Questioning our beliefs

[Fluffy]

I completely (respectfully) disagree with this statement... Why should anyone have to blindly accept/follow/believe anything? Reluctant/willing informed acceptance is one thing but blind unquestioning acceptance is another. There are things in this life that I know we cannot change but that does not mean we should not ask why. IMHO.

Well I don't mean to imply that anyone HAS to blindly believe. Just that it is much easier to blindly believe some things so one can get on to more important matters.

For example, I could drive myself crazy wondering whether I can actually logically conclude anything beyond my own existence. But, with no real inclination other than a general want, I accept, quite blindly, that what I see and hear and touch and smell are indeed "real" and the reality that I percieve is the correct one. I have no reason to believe this, and neither does anybody else but it would be incredibly difficult (and rather pointless) to discuss any other issue if I did not.

The question is whether anyone can actually get themselves to accept the opposite of the above, that one can know nothing other than one's own existence. It is one thing to comprehend it but it goes against everything your body is telling you that it is difficult to actually accept it in your mind. I have come to the conclusion that it is not possible to accept such a thing, the mind simply rejects it, and so everyone has, to some degree, a measure of blind faith.

 

[Melody]

If you don't question your faith, then you have blind faith. Blind faith leaves you open to deception.

 

[The Voice of Reason]

If you don't question your faith, then you have blind faith. Blind faith leaves you open to deception.

Exactly - witness the 1978 Jonestown tragedy in Guyana, or that of the 1997 mass suicide in San Diego by the members of the Heaven's Gate cult.

Sad, and each of these people died because they did not question what they were being told (with the exception of the children at Jonestown).

TVOR

 

[pdoel]

I actually think questioning your faith/beliefs only makes them that much stronger.

Typically, we are born into a religion. We are forced to attend Sunday School and Church by our parents, and are constantly told what to believe.

If you go through life blindly, just accepting what you are taught, are you really going to "feel" your beliefs, or really take them to heart? Probably not.

But if you start questioning, and wondering, that's how you grow. That's how you find faith. Logic may throw out all kinds of questions, and you may spend a lot of time wondering if what you've been taught is true or not, but then you realize it's your faith, that keeps you coming back. It's your faith that holds you steady.

Questioning is normal.

The Bible is FULL of stories of great Christians who questioned beliefs at one time or another.

 

[Lycan]

Well I don't mean to imply that anyone HAS to blindly believe. Just that it is much easier to blindly believe some things so one can get on to more important matters.

The easy way isn't always the best way.

For example, I could drive myself crazy wondering whether I can actually logically conclude anything beyond my own existence. But, with no real inclination other than a general want, I accept, quite blindly, that what I see and hear and touch and smell are indeed "real" and the reality that I percieve is the correct one. I have no reason to believe this, and neither does anybody else but it would be incredibly difficult (and rather pointless) to discuss any other issue if I did not. The question is whether anyone can actually get themselves to accept the opposite of the above, that one can know nothing other than one's own existence. It is one thing to comprehend it but it goes against everything your body is telling you that it is difficult to actually accept it in your mind. I have come to the conclusion that it is not possible to accept such a thing, the mind simply rejects it, and so everyone has, to some degree, a measure of blind faith..

But it is not blind faith that you believe this, since you have obviously thought quite alot on the subject, questioning, and eventually coming to the conclusion to accept it. It wasn't that someone told you this and you said, "OK" and never thought on it again.

 

[Fluffy]

But it is not blind faith that you believe this, since you have obviously thought quite alot on the subject, questioning, and eventually coming to the conclusion to accept it. It wasn't that someone told you this and you said, "OK" and never thought on it again.

This is true but I am still left with a 50/50 chance of being right. And that is an EXACT chance because I can't use evidence based in a reality to prove that reality's validaty and so I am left with nothing to sway me either way. Therefore it is down to blind faith alone.

Since my concept of reality is based on blind faith, any other conception, other than that of my own existence, is based, ultimately on blind faith as well. Therefore I find it difficult to see how it is possible to be free of blind faith.

I have a feeling this might come down to our definitions of blind faith. I use the definition on www.dictionary.com which is: "belief without true understanding, perception, or discrimination"

Obviously these 3 components, necessary for belief not to be blind, are lacking from a situation in which I choose one chance over another in a perfectly balanced scenario.

 

[Mossburg32908]

I know to question it, me and Doc have been questioning it for a long time now, and I'm glad so many people think the same as we do.