JustWondering
Jerk
It is not important to a god that we have faith. It is important to men trying to spread man made religions (like christianity) that consider faith important. Because without it their religion would cease to exist.
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Why does god rely so heavily on faith?
- Thread starter Corkscrew
- Start date
It is not important to a god that we have faith. It is important to men trying to spread man made religions (like christianity) that consider faith important. Because without it their religion would cease to exist.
Fully veiled Muslimah put it best. And in addition to her comments I would add that with direct contact free will would be compromised. With faith you are charged with exercising the sense of Divinity. I always think of bio-feedback. You may not know exactly what it is you are doing to control say, your body temperature but you can learn how to do it. It may not be describable, in fact when people are taught to practice it, you just have to rely on the feed back. It is not explainable. Neither is the "God-sense". But you do have to actively practice it. And if you stop you can lose it rather swiftly.
It's not important to the gods, it's important to people.
Why would a person need to believe they will exist tomorrow to function today?
Direct contact doesn't compromise free will at all (if such a thing were to exist). Providing additional information strengthens a person's ability to choose and be free, while reduction of information makes a person's choices less free and less complete.
Ben Masada
Well-Known Member
Why does God rely so heavily on faith? He doesn't. The God revealed to the Prophets in their dreams and visions relies and rather heavily on obedience to His Laws. Read Psalm 119.
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Hello waitasec
There is no culpability, in the context above there are limitations which we benefit from recognising. Culpability arises with hindsight or malicious intention.
I am not sure what you mean, or how virtue is related to decision making. My point above is on how we understand the word "faith", quite often people translate the word "faith" to be equal to 'blind belief' (blind belief is something which can be improved upon), however I have also seen "faith" used to mean personal feeling or knowing something intuitively e.g. 'I have faith in myself to finish this essay on time.'
Hi
1) Do you mean practically/physically, like 'someone told me' or epistemologically?
Indeed, can these two be separated? I would say that with what ever we read or hear, we should investigate it further before drawing any conclusion. If we do not wish to investigate it further then we must either accept it at face value or ignore it and move on, but it is also valuable to know why we move on.
2) Yes, I agree with you. Labels limit God. Words are labels (Nouns = limited objects) and so communication is limited. We need to come to know it for ourselves or settle for endless question and answers, as language has its limits too.
3) You are right, it is not an example of faith, but of limitations of the senses. The OP asks why we must rely on faith and not our senses "seeing". The example only serves to show that that all limitations, whether we judge them to be good (a kiss) or bad (pain of longing) are knowable empirically, as you say. "Faith" (see my earlier definitions) goes deeper than the senses, perhaps that is why people don't trust it or accept it?
Ben Masada
Well-Known Member
Two points: First, the problem is with most men, who are unable to reach that level of awareness. And second, anything eternal about man is against the Scriptures. There is no such a thing as eternal fate as man is concerned. Eternity belongs with God only. Man is under the natural law of genesis and destruction. (Gen. 3:22)
In what way do you think it would influence my behavior?
More importantly, I see people say that free will would remove a person's ability to have faith in god, or follow god, etc. When in reality, it would provide people with information to make a more informed decision as to how they would interact with god.
OK, I accept that. It won't obliterate it. It will compromise it beyond any usefulness.
PolyHedral
Superabacus Mystic
Does a perfectly rational person have free will?
Ben Masada
Well-Known Member
God does not rely on faith because faith is of the realm of man. Metaphorically of course, God relies on man's fulfilling of His Laws. With faith or not, as long as the laws are fulfilled. Why? Because the Divine intent is that we live in peace with each other in society. That's actually how we relate to God. Esoterically, we would be stepping into the realm of God, but this is only for some few self chosen souls.
waitasec
Veteran Member
but see you are giving god attributes that cannot be known...
metaphorically, how can god rely on anything?
i cannot nor will i ever say it is divine intent, to say such a thing is to know the unknowable.
as far as i can tell nature is indifferent. it does not care what i eat, who i marry, how i have sex or if i choose to masturbate...
we are ultimately accountable to each other because no one is more moral than the other, but when we find division and strife it is when one group of people believes to be morally superior above the rest because god is on their side and somehow knows what gods law are...
BruceDLimber
Well-Known Member
Simple: Because He gave us free will!
It's therefore up to us to arrive at our own conclusions, hopefully informed ones!
Peace,
Bruce
It's therefore up to us to arrive at our own conclusions, hopefully informed ones!
Peace,
Bruce
Corkscrew
I'm ready to believe
I’m beginning to see why God doesn’t bother communicating with us, there are lots of people here on Earth apparently quite able to field any and all questions for him. His followers know his thoughts better than I know my own wife’s! I’m way behind the power curve; I’m still just trying to figure out if there is a God, let alone what he is thinking.