I have a strange question.

[pauraque_bk]

Those of you who subscribe to a religion, or more generally a system of spiritual beliefs... why do you believe?

When I read about the moral tenets of a religion, I can easily say whether I agree with them or not, but those aspects which require faith -- I guess I'm not sure where people find it. I understand that evidence is not necessary for faith. So where does it come from?

Comments

[cessibaby.livejournal.com]

faith is from the heart, like love. you don't know why it exists other than you feel it.

[eponis.livejournal.com]

Faith is a choice, like love. You have the heady infatuation stage, where it's OBVIOUS to you that this is the right faith, indeed the awesomest faith in the world. But infatuation fades eventually, and after that, it's a choice: a choice every day to say "Yes, I choose to believe this. Some days I'll feel it more than others, but the benefits of making this work are so important to me that I want to put that time and trust and devotion in there." And when you've been doing that for long enough, then it's not even a choice any more, because you can't imagine living your life without it.

[joiedumonde.livejournal.com]

Most of what I knew about Christianity was what I managed to cobble together from reading a children's Bible, going to a Christian daycare for several years and spending 2 summers in vacation Bible school. Which is to say that I had the general idea, but not too many specifics.

I never really questioned the rightness or wrongness of my religion until senior year in high school. By that time, a lot of things had happened: I had lost both of my grandmothers within 2 years of eachother, I began reading more about world religion, and I came to terms with my bisexuality in a small town where churches outnumber just about everything.

I spent 18 months reading, discussing, debating, and thinking before I finally found the faith that works for me. My college roommate had a big part in this, and she was there when I got baptised.

In the end what it came down to for me is that I have to believe that everyone that I've lost (and by now there seem to be so many), is in a place where I will see them again someday, where their pain is lifted from them, and their earthly burdens have melted away. I have to believe that no matter what happens that their is someone who loves me and will watch over me. Granted my own personal faith isn't strictly Christian based, but none of it is contradicted by the Bible.

This clip from Queer as Folk says so much about what I believe about God. (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hgqoYNBP0iQ) It's probably not a coinicidence that I discovered QaF around the same time I was discovering my personal faith.

[atdelphi.livejournal.com]

I don't think it's a strange question - or at the very least, it's one I wonder about all the time. I'm an atheist, but a rather reluctant one. I would love the comfort that comes from religion, but though there are practices I find aesthetically or psychologically or morally pleasing, I'm just seemingly incapable of actually believing in the supernatural.

[odogoddess.livejournal.com]

The same place your trust in a friend comes in if they say they will pick you up or put in a good word for you for a job. You have faith they will and put it out of your mind and go about your day. Imo, that is what religion was created for -- the larger issues so that people can comfortably put them out of their mind and not think about (death, war, illness, poverty, etc.). That is both its grace and its menace.

[cordelia_v]

Faith can come from many places, I think. The answers others have posted above all resonate for me, esp. Eponis's and Odo's. I'd add two other sources:

First, when I consider the overwhelming beauty of some parts of the Earth and the diversity of its lifeforms, I am persuaded that all this did not come about by random chance. That the Earth, the universe, and all life forms are an expression of God's creativity.

Second, I also believe simply because I am often aware of God's presence. So, my faith comes out of personal experience, I guess.

[lilacsigil.livejournal.com]

This is a fascinating question - I don't have faith, and have been an atheist my whole life, despite my mother being a mildly observant Christian. Like you, I can read about the moral tenets with great interest, but there's that one step further that my brain just does not take.

[alabastard.livejournal.com]

We are Spiritualists, if we have to pin our beliefs down to one system. We run the gamut, however, Spiritualists tenets leave a lot of room for differences, focusing on taking responsibility for your actions and life, and that we do go on to the other side to live in paradise, though there's no trick or test to pass to getting in, we all go on if the desire is there.