I wish that I had a Faith

FannyCornforth

I'm not sure that I do need to believe in any diety.
I just think that maybe there is an element of myself that is lacking
That's why I'm attracted to Catholicism, they seem very attuned to the spirit.
I've never understood what 'God the Spirit' is.
I think that I've always had a belief that faith is a human made construct to fulfill a human need.
I would love to be wrong

Hi new here. Prompted to join as I felt sad that this Easter Sunday thread ended with ‘there is no god’. I am a born-again Christian and echo Woodhouse in knowing there is a God.
I feel a major problem with the church is poor teaching about ‘God the Spirit’ – so this is a reply to FannyCornforth to help her understanding. Jesus lived, Jesus died – but rose again (belated Happy Easter everyone) – and by the way He is still alive! His message is perhaps ‘confusing’ as He doesn’t ask use to follow a set of rules or even follow His apostles but simply follow Him. This means a relationship directly with Him. Clearly in his physical, human form this is impossible - 6 billion people on the planet now! So His human form ascended to ‘heaven’ (another ‘dimension’ if you like) such that He could release His Spirit (that is the Holy Spirit) to all mankind. Now we can meet with God through His Spirit. In Paul’s letter to the Romans writes about being led by the Spirit – this is how Christians follow Jesus (have a read). We can do this today just as the first Christians did (i.e. in the Bible). Have to say, the Holy Spirit is not easy to define as He is not physical. Maybe Grandman70s feels the Spirit through Hymns and Kate1949 through church surroundings.
If you are not told about the Spirit then Jesus becomes an historical figure (i.e. ‘dead’) and the Bible just another book of rules to follow. Church becomes ‘legalistic’ (or worse – run by non-believers to their own benefit) and people lose faith… as in many posts above.
I would echo DiscoDancer1975 and poshpaws encouraging you to pray to Jesus – ask Him about the Holy Spirit. Actually, I was a bit like you – went to Sunday School, etc. wanted to ‘follow the rules’ but realised I wasn’t able. Then I met with some Christians who advised I pray and ask Jesus to come and help me live His way. He did - and is still helping 40 years later! Pray to Him and your wish will come true – you will have a faith.

Kate1949

I don't believe in any deity either. I believe we're on our own.

But we aren’t alone, we have all history and science behind us and the knowledge that we are backed by science and our creative imagination is indeed powerful.

That is all we need as humans. We have always had our strength and ingenuity to fall back on.

I think until there is a scientific explanation for absolutely everything, people will look for an answer to that which we can’t explain. It’s human nature to want to understand things, it’s what drives us to research.
Many religions are based in explaining the inexplicable, such as the cargo cults, combined with our need for social unity and a combined goal.
I’m getting myself confused here.
I just wish I could take that leap of faith.

I don't believe in any deity either. I believe we're on our own.

I am puzzled Fanny when people say, as you have, that you wish you had a faith.

I've known since I was a little girl that there is no deity or supernatural force guiding us. I don't know subconsciously that there is a deity, and ignore it, neither do I need such a thing as faith to sleep better.

Its like Pascal's wager - you might as well believe in God because if he's there, you'll get into heaven, but if he's not then nothing is lost, and you die happy. (I paraphrase!). But you don't decide to believe, you either do or you don't, I think. A good friend of mine, now a church minister, told me she thinks she's failed with me because she can't make me see what is, to her, so obvious. We're still very good friends, of course.

Same, in my mind, with faith. If you don't have it, why search for it? If its belonging that is missing in your life, I'm sure there are many ways to find that, that aren't related to religion?

I'm not sure that I do need to believe in any diety.
I just think that maybe there is an element of myself that is lacking
That's why I'm attracted to Catholicism, they seem very attuned to the spirit.
I've never understood what 'God the Spirit' is.
I think that I've always had a belief that faith is a human made construct to fulfill a human need.
I would love to be wrong

Another one who simply doesn’t need to believe in any type of deity. I have a set of moral principles against which I try to live my life, and like everyone else of all faiths and none, I fail regularly. I have some close friends who are committed Christians and whom I love and respect very much but in general in everyday life I see nothing in the lives and actions of many so-called committed believers that I envy or would want to emulate.

Dinahmo you judged all Christians by the actions of one , and one woman was able to destroy your faith ? I think not, you must have have doubts before ,

Humanists believe that the solutions to the world’s problems lie in human thought and action rather than divine intervention.
I can't swallow that because I have had too many strange experiences where I definitely felt I was being guided. Divine intervention! I think the universe and the spiritual plane is way beyond human understanding. People have tried to explain it through religion.
There is a force of good and a force of evil, which we call God and the Devil. Man chooses his own path, but which force he is guided by is his choice. Spirits (angels, ancestors) can guide us if we want them to. Dark forces can guide people if they choose that life.
Man does not fully understand it all until he passes into the spiritual world.
I can't put all this into a box belonging to any one religion really.

I was brought up in the C of E. We went to church regularly and I was confirmed but when I reached 16 or 17 decided that it wasn't for me.

My parents continued to be church goers until my father died. A little while later my mother went to the nearest one, not the one that they usually attended because she couldn't drive. She told me afterwards that she started to cry and that no one came up to her to see if she was OK and whether she needed anything. She was a believer, so much so that shortly before she died (Alzheimers) and the local curate came to say prayers with her, she remebered all the words of the Lord's Prayer and said them with him.

When we moved to Suffolk, my OH applied for planning permission to use the large garage and workshop for his own work as a furniture restorer. The council were going to grant permission when a campaign was got up by the wife of the local vicar. She was spreading stories about how it was going to be a furniture making factory. He was granted permission for 2 years and when he re-applied he was given his file so he was able to see what had been written against his original application.

This is the C of E in action as far as I'm concerned.

I studied RI at school for my O' Levels and found it interesting. But I do not understand how people can accept everything in the Bible as gospel when sections have been omitted and much has been lost or changed in translation over the years.

Yes Fanny, I feel very much as you do.
I come from a very chapel family, so Sunday school every week, and then chapel. Even when I was little, I had very little sense of being taught anything, I think it was more of a social club for my gran and all her friends, not that they weren’t all good women.
Many years later we had neighbors who belonged to a less mainstream religion, I can’t remember what it was called. People trailed in every evening for prayer meetings, and they have to be among some of the most unpleasant people I’ve ever come across. He was a bully to his subservient wife and children, and his temper was terrifying.
So I don’t think I’m looking for a religion, I just would love to believe in something. I think I have an open mind, but have just never felt that reassurance that something is there.

Sorry, too many w’s !!

WWW. Sorry, no. Only your first line. As I said “ many choose to ignore that feeling”, and search elsewhere.

I suppose the nearest I came to finding people who really believed so that their whole lives were lived to that belief was in Lhasa.

They really believed that their actions in this life would influence the quality, reward and and retribution in the next life.

It influenced every thought, action, word of their present lives.

But I still couldn’t get further than a doubtful maybe.

I agree WWW that it’s our actions that make you a better (or worse) person , but it was the disparity between what people said they believed was right or true and how they actually behaved that I couldn’t reconcile.

I suppose I think that when someone holds a belief there may come a point when what they want to do personally will conflict with that belief. For me, when in that situation the belief is deliberately put aside to suit ourselves, then the whole thing becomes invalid.

I know that sounds extreme but that is, perhaps what we call ‘keeping the faith’.

It’s hard to put into words what I mean without fingering any one religion or ethos.

DiscoDancer1975

I believe every single one of us inherently, knows there is a God. Many choose to ignore that feeling. This is God, fanny, giving you a nudge. It’s not about church buildings, made up of men and their own rules, putting people down, making them feel worthless. It’s about Jesus, who is Head of the church. He died on Good Friday. ‘Good’, because He rose again on Sunday. No one has ever done that before! He has told us that everyone can be with Him in the new life He has planned for us, but we have to want and accept it. This is Christianity. He won’t force it on us, as the religious institutions do. We don’t go to church anymore either, and haven’t for nearly nine years. They are full of arrogant judgmental hypocrites living in their self righteous bubbles! Well, at least in my local ones. I would just start by praying to God on your own. He is listening.?

??? have you read my posts?

I have faith, I don’t do religion.
Another one who is a little dismayed with some of the hypocrisy witnessed. Not everyone has faith and that’s fine although I am certain they would sleep easier if they did.

If the rituals or ways of living your life appeal, why not make a list of what you like from the religions you mentioned and find a way to incorporate them in your life?

Yes, isn’t this an interesting thread. During my teenage years, which is often when you question and try many things, religion included, I went to a few different churches, but didn’t feel at home anywhere. I forgot all about the spiritual side of life until my own children were born, then spent some time at the local church, my children went to Sunday school, but still I found it hard to believe in an actual God, a supreme being, and the busyness of life with four small children took over.
I’ve read with interest the description of humanism, which is, I’m sure, the caring lifestyle that most people aspire to. It doesn’t require the existence of a God.
I think BlueBelle puts it well, that the routes are achievable but the place seems unrealistic without the Leap of Faith. That Leap eludes me. I wish it didn’t.

I can confidently say that doesnt apply to me discodancer.

I believe every single one of us inherently, knows there is a God. Many choose to ignore that feeling. This is God, fanny, giving you a nudge. It’s not about church buildings, made up of men and their own rules, putting people down, making them feel worthless. It’s about Jesus, who is Head of the church. He died on Good Friday. ‘Good’, because He rose again on Sunday. No one has ever done that before! He has told us that everyone can be with Him in the new life He has planned for us, but we have to want and accept it. This is Christianity. He won’t force it on us, as the religious institutions do. We don’t go to church anymore either, and haven’t for nearly nine years. They are full of arrogant judgmental hypocrites living in their self righteous bubbles! Well, at least in my local ones. I would just start by praying to God on your own. He is listening.?

I know someone told me once that the reason why Christianity isn’t more popular (for want of a better word) is that it’s so simple ie just be nice to people. I told a Christian friend that I looked on myself as a Christian as I believed in Christian principles but he said I had to believe in in the existence of God the Father, God the Son and Godthe Holy Ghost, which I didn’t so I’m not. I do feel a very deep spirituality of some kind but I can’t quantify it. I’m quite happy with that.

What an interesting thread. I am not a believer, I don’t think I ever was one although I attended Sunday school regularly (various ones, Baptist, Methodist etc). My mother had a Welsh chapel upbringing and I have the remnants of that in I am fairly po-faced about doing anything to excess like gambling.

The very fact that there are so many faiths makes me think there is no overarching One who is looking after us all. I am attracted to the likes of the Quakers and I love churches, but those are the outward trappings, not the faith itself.

I guess I agree with WWM2, and my faith is in humans.

Kate1949

I used to have a faith. I was forced to have one by my Irish Catholic parents. I believed it all. Priests and nuns were cruel and frightening, taking great delight in terrorising small children.
I no longer have a faith. Life has taught me that there's no one there. I do however love churches and cathedrals.

My attitude is that all faiths are good. The big, big problem is the people in it...

BlueBelle thank you! That's put it brilliantly!
Yes, many of the Routes are so appealing and attractive; and I understand what's going on, and their purpose and context etc (the human bits), but the Destination (the important bit, the actual God stuff) just doesn't seem achievable, or feasible.