Tuesday, December 02, 2008

"Skepticism is the beginning of faith"

What does that mean?

I'm looking specifically at those of you of faith....chrissy, jesse, becky, jim....

5 comments:

CMS said...

Dunno. I guess you have to "believe" that you or something/someone else is wrong or "doubt" some things before you'll even entertain the idea to believe in something you can't tangibly prove.

If someone knows it all, they can't need faith in anything..... they know it already. But if they doubt, they can wonder, and if they wonder, perhaps they can believe.

Just winging it. Gotta put short stuff to bed :-)

Bunny said...

Hmm.
I think that in order to have faith you really have to look at "things" that are out there to believe in and analyze and pick through, figuring out for yourself what each means and how it can apply to your own spiritual journey. I wouldn't consider myself skeptical, but the more "faithful" or spiritual I become or rather, the further along my spiritual journey I go, the more I want to learn about all kinds of things related to faith and spirituality. Through that learning some things I come across don't fit with me and then I can dismiss them or understand them to be one (or several) human's interpretation.
I'm interested in where this quote came from, the word skepticism has kind of a negative feel to me, like a prejudging that whatyou are about to hear is probably "false" or untrue. Hmmm.

Now that I think about it i have another quote for one of these discussions...

Ryan said...

It comes from the lyrics of this song: http://www.justsomelyrics.com/760955/Lazyboy-This-Is-the-Truth-Lyrics

There are some good ones in there. Most of their songs are pretty positive and there are some positive things in this one, but it is more negative than the rest.

In any case, I apprecaite the feedback from both of you on this one. I'm still not sure I have my arms around it but I think I have a better idea now.

CMS said...

After seeing the reference to this song, all I can conclude is that I'd never want to run into that guy at a party. Certainly not a life upper, that's for sure.

He puts your quote in a very cynical fashion, although I don't think it's entirely untrue.

Although some (ok many) people of faith forget, belief DOES NOT remove the ability or the need for free independent thought. That idea is merely religious propaganda. It just means that one can hold the ideal (or truth - person depending) that there lies a power beyond humanity. In a way, this quote defends that as a thoughtless person cannot be skeptical, merely accepting.

But in order to believe in anything, you have to concede to know that man doesn't know everything.

Bunny said...

I have found that the more I explore my own spirituality, the more I, like CMS, come to understand that any religious or faithful interpretations on this earth are made by man. They certainly can be divinely inspired, spiritually guided, but they still come through the filter of people who interpret and then try to share and pass along their experience. I think this perspective gives me more understanding and compassion toward those whose religious doctrines I find harsh and that I disagree with.