"A Call to Abandon Blind Faith."

[Israelite007]

Blind-not characterized or determined by reason or control:unwilling or unable to perceive or understand.

Today's study is another learning lesson in the series of exposing the truths and untruths that exist in some serious issues in the majority of religious society.

Blind Faith could be seen as immoral and dangerous. This is a Call to abandon Blind Faith.

This is what one topherfox had to say about the matter of Salvation yesterday I think he was speaking about blind faith
Quote:

If people believe that by choosing their faith and respecting it without fully understanding or regarding it for what it is, is the right thing to do and will lead them to salvation or the belief that they will reach salvation, then that's their right to chose to do so.

Ask yourself what is God? His nature, qualities, and analysis? One should also consider when making this analysis the topic of philosophy since it has advanced the manner of faith as religioustolerance.com tell us.


Quote:

When early medieval Jewish philosophers accepted Platonic philosophy as a way to help understand God, some responded with claims of heresy. When later medieval thinkers such as Saadya Gaon and then Maimonides accepted Aristotelian philosophy as a way to help understand God, some responded with claims of heresy. When modern day thinkers such as Joseph Soloveitchik used a Kantian take on Platonic philosophy as a way to help understand God, some responded with claims of heresy. When modern day thinkers such as Max Kaddushin and William Kaufman used Albert North Whitehead's concept of process philosophy as a way to help understand God, some responded with claims of heresy

Is it a heresy? Maybe to some theology or hardcore Bible Scholars but no one can tell us how to best understand God for ourselves and we should use all manners of exploring the matter.

What is God? I want this question to echo in your very bones.

From religioustolerance.com

Quote:

'Everybody's entitled to their own opinion' goes the platitude, meaning that everybody has the right to believe whatever they want. But is that really true? Are there no limits on what is permissible to believe? Or, as in the case of actions, are some beliefs immoral?

Blind Faith's Predecessor's
One could argue the point however valididating this claim can be seen with the destructive behavior of some religious advents. All the false preachors and pastors leading people astray, the muslim bombers, the crusades, suicidal incidents, joan of arc(?), spanish armada, there have been many incidents in history that record atrocities commited by supposed believers or sections of faith but I attest maybe it had to do with Blind Faith while it may not be the sole cause those claiming belief in God and taking lives of others are in fact disobeying God by the commandment not to murder and acting outside his will.
So we see how blind faith can lead you on a path that you "think" is service to God when in fact you play the fool and choose deception which is sad to say common throughout history. I assure those who killed innocent people for their "supposed God" may have the wrong idea or concept of a Loving Father who wants nothing more than the good will of all Man. He created us for a unique purpose for community and relationship. So again I assure you that these people may very well have never asked "What is God?" Let it verberate your soul. I cannot give you all the answers and most people want you to believe theirs but I want you to look inside yourself for your own answers after all everything in your life starts with you.

"Letting go of the Past and Learning from Experience."
I tell you we should not accept blindly what others tell us. Ask questions. Why do they believe that so strongly? Why In fact I encourage to question your beliefs and WHY you believe them did someone tell you that did you grow up with that or did you discover yourself, your personal discovery and what is your reason/philosophy of life? I encourage you all to ask the question Who are we? And why are we here? I know the answers for myself but do you? I hear to many talking about being created to go to hell and that is NOT why we are here so people that say that are in for a wake up call.

My admission to this is that I was raised in a Christian home all my life this is truly a Blessing of family values and I praise God for the wonderful family I was raised in. However many times my parents did not always "appear" happy or "joyful" maybe becuase I was a extremely rebellious son and always caused them imense amounts of stress however even in the darkest hours of our lives Godly people should demonstrate Godly character. Not always with my parents I forgive them completely but admit that we must not simply believe what our parents tell us or always follow our parents example because I for one hold myself to a higher standard than some christians demonstrate. I have learned the hard way that only through my personal study and discovery have I realized the truth. I questioned what I believe and the truth and God answered a prayer that lead me from Christianity to Judaism to No Accepted Religion back into Christianity but through all this I have learned from other relgions and still believe christianity is the most accurate but still many things I believe other's don't because I learened alot from practiced judaism. So study other religion but learn to discern the truth.

Here's my confession
I learned the truth of the the False Trinity from the Jehovah's Witnesses
I learned the truth of keeping the Law from the Jews
I learned the truth of idolatry from the Catholics
Of Course I learned the truth of Christ and Life from the Christians
I am still a christian but practice many different things I understand you may not be able to accept this it is just another's viewpoint but these are the things I believe are the truth not because I make outlandish statements but becuase I have experienced and studied it for myself. Most christians may never venture outside their faith this should not be so. You are free to roam just remember your Christian roots. In all this I have learned more about God through philosophy and discovery than anything else anyone has told me.


Is Blind Faith Blind? Well we can be sure of that. Time for some scripture this is in hopes to build you up not tear you down. Now on the precept to know God we should his commandments/torah read this striking passage.

Deuteronomy 28
Curses for Disobedience

15 However, if you do not obey the LORD your God and do not carefully follow all his commands and decrees I am giving you today, all these curses will come upon you and overtake you: 19 You will be cursed when you come in and cursed when you go out. 28 The LORD will afflict you with madness, blindness and confusion of mind. 38 You will sow much seed in the field but you will harvest little, because locusts will devour it.


Blessings for Obedience

1 If you fully obey the LORD your God and carefully follow all his commands I give you today, the LORD your God will set you high above all the nations on earth. 3 You will be blessed in the city and blessed in the country. 8 The LORD will send a blessing on your barns and on everything you put your hand to. The LORD your God will bless you in the land he is giving you. The LORD will establish you as his holy people, as he promised you on oath, if you keep the commands of the LORD your God and walk in his ways.

You want the true message of prosperity? Here it is in a nutshell. Obey God's commandments and be blessed don't and be cursed. Many preachors don't have the desire to say this they tell you God wants to bless you if you tithe
no matter what as long as you tithe a seed..etc. (they don't tell you if you disobey God you will be cursed of course because they would lose your money) That is why you know for yourself I am not after your money I am after your heart. Millions of people want your money but how many want your heart? God does be sure of that your whole heart of course not half of your heart.

Matthew 15:14
14Leave them; they are blind guides.[a] If a blind man leads a blind man, both will fall into a pit."
Notice what christ says here he says leave them they are blind it doesn't matter what they believe it matters that they are blind.

John 9
Spiritual Blindness
35Jesus heard that they had thrown him out, and when he found him, he said, "Do you believe in the Son of Man?"
36"Who is he, sir?" the man asked. "Tell me so that I may believe in him."
37Jesus said, "You have now seen him; in fact, he is the one speaking with you." 38Then the man said, "Lord, I believe," and he worshiped him.
39Jesus said, "For judgment I have come into this world, so that the blind will see and those who see will become blind."
40Some Pharisees who were with him heard him say this and asked, "What? Are we blind too?"
41Jesus said, "If you were blind, you would not be guilty of sin; but now that you claim you can see, your guilt remains.

So folks the moral of the story is if you claim that you were blind but now you see you have much more to account for and others will not excuse our own actions we must answer for ourselves so it's best to understand what blind faith is.

This is a call to abandon blind faith questions your world around you and it all starts with you it all starts here. Ask yourself
What is God? What is life? What is blindness? What is faith? What is spirit? What is confusion?

So what is "Blind Faith" To me well Blind faith is anyone who accepts what they are told about a particular religion from others more "wise" or "learned" without questioning their core values of belief inside themselves. Do they believe what others believe? probably. They likely also accept what is popular or common or doctrine as indisputable everything folks everything is disputable. I don't have to accept everything scholars say or educations says. I for one am no man of great knowledge but I am a man of great experience. I learned from a young age that "streetsmarts" are parallel to philosophy and "booksmarts" is parallel to theology. I may not have all the answers but I know someone who does. As for what is popular I assure you most preachors and scholars believe what they believe through education and instituions but we know the foundations of man are imperfect so let us not blindly trust those with a good amount of "education"

Has this helped you? I pray that it will question your world around you here is the article I referred to on blind faith. blessings and love brothers and sisters

http://www.religioustolerance.org/kaiser_01.htm

[Aedes]

How do you feel about Kierkegaard?

[Israelite007]

who precisely is that?

[Aedes]

One of the most influential philosophers and theologians of the 19th century. He believed that the project to apprehend religion rationally was absurd because of inherent contradictions within religious traditions; therefore religious belief required faith (the idea of the 'leap of faith' comes from him). See the following links (they look weird on the page here, but they work).

Leap of faith - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Søren Kierkegaard (Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy)
Søren Kierkegaard - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

[Didymos Thomas]

I have not read Kierkegaard myself, so I'm not familiar with his particular arguments, or exactly what he means by "leap of faith".

My concern is faith without understanding. I'm not sure why aparent contradictions in various religious traditions (if Kierkegaard sees inherent contradictions, I would disagree) necessitates a "leap of faith" beyond what is understood by the practitioner.
The first article you provide suggests Kierkegaard's "leap of faith" is belief without empirical evidence. This seems particularly dangerous. If you know nothing of what you believe, how can you believe it?

[Aedes]

Originally Posted by Didymos Thomas

If you know nothing of what you believe, how can you believe it?

How do you know the difference between what you know and what you think you know?

[Israelite007]

Thanks Aedes I very much enjoyed that article about "leap of faith" and this Kierkegaard sounds a lot like me in some ways. And Didymous I like your reasoning and direction on this subject

[Didymos Thomas]

By being careful, honest, and open minded. You may never know anything absolutely, there may not be anything to absolutely know, but by being careful, honest, and open minded, you do all that you can to guard against delusion.

Man is not perfect, all he does is falible, but he can work to do as best he can.

[Israelite007]

Originally Posted by Didymos Thomas

By being careful, honest, and open minded. You may never know anything absolutely, there may not be anything to absolutely know, but by being careful, honest, and open minded, you do all that you can to guard against delusion.

Man is not perfect, all he does is falible, but he can work to do as best he can.

I agree absolutely, On the contrary absolutes do exist and God is an Absolute being Humans are Resolute Beings, remember this. It is easy for God to do anything absolutely but for us it us quite the task.

Resolute:firmly resolved or determined; set in purpose or opinion. characterized by firmness and determination, as the temper, spirit, actions, etc. This helps to see the contrast of Resolute Man and Absolute God.

[Didymos Thomas]

What about God is absolute? How is he absolute? Why is he absolute in these things?