Why do we believe?

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minux said:
He would be born in poverty (Isaiah 11:1–2)
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How do you read this as Jesus being born in poverty? Is there more compelling evidence of material poverty, or is it mostly pious opinion? Or not about the material at all?

Another opinion is that as a skilled tradesman, Joseph was mos,t likely quite capable of supporting the Holy Family well beyond poverty.
A shoot shall come out from the stump of Jesse,
and a branch shall grow out of his roots.
The spirit of the Lord shall rest on him,
the spirit of wisdom and understanding,
the spirit of counsel and might,
the spirit of knowledge and the fear of the Lord.
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Wrong reference number?
 
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Crocus said:
How do you read this as Jesus being born in poverty? Is there more compelling evidence of material poverty, or is it mostly pious opinion? Or not about the material at all?
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In terms of evidence that he was poor Mary and Joseph offer the poor peoples sacrifice at the Presentation.
 
bobic said:
Also, I’ve read that Muslims say that Muhammad performed many miracles. How do we distinguish between his and those of Christ, and how do we know one set is valid and the other is false?
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For one, Allah is not the same as our God. Our God was manifested on Earth as Our Savior.
 
Crocus said:
How do you read this as Jesus being born in poverty? Is there more compelling evidence of material poverty, or is it mostly pious opinion? Or not about the material at all?
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Yeah, Our Savior was born in a menagerie with farm animals, because Joseph could not get a room, among Shepards whom were considered lowly/outcasts in society.
Crocus said:
Wrong reference number?
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Yup, should be Iassh 61 not 11.
 
As for the Jewish side of the matter:
bobic said:
What is going on when a…Jew has faith in their respective God? Is there no way to distinguish, from the inside, whether or not a feeling of faith is valid?
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All branches of Judaism have one thing in common: Judaism is not a religion of faith, it is a religion of practice.

While this doesn’t mean that Jews don’t have faith or belief, unlike Christianity which membership and ability to perform is based on faith or belief, Judaism is something someone is generally born into and a religion that is performed (carried out through mitzvot or the observance of rituals, customs, and practices based on Jewish law), not a religion of creeds or articles of faith.

Many non-theist Jews can be found practicing Judaism, observing kashrut (keeping kosher), keeping Sabbath, observing holy days, even praying. Some Jews who accept God as real will reply “no” to the question: “Do you believe in God?” Why? Because some Jews often reject the Christian view of a deity on a throne that controls everyone’s life and answers all prayers. The Western definition of “God” is often rejected by more than a handful of Jews. To illustrate one reason why: Christianity often has definitive theological answers to tell you what God is whereas you find the opposite in Judaism which will only tell you what God is not.

Since faith is not what drives a Jew or is at the center of a Jew’s religious life as it is in the life of a Christian, your questions about “this feeling” don’t apply. Jews don’t practice their religion on the same basis or for the same reason that Christians take up their religion of Christianity. So you can’t approach it asking the type of questions that only apply to the Christian paradigm.
 
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Well, to be fair, going from Hebrews 11:1: “… faith is being sure of what we hope for and certain of what we do not see.”
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BenYosef:
This is great. I was going to use something like this as grounds to disqualify Judaism from the things that inspire doubt, but I didn’t want to make any assumptions. I guess that just leaves Islam.
 
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Isn’t it a remarkable coincidence that we all have the same religion as our families?
Smile and be kind to one another. No Gods required.
 
For Christians it is lucky, for everyone else it is a grave misfortune. The fact that children happen to follow after their parents doesn’t necessarily prove anything. For my part, my parents are basically agnostic. As far as I can tell, they don’t have faith in Christ. I want to fix that.

Kindness is good, but it is all too human. The son of God didn’t suffer and die for the sake of kindness, but for love.
 
Why did god have to have his only son killed in order for our sins to be forgiven???

Please read the God Virus by Dr. Daryl Ray. Is is a former evangelical minister now Renowned Psychologist.
 
Because sin is a breach in the relationship between man and God. Men are finite and God is infinite. Therefore nothing man does can put him on the right footing with God.

This means, out of love for His creation, God sent the second person of the Trinity to suffer and die as a man in order to heal the wound that sin created through man’s free will decisions.
 
a renowned atheist. This book discusses religion as a cultural virus. And sees the aim of the author of stopping the spread of religion.

Please just stop with this atheist rhetoric on a catholic forum

God died for the forgiveness of our sins, even yours, my brother or sister.
 
There is only one God. And it is not remarkable that parents pass their faith down through the generations. It is quite normal.
 
People give many reasons, most of which are probably valid. The way that makes the most sense to me at this limited development stage of my faith is this:

The wages of sin is death. This is true at the level of a scientific law. Humanity was condemned to eternal death, due to their sinful nature. But Christ took all this death upon himself and in so doing freed us from sin.
 
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