Question about faith?

Question

This has bugged me for years. Christianity puts a high premium of faith, the necessity of believing and accepting Jesus as our Lord and Saviour. More recently, the phrase "a personal relationship" has also been used more and more.

My question is simple and sincere. The people who were eyewitness to the miracles, the healings, the walking on water, feeding the 5000 lacked faith in major tangible ways, from Peter denying the Lord to Judas betraying Him and Thomas refusing to believe in the resurrection when many of his friends had already seen the resurrected Lord. They fell asleep when Jesus asked them to stay up and pray with Him.

How can a reasonable God expect me, 2000 years later, to have a stronger faith than the disciples and others who personally witnessed miracles? How can I expect it from myself?

Answer 1

The fact that you question yourself speaks much about your character. I think that your Jesus would realize that you are but a human being. He of course was an exceptional man. He asks you to TRY to live in his ways. Im sure he knows that at times his followers will slip. That is why he offers you the opportunity to be saved.



You can only expect of yourself what you know you are capable of. You will learn what your strengths are through time and practice.It sounds to me like you are taking the bible a bit too literal. Cut yourself some slack and relax.



You know what you are capable of and so should your deity. And remember your Lord is a forgiviing one. Ask to be forgiven and you will be.



Try to follow the ways the best you can, you will find strengths in yourself that you may not be aware of. And trust your Lord to help you find them. Ask for his help and guidance. I find daily pray to my deity helps me.



I keep a daily running dialog with my deities, it helps me to gain the guidance I need to make the hard choices I need to make. Some days it helps me just get through the day. You can never pray too much.



Meditation might also help you. Try it. Your Lord may chose to speak to you at this time. Open your heart and mind and listen.



The only difference between you and I are the religions we follow. You are Christian and I am Wiccan. I pray several times a day, I follow a code of ethics much like you do. I try to live a good clean life. As I am sure you do.



As I said the fact that you question yourself speaks much about the kind of person you are. You strive to live up to the standards that your Lord asks of you...or you would not question yourself as you do. Keep asking your Lord for guidance and I think you will in time find the answers you seek.



Blessings, love and light

Aviana

Answer 2

They were dependent only on Jesus being who he said he was. They didn't know he was going to die on the cross. Plus, they knew that Moses and others had done miracles in the past. We have their testimony that Jesus is who he said he was. We have millions of peoples testimony that they were not privileged too. They thought Jesus was going to be king on earth, then they were shattered when he died. They had doubts because their idea of the messiah was not God's plan. They also had the priests doubting Jesus. There wasn't much support for them to believe, until they saw with their own eyes after the Resurrection

Answer 3

First - I don't think your question is specific only to Christians...



Secondly - as an agnostic buddhist who believes in God - I agree with you.



The only God I can imagine is one who would forgive us our wrongs... or at least understand them.



I think that everyone who believes in God has a feeling that they are on his good side... and that really drives atheists up the wall... because blind faith is like kryptonite to "the power of logic".



In the end, faith is a matter of necessity for some people - it gets them through the day where nothing else can.



Atheists have other tools... who is to say what's best for you?

Not me...

Answer 4

Interesting question. You have a lot of good answers here.



I used to wonder this same thing, without ever asking the question. I just assumed a superiority to them (what an ego!).



In the Gita, Arjuna spends a lot of time chatting away with Krishna, who is HIS God incarnate. Arjuna argues, pouts, balks, asks nearly heretical questions -- all because he seems to have a suspended faith from time to time, like amnesia. I have heard the apostles' attitude compared to this. Knowing their good buddy Jesus to be the long-awaited Christ, someone they bow before on a couple of occasions, it would be too much on their human minds to hold this thought every day all day long.



So You see our faith is not stronger than theirs. Theirs was SO strong that it needed to be turned off most of the time or it would have killed them.



Seriously. Of course, You don't have to agree with that.

Answer 5

Faith is a tool of deception weilded by the leaders of shame based religions. It is a mixture of guilt, social pressure, and promise of reward that make you want to believe in that which you don't see or have no evidence of. Nature is perfely fine with giving you all the evidence you need. God is a jealous power hungry being who was created by man. The real God is a colletive of all us who are Gods and Goddesses. The widest paths mislead. There is no sin, only consequence. there is no Holiness, only purity.

Answer 6

God is not reasonable. God is a synonym for contradiction.



Reason is the only tool that we have for distinguishing the real from the unreal, the true from the false, the just from the unjust, and the moral from the immoral.



We know that bad men do evil. But for good men to do evil, it takes faith!

Answer 7

they denied him "before " the holy spirit came to dwell in man and empower them in there faith. Jesus was still on earth and had not accended yet, but after Peter and the others were filled with the Holy Spirit they died for the sake of the gosple of Christ.

it's the spirit that draws men, but ultimetly you have a free choice to reject or grieve the spirit.

Answer 8

It takes your whole life, You won't be complete until you come face to face with Jesus.

Answer 9

A simple answer....You can learn from the errors of the past to make you stronger and wiser in the present....

Answer 10

When it comes to faith -- No strain, no gain



Jhn 20:29 Jesus saith unto him, Thomas, because thou hast seen me, thou hast believed: blessed [are] they that have not seen, and [yet] have believed.



SIMPLE AND SINCERE

Answer 11

Good question. Nicely done.

Answer 12

If the rest of us can do it you can too. Just because he isn't in the flesh doesn't mean you can't meet him and see for yourself. ;)

Answer 13

you have faith in yourself....Believe in yourself first.