Reading spells doom?

[Niji]

I was searching around for what others do when they have a crisis in faith and have a tough time believing in god and i came across this:

"If you wish to keep your faith - STOP READING. And do not seek answers to philosophical material. This path leads to enlightenment and spells doom for your increasingly syncretic theism."

Is that true? I mean I search for the truth everyday and I find good things that make me more believing and bad things that make me question my perspective on the whole concept of god.
So should I really stop this search for understanding and just be content with the knowledge of the bible alone? or should I take a gamble and learn about all the possible theories and beliefs and risk my faith in hopes that ill become enlightened to the truth?

-Niji

 

[tonyrey]

I was searching around for what others do when they have a crisis in faith and have a tough time believing in god and i came across this:

"If you wish to keep your faith - STOP READING. And do not seek answers to philosophical material. This path leads to enlightenment and spells doom for your increasingly syncretic theism."

Is that true? I mean I search for the truth everyday and I find good things that make me more believing and bad things that make me question my perspective on the whole concept of god.
So should I really stop this search for understanding and just be content with the knowledge of the bible alone? or should I take a gamble and learn about all the possible theories and beliefs and risk my faith in hopes that ill become enlightened to the truth?

-Niji

It makes sense not to read “***philosophical material” ***if you have no background in the subject - unless it is by a Christian expert who will spare you from being thrown it at the deep end!

“This path leads to enlightenment and spells doom for your increasingly syncretic theism.”

This was obviously written by an atheist or an anti-philosophical person…

 

[kaid100]

It was written by an atheist who was edging into sarcasm. (I googled the sentence and found it here) I wouldn’t get too upset about it, it was written by someone who was trying to mock. I’m an atheist, but I don’t think mockery is the way to hold dialogue with theists.

 

[tonyrey]

It was written by an atheist who was edging into sarcasm. (I googled the sentence and found it here) I wouldn’t get too upset about it, it was written by someone who was trying to mock. I’m an atheist, but I don’t think mockery is the way to hold dialogue with theists.

All credit to you on both counts! Thanks for confirming my suspicion.

 

[St_Francis]

I was searching around for what others do when they have a crisis in faith and have a tough time believing in god and i came across this:

"If you wish to keep your faith - STOP READING. And do not seek answers to philosophical material. This path leads to enlightenment and spells doom for your increasingly syncretic theism."

Is that true? I mean I search for the truth everyday and I find good things that make me more believing and bad things that make me question my perspective on the whole concept of god.
So should I really stop this search for understanding and just be content with the knowledge of the bible alone? or should I take a gamble and learn about all the possible theories and beliefs and risk my faith in hopes that ill become enlightened to the truth?

-Niji

You have the Truth Christ taught, but you are not strong in the truth. If yoi go around reading everything, you will end up with your mknd in a muddle and not know anything at all. Like a person who is somewhat unhealthy and decides to eat all sorts of strange things withoit regard to whether they are strong enough to eat it or whether it is poison.

The number one thing to do is to get closer to God in prayer. Really dedicate yourself to that.

WRT reading, the ideal would be for you to go to a good and holy Catholic and ask for guidance in your reading, but those people can be hard to find.

What you should do is to read the writings of the saints and other great Catholic works, but read them very slowly and thoughtfully, along with reading Sacred Scripture. It used to be that only the strongest And most educated Catholics read books of the sort you seem to be reading, because those books are so dangerous to a person’s Faith. It seems that this has happened to you.

A little bit of good reading and a lot of prayer, like the Rosary.

 

[hazcompat]

Be not afraid. You have been sealed with the Holy Spirit. Jesus is before you always. Read the parable of the sower and the seeds. Consider that in ones own life the situations and circumstances happen to us all.

1 Peter: 8 Keep sober and alert, because your enemy the devil is on the prowl like a roaring lion, looking for someone to devour.

9 Stand up to him, strong in faith and in the knowledge that it is the same kind of suffering that the community of your brothers throughout the world is undergoing.

10 You will have to suffer only for a little while: the God of all grace who called you to eternal glory in Christ will restore you, he will confirm, strengthen and support you.

peace

 

[valentino]

I was searching around for what others do when they have a crisis in faith and have a tough time believing in god and i came across this:

"If you wish to keep your faith - STOP READING. And do not seek answers to philosophical material. This path leads to enlightenment and spells doom for your increasingly syncretic theism."

Is that true? I mean I search for the truth everyday and I find good things that make me more believing and bad things that make me question my perspective on the whole concept of god.
So should I really stop this search for understanding and just be content with the knowledge of the bible alone? or should I take a gamble and learn about all the possible theories and beliefs and risk my faith in hopes that ill become enlightened to the truth?
It leads to enlightment.Isn’t that what everybody seeks?That’s not true that is will spell doom for your faith in God.One shouldn’t be restricted from hearing false information about God.If you didn’t hear false information how would on know how to address the questions when they are posed to him from people in real life?It doesl’t make sense that once you have to true answer on a subject just go hide yourself somewhere and stop listening to everything else.

-Niji

 

[Joel_PF]

I was searching around for what others do when they have a crisis in faith and have a tough time believing in god and i came across this:

"If you wish to keep your faith - STOP READING. And do not seek answers to philosophical material. This path leads to enlightenment and spells doom for your increasingly syncretic theism."

Is that true?

Of course not! Our Faith must be always growing in knowledge and understanding, and therefore also in strength. Most people lose their faith, I suspect, because they don’t read and think enough. So while their mind is growing on many areas, spiritually they are still at their First Communion classes, and find no way to conciliate that with mature critical thought.

So, by all means, read, think, study; it will be good for your Faith. That said, be sure to select well what you read and when. If you, for instance, only read works by famous atheists, odds are that something in them will eventually convince you. Why not also pick up good books by Christian philosophers?

A healthy intellectual life for a Christian will be more concerned with learning more about their faith (reading, from good authors, maybe even from saints such as the Doctors of the Church - there are 33 of them; why not picking something from one of them?) than what the enemies of Faith have to say about her. But of course, it is also good to read rational attacks on the Faith and then use that as a reason to think and learn more.