Why are WE here?

[tqualey]

Hi, Lui,

Yes, I think you have described agnosticism.

By the way, here is a link that may help with that: aquinasonline.com/Topics/5ways.html Let me know what you think of it.

God bless

I have never said that I am an atheist. I have said in various posts that I just don’t know what the truth is. I don’t know if Hindus, Buddhists, Jews, Muslims, Christians, atheism or any other belief system are right or wrong. Each belief system not only believes its right but also claims to have the proof and the followers of each system claim to know their belief is the truth. There is a reason why billions believe in Islam, Hinduism, Buddhism etc.
I only mentioned that I WAS an atheist most of my life but even that isn’t the exact truth. I just never thought if any specific religion or belief system is true so I never specifically rejected any religion. I just never spent my time thinking about any religions. I was raised without religion so basically my position was like your position towards the religion of the Incas. You probably never waste a thought about what religion they might have had and therefore do not specifically reject them.

In other words, before I never even thought about religions. When I finally did I tried to be Catholic(I was baptized as a Catholic). After a while I realized I can’t force myself to believe. Now my position is I just don’t know if any religion is right or not which is probably considered as agnostic if you want to label it.

 

[BrunoMaria]

**Lu’s post is very typical for many. Basically I keep hearing these things all the time:

• I just don’t know what the truth is.**

That’s what Pilate asked Jesus in Joh 18.38
Jesus though did not answer again, for He had said to Pilate before:
For this I have come into the world, to bear witness to the truth. Every one who is of the truth hears My voice.

So, it’s indeed very simple what’s the truth!

• I don’t know if Hindus, Buddhists, Jews, Muslims, Christians, atheism or any other belief system are right or wrong. Each belief system not only believes its right but also claims to have the proof and the followers of each system claim to know their belief is the truth. There is a reason why billions believe in Islam, Hinduism, Buddhism etc.

Of course so. Every child has his reason, why he does silly things. Even any animal has it’s reason, why it walks into this, and not the other direction. Every apprentice has his reason, why he took this and not the other occupation.
But whilst all this is done right, Religion is a very much different thing, for our of divine reason given to us, we all know, that there is but one truth as there is but one God. Very few stubborn deny any God and life like an animal or plant.

Now, it takes in fact God’s grace to be allowed to belief. A certain kind of “worthiness” to be given belief. God - the one and only God who created all there is, does never push anyone to believe in Him. It’s everybody’s own choice, as it is everybody’s very individual eternal life. Disbelievers ought to stop and think twice, why Christians take the trouble to tell them, instead of simply talk love and peace and harmony in small-talk. Here we got the difference of emptiness and fulfillment in life.
Christian love though, moves them to take others with them to Jesus Christ, as no-one will get to the Father but through Jesus - John 14,6. But as Jesus added in John 6,65: No one can come to Me unless it is granted him by the Father.
So; it’s not just a casual choice to decide for Christianity and belief. It’s a struggle and it takes God’s allowance to get the present of belief!

• I realized I can’t force myself to believe.

True! One never can! The reason is: One can’t force God to hand over this present of belief, without doing a thing for it.

As to the right Church founded by Jesus Himself on Peter, and the manmade split-Churches: Many Evangelicans say that the Roman Catholic may have been founded on Christ, but was corrupted by man’s teachings, even Orthodox think this.
Catholics know this of course.
But why don’t Protestants then prove this statement?! The Catholic Church with all her might clings to every single verse in the Gospel and the Church Fathers. The Protestants do not. Luther left out and denied a lot of the Gospel - such as the letters of St. James. And Henry VIII founding his own Church, even did this by murdering and adultery. And Luther misinterpreted even some of Christ’s words to his own, Luthers thinking.
Actually Protestants as Catholics do prefer to speak of things that do make us all common and that we can bring one another together. Recollection of the runaways on common roots like the dogma of St. Augustine, only can take place in the runaway’s return.
That even the Pope said and ecumenism Pope Benedict VXI made to his very top matter for the boss. But we never would skip any of Christ’s truths. Togetherness an only be in a reuniting of the split-off Churches back to the one and only Church Jesus founded.

Yours
Bruno

 

[tonyrey]

Of course we are in a much stronger position if we give* reasons***

Faith is not primarily a matter of feeling!

If I try to believe with logic, I totally reject faith.

Faith is not primarily a matter of logic!

I’m not saying Christianity is wrong but I don’t buy it. I tried but I couldn’t be convinced.

I’m not surprised!

I’m surprised that all the people on here seem to have the ability to believe without problems and never doubt.

They may give that impression but who can tell?

 

[jochoa]

I have never said that I am an atheist. I have said in various posts that I just don’t know what the truth is.

My dear friend, Lui, you have presented before you a difficult and rewarding challenge. Please consider the following:
It is one thing for me to know that I don’t know. - This declaration of circular reasoning, which although is always valid in the mind, it is incomplete: for to not know is to think.
It is another thing for me to think that I don’t know. - This declaration of truth, which although is valid, is incomplete: for thinking alone, does not recognize the body, nor will.
It is another thing for me to believe that I don’t know. - This declaration of truth is also incomplete: for believing alone, does not recognize the mind, nor will.
It is another thing for me to declare, “I have faith.” - This declaration of truth, which although is valid, is still incomplete: for only declaring faith does not make it universally applicable to all humans.
It is another thing for me to declare, “I know I have the Universal (Catholic) Faith of all Humans.” - Regarding only the concept of faith, this is the Complete Truth: for every human shares this same Faith of not knowing(thinking) with the mind, not knowing(feeling) with the body, not knowing(acting) with the will, and not knowing/(believing) with all the being working together in unity.
Therefore, the challenge becomes to declare that you have the Universal Faith that is shared among all humans.
Please know that though this will be a big challenge to declare before us, your friends, it will be greatly rewarding for you and us. For then we can start working together as a team: me learning from you, you learning from me, us learning together, in order to understand more Universal Truths of Existing.

I don’t know if Hindus, Buddhists, Jews, Muslims, Christians, atheism or any other belief system are right or wrong.

Please consider two points:

1. I greatly appreciate you sharing these in this order, for it has revealed greater methodology to a concept I am working on defining.
2. I was once in the same mindset as you. In order to accept this, I had to accept and declare: “I know I have the Universal/Catholic Faith shared by all humans.” Will you do the same?

You probably never waste a thought about what religion they might have had and therefore do not specifically reject them.

On the contrary, my friend. When recognizing that we all have the Universal Faith, it became a growing challenge to me to see how all perspectives are somewhat valid. This is where my life started to grow in perspective, understanding, in the peace of faith, and in the joy of serving an Almighty God.

In other words, before I never even thought about religions. When I finally did I tried to be Catholic(I was baptized as a Catholic). After a while I realized I can’t force myself to believe. Now my position is I just don’t know if any religion is right or not which is probably considered as agnostic if you want to label it.

Please consider a couple of points:

1. If you are trying to be of the Catholic faith, you are not knowing you are of the Catholic Faith.
2. Once upon a time, you wanted to be of the Catholic Faith. Now, knowing that you are of the Universal Faith. Will you freely choose to want to be of the Catholic Faith?

My friend, God has an amazing purpose for you. I pray that you will accept the challenge, become reunited in spirit with the team, and help us grow together sooner, than later, in the peace, happiness, energy, and wisdom of the Catholic Faith.

Thoughts?

 

[tqualey]

Hi, BrunoMaria,

I think Pilate is demonstrating a very and unfortunate human reaction - rejection of reality.

When we meet Pilate in the Gospel we find a pagan mid-level manager who has been told by upper management that he is to keep peace in the ara - because the highest management (the Emperor) has had enough trouble with Judea already. Now, we really do not know a lot about the character of Pilate until he enteracts with Christ. And we find that he is a ‘buck-passer’! He avoides and evades responsibility. I think it would be good to actually look at this part of John 18th chapter to get a measure of the man who would govern Judea for the Emperor:

28n Then they brought Jesus from Caiaphas to the praetorium. It was morning. And they themselves did not enter the praetorium, in order not to be defiled so that they could eat the Passover. 29So Pilate came out to them and said, “What charge do you bring [against] this man?” 30They answered and said to him, “If he were not a criminal, we would not have handed him over to you.” 31At this, Pilate said to them, “Take him yourselves, and judge him according to your law.” The Jews answered him, “We do not have the right to execute anyone,” 32* in order that the word of Jesus might be fulfilled that he said indicating the kind of death he would die. 33So Pilate went back into the praetorium and summoned Jesus and said to him, “Are you the King of the Jews?” 34Jesus answered, “Do you say this on your own or have others told you about me?” 35Pilate answered, “I am not a Jew, am I? Your own nation and the chief priests handed you over to me. What have you done?”p 36Jesus answered, “My kingdom does not belong to this world. If my kingdom did belong to this world, my attendants [would] be fighting to keep me from being handed over to the Jews. But as it is, my kingdom is not here. 37So Pilate said to him, “Then you are a king?” Jesus answered, “You say I am a king.* For this I was born and for this I came into the world, to testify to the truth. Everyone who belongs to the truth listens to my voice. 38Pilate said to him, “What is truth?”s

When he had said this, he again went out to the Jews and said to them, “I find no guilt in him. 39But you have a custom that I release one prisoner to you at Passover.* Do you want me to release to you the King of the Jews?” 40They cried out again, “Not this one but Barabbas!”* Now Barabbas was a revolutionary.**

Pilate does not want to be in the position he is in - and really tries to get out of it. But, he is now required to judge a Man who Pilate suspects of being innocent of the charges brought against him.

He tries to verbally slap Christ with this, “I am not a Jew, am I?” quip. Then he continues to question Christ and finally responds “What is truth?” Now, the biggest problem here is that Pilate just walks away from Christ - Pilate is not intersted in the answer to his own question.

Pilate announces his decison - but because of his basic weakness and lack of personal integrity - when the mob challenges him, Pilate crumbles. Pilate tries to negotiate using a murderous revilutinary, Barabbas - but that does not work. Pilate then tries to trade off of the skin of Christ by the near fatal torture beating - but, this does not work either. Finally, this Roman pretense for authority and human justice sells all for momentary peace and washes his hands of Christ’s blood.

I think Pilate has served as an unfortunate role model for many people for almost 2,000 years. Reality has consequences - and, like Pilate, we can try to deny reality or truth - but, it just comes back … but this time with consequences. Hell is the ultimate consequence for turning our backs on God and walking away.

My guess is that Christ knew that Pilate had never listened to Christ and what ever Pilate had heard had come through the various filters people use when talking to a politician. Christ comes out and speaks to him (this is a totaly different response than Christ demonstrated with Herod).

God bless

**Lu’s post is very typical for many. Basically I keep hearing these things all the time:

• I just don’t know what the truth is.**

That’s what Pilate asked Jesus in Joh 18.38
Jesus though did not answer again, for He had said to Pilate before:
For this I have come into the world, to bear witness to the truth. Every one who is of the truth hears My voice.

So, it’s indeed very simple what’s the truth!Yours
Bruno

 

[tqualey]

Hi, Tonyrey,

It may be that problem lies in the distinction between the words ‘difficulty’ and ‘doubt’.

I know a lot of people that have a lot of difficulties - usually beinging with words like, “How” or “Why”. For me, once you believe that God exists - and I think that proving that can be done by just looking at all of the patterns that we find in nature - including ourselves! You are in a state of wonderment - look at this creation - and, this is just the parts that we can see! We know there is more out there because we keep on finding more things that we can not explain - but, hope to do so, by finding their pattern to aid our learning. Most ancient peoples believed in gods - because they knew they were not responsible for all of this creation and they knew it just didn’t happen!

Then we have that leap of Faith - from moving from an All Mighty God that created everything out of nothing, to a Loving God Who took on flesh and suffered and died for our sins. There is nothing natural in that transition that the unaided human mind could make on its own.

The Jews that Christ spoke to had a similar problem - they could not believe that God was standing before them in human form and substance. Christ recognized their difficulty and told them: if you do not believe what I say, then believe the miracles that I have performed (the blind see, the deaf hear, the lame walk, the dead are brought back to life - and the poor have the Gospel preached to them). To this day, no one has demonstrated that He can do all of these things (there have been some who tried but all are proven frauds). In my view, I can not deny what He says since He has done all of these wonderous deeds. This does not mean that there are those who do not believe.

Quite a lot of the Jews who heard the Eucharistic Discourse (contained in John 6) thought he was making a strange metaphor - (and Protestants today say the same thing!) - and then when He corrected them and said He meant what He said - they thought He was crazy and walked out. This is the only time anyone left Christ because of a doctrine dispute: they refused to believe what Christ said. These people doubted God - they claimed with their doubt that God was lying to them… and simply refused to believe.

Difficulties can be addressed and worked out as far as we humans can take it - but, there is no working out calling God a liar.

God bless

Faith is not primarily a matter of feeling!
Faith is not primarily a matter of logic!

I’m not surprised!

They may give that impression but who can tell?

 

[warpspeedpetey]

…Each belief system not only believes its right but also claims to have the proof… Now my position is I just don’t know if any religion is right or not which is probably considered as agnostic if you want to label it.

I have not heard that any other faith has proof that it is the truth. All other faiths that I know of ask us to rely on the word of the founder or to have faith is some legend or myth.

On the other hand I take Christianity to be true because Christ fulfilled the Messianic Prophecies made over the course of millennium or more. Prophecies not made by Christians themselves, but by Jews. People who did not know each other or even live at the same times or places. They made prophecies that a man cannot choose to fulfill himself. Prophecies like the place of birth, the manner of death, lineage, etc.

Dr. Peter Stoner, a mathematician, did an analysis of just 8 of the most specific prophecies which you can find here. [sciencespeaks.dstoner.net/Christ_of_Prophecy.html](http://sciencespeaks.dstoner.net/Christ_of_Prophecy.html)

G-d left us proof that Christianity is the one true faith. The corollary of this proof, this unique feature of Christianity is that we know then that all other faiths are false. We can know the truth, there is not a rational way to deny it. Of course that doesn’t stop atheists and others from trying. I have heard a number of rejections some of them listed here.

1. I don’t believe it because I didn’t witness it

This objection tends to disappear when one points out that the atheist believes in any number of things they did not personally witness. The Civil War, the existence of the Sassinid Empire, the moon landing, etc.

1. Not all the Prophecies have been fulfilled yet.

My reply is that the mathematics don’t change just because we are still awaiting the Prophesied return of Christ.

1. The Bible or some portion of it is fraudulent.

I have repeatedly asked for proof of this contention, yet no one has ever been able to deliver any. Funny that. The Bible is not just one book, but 73 different books written over the course of centuries. Fraud would be impossible even were there a motive to do so.

The upshot being here, that if you want to believe and are looking for an intellectually satisfactory reason, then G-d has provided one. Yet an intellectual understanding is insufficient for true belief. Proof, no matter how exacting, is simply not enough. One must realize that Augustine was right, “You have made us for yourself, O Lord, and our heart is restless until it rests in you.”

We need G-d. Until we realize that most basic of truths, then the larger truths never really matter.

 

[ElizabethCorbel]

Hi everyone,

I’ve been sick and missed several days. Boy, you guys have been busy! I don’t have time right now to read it all, but it looks very interesting. I did notice one small quote that I wanted to comment on. I’m not sure who said it first, as I’m quoting a quote. But I did want to respond.

I’m surprised that all the people on here seem to have the ability to believe without problems and never doubt.

I just wanted to say that I am one of the great doubters of the world. My faith does NOT come easily. I doubt EVERYTHING! I doubt if God really exists. I doubt if I’m really a Christian. I doubt if my religious experiences are real. Etc. But Father Aidan taught me that doubt is not a sin; it’s being honest with God.

And after 57 years of living life, I’ve finally accepted the fact that mine is a questing soul. I constantly search for the truth. I constantly question my beliefs and how I live my life. This comes as a great surprise to those who know me. They always assume that because I have a deep faith, it all comes easy. But my faith is deep because my doubt is deep and I struggle very hard.

I finally CHOSE to believe because I can see the effects in my life. It was a totally selfish choice. I’m far happier as a Christian than I am as an agnostic. (That’s one of the reasons why in my darker moments I sometimes doubt if I’m a “real” Christian.) And while I’m not looking forward to death, I’m not afraid of it either. I’m curious. (I can’t help that, either; I’m a scientist at heart.) And when I die, I’ll get to find out what comes next, and if I was right.

And it’s not like my faith hasn’t cost me anything. There have been times when being a Christian has cost me money or status or social position. (So that’s why in my better moments I say I am a “real” Christian.)

And I suspect I am not the only one on this forum that has struggled with their faith. In fact, I would say almost anyone who has a deep faith has had to struggle to achieve it.

Anyone else want to step forward and admit they have doubts but choose to believe anyway? Maybe it would help our friend to see that doubt is a part of the process of belief.

 

[ElizabethCorbel]

As a P.S. to my last post, I’d like to discuss doubt from the scientist’s point of view. There wouldn’t be any science if we didn’t have doubt. The reason we have science is because someone comes along that doesn’t accept the way “everyone” believes. If s/he is trying to get a grant, s/he states what s/he thinks is different from the accepted norm, what experiments s/he proposes to explore the problem, and why the funding should go to him/her. If it’s after the research, then s/he writes up a paper and submits it to the scientific community and says, “I thought such-and-such. I did this research and these are my conclusions.” If everyone agrees, then the scientist is considered to have advanced the knowledge in the subject. Now that becomes the standard that future scientists will doubt is true.

The only difference is in science, it’s not called doubt, it’s called a hypothesis. But doubt is critical to the scientist. If no one ever questioned the way things are, we’d never progress.

So I thought I’d just point out that doubt is not something confined to the realms of philosophy or religion. Science is full of it.

 

[tqualey]

Hi, Warpspeedpetey,

This was an excellent post - I really enjoyed the link you provided!

Thank you very much.

God bless

I have not heard that any other faith has proof that it is the truth. All other faiths that I know of ask us to rely on the word of the founder or to have faith is some legend or myth.

On the other hand I take Christianity to be true because Christ fulfilled the Messianic Prophecies made over the course of millennium or more. Prophecies not made by Christians themselves, but by Jews. People who did not know each other or even live at the same times or places. They made prophecies that a man cannot choose to fulfill himself. Prophecies like the place of birth, the manner of death, lineage, etc.

Dr. Peter Stoner, a mathematician, did an analysis of just 8 of the most specific prophecies which you can find here. [sciencespeaks.dstoner.net/Christ_of_Prophecy.html](http://sciencespeaks.dstoner.net/Christ_of_Prophecy.html)

G-d left us proof that Christianity is the one true faith. The corollary of this proof, this unique feature of Christianity is that we know then that all other faiths are false. We can know the truth, there is not a rational way to deny it. Of course that doesn’t stop atheists and others from trying. I have heard a number of rejections some of them listed here.

1. I don’t believe it because I didn’t witness it

This objection tends to disappear when one points out that the atheist believes in any number of things they did not personally witness. The Civil War, the existence of the Sassinid Empire, the moon landing, etc.

1. Not all the Prophecies have been fulfilled yet.

My reply is that the mathematics don’t change just because we are still awaiting the Prophesied return of Christ.

1. The Bible or some portion of it is fraudulent.

I have repeatedly asked for proof of this contention, yet no one has ever been able to deliver any. Funny that. The Bible is not just one book, but 73 different books written over the course of centuries. Fraud would be impossible even were there a motive to do so.

The upshot being here, that if you want to believe and are looking for an intellectually satisfactory reason, then G-d has provided one. Yet an intellectual understanding is insufficient for true belief. Proof, no matter how exacting, is simply not enough. One must realize that Augustine was right, “You have made us for yourself, O Lord, and our heart is restless until it rests in you.”

We need G-d. Until we realize that most basic of truths, then the larger truths never really matter.

 

[tonyrey]

Hi everyone,

I’ve been sick and missed several days. Boy, you guys have been busy! I don’t have time right now to read it all, but it looks very interesting. I did notice one small quote that I wanted to comment on. I’m not sure who said it first, as I’m quoting a quote. But I did want to respond.

I just wanted to say that I am one of the great doubters of the world. My faith does NOT come easily. I doubt EVERYTHING! I doubt if God really exists. I doubt if I’m really a Christian. I doubt if my religious experiences are real. Etc. But Father Aidan taught me that doubt is not a sin; it’s being honest with God.

And after 57 years of living life, I’ve finally accepted the fact that mine is a questing soul. I constantly search for the truth. I constantly question my beliefs and how I live my life. This comes as a great surprise to those who know me. They always assume that because I have a deep faith, it all comes easy. But my faith is deep because my doubt is deep and I struggle very hard.

I finally CHOSE to believe because I can see the effects in my life. It was a totally selfish choice. I’m far happier as a Christian than I am as an agnostic. (That’s one of the reasons why in my darker moments I sometimes doubt if I’m a “real” Christian.) And while I’m not looking forward to death, I’m not afraid of it either. I’m curious. (I can’t help that, either; I’m a scientist at heart.) And when I die, I’ll get to find out what comes next, and if I was right.

And it’s not like my faith hasn’t cost me anything. There have been times when being a Christian has cost me money or status or social position. (So that’s why in my better moments I say I am a “real” Christian.)

And I suspect I am not the only one on this forum that has struggled with their faith. In fact, I would say almost anyone who has a deep faith has had to struggle to achieve it.

Anyone else want to step forward and admit they have doubts but choose to believe anyway? Maybe it would help our friend to see that doubt is a part of the process of belief.

The saints - known and unknown - experience the Dark Night of the Soul on their path to sanctity. It is the only way our faith can be strengthened and personalised.

“Tragedy is like strong acid – it dissolves away all but the very gold of truth.” - DH Lawrence

 

[tqualey]

Hi, ElizabethCorbel,

I don’t know about there not being any science without doubt … I just do not understand that. But, I am quite convinced there would be no science without curiosity. Disproving the status quo (like the heliocentric displacing the geocentric universe) is one approach … but, I tend to think what trigger this part of the scientific revolution was more like,“Why won’t my model of the universe really work?” And, in trying to find out why (curiosity) the basic problem was discovered.

Now, just for the fun of it, I wonder what it would have been like had Copernicus applied a “Natinal Science Foundation Grant” or whatever the equivalent name would have been if such an organization been around… as opposed to merely cultivating patrons

This reminded me of Hagel’s Dialetic with thesis-hypothesis-synthesis all swinging neatly in turn… There must be a genuine element of this - or advancing science (or anything else for that matter) would be even more difficult!

Have a great day - glad you are feeling better.

God bless

As a P.S. to my last post, I’d like to discuss doubt from the scientist’s point of view. There wouldn’t be any science if we didn’t have doubt. The reason we have science is because someone comes along that doesn’t accept the way “everyone” believes. If s/he is trying to get a grant, s/he states what s/he thinks is different from the accepted norm, what experiments s/he proposes to explore the problem, and why the funding should go to him/her. If it’s after the research, then s/he writes up a paper and submits it to the scientific community and says, “I thought such-and-such. I did this research and these are my conclusions.” If everyone agrees, then the scientist is considered to have advanced the knowledge in the subject. Now that becomes the standard that future scientists will doubt is true.

The only difference is in science, it’s not called doubt, it’s called a hypothesis. But doubt is critical to the scientist. If no one ever questioned the way things are, we’d never progress.

So I thought I’d just point out that doubt is not something confined to the realms of philosophy or religion. Science is full of it.

 

[BrunoMaria]

Now, the biggest problem here is that Pilate just walks away from Christ - Pilate is not intersted in the answer to his own question.

This is precisely the very point and problem of doubters of all shades. They are disinterested in the answer to their questions! But since they don’t know if their disbelieve is right or wrong, they cling to it like a dog to a rag he tugs on. And there a vague consolidation in the back of their mind too: “just in case it’s true after all and God actually does exist, then He surely will excuse my disbelief, for I didn’t know. I mean…… if I had known, I would have been a Saint”.

But that’s not just a vague and dangerous delusion, it also makes a life shallow, empty and boring - adding even the jealousy on those who live this joy in belief, disbelievers never will be able to share.

Of course there is the second group of doubters too, who cover all these thought, under a thick layer of ignorance, loud living, events, money and high life, (however stale that tasts) even adding blaspheming God and all that’s holy. It’s those who then hear: Remember that you had your “good times” in life (Luke 16,25)

yours
Bruno

 

[tqualey]

Hi, BrunoMaria,

We really do not know a lot about what happens to Pilate after Christ is taken away to be crucified. It may be that - with the Grace of God - he ceased doubting and actually stood up for what is right instead of what is ‘company policy’.

Finding courageous leaders in our world today is not easy. In fact, just the opposite - cowardly leaders - abound througout the world. And, while it is true that we get the government we deserve - it would seem to me that encouraging our leaders to do good and avoid evil is part of our obligation as citizens.

We are to pray for our leaders - even if they resemble Pilate! We can also pray that we say good-bye to them when the next election comes around!

God bless

This is precisely the very point and problem of doubters of all shades. They are disinterested in the answer to their questions! But since they don’t know if their disbelieve is right or wrong, they cling to it like a dog to a rag he tugs on. And there a vague consolidation in the back of their mind too: “just in case it’s true after all and God actually does exist, then He surely will excuse my disbelief, for I didn’t know. I mean…… if I had known, I would have been a Saint”.

But that’s not just a vague and dangerous delusion, it also makes a life shallow, empty and boring - adding even the jealousy on those who live this joy in belief, disbelievers never will be able to share.

Of course there is the second group of doubters too, who cover all these thought, under a thick layer of ignorance, loud living, events, money and high life, (however stale that tasts) even adding blaspheming God and all that’s holy. It’s those who then hear: Remember that you had your “good times” in life (Luke 16,25)

yours
Bruno