A few observations that confuse me from your testimony… I realize you said your feelings were only one aspect, but do you think that if everyone goes by their feelings that they will encounter the truth?
No, I don’t think feelings should be the major point of emphasis on anything. Humans naturally have feelings, and while they should not be ignored, they should not be the sole, or even large, basis of major decisions either. Feelings can often be premature, and are wrought with influences from mood, recent unrelated experiences, etc. Looking at something openly, from as many angles as you can, to derive the truth, should be the basis. If it was not clear in my post, I tried for years to find a way that I could force this to all make sense in my mind. It was very difficult to accept that I was an agnostic.
What if someone encounters the actual truth and feels dull about it? Were feelings a good barometer?
Or is the measure of truth whether or not it feels arrogant? See what I mean?
A good barometer is whether or not it is logical. We must try to put personal feelings and biases aside.
It is very good of you scrutinize eye witness accounts, as there are indeed many false religions out there, which logic tells you, and I think you understand well.
Right, which is why I must also scrutinize accounts from the religion I was born into. That’s the main thing I felt personally arrogant about, was applying a standard to every other religion except my own.
And the Bible has to be easy to interpret? Why? The Bible is brilliantly composed…it reveals itself in stages. And if God is infinitely perfect and we are not, why didn’t you conclude that His truth would be tough to understand in the limits of language?
I know people will say that I am trying to put limits on God, trying to fit God into my sense of reality, or, that God is on a different level than us and can not be judged like a human would (I disagree with that logic), but when you are omnimax, with unlimited resources and potential, you would know precisely the best way to word and distribute the message of the Bible. While it is a great book, there are many problems with the Bible that IMO, just shouldn’t be there if it is inspired by God Himself. The Bible should be vastly superior to all other works, it should have astonishing logic that fits together superbly, and it should not need the verbal gymnastics that people have to go through to try to make it work. I have high expectations of God, and if God is not perfect, religion falls apart. God, being infinitely great, wise and concerned about us, would know how to make the Bible interpreted clearly, in the way He would want it to come across. (Yet, the response I get to this is that if God is clear, that will take away our free will to have faith. I have issue with this.) So, while you are saying we are limited in understanding God’s word, I am saying: God should not be limited in expressing His word.
I don’t understand after all the reading I did of your post, what it is you base your measure of truth on besides Aleii’s personal feelings, which in itself has to seem illogical, if that is the measure we all should take. So far your measure of truth is Truth = Your Feelings + Doesn’t Feel “Arrogant” + Easy to Interpret. If the truth isn’t that, however, how will you ever accept it? I think you should let the truth come to you, rather than you setting criteria for what truth is allowed to be.
Then, I didn’t word that as well as I’d hoped. I’ll restate: I tried to shy away from feelings and focus more on the fact that things just don’t make logical sense to me. Logic is the crux of the problems, not feelings. Despite years of trying to do so, the pieces don’t logically fit like they should. I’ve tried to say a lot of “IMO”, and say that “to me things look like X”, because I don’t want people to see my post as passing judgment on them, or as saying that all people should see things as I do. I’m referring to my sense of logic in all this, not my feelings. I can’t force myself to believe something is true that doesn’t make sense. Really, I’ve only scratched the surface of the problems that I have with religion. I’ve written the prior posts as summarized narratives of my journey, not as debates. My goal isn’t to attack or convert anyone, it is to answer the OP and give people a little more insight as to what its like on the other side. There’s a lot of people who assume that non-Catholics/non-theists have made rash decisions, that they are selfish and don’t want to be tied down by morals, etc. I’ve tried to put the capitals on God and Him to show respect to those on the board, and ask for some in return.
Anyway, bless you always in your search whichever direction you choose to go.
Thanks, and best wishes to you as well.
