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Politics : View from the Center and Left -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: Katelew who wrote (84894)	9/16/2008 7:00:00 PM
From: Cogito	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 541851

>>Some people claim that they know "The Truth" because they have decided that things that are currently unknown can be KNOWN by EXPERIENCING the magic. Basically I just substituted two words in your original statement. The reason is that I don't think most people just one day 'decide' to believe in God. I think the natural state is more one of disbelief. A person might decide to adopt a "willing suspension of disbelief" in order to explore whether or not God exists and/or participate in a particular church group, but this decision is just a starting point. Without some kind of meaningful, maybe even powerful, personal validation, most are apt to fall back into a state of disbelief, I think. At any rate, I just don't know how someone can just decide to believe something and then stay long-term with such a tenuous grip on the reality of the thing.<< Kate - No one, in any state of belief or suspension of disbelief, can experience the creation of the universe. Extrapolating an idea of how that happened from feelings one has doesn't change that. And many religious people go far beyond that, claiming that they know what God wants us to do here on earth, and to knowing what happens after we die. I know that my natural state is one of disbelief, but I can't count how many times people have said to me, "You have to have faith. Only then can you experience salvation." Or words to that effect. The whole evangelical, born-again movement is based on that. Accept Jesus as your personal savior, and you're all set. So it seems that, at least to those people, the idea is that you must first make a huge assumption, and then the rest of their religion's doctrine will make sense. I realize your own view is not like that, but I don't think you can assume that most religious people are like you. - Allen