I re read your message a few times. Valid points.....all. There is so much you say that requires me to think about my own beliefs. I am going to work off your message and try to provide some thoughts that cause me to refute some things that you say. Blind faith has produced any number of results in this world that define explanation. People who defy death and live on. Those who face impossible odds and yet succeed.
Minor things like the "miracle on Ice" when the us team beat the Russians. No explanation other than faith. Blind Faith yes, but much more than strong desires by individual players. I guess what I am saying is that faith without interaction can only go on so long. Then, one tires and feels the futility of no confirmation. My problem with your words is that I, have an interaction with God. Which changes everything. No, not in words. God does not talk to me in words.
He response to me in my prayers. I will question something and he will respond with a question to me that requires me to think and look into his written word. I have never yet found his response to my questions, once searched out, to be incorrect. Do I want to believe, with all my heart, what I hear.................yes! but I doubt so I look up the passages. "No, this is wrong, this isn't God talking". This is my own mind.
Then I search the Bible, do the research and realize that he is correct. My years on this earth have led me to the conclusion that God has my back. I can't explain the horrors that go on everyday in this world. I can't offer any explanation. I search myself.
Yet, I know that he knows, he allows what he does because he is an all knowing God and that I am his creation. He will reveal to me what he wants but he desires me to trust him totally. He is God. Like the universe, he is beyond understanding. Blind Faith??? Like I said he knows me and interacts. so much more to say but this is enough for now.
Story time.
I was living in Houston, TX. I co-wrote some books with a guy. We'd meet occasionally (he lived in Dallas) and often have some long nights having fun, drinking some alcohol, and generally having a good time. He was married, and not at all religious.
Then his wife got pregnant. When she had the child, there were complications. The baby was deathly ill, and he had to spend a lot of time at the hospital watching on. Cutting a long story short - he started praying. I guess it was a gut reaction or something. The child pulled through, and he attributed that to God.
Next time I saw him, he was teetotal. He tried to convert me. He had done a 180. In conversation he had become a fundamentalist. His wife had followed suit. The change was so drastic, we never wrote together again. Communication broke down, suddenly he had become a stranger.
All this to show that I've been around situations that I can't explain. Whether it's legit or not, I don't know. I only know what I think and feel. it's not like I've never thought of these things, I do, and relatively often. But I just can't reach the point you're at. I likely never will. It is what it is. The Bible is a great set of lessons, and I wish more people lived by its word, not because of God, but because of goodness, fairness, and charity. That said, the Old Testament has some heinous things in it - but that's another story.
This is, as displayed by these forums, an ever fascinating topic. I don't think less of believers. I really don't. Religion is a multi-faceted thing. I do think the claim to religiosity is brought into disrepute by people claiming belief, whilst committing heinous acts. But again, that's a whole other story. I must say, I have no intention or desire to dissuade people like yourself. Life is a personal journey, you know?
