I feel lost: faith without a religion

[Abira]

I wonder if there are there Jewish temples in her area?

I have thought about this for a number of years.

I have never travelled, or approached one because I do not know how much ‘shape’, or support Judaism could give my faith as a gentile when there are many things not accessible, or meant for me. For me I miss those rituals and traditions in your day, week and year, that focus you and make you reflect on your faith, community, self and God. Without those my faith has lost its supporting structure.

I have definitely thought about this, though. Just to be in a place with others, for the same purpose, having the similar beliefs. I miss that.

I hope that post made sense! It’s a difficult thing to find the right words for.

 

[Abu]

Abira #1
I cannot and will not ever reject my faith in the Lord.
Essentially I am a Christian that has lost faith in Christ. I have an innate belief in God and try to live a good life. I follow the Noahide laws, but am lost without a framework for my faith to focus my thoughts.

The problem starts with the confusion that “faith in the Lord” is contrary to “faith in Christ”.

Who else, except the Christ, claimed to be God and proved it?
The reality is that:
Fact 1: There was a man called Jesus.
Fact 2: He claimed to be a messenger sent from God.
Fact 3: He did enough to prove that He was such a messenger.
Fact 4: Crowds followed Jesus and He had an inner circle to whom he spoke much more.
Fact 5: He commissioned His followers to continue His teaching and founded His Church.
Fact 6: Jesus affirmed that God would protect that teaching.

Obviously, the Resurrection of Jesus is the key, as the existence and faith of the Catholic communities is not self-explanatory, but dependent on the fact of the spectacular historical Jesus and the fact of His Resurrection.

The reality that Jesus is God and founded His Catholic Church upon St Peter and the Apostles is shown by the facts of the miracle of the Sun at Fatima, the medically attested miracles that take place at Lourdes, and the Eucharistic miracles, for instance.

 

[Faith1960]

I have thought about this for a number of years.

I have never travelled, or approached one because I do not know how much ‘shape’, or support Judaism could give my faith as a gentile when there are many things not accessible, or meant for me. For me I miss those rituals and traditions in your day, week and year, that focus you and make you reflect on your faith, community, self and God. Without those my faith has lost its supporting structure.

I have definitely thought about this, though. Just to be in a place with others, for the same purpose, having the similar beliefs. I miss that.

I hope that post made sense! It’s a difficult thing to find the right words for.

You made perfect sense.

 

[Frankenfurter]

I was raised Anglican - bible based. I have struggled to see biblical basis for the trinity (I have read hundreds of posts on this forum on this topic!) and actually see discrepancies, in that I do not believe Jesus biblically fulfilled the prophesies of the messiah…again that’s a whole other topic. But in a nutshell, I feel that the bible lead my faith here.

Those are intellectual notions and not a requirement of the faith. There have been plenty of Christians who never learned to read. There have been plenty of Christians who never cared to examine if Jesus fulfilled all prophesies.

I’m sure that at the time of Christ there were plenty of Jews who were concerned with if Jesus fulfilled all of the requirements of the Mesiah. But why does that matter now to you? It’s just an interpretation and you will never get around that. We still have his miracles, and rising from the dead and the faith of those who knew him directly. I note that the apostles were NOT concerned with if he met this or that prophecy. The KNEW who he was, and you have to factor that in.

I have known plenty of folks who were bible-based and who lost their faith. But what they lost was their faith in the bible-based approach. For some, that takes everything away, because of the need for a bible-based way of thinking. But others have realized that the bible is just a record of some of what the people did and thought but is NOT a comprehensive technical historical document and when analyzed that way leads one into error.

 

[Abira]

Those are intellectual notions and not a requirement of the faith. There have been plenty of Christians who never learned to read. There have been plenty of Christians who never cared to examine if Jesus fulfilled all prophesies.

I’m sure that at the time of Christ there were plenty of Jews who were concerned with if Jesus fulfilled all of the requirements of the Mesiah. But why does that matter now to you? It’s just an interpretation and you will never get around that. We still have his miracles, and rising from the dead and the faith of those who knew him directly. I note that the apostles were NOT concerned with if he met this or that prophecy. The KNEW who he was, and you have to factor that in.

I have known plenty of folks who were bible-based and who lost their faith. But what they lost was their faith in the bible-based approach. For some, that takes everything away, because of the need for a bible-based way of thinking. But others have realized that the bible is just a record of some of what the people did and thought but is NOT a comprehensive technical historical document and when analyzed that way leads one into error.

I’ll reflect on that Frankenfurter.

It’s interesting that you observe a bible based faith can sometimes be problematic. I’d agree with that, without context and understanding of the language, any reading of the bible is meaningless.

But it is still my first port of call. For me the question of whether Jesus was the messiah is not just intellectual, it is the basis of Christian faith.

I’ve found everyone’s thoughts on this really useful, I need to do a lot more thinking and reading I guess.

 

[peter26]

For me I miss those rituals and traditions in your day, week and year, that focus you and make you reflect on your faith, community, self and God. Without those my faith has lost its supporting structure.

It does occur to me that if you miss the rituals of the Christian faith, you can always go to church even if you are not sure about everything. You can just go to services, maybe go to a Bible study group and just learn. Being in the building doesn’t equate to accepting anything. Just sit at the back and listen.

 

[CRATUS]

Hi Everyone,

I last posted here in November, 2009 after being very active for years. I hadn’t realised why I had left until I looked at my last posts. I found this forum invaluable whilst I was here.

I do not know what brought me here again. I maybe hoped to connect with others who may have similar experiences.

Firstly, I have lost my faith in both the trinity and Jesus as the messiah. I guess it does not matter what issues separated me from the church, only that I do not feel able to take part in Christian services.

Secondly, this has been going on around five years. I wake up every day feeling the need to pray, but I have nothing to say, and know no way to connect. I had previously prayed the rosary because at least I could speak and feel some connection.

Thirdly, I have found having a faith without religion incredibly difficult, but I cannot and will not ever reject my faith in the Lord. Without ritual and tradition, you have nowhere to ‘hang’ your faith, it has no shape, and simply collapses. I have no way of bringing my faith into my life and it is an empty space that I feel daily.

Essentially I am a Christian that has lost faith in Christ. I have an innate belief in God and try to live a good life. I follow the Noahide laws, but am lost without a framework for my faith to focus my thoughts.

I do not know why I came back tonight, but I would be very grateful if anyone here has been in a similar situation, or can empathise, if they could offer some guidance or thoughts on this.

Thank you to anyone who finished reading this! A lot has changed in my life since 2009!

I do not know what to tell you. Maybe you are making a step in the right direction. Perhaps try praying in a short duration. I write my prayers. Write them if you can. Maybe a retreat will wake you up