Subject:
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Re: The Faith Issue
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Newsgroups:
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lugnet.off-topic.debate
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Date:
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Fri, 16 Nov 2001 19:59:00 GMT
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Viewed:
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163 times
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Hi Rick and all,
The main points in this post that I agree with, are:
In lugnet.off-topic.debate, Richard Marchetti writes:
> I am *choosing* to
> believe a thing whimsically. I think its beautiful, and I believe -- simple
> as that. I recognize that my faith has no truth value except to me, there is
> no divine knowledge that will cascade down upon me for holding these matters
> of faith close to my heart.
Oh-so-totally-true. What *you* believe is what matters. My beliefs are very
different than, say, my Jewish friend Mimi's beliefs. It doesn't matter that
we are both Jewish - we each view God and the world differently. I may be
Jewish and therefore by definition monotheist, but in fact I am pantheist (I
believe God is everywhere and in everything). And for heaven's sake (which I
do believe in), my Jewish beliefs are a world apart from the Jewish beliefs
in B'nei-Barak (the extra-orthodox suburb of Tel-Aviv) and in Brooklyn. The
Judaism comes to play, IMHO, more in the heritage than in the actual,
personal beliefs, which vary from person to person. I am quite secular and
yet I probably believe in God more strongly than some "religious" people.
[..]
> In a sense, I
> believe that ritual resonates with what *seems* like truth (and the actual
> truth be damned). If it feels good, do it.
I think it's very important to note that truth is not neccessarily an
objective thing. Who says there's just one truth? When I get to heaven
(because I believe it exists), I *cannot*, simply cannot envision God
saying, "Oh hey Shiri, by the way, you were wrong all along about being
Jewish, coz Jesus *is* my son, and Christianity is the way to go." Or
Paganism, or Islam, fill-in-the-blank. The rules of logic don't apply here
(IMO).... it's not that: Either "Jesus is the son of God" or "Jesus is not
the son of God" must be true. (A XOR sentence - either a is true and b is
false, or a is false and b is true, but they can't both be true.) I can't
see that. Because it doesn't really *matter* if Jesus honestly rose from the
dead; it matters that *you* think he did, or he didn't. There is no one
truth, just like there is no one "history". There are 6 billion, one for
every person alive.
Of course, you can disagree with me and argue that truth is universal... 2 +
2 are always 4 and I won't disavow you on that. But now you're getting
philosophical, in which case I would take up Kierkegaard's opinion of
existentially important things. [2 plus 2 may always equal 4, but it is not
what a dying man will think of!... existentially important things (i.e.
matters of faith, of life and death) are subjective.] .... And you can go
read Sophie's World and get back to me with an answer. ;-) (Or go study
philosophy, that's even better. I almost did that myself. I'm still gonna
take a few phil. courses.)
> Like a good american should -- I mind my own business.
(On a tangent here - You have no idea how much that is true. Americans
almost mind their own business *too* much. But never mind me, I'm just
complaining in retrospect over my 2 Bostonian years.)
> Just Imagine:
> Knock, knock. "Good Day, Madam. Have you heard the good words of Satan, the
> Liberator?"
>
> or
>
> Knock, knock. "Sir, would you sign my petition to stop a local production of
> 'Faust'?"
ROFL! That would be quite a sight.
> -- Hop-Frog (Anyway, only Xtians believe in Satan. I don't have a lot of
> use for such an image.)
Well, I have as much use for Satan as I do for Greek mythology. It's
interesting to speculate and listen to stories. I love thinking about what
your "personal hell" would be like. (See Jenn Boger's old site for some cool
thoughts about that! I love what Dan's brother wrote there.) I don't believe
it actually exists but I like the idea nonetheless...
I shall end with an idea from an L.M. Montgomery book (paraphrased, sorry,
I'm lazy). Upon asking a class of children what they would like to do to
punish the Kaiser of Germany (an eeeevil person in the POV of a Canadian
child in the midst of WWI), most kids say they'd like to torture him, etc.
One boy, though, simply says: "I'd turn him into good." But how is that a
punishment?, asks the bemused adult. "When he was good he would see all the
bad things he has done, and regret them all.... he'd feel so horrible and
that would be punishment enough." Cool idea. (And no, the point is not to
start a WWI debate, but suit yourself.)
-Shiri
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Message is in Reply To:
 | | The Faith Issue
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| Hey Y'all: Reading another thread has put me squarely in mind of my real problems with Xtianity, and more particularly with Xtians in a more general way. [note: I don't so much mean the Xtians taking part in the other thread, many of whom are making (...) (23 years ago, 16-Nov-01, to lugnet.off-topic.debate)
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