Genuine Belief

[James_S_Saint]

Sigh… that first thing should have read “The point was NOT that people should be saints”

Freudian slip?

 

[Fran65]

To use your analogy, I wouldn’t expect everyone to be as good as Graf, but I would expect them to follow the games and understand the rules and history of the game like their eternal soul depended on it.

If I could I would explore my vocation to joining a convent, I would attend mass everyday, study for a degree in theology and learn far more about Catholicism than I already know. The fact is that I have a family, a fulltime job, other responsibilities and a serious health problem. Therefore, I, like many Catholics, have to do what I can (often less than my best because I am human) in a secular, capitalist and ‘dog eat dog’ world. I need reminding about what is truly important, I need reminding about my responsibilities to God, I need reminding about the Beatitudes and the 10 commandments because I get busy, distracted, tired and overwhelmed by this world and its concerns.

I, like many people who have a faith, do know that there is more than I could do, but, as I said before, we’re human and not saints. Fortunately we are taught that we have a compassionate, merciful God and we are taught to hope that through His grace we will be treated as though who tried and hoped, and not those who didn’t follow the rules to the letter. God made us, He knows us, He knows our weaknesses, we can hope and do what we can.

 

[Prodigal_Son]

If I could I would explore my vocation to joining a convent, I would attend mass everyday, study for a degree in theology and learn far more about Catholicism than I already know. The fact is that I have a family, a fulltime job, other responsibilities and a serious health problem. Therefore, I, like many Catholics, have to do what I can (often less than my best because I am human) in a secular, capitalist and ‘dog eat dog’ world. I need reminding about what is truly important, I need reminding about my responsibilities to God, I need reminding about the Beatitudes and the 10 commandments because I get busy, distracted, tired and overwhelmed by this world and its concerns.

I, like many people who have a faith, do know that there is more than I could do, but, as I said before, we’re human and not saints. Fortunately we are taught that we have a compassionate, merciful God and we are taught to hope that through His grace we will be treated as though who tried and hoped, and not those who didn’t follow the rules to the letter. God made us, He knows us, He knows our weaknesses, we can hope and do what we can.

My two cents: Our circumstances never preclude us from being saints. If Jesus told us to “be perfect”, it must be possible for us.

But I agree that it sure ain’t easy!

 

[Trust_in_God]

The point was [NOT] that people should be saints, the point was that most religious people don’t seem to really take their religion as seriously as one would expect given the magnificence of what it claims. To use your analogy, I wouldn’t expect everyone to be as good as Graf, but I would expect them to follow the games and understand the rules and history of the game like their eternal soul depended on it.

Ah. PelePele… Is it a true interest or is it just a way to push little barbs in people that do practice a belief in something, thus implying that those who do practice something may be “guilty” of only belief in a belief.

One wonders. One could ask then, is it easier to believe in nothing, adhere to nothing but yourself or the goals you set for yourself or ones made by a government.

The easier route is to do nothing. Don’t believe in anything. Would that be better?
Yes, there are hypocrits in this world, but they aren’t reserved for the ones believing in God. If anything, our social system today, supports that belief by the division of church and state.

I understand how one can be a bit cynical about “if they really believed what they say, than why don’t they act like it!” I truly understand. Ask yourself that same question about immaterial things. How often to think about the laws of gravity each day, being grateful that they continue to work while you go about your daily routine. How often does anyone think about all the little things going on in this world that we can’t see, yet believe in. Yet that doesn’t mean you don’t believe in it.

When one is truly seeking to know what is true, especially about the existence of a God, then the answer will be found, but too often the one seeking only wants to “prove” that there is no God, which cannot be done.

When I had that cynical view, I meditated on what Jesus Christ said
“Thou hypocrite, cast out first the beam in thy own eye, and then shalt thou see to cast out the mote out of thy brother’s eye.” MT 7:5

One needs to be honest enough to act according what one knows is true and not what or how others are practicing what they believe in and to seek in with a pure heart for what one doesn’t know. Accepting sometimes that our mind too small to know some things.

 

[warpspeedpetey]

Food for thought I figured I would post for discussion. ​

I needed reinforcements. “Look,” I said, “four billion people believe in some sort of God and free will. They can’t all be wrong.”

“Very few people believe in God,” he replied.

I didn’t see how he could deny the obvious. “Of course they do. Billions of people believe in God.”

The old man leaned toward me, resting a blanketed elbow on the arm of his rocker. “Four billion people say they believe in God, but few genuinely believe. If people believed in God, they would live every minute of their lives in support of that belief. Rich people would give their wealth to the needy. Everyone would be frantic to determine which religion was the true one. No one could be comfortable in the thought that they might have picked the wrong religion and blundered into eternal damnation, or bad reincarnation, or some other unthinkable consequence. People would dedicate their lives to converting others to their religions. “A belief in God would demand one hundred percent obsessive devotion, influencing every waking moment of this brief life on earth. But your four billion so-called believers do not live their lives in that fashion, except for a few. The majority believe in the usefulness of their beliefs—an earthly and practical utility—but they do not believe in the underlying reality.”

I couldn’t believe what I was hearing. “If you asked them, they’d say they believe.”

“They say that they believe because pretending to believe is necessary to get the benefits of religion. They tell other people that they believe and they do believer-like things, like praying and reading holy books. But they don’t do the things that a true believer would do, the things a true believer would have to do. If you believe a truck is coming toward you, you will jump out of the way. That is belief in the reality of the truck. If you tell people you fear the truck but do nothing to get out of the way, that is not belief in the truck. Likewise, it is not belief to say God exists and then continue sinning and hoarding your wealth while innocent people die of starvation. When belief does not control your most important decisions, it is not belief in the underlying reality, it is belief in the usefulness of believing.”

“Are you saying God doesn’t exist?” I asked, trying to get to the point.

“I’m saying that people claim to believe in God, but most don’t literally believe. They only act as though they believe because there are earthly benefits in doing so. They create a delusion for themselves because it makes them happy.”

too true.

real belief requires acting on it, at all costs, something i am embarrassed to admit that i lose sight of from time to time.

it reminds me of when i hear atheists say something about religion stemming from a fear of death. its almost as if they dont realize that the path is very narrow, and most believers are destined to that seperation from G-d, called hell. how is that comforting?