insomniac17 said:
I'm not sure where I stand on religion. It's very different than what I expected going in, but as I said, I still struggle with a lot of things. I'm intrigued by it, but I'm skeptical. I am studying the Bible in the hopes of understanding it better, because I don't get why in my life I've seen Christianity change people for the better. I do talk with many Christians as I study, and they have offered many of the arguments I have presented in this thread, including that one. This argument is one that I'm not convinced by, but I believe that's because I haven't experienced whatever change these others have had. One nagging issue I have is that all these people have felt this transformation... but I don't know if they actually experienced it, or if they just deluded themselves into thinking they experienced it. Aside from the science/religion issues, this is probably my biggest sticking point. I can't blame you. You won't ever get anything better though, because religion is ultimately based on faith. You have to take the facts of the world around you, and if you believe that they point towards a religion, I suppose that faith becomes a natural step. What I'm trying to see is if there is actually a factual and logically consistent basis for why people believe in Christianity. Many Christians seem to think there is, and I'd like to know why. |
A bit off topic: Faith is actually a component of most Christianity that contributes to my disbelief. Under the Christian philosophy, you have to believe that Jesus is the son of the Lord in order to be saved. And to believe that, then you need faith. But what if someone finds faith in another religion. If believing in something is based ultimately on faith, then what factor is there to encourage someone to one religion over another? If faith is a person's only means of believing, how can they ever hope to find faith in the 'correct' religion? With that said, how is it fair that God punishes people for finding faith in the 'wrong' religion? If there was a just and loving god, he would prove Himself. He wouldn't make a person's eternal life rely upon accurate guesses.
