fervently hope the Biblical deity is a human myth as it is so unpleasant. However, I have to admit I don't know for sure. If it does exist I had better invest in asbestos clothing as I am for the burning!:D
 
Faith and doubt are two sides of the same coin.
Faith without doubt is ignorance and doubt without faith is pessimism.

Doubt leads to questions and questions lead to growth.
Faith sustains when nothing else can.
Faith is not the same as belief.

Everyone has faith in something - a higher power, science, themselves, friends, money, education... The list is endless.

And yes, I have many doubts. I live with them all the time but my faith is stronger than my doubts.
 
I agree with Dame Warrigal. I often question my beliefs and must admit my belief structure is not the same as I was taught in my youth. I think it is healthy to explore one's spiritual side and nourish it just as you nourish your physical body.
 
I was brought up in a household who believed in the unpleasant 'you must be 'saved', or else', Christian dogma. Fortunately I kicked my faith into touch by the time I was 19 and left my island home when I married. I don't seem to require a spiritual side to my, life. In fact I am not entirely sure what spiritual actually means?
 
I was brought up in a household who believed in the unpleasant 'you must be 'saved', or else', Christian dogma. Fortunately I kicked my faith into touch by the time I was 19 and left my island home when I married. I don't seem to require a spiritual side to my, life. In fact I am not entirely sure what spiritual actually means?

I wasn't exactly brought up that way, but my dad became a religious fanatic when I was a teenager. He quit associating with friends and family members I grew up with and I hated that. After I left home and a tour of duty in the USAF I picked up a bible and started reading it for the first time as an adult. Not having a preconceived notion that it was the bible and had to be true, I read what it actually said an could see what utter nonsense it is. I believe reading the bible with a truly open mind will make anyone an atheist.
 
The difference between faith and belief is that faith, supposedly, is based on no evidence. Beliefs are
based on some evidence, even if the evidence is false.
I am a true skeptic and doubter in regard to big questions. This is a healthy
and intelligent point of view, contrary to believers. It is critical thinking.
We all fall into wishful thinking (including me!) when we believe something,
often very deeply mainly or only because we wish it to be true. But wanting it to be true
is very different from it actually being true. I hope that heaven is for real but we have absolutely no evidence
that it is real. (Excepting possibly sacred texts and possibly near death experiences.)
David Hume from the 1700's is the best example of a philosophical doubter and is highly
respected by most philosophers.
 
chickendoubt.jpg
 
I have my doubts, and as you say, none of us knows for sure. Like Amethyst mentioned, perhaps if you have a near death experience you would have a clearer picture of what's in store. There were no religious nuts in my family, but I was raise Catholic and went to Catholic school for the first 8 years, so I was in church 7 days a week.

Even though I had religion shoved down my throat during that entire time in school, I have never even read the bible in its entirety like Rkunsaw, only the required reading in school, usually from the New Testament, and then they told us what everything meant and what we should believe. To me it seems to be just a book written by men, and opened up to interpretation by the reader. Religious people who want to make their points to another, often cherry pick parts of the bible that suit their needs. The people who are 'over the top', and have to preach and try to recruit everyone they come in contact with on a daily basis with their conversation, I resent and avoid. I've put them in their place when necessary.

I have walked away from Catholicism when I entered public high school, and have not been involved in any church activities since. IMO, churches are just businesses, being religious in no way make someone a good person, and the behavior of priests and nuns over the years has darkened my opinions even more.

I do believe in some type of Supreme Being and Creator, and noticed that when some people become elderly and sick on their death beds, they can begin to pray and show signs of belief. Nothing wrong with that, who knows, I may be doing the same in my last hours.
 
This is a great song. I had never seen the video before, but when I just looked for it I saw that this video was protested by the Catholics, lol. The song isn't really about religion, it's about depression...but I never knew that.

 
Justme, you sound as if you came from the same sort of staunch Scottish presbyterian culture as me. It was a case of not questioning the religion - it was the absolute truth - no arguing. This was the problem with my parents, they lacked both the inclination and ability to have a reasoned discussion.
I had given up on religion by my teens although I was still forced to go to bible class(where I was happy to argue my case) and church. I was married in church because it was either that or the registry office, and that carried somewhat of a stigma in those days. I haven't been to church since and the children have not been baptised.

As I get older, I'm more comfortable with the view that there is no heaven, no hell, no 'afterlife' of any sort. Life is a period of light between two eternities of dark.
Why should the dark after I die trouble me any more than the dark before I was born?
 
I was raised a strict Catholic which involves a lot of guilt. I couldn't even think without thinking whether God approved of what I was thinking. As a perfectionist child this was torture. Of all the siblings I was the one who would not lie or speak evil and I went to church every Sunday and prayed every night. When my time came to pass on these rituals to my son, I stopped myself and I started to question everything. I had never taught him anything without some kind of evidence and this to me felt like Santa Claus all over again. Today we do not practice or all ourselves religious but my son actually reads about it out of curiosity. I do miss the quiet meetings at Sunday church and I do miss having a God to pray to - letting Him have control of what I cannot control, I just had too many doubts to actually keep going on with the tradition.
 
I have my own path that encompasses many realms. I am a believer in Christ but not the christian way. I know that doesn't make sense. It's not supposed to. It only makes sense to the one on their own path.
 
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