Is Faith a form of Delusion?

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ShameonMe

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Hello

I’m making my way back to faith after dwelling in Atheism for a while.

I’m a Psychology major and sometimes I feel like faith is nothing more than what has been contemptuously described as “wishful thinking” and “delusional thinking”

I’m curious if there are any other Psych’s here that have more insight into this than I do.
 
ShameonMe said:
Hello

I’m making my way back to faith after dwelling in Atheism for a while.

I’m a Psychology major and sometimes I feel like faith is nothing more than what has been contemptuously described as “wishful thinking” and “delusional thinking”

I’m curious if there are any other Psych’s here that have more insight into this than I do.
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I’ll keep you in my prayers as you make your journey Home!

These Should help: reasonablefaith.org/is-god-imaginary
catholic.com/quickquestions/religion-is-irrational-right

If you have anymore questions visit these:
reasonablefaith.org/question-answer/P100
catholic.com/

God Bless you!👍
 
Brother or sister,

Hebrews 11:1

“Now faith is the assurance of things hoped for, the conviction of things not seen.”

Faith is neccessary to enter into the mysteries of our eternal God. Along with faith, we must have hope and love. We must have a genuine faith which is compelled by love and devotion. This is because we are convicted by the Spirit that we are created by a God whom we fall infinitely short of. So we have hope that He has made provisions for our inheritance of everlasting life. This is an understanding higher than logic and reason, though not to reject reason and logic. Reason and logic must be guided in areas of the Spiritual realm.

We believe to see, not see to believe. Blessed are those who do not see and yet believe.

Im far from a psycologist, but near to the faithfull.
God bless your ministry to the sick
Michael
 
ShameonMe said:
Hello

I’m making my way back to faith after dwelling in Atheism for a while.

I’m a Psychology major and sometimes I feel like faith is nothing more than what has been contemptuously described as “wishful thinking” and “delusional thinking”

I’m curious if there are any other Psych’s here that have more insight into this than I do.
Click to expand...
Faith in general, that is, faith in anything, IS delusional if not at least partially based on reason.

That is one the reasons why we Catholics say that we have the fullness of truth in our faith, because every single one of our beliefs can be traced back to something by which we can conclude, by reason, that our faith is true.

For example, murder. Most people know murder is wrong by the natural law, because it is built into our human mindset that certain things are good, and other things bad. The Church teaches that murder is a mortal sin. Thus, it is faith based on reason to agree with the Church on this matter.

This can be done with any Church teaching. Most are not as obvious as that pertaining to murder, but doctrines which are not mysteries can be traced to reason, and doctrines that are mysteries, though we cannot know them or believe them without faith, we CAN trust the Church, through our reasoning in history and scripture, that the Church teaches the truth.

Thus, if you or anyone else is open to the Church’s teaching, and you open your mind to things that previously you may have believed to be fantastical or ludicrous, you may, with time, come to see the truth in them.

I wish you the best in your journey and hope with all my heart that you will be led to the height of truth.

God Bless. 🙂
 
Hi, I studied philosophy and for a range of reasons I lost faith. For years I refused to be seduced by wishful thinking. I used simply to say things like, “Power of goodness and love, if You exist, ‘find’ yourself to me. I can’t find You”. But I used to think also that if God didn’t exist, then God could never answer me anyway."

God bless you on your journey. My return to faith one day was sudden and unexpected. The same day I called the nearest parish and went to Confession. I sometimes still have times of struggle with faith, but God did give me an event that I’ve never been able to discredit even in the worst of times.

How God will deal with your appeal for faith only God knows.
May God protect and lead you.
 
People have already posted some wonderful things here but as someone who studies a lot of psychology I will try to give my insights.

First a majority of founders in the various fields of psychology were not strong believers in God or many times not believers period. This can be seen as you read the material and it will often try to rationalize away God and spirituality. What you are seeing is the psychologist’s attempts to makes sense of their life without God through their profession. The unfortunate thing is how harmful this can be to eager open-minded students who are trusting their elders to convey truth to them. This has been happening to faith since the dawn of Psychology and it can be very toxic to the mind if one is not carful. Here is an excellent example of what can occur when psychology is used carelessly.

ewtn.com/library/PRIESTS/COULSON.TXT

The purpose of psychology is to help someone realize what problems they are facing/hiding, not act as a substitute for God.

Faith is very real and I have met many people who have had everything from healing experiences to experiences of God. There are false phenomena as well unfortunately, however these do not overshadow what beauty faith has to give.

In this sense I feel I would be unable to adequately explain the significance and beauty that faith offers me in life. I was once an atheist as well, however my discovery of the realities of faith has ranged from actual possessions to miraculous healings. There comes a point that no amount of skeptical thinking can withstand the objective realities of what I have witnessed.

There is a quote from a Biology Professor I met the other day. “We have no test to prove or disprove the existence of God.” It is unscientific to start with an assumption that God does not exist and treat it as a fact to spread to others. The proof of God’s existence can be found in those who truly act as his ambassadors (True Christians).

God Bless:tiphat:
 
You have been exposed - perhaps over exposed - to reason, but reason without faith leads to a diminution of the value of individual human life. Faith in turn must be reasonable, else we arrive at any number of disastrous cultic beliefs and behaviors. One man who I think best synthesizes faith and reason is Dr. Peter Kreeft. Peruse his web site and read a book or two. Perhaps the Handbook of Christian Apologetics. In addition to being faith-filled, I think you will also find his assertions to be well reasoned.
 
Good resources so far. Wanted to also share this proof from Bl. John Henry Newman. I think this sentiment reflects a lot of my own journey and I think the evidence beckons belief.For directly you have a conviction that you ought to believe, reason has done its part, and what is wanted for faith is, not proof, but will. (Bl. John Henry Newman)
 
ShameonMe said:
Hello

I’m making my way back to faith after dwelling in Atheism for a while.

I’m a Psychology major and sometimes I feel like faith is nothing more than what has been contemptuously described as “wishful thinking” and “delusional thinking”

I’m curious if there are any other Psych’s here that have more insight into this than I do.
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Well, when establishing whether one thing is the same as another thing, this is a semantic topic, falling under the philosophy of psychology. Therefore, the first step is to define our terms.
  1. Delusion.
In psychology, I believe that a good, working definition of “delusion” is “a firm, fixed, false belief, which is not open to reason or evidence.”
  1. Faith.
There are, as I see it, three overarching definitions for “faith.”

A. Willingness to believe something.
B. Actual belief/trust in something/someone.
C. Loyalty. (Keep faith with someone.)

Now, willingness to belief something is not necessarily delusional, because often, we’re willing to believe something that is true, and/or based on good reasons and evidence.

Actual belief is not necessarily delusional for the same reason.

Loyalty is an decision made by the will, and so -cannot- be a delusion.

Nevertheless, in order to hold to a delusion, one must have strong faith in the delusion.

Conclusion: Faith is not, by its nature, a delusion. However, all delusions (and indeed, all natural knowledge) require it on some level.
 
ShameonMe said:
Hello

I’m making my way back to faith after dwelling in Atheism for a while.

I’m a Psychology major and sometimes I feel like faith is nothing more than what has been contemptuously described as “wishful thinking” and “delusional thinking”

I’m curious if there are any other Psych’s here that have more insight into this than I do.
Click to expand...
Faith would be delusional if there were no God behind it! And it still can be for some. But it so happens that God exists and desires to prove Himself to any of us who’ll exercise even the tiniest bit of the gift of faith He gives us, who responds to the possibility-to the not unlikely hope-that love and goodness reside at a foundational level in this universe.
 
fhansen said:
Faith would be delusional if there were no God behind it! And it still can be for some. But it so happens that God exists and desires to prove Himself to any of us who’ll exercise even the tiniest bit of the gift of faith He gives us, who responds to the possibility-to the not unlikely hope-that love and goodness reside at a foundational level in this universe.
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Well, no. Even then, it might not be delusional, because a delusion is a form of mental illness which is not open to reason or evidence. Now, if God didn’t exist, then believers might be -wrong,- through no fault of their own, without being -deluded.-
 
mytruepower2 said:
Well, no. Even then, it might not be delusional, because a delusion is a form of mental illness which is not open to reason or evidence. Now, if God didn’t exist, then believers might be -wrong,- through no fault of their own, without being -deluded.-
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Yes-I see the point. Even if there were no God, there’s sufficient evidence for His existence for that to be a reasonable belief.
 
ShameonMe said:
Hello

I’m making my way back to faith after dwelling in Atheism for a while.

I’m a Psychology major and sometimes I feel like faith is nothing more than what has been contemptuously described as “wishful thinking” and “delusional thinking”

I’m curious if there are any other Psych’s here that have more insight into this than I do.
Click to expand...
DSM IV definition of Delusion: A false belief based on incorrect inference about external reality that is firmly sustained despite what almost everyone else believes and despite what constitutes incontrovertible and obvious proof or evidence to the contrary. The belief is not one ordinarily accepted by other members of the person’s culture or subculture (e.g., it is not an article of religious faith). When a false belief involves a value judgment, it is regarded as a delusion only when the judgment is so extreme as to defy credibility.
DSM V: Delusions are fixed beliefs that are not amenable to change in light of conflicting evidence. Their content may include a variety of themes (e.g. persecutory, referential, somatic, religious, grandiose). Delusions are deemed bizarre if they are clearly implausible and not understandable to same-culture peers and do not derive from ordinary life experiences. The distinction between a delusion and a strongly held idea is sometimes difficult to make and depends in part on the degree of conviction with which the belief is held despite clear or reasonable contradictory evidence regarding its veracity.

A couple of important points about delusions:
  • A delusion is a symptom of a mental disorder.
  • A delusion can be true.
The Catholic Church from all that I have read and encountered provides the most rational understanding and approach to the divine.

As to wishful thinking: I am sure an issue that many people have against the church is its teaching concerning chastity; the wish here would be that the church is wrong.

That meaning, love and beauty are at the core of existence and that they reflect the nature of our Creator, you may see as Faith, but like my pain, this clearest undeniable reality for me can only be something that you can imagine and may or may not understand at some point.
 
ShameonMe said:
Hello

I’m making my way back to faith after dwelling in Atheism for a while.

I’m a Psychology major and sometimes I feel like faith is nothing more than what has been contemptuously described as “wishful thinking” and “delusional thinking”

I’m curious if there are any other Psych’s here that have more insight into this than I do.
Click to expand...
Even if it was a ‘delusion’, what would it matter? It is equally possible that it is a delusion to say God doesn’t exist.

If there is no God, we may as well believe anything as nothing. What difference could it make if we were deluded or sane, happy or sad, good or bad? In the absence of God, nothing matters, since all is simply atoms whirling about in space.

So, it seems as if the psycholgists preference for being ‘non-delusional’ (or the preference for anything), is itself a delusion.

On the other hand, if God exists, it isn’t a delusion.
 
Quote " Is faith a form of delusion?" Faith is delusional if it is belief in unreality.Faith is true if is belief in and confirmed by reality. St. Paul Rom.l:20 states that Gods’ existence can be proven through His creation. There are at least five metaphysical arguments to prove the existence of God. Motion, order, necessity, grades of beings and origin.

In spite of reasonable evidence it will not be sufficient to acquire Christian Faith. Reason will take you to the door, but grace will cause you to pass over the threshold ( a movement of will) It is by grace and not by reason through the merits of Jesus Christ that we are redeemed. Jesus alone is the Gate to the Father and Heaven.

Pride was and is the downfall of man. Grace is given to the humble, God resists the proud. Jesus Christ is God-man. He humbled himself to man, beat Satan, and won for us salvation.
Now we must do the same to Him, it is right and just.👍
 
ynotzap said:
Quote " Is faith a form of delusion?" Faith is delusional if it is belief in unreality.Faith is true if is belief in and confirmed by reality. St. Paul Rom.l:20 states that Gods’ existence can be proven through His creation. There are at least five metaphysical arguments to prove the existence of God. Motion, order, necessity, grades of beings and origin.

In spite of reasonable evidence it will not be sufficient to acquire Christian Faith. Reason will take you to the door, but grace will cause you to pass over the threshold ( a movement of will) It is by grace and not by reason through the merits of Jesus Christ that we are redeemed. Jesus alone is the Gate to the Father and Heaven.

Pride was and is the downfall of man. Grace is given to the humble, God resists the proud. Jesus Christ is God-man. He humbled himself to man, beat Satan, and won for us salvation.
Now we must do the same to Him, it is right and just.👍
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Great as historic evidence is about Jesus’ existence , it is also surpassed by the mighty resurrection power in the lives of every true believer A.Leander. No delusion
 
fhansen said:
Yes-I see the point. Even if there were no God, there’s sufficient evidence for His existence for that to be a reasonable belief.
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I wholeheartedly agree. Phlogiston (in the domain of science) has been proven wrong, and yet, it wasn’t an unreasonable theory at all.
 
HardRockGTR said:
I wholeheartedly agree. Phlogiston (in the domain of science) has been proven wrong, and yet, it wasn’t an unreasonable theory at all.
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That is the nature of science and other systems of thought that deal with things that can be proven: construct facts and rearrange them in the way they most make sense. Ever shifting, there is always something new, never quite the truth.
 
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