Religious doubt

[TheGunShoj]

Makes no sense to me.

People claim that God is real, he answers prayers, they've seen, spoken to or experienced him, so on and so forth and yet most people experience a phase of doubt at some time or another.

I don't doubt the existence of things that I know to be true, it just makes no sense. What are your thoughts?

 

[outhouse]

Its not the belief that bothers me as much as the context of how they believe.

 

[Kilgore Trout]

I think very few people understand the difference between what you claim to believe and what you actually believe.

 

[`mud]

Just another throw of the dice !
~
'mud

 

[Quintessence]

Given we're neither omniscient nor omnipresent, doubt is extremely normal and human. 100% certainty of anything is somewhat... disturbing.

 

[Kilgore Trout]

Given we're neither omniscient nor omnipresent, doubt is extremely normal and human. 100% certainty of anything is somewhat... disturbing.

I'm 100% certain that if I put my hand on a red-hot stove top that it will burn me.

Do I disturb you?

 

[TheGunShoj]

Given we're neither omniscient nor omnipresent, doubt is extremely normal and human. 100% certainty of anything is somewhat... disturbing.

I agree about absolute certainty but that's not what I'm talking about. When I say "I know" I mean in the colloquial sense that I'm as certain as humanly possible.

If I see another person, I don't doubt their existence. I know they exist. If someone has seen, heard, experienced God or whatever, where does doubt come into the equation? Based on that experience, shouldn't they know that he is as real as another human they might see, hear or experience?

 

[outhouse]

Given we're neither omniscient nor omnipresent, doubt is extremely normal and human. 100% certainty of anything is somewhat... disturbing.

sorry a bit out of your context but,

taxes and death.


and quite a few other facts can be added to paint an accurate picture of reality.

 

[TheGunShoj]

I think very few people understand the difference between what you claim to believe and what you actually believe.

I'm not entirely sure I follow. Are you saying that some Christians think and claim they believe when in actuality they don't?

 

[sun rise]

Doubt is a normal part of the human condition. I could find it in other religions, but "Doubting Thomas" in the Bible illustrates how pervasive doubt really is.

 

[TheGunShoj]

Doubt is a normal part of the human condition. I could find it in other religions, but "Doubting Thomas" in the Bible illustrates how pervasive doubt really is.

Do you doubt that the earth orbits around the sun?

 

[Brinne]

I agree about absolute certainty but that's not what I'm talking about. When I say "I know" I mean in the colloquial sense that I'm as certain as humanly possible.

If I see another person, I don't doubt their existence. I know they exist. If someone has seen, heard, experienced God or whatever, where does doubt come into the equation? Based on that experience, shouldn't they know that he is as real as another human they might see, hear or experience?

Usually what I see is people doubting their religion not the existence of God/god(s) when they have experienced a divine moment. Which makes sense, maybe a Christian has a divine moment where they hear the voice of God or a god yet they feel more connected to Hinduism; that make sense in their eyes it could have been a Hindu deity calling out to them.

Those who doubt the existence of God/god(s) tend to be those who haven't experienced a divine moment. These are your people who pray once and selfishly, don't see results, get frustrated and give up.

 

[outhouse]

I'm not entirely sure I follow. Are you saying that some Christians think and claim they believe when in actuality they don't?

Part of conclusion first, before investigation and research.

 

[Kilgore Trout]

I'm not entirely sure I follow. Are you saying that some Christians think and claim they believe when in actuality they don't?

I'm saying that many people, Christian or otherwise, claim to hold beliefs that they actually haven't considered or examined to any degree. Many people's beliefs are dictated by social expectation and compliance, and thus whether they actually hold those beliefs or not isn't important to them.

 

[sun rise]

Do you doubt that the earth orbits around the sun?

Why would I have doubt about something that has been proven. But I have a certain skepticism about multiverse theory and some string theories. And I have good reason to doubt that my view of the world is 100% accurate having been proven wrong many times in the past.

 

[TheGunShoj]

Usually what I see is people doubting their religion not the existence of God/god(s) when they have experienced a divine moment. Which makes sense, maybe a Christian has a divine moment where they hear the voice of God or a god yet they feel more connected to Hinduism; that make sense in their eyes it could have been a Hindu deity calling out to them.

Those who doubt the existence of God/god(s) tend to be those who haven't experienced a divine moment. These are your people who pray once and selfishly, don't see results, get frustrated and give up.

You seem to be presuming to know a lot about what these people have or have not experienced, on what basis do you make those claims?

What about, for example, a person who is a devout believer but has a traumatic event in their life like the loss of a loved one and they begin to doubt because they don't know how a loving God could let it happen.

Yesterday they believed God was a real being, today they are doubting his very existence because something bad happened. How does that make sense?

 

[TheGunShoj]

I'm saying that many people, Christian or otherwise, claim to hold beliefs that they actually haven't considered or examined to any degree. Many people's beliefs are dictated by social expectation and compliance, and thus whether they actually hold those beliefs or not isn't important to them.

this I agree with.

 

[Sabour]

Many people pass through the phase of "what if I was wrong" ... Not all people pass through it though.

 

[Brinne]

You seem to be presuming to know a lot about what these people have or have not experienced, on what basis do you make those claims?

What about, for example, a person who is a devout believer but has a traumatic event in their life like the loss of a loved one and they begin to doubt because they don't know how a loving God could let it happen.

Yesterday they believed God was a real being, today they are doubting his very existence because something bad happened. How does that make sense?

I'm making these claims upon the same 'bias' as you; subjective observations from life experience.

That doesn't make sense to me as to why they'd give up their beliefs, surely bad things happen but if a tragic event makes you drop your religious beliefs maybe they weren't all to concrete in the first place. However, with the examples you are using this seems to be geared more towards those of the Abrahamic religions.

 

[TheGunShoj]

Why would I have doubt about something that has been proven. But I have a certain skepticism about multiverse theory and some string theories. And I have good reason to doubt that my view of the world is 100% accurate having been proven wrong many times in the past.

That's exactly my point. No, God has not been proven but how many Christians claim that he is real, god exists for a fact, he demonstrably answers prayers? Almost all of them that I've met. Do they actually believe everything they are saying? Because if they do, doubting doesn't make sense.