How do you reconcile other people's beliefs?

[ChristineES]

How do you guys deal with or view other people's religious beliefs? Do you view view them as being equally valid? Do you view your beliefs as being the sole truth? and if you do view your religion as the sole truth how do you view the followers of other religions?

We live in a diverse world. I don't worry about what religion people decide to follow. It's not that I don't care about them, but it isn't really my business. People have to each choose their own paths. We can tell others about our beliefs if they are willing to listen, but we can't force them to follow any belief system they choose.

It isn't my place to say whether each faith is false or true- I am not God and I don't pretend to be. I follow my faith- I choose to follow Christianity. I can't even force my children to follow my faith (and I never tried). (My middle child says he is agnostic and my daughter says she is a Christian. My oldest is autistic and doesn't really understand anything about any religion.)

 

[Blackdog22]

How do you guys deal with or view other people's religious beliefs? Do you view view them as being equally valid? Do you view your beliefs as being the sole truth? and if you do view your religion as the sole truth how do you view the followers of other religions?

This is one of my major problems with believing in religion. Seeing as most of the major religions are exclusive (unless you are a Baha'i) you would have to say that billions of people have gotten it wrong when it comes to faith, but somehow, you are immune to this kind of delusion. Somehow there is no way your faith is a delusion, but theirs is.

I would either have to accept all religions or reject them all to hold a consistent worldview that didn't allow special exceptions. The reality of religions, however, doesn't allow me to accept all religions without me doing some serious twisting/wishful thinking/making up my own religion. None of these choices are rational or logical. That's why rejection is the only valid stance imo.

 

[Blackdog22]

We live in a diverse world. I don't worry about what religion people decide to follow. It's not that I don't care about them, but it isn't really my business. People have to each choose their own paths. We can tell others about our beliefs if they are willing to listen, but we can't force them to follow any belief system they choose.

It isn't my place to say whether each faith is false or true- I am not God and I don't pretend to be. I follow my faith- I choose to follow Christianity. I can't even force my children to follow my faith (and I never tried). (My middle child says he is agnostic and my daughter says she is a Christian. My oldest is autistic and doesn't really understand anything about any religion.)

I love you Christine, but im going to pick on you a little.

I love your point of view, imo it is the way all Christians should behave, I do however find it somewhat dishonest. I realize you don't speak for God, but thats kind of ignoring the fact that God has already spoken on worshiping false idols/gods. He has clearly outlined what will happen to these people and he has a history of commanding people who do such things to be tortured/killed.

My question is do you reject Gods/Biblical claims and make your own version of Christianity or do you accept Gods/Biblical claims and pretend like it doesn't exist when confronted about the issue because it isn't socially acceptable to hate people of an opposing religion in our current secular society?

I open this question to anyone just happened to find Christines post calling me.

 

[Falvlun]

This is one of my major problems with believing in religion. Seeing as most of the major religions are exclusive (unless you are a Baha'i) you would have to say that billions of people have gotten it wrong when it comes to faith, but somehow, you are immune to this kind of delusion. Somehow there is no way your faith is a delusion, but theirs is.

I would either have to accept all religions or reject them all to hold a consistent worldview that didn't allow special exceptions. The reality of religions, however, doesn't allow me to accept all religions without me doing some serious twisting/wishful thinking/making up my own religion. None of these choices are rational or logical. That's why rejection is the only valid stance imo.

How exactly is it illogical to claim that only one religion is right? I mean, there's only one right answer to explain the illusion of the sun's movement in our sky, and yet there were many answers throughout the ages given for it. Are we being illogical, making a "special exception" for assuming that heliocentrism is the one correct answer?

 

[Blackdog22]

How exactly is it illogical to claim that only one religion is right? I mean, there's only one right answer to explain the illusion of the sun's movement in our sky, and yet there were many answers throughout the ages given for it. Are we being illogical, making a "special exception" for assuming that heliocentrism is the one correct answer?

I may of not been as clear as I should of been. What I mean is to say that claiming to have the "one" right religion is to claim that other religions are wrong. Seeing as all religions seem to think they are correct, someone has to be delusional. To think "I" have it right, but "they" are delusional and "I" am not capable of being deluded like "they" are is an extremely illogical way to go about thinking. It is placing yourself above others without regard to the fact that you are as human as they are and its an extremely self absorbed way to think about things. Someone has to be wrong and if billions of people have been wrong from the "one" religions point of view then its logical to assume you may just be deluded and wrong yourself. (not specifically you, but anyone. I don't know what you personally believe.)

Also the scientific reason the Sun appears to move in the sky doesn't really fit with picking a number of answers for why the sun moves around, with no evidence backing any of the answers, and just grabbing one and claiming thats the reason the sun moves around without ever giving pause to other answers. Your analogy doesn't completely fit.

 

[Marie75]

I don't view my path as some sole truth, I think objectivity is rather limited when it comes to religion and philosophy. I tend to view different faiths different ways while also trying to look at individuals rather than labels. I've gotten better with age at, even though I might see someone's beliefs as pathetic, I can tell myself "hey it works for them".

I think you just answered your own question. I believe religion is culturally and intuitively based. We all do not think the same. What partly makes me believe in a God is that my intuition tells me humans are not capable of creating things that are present in the universe! But what I do not know is which religion is correct. Again, I believe it's mostly culturally based for a reason I can't figure out. I hope I'm not totally off base here, just giving him or her some insight on why we all do not happen to believe in one religion and we debate our stances which enhances our learning experience.

 

[ChristineES]

I love you Christine, but im going to pick on you a little.

I love your point of view, imo it is the way all Christians should behave, I do however find it somewhat dishonest. I realize you don't speak for God, but thats kind of ignoring the fact that God has already spoken on worshiping false idols/gods. He has clearly outlined what will happen to these people and he has a history of commanding people who do such things to be tortured/killed.

My question is do you reject Gods/Biblical claims and make your own version of Christianity or do you accept Gods/Biblical claims and pretend like it doesn't exist when confronted about the issue because it isn't socially acceptable to hate people of an opposing religion in our current secular society?

I open this question to anyone just happened to find Christines post calling me.

Although I was anticipating a response like this one, I still find it hard to answer. I don't think I am being dishonest, really. The people I meet have already heard about my religion and they know what we believe (sometimes superficially, though). I think if I were to witness to someone (who wanted it), I wouldn't start by calling their attention to the teachings of what God doesn't like but instead telling them the good things- such as loving your neighbors and all that. It does no good to alienate people when trying to "win them over" (so to speak, although that isn't really what I'd be doing).

 

[Riverwolf]

How do you guys deal with or view other people's religious beliefs? Do you view view them as being equally valid? Do you view your beliefs as being the sole truth? and if you do view your religion as the sole truth how do you view the followers of other religions?

It's easy to reconcile other religions being a polytheist. I consider their Gods as being existent (even if said Gods don't recognize this), and as for the beliefs, I regard them the same way I regard other cultural norms different from my own.

 

[Blackdog22]

Although I was anticipating a response like this one, I still find it hard to answer. I don't think I am being dishonest, really. The people I meet have already heard about my religion and they know what we believe (sometimes superficially, though). I think if I were to witness to someone (who wanted it), I wouldn't start by calling their attention to the teachings of what God doesn't like but instead telling them the good things- such as loving your neighbors and all that. It does no good to alienate people when trying to "win them over" (so to speak, although that isn't really what I'd be doing).

Yeah, I don't think you are a dishonest person. I just find the kind of backpeddling that I sometimes see when Christians are confronted with tough questions somewhat dishonest.

An Example:

Person 1 - "Do you believe its a sin for people to worship other Gods?"
Christian - "Well, I don't speak for God so...."
Person 1 - "Yes, but you do follow God and God says this right?"
Christian - "I guess, but I don't really want to comment on others decisions"
Person 1 - "So you don't believe this or?"

Its kind of a way to dodge the question. A Christian obviously follows God and God obviously has already stated the Christian position. Trying to put some space between you and the question and putting God in the middle is kind of a cop out in regards to tough questions.

Not that you do this often at all or were even doing it there. It just seemed like you were kind of pushing in that direction is why I said something about it. You are one Christian I enjoy conversing with.

 

[John Martin]

How do you guys deal with or view other people's religious beliefs? Do you view view them as being equally valid? Do you view your beliefs as being the sole truth? and if you do view your religion as the sole truth how do you view the followers of other religions?

I believe that Truth has no boundaries. It is all embracing. It is like the infinite space. It is like the Sun radiating its light. When people wander on the earth they do not build permanent houses but temporary tents to rest. When people settle down then they build permanent houses. As people grow in their knowledge they may demolish old houses and build sophisticated houses. Religious beliefs are like houses people build to live in live in. It is to protect from the immensity of the Sun.
To live in the truth is to live under the Sun. It is to wander from the Sun light to the Sun light.
All religious beliefs are imperfect. They are all conditioned truths. Still they have space within them so that people can live in them. Ultimate Truth is unconditioned. It is like the infinite space. Every conditioned truth should have the door so that people can move from the conditioned truth to the unconditioned truth. Those who live in the unconditioned truth do not argue about the Truth. Only those who live in the conditioned truths argue that their truth is only truth or perfect. Truth has no boundaries. Human beings make boundaries to the Truth that has no boundaries. It is nothing wrong. It is a human need. The difficulty comes only when these boundaries are made absolute or unchangeable.

 

[sojourner]

I love you Christine, but im going to pick on you a little.

I love your point of view, imo it is the way all Christians should behave, I do however find it somewhat dishonest. I realize you don't speak for God, but thats kind of ignoring the fact that God has already spoken on worshiping false idols/gods. He has clearly outlined what will happen to these people and he has a history of commanding people who do such things to be tortured/killed.

My question is do you reject Gods/Biblical claims and make your own version of Christianity or do you accept Gods/Biblical claims and pretend like it doesn't exist when confronted about the issue because it isn't socially acceptable to hate people of an opposing religion in our current secular society?

I open this question to anyone just happened to find Christines post calling me.

My answer is that we have moved from a literalistic, absolute understanding of God to a metaphoric, relative understanding of God. Some ancients also believed that God literally, physically held a flat earth on his shoulders. Should we continue to believe that, as well?

 

[Jupimartian]

I think my metaphysical naturalist viewpoint is the most sensible. I admit I could be wrong. Other beliefs don't affect me unless it's used for bigotry, abuse, guilt-tripping conversion, forced indoctrination, etc.

 

[Blackdog22]

My answer is that we have moved from a literalistic, absolute understanding of God to a metaphoric, relative understanding of God. Some ancients also believed that God literally, physically held a flat earth on his shoulders. Should we continue to believe that, as well?

Absolutely not, I think their is a lot the religious should stop believing.

I just wonder how long verses can be changed to metaphor that give rise to more denominations before someone realizes that something isn't quite fitting. How can we be sure Jesus' death and resurrection wasn't a metaphor, the virgin birth? Who knows maybe in the future someone like you will laugh at those ideas (like you laugh at the flat earth) and the Bible will become nothing more than a story they find wisdom in.

 

[sojourner]

Absolutely not, I think their is a lot the religious should stop believing.

I just wonder how long verses can be changed to metaphor that give rise to more denominations before someone realizes that something isn't quite fitting. How can we be sure Jesus' death and resurrection wasn't a metaphor, the virgin birth? Who knows maybe in the future someone like you will laugh at those ideas (like you laugh at the flat earth) and the Bible will become nothing more than a story they find wisdom in.

Sorry to burst your bubble. I've been there for a while now. The untenable factual reality of virgin birth and resurrection does not mar the power of the myth in providing a meaningful theological framework for my spiritual work.