My Choice for Faith
Nov 9th, 2007 by Amanda
I’ve said this before, and even though it’s incredibly cliche, I’ll say it again. It’s like the wind. I can’t see it, but I can feel it.
Has the snickering stopped yet?
People who have seen me struggle with faith over the last several months keep asking me why it is that I have chosen to remain true to my faith. What is it about God that makes me continue to believe?
I’m sure that to some of you, my continued acceptance of God has more to do with my upbringing than anything else, but I’m going to have to disagree. It’s easy, of course, to say that I believe because I was raised to. I was. There’s no disputing that fact. But my views of faith, Jesus, and God now look nothing at all the way they did when I parroted some country preacher’s version of Christianity.
I believe in God now, not because someone told me to, but because in the middle of all of the chaos and horrors of the world, I just know in my core that there’s something bigger and better than anything this world has to offer.
I believe in God because I honestly don’t see a reason for any sort of hope without God.
I believe in God because I’ve talked to Him. He’s talked to me back. I’m reminded of a bumper sticker I saw yesterday: “Why is it that when we talk to God it’s praying, but when He talks back we get sent to the loony bin?” I can hear the loud guffaws from those of you who think that I’m hearing strange voices, but that isn’t how it works. When I say He talks back, I don’t mean that I literally hear the audible voice of God. I mean that a sense of peace and wonder and awe consume me. Just because the lines of communication are currently down (see my previous post if you’re wondering about that) doesn’t mean I haven’t experienced it before.
I believe in God because I’ve seen His power. Call it coincidence if you want to, but I’ve seen people healed - both physically and emotionally. I’ve even been healed before (No, it wasn’t a huge thing like an amputated leg growing back, but I was in a severe state of pain. I had been in severe pain for 2 years and couldn’t raise my left arm at all. Someone prayed over me and the pain disappeared during the prayer, and I had complete range of motion afterwards. It didn’t last beyond a few days, but the pain relief was very real.) I’ve seen people healed of addiction - drug addicts who accepted the power of Jesus in their life and stopped the drug use immediately with no problems. And while I acknowledge that doesn’t happen to everyone, it doesn’t change the fact that it has happened.
A few of you have mentioned before that some people may just naturally be bent towards faith. Maybe that’s true. I don’t know. What I do know is that for me, faith is just the way it is. God is there. There’s no other alternative. I find joy in my faith. For me, a life without faith is a life without joy.
There’s no specific answer for you about why I have to believe. I just do. It’s who I am. I look at the world, and I see God. I know, without a shadow of a doubt, that He is real. That doesn’t mean I don’t have problems with organized religion and the way people have tried to make God fit in their boxes and look the way they want Him to. I’m not talking about dogma or doctrine here. I’m talking about God, plain and simple. God is there. The rest? Well, that’s just commentary.
Mind if I synopsise? The reasons for belief that I see listed here are:
1) Spiritual experiences
2) Practical utility (e.g. faith healing)
3) Philosophical utility (it provides a ready-made meaning of life)
Have I missed anything?
It’s quite hard for me to discuss the spiritual experiences, because I’ve never had one (despite my best efforts). But I know that some atheists have had experiences of the sort you describe; they just don’t associate them with any sort of external entity. The experience is still meaningful for them, but it’s not “reified”. Could this be an option for you, or do you feel too strongly about it?
The practical utility argument is a fair one - even if the faith healing is only placebo effect (which seems likely), that doesn’t make it any less effective. The problem is that this sort of thing can backfire.
For example, a friend of mine reckons belief in God helped him through a very scary childhood disease. Fair enough. However, he goes to a rather worryingly credulous church, and some other church members claim to be able to prophesy. One of these has asserted that my friend will die in the next couple of years, and I’m seriously worried that this prophecy will be self-fulfilling. Placebo cuts both ways.
The philosophical point I can’t really argue with, except to say that, for me, the meaning of life isn’t something we discover so much as something we create.
Amanda,
I get what you’re saying. I can think of several moments where the divine has become clear. Sometimes they are huge, sometimes simply whispered phrases, but they are always identifiable.
They don’t happen all the time, but can be life-changing when they do.
Lifewish
prophesying death?
Wow. Sounds like Christian witchcraft. I would be out of there so fast!
prophesying death? Wow. Sounds like Christian witchcraft. I would be out of there so fast!
But why? After all, Matthew 23:34 talks about Christian prophets - so if you’re a Bible-believing Christian then there’s clearly nothing fundamentally wrong with the idea of these people being able to prophesy. And, if they can prophesy, why should they not prophesy death? Many Christians believe that large chunks of the Old Testament were foretellings of Jesus’ death, so clearly this is worthy subject matter.
This is the problem I have in trying to persuade my friend that his fellow worshippers are dangerously barmy: everything they say is Biblically justified. As a result, I can’t convince him that these beliefs are not true without basically deconverting him.
This is why even harmless inanities like faith healing scare the heck out of me: the reasons presented for believing in them are exactly the same reasons presented for believing in stuff that’s far less wholesome.
I have to respectfully disagree, Amanda.
If there is no God there is no hope? Does that mean if there never was a God there never was any hope?
Some people use religion as a coping mechanism. A way to feel that they are part of something more and larger. However, what if you find something that directly conflicts with that belief? Most put their hands over their ears and vehemently deny the existance of the problem.
This doesn’t seem to be a problem with you. You’ve had a crisis of faith, but you adapted and seem to have recovered. Although, I like the way Chris Rock put it in Dogma. Religion should be an idea, not a belief. Ideas are flexible, and able to change. A belief is much trickier, and can be earthshaking when you find out it’s wrong.
Believing that there is a God isn’t wrong. Believing that there is no hope without God is dangerous.
I knew that line would get me in trouble.
I don’t know how to explain what I mean in such a manner that you will understand. I totally get the fact that you, who do not believe in God, have hope in your life. I understand that hope exists in the world for people without God.
But this is my statement of faith, not yours. I was specifically talking about me, myself, and I. And in my world, God and hope go together. I wasn’t suggesting that you have no hope without God. Only that I don’t.
That may not be the most logical answer in the world, but it fits right in since my faith, to you, is illogical in the first place.
Hmmm. The whole idea that there’s no hope without god (and I’ve heard this argument before) seems to be a huge cop-out for all of humanity. It’s kind of like saying, “Oh, poor me, someone save me, i’m drowning!” when all you really have to do is stand up in the bathtub and save yourself.
I feel that it gives many people the opportunity to do NOTHING and expect god to do all the work for them (look at Min and the whole global warming debate: let’s just pray, and god will fix everything instead of humanity taking an ACTIVE role in our existence. Or even worse- infertile?? don’t GO to a clinic and DO something- just take the passive role of praying and god will fix it for you. Come on!!!)
Amanda, I’m still not getting the no god/no hope argument. No hope for what, is my question, I guess.
First of all, since we’re talking about me here, lets apply your statement to me.
From what you know about me, am I the type of person who would do nothing and expect God to do all the work for me?
No. At least, I don’t think I am (especially right now since I’m not actively talking to God).
So then…your statement really doesn’t apply to me, does it?
Yet, I still say my belief in God gives me hope. Because it does. It gives me hope. Hope in my future. Hope in my choices. Hope in my life.
He gives me the hope that, no matter what, everything is going to be okay.
“Someone prayed over me and the pain disappeared during the prayer, and I had complete range of motion afterwards.”
I had completely forgoten about that and it baffles me that I was an instrument of devine healing when I look at my own crisis of faith and feeling like my prayers just hit the celling and bounce back to earth. Thank you for reminding me.
In the end all we have to go on is our own personal experience. You should know inside if something is good for you or not.
Amanda,
I recognize that this is your statement of faith, I also recognize that you and most of the other folks here are pretty rational with respect to how god affects you, or doesnt.
I don’t think I or any other atheist would really care if all the religious folks were more like you. I doubt you would ever have seen that Angry Atheist post by Greta if what we encountered was more people like you.
The problem is not only do we not see more people like you (how can we? you arent the noisy ones with signs), the Noisy Ones With Signs (NOWS, LOL), are influencing government, schools, economy, and environment (if you need, I’ll happily provide examples).
The NOWS do this with the idea that god exists. ALL of them have the same evidence as you. All personal anecdotes and arguments of incredulity. That is why its hard to have a discussion about your personal belief, that position hurts society in general, by not focusing on humans responsibility to give hope.
Its one of the reasons I like working with engineers. If you give them a seemingly impossible task (land on the moon, and return; take a picture of an atom; teleport things; etc) hope and optimism and knowledge that people are capable of anything is what makes the impossible achievable.
Hope comes from knowing that humans are capable of virtually anything, and this has always been the case. We were capable of great feats when we believed in different gods (pyramids), we developed radically different and more fair forms of governments when we believed in yet other gods(romans/greeks), we developed amazing technology and medical advances while yet different gods were popular (your god and vishnu&friends).
Human progress continues regardless of god (or shall I say: in spite of). THAT is what gives me hope. There is no challenge we can’t over come, whether it is technological, environmental, medical, or societal once we recognize our power and cast off our innate desire to hold on to superstition. I can’t find anything in any religion that gives that sort of recognition to measly humans or that sort of powerful hope.
But even at the village level. If you are a christian, and get hit by a car, do the hindus avoid you? Religion fades away for the emergency (in general), and returns later (pooh). Your good friends love you, and will continue to love you (nothing show you your good friends like changing religion) regardless of religion.
for basic human needs and human advancement, religion no needed, and often becomes a hinderance. Hope, self empowerment and joy is so clean, so crisp, and so fulfilling when it comes from yourself, or recognition that people have done this for themselves.
As for near death experiences, high stress encounters, and other things that cause religious experiences, I’ll just refer you here
BTW, you can measure the wind with an Anemometer.
you can measure a vaccuum, see an atom, see stars millions of light years away, etc etc.
When there is a Godamometer, or better yet, proof you can’t make one, I’ll be so happy.
Is that necessarily a reliable way of determining what’s good for you? My semi-informed opinion is that your gut feeling will be highly reliable - but only if you’re a savannah-living australopithecine. The world we live in has changed so much that there’s no way our instincts can be expected to keep up.
This is completely unrelated to the original topic of conversation, I just get flashbacks to the Colbert Report every time I hear a comment like this
[…] addition to that my best friend reminded me of something I had forgotten about. She had pain in her left side that prevented her from lifting her arm above shoulder level for 2 […]
[…] Ottaway has chosen to follow Christ in spite of hardships. She writes about that decision in My Choice for Faith posted at Mandi […]
Your post reminds me of the song “Bring the Rain”. People do wonder why we continue to believe even when everything in our lives seems so bad.
I understand how beautiful it is to hear God speak and to see Him in action in my own life. That is what keeps me believing when the rain and the storms roll in.