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Jump4Joy
Guest
Why do people blame the parents, bad homilies, poor experience for excuses why someone fails to humbly believe in God?
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Mtatum1958
Guest
No answer for the second two. If you are brought up with parents that do not believe in God, well that’s the extent of what you know.
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TheLittleLady
Guest
Belief is an act of will. We choose what we believe.
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DeniseNY
Guest
I don’t know. I think in general people like to blame others rather than look at their own shortcomings or failures (in this case, lack of faith). But there’s no simple answer. Perhaps some are negatively influenced by the factors you mentioned, and their response is to abandon their faith. Whatever the case may be, we should keep them in our prayers.
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OsculeturMeOsculo
Guest
Maybe a lack of prayer or knowledge?
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Dan_Defender
Guest
The atheists I know don’t blame anybody. They are just content with what this world has to offer and feel they have no need for spirituality. It is sad.
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KevinK
Guest
Wrong. Your beliefs are not subject to your will. You can’t will yourself to believe something where the evidence doesn’t convince you. You cannot will yourself to believe something is attractive that you instinctively find unattractive. You cannot will yourself in a different God than the one you worship.
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TheLittleLady
Guest
Faith is a gift from God. We must choose to believe, choose to open our arms to that gift.
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wkj_123
Guest
You absolutely can not choose what you believe. The sun does not revolve around the Earth. Before humans figured this out the visual evidence pointed to the sun revolving around the Earth so most believed that. We then got proof the Earth actually revolves around the sun. Can you choose to believe the opposite? No you can pretend you do but you can’t actually make yourself believe something that you don’t believe.
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TheLittleLady
Guest
I can introduce you to people who do sincerely and completely agree that:
The earth is flat
or
9/11 was an “inside job”
or
Jesus and Satan are brothers and when you die you get to become a God
or
WWII Holocaust never happened
or
The moon landing was faked
People choose what they will believe in. You have chosen your set of life beliefs. I have chosen mine.
The earth is flat
or
9/11 was an “inside job”
or
Jesus and Satan are brothers and when you die you get to become a God
or
WWII Holocaust never happened
or
The moon landing was faked
People choose what they will believe in. You have chosen your set of life beliefs. I have chosen mine.
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wkj_123
Guest
No your not understanding me. There probably are people who believe those things. To them the evidence points to it so they believe it. They can’t choose to believe the opposite of the evidence. When yourind interprets evidence and believes something you can’t just switch to some other belief. It doesn’t work. You can’t believe in Islam because you don’t. Islam has warnings about unbelief the same way Christianity does yet you don’t believe Muhammad? Why not just choose to believe in Islam right now?
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TheLittleLady
Guest
Have you never changed your mind? Have you ever believed one thing, then, stopped believing it to believe something else?
The human mind is not as rigid as you seem to declare it to be.
I once believed very deeply in a certain political ideology. I was an active member of that party, I served in county positions of leadership, and I still have many friends in that party. A few years ago, I choose to believe in a different ideology. I resigned from my positions and now work advance a completely different party.
People can and do change beliefs every day.
Also, the term “believe in” is nuanced. Of course I “believe in” Islam. I have Islamic family members, friends, I can drive you to a Mosque and you can volunteer at their food pantry. I believe Muhammad was a person who lived and walked and ate and breathed and then died and that he was judged by God. So, yes, I believe in Islam.
I do not believe Islam holds the entire truth of Salvation. I choose to believe that the pillar and foundation of truth is the Catholic Church (made that decision 20+ years ago, before that I believed something else).
The human mind is not as rigid as you seem to declare it to be.
I once believed very deeply in a certain political ideology. I was an active member of that party, I served in county positions of leadership, and I still have many friends in that party. A few years ago, I choose to believe in a different ideology. I resigned from my positions and now work advance a completely different party.
People can and do change beliefs every day.
Also, the term “believe in” is nuanced. Of course I “believe in” Islam. I have Islamic family members, friends, I can drive you to a Mosque and you can volunteer at their food pantry. I believe Muhammad was a person who lived and walked and ate and breathed and then died and that he was judged by God. So, yes, I believe in Islam.
I do not believe Islam holds the entire truth of Salvation. I choose to believe that the pillar and foundation of truth is the Catholic Church (made that decision 20+ years ago, before that I believed something else).
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ProdglArchitect
Guest
Because the public presentation of Mohammad does not correspond to the historical reality of the man. Also, because Mohammad taught things that directly contradict Christianity, and I find the evidence for Christianity to be far more convincing than the “evidence” for Islam.
As TheLittleLady said, beliefs can change, they are not rigid constructs locked into the human mind by an external force.
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goout
Guest
I think it’s fairly obvious that Christian fundamentalism is the chief engine of atheism.
I say that because atheist objections are almost purely objections to fundamentalist Christianity, not the authentic thing. At least among the militant atheists. Indifferent atheists not so much.
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goout
Guest
Faith involves a response to God’s grace. It requires free will.
A person is free to believe in anything.
Still, there is objective truth, and our freedom to choose does not make the object of our belief objectively true. If like you say we believe the earth is flat, we are free to choose that belief, but it doesn’t make it so, and we could say our freedom is poorly exercised. And a false belief, even though freely chosen, detracts from freedom, because we have chosen a falsehood.
Falsehood doesn’t contribute to freedom. (this is why young earther/anti science types need to be shouted down. They are taking license with their free will to promote ignorance. )
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DeepDeepTrouble3
Guest
Sometimes it’s others fault, sometimes it’s their fault.
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JimR-OCDS
Guest
Faith is a gift from God. It is the revelation of Himself, however that may happen.
Belief is a choice we make based on reasoning we’ve evaluated and have accepted.
Jim
Belief is a choice we make based on reasoning we’ve evaluated and have accepted.
Jim
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Bradskii
Guest
Ironic that you should point that out…Jump4Joy:
I think it’s fairly obvious that Christian fundamentalism is the chief engine of atheism.
I say that because atheist objections are almost purely objections to fundamentalist Christianity, not the authentic thing. At least among the militant atheists. Indifferent atheists not so much.
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goout
Guest
Demonstrate the irony, don’t just assert it.goout:
Ironic that you should point that out…Jump4Joy:
I think it’s fairly obvious that Christian fundamentalism is the chief engine of atheism.
I say that because atheist objections are almost purely objections to fundamentalist Christianity, not the authentic thing. At least among the militant atheists. Indifferent atheists not so much.
Humor us please.
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Bradskii
Guest
Post in haste, repent at leisure.
My apologies. It was unwarrented.
My apologies. It was unwarrented.
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