What is belief?

1. 61

   RLWalker LMposted 8 years ago

   What is belief?
   
   There is allot of discussion which pivots on our ability to believe. But have we looked at the notion of belief itself. The definition. Its relation to the notion of truth, reality, function/purpose, and it's application.

   replyreport
2. 61

   CosetteClareeseposted 8 years ago

   Belief is the same as our worldview. I look at belief as spectacles of how we see the world. We can put on various spectacles and see the world differently. Any worldview can change how we think, act, and speak.What we believe as individuals dictates our decisions we make everyday. I strive to be able to put on different spectacles so I can understand and learn how other people see the world.

   replyreport
   1. 61

      RLWalker LMposted 8 years agoin reply to this

      I like open minded people. We don't take our knowledge too seriously and are brave enough to try out other perspectives other than our own because we're aware non of them are actually our own.

      replyreport
3. 49

   Norine Williamsposted 8 years ago

   MOST of us have "tried everything" BUT GOD which is fine, because Scripture told us in I John 4:1 to "..."[test] the spirits whether they are of God..." and believe you me, we do, from Satan's to what we perceive as "religions'!"   
   
   But after ALL is said and done, after we've "researched" all possibilities, after we've used OUR "reasoning and logic" to come to a conclusion, we will soon realize that it is INEVITABLE that we (creations) will return to the Creator from which we came! It's just a matter of "accepting the FACT" (ego prevents), that GOD is GOD and not we ourselves!  Once one has "matured" (from "carnal to spiritual"), there is NOTHING to do but (whether we like it or not) "believe" TRUTH which is the WORD OF GOD!
   
   IMHO, that's my definition of "belief," which is exhausting all other possibilities (I John 4:1), "giving up," (II Chronicles 7:14), and coming to the conclusion that we are more than flesh and blood, but spirit, who will INEVITABLY "reconcile" to the Creator!
   
   For all of those who fail to "believe" GOD exists, please provide a book of prophecies with as many ACCURACIES (written BEFORE Bible) or tell me what "man" could have predicted as many prophecies with such ACCURACY considering the timeframe? If you can't find, use your "reasoning and logic," let go" of "self sufficiency"  and "admit" - THERE IS A GOD!

   replyreport
   1. 61

      RLWalker LMposted 8 years agoin reply to this

      I wan't to try to demonstrate something to you. And you know I'm friendly so don't get offended.
      
      I believe in God. I accept him as my lord and saviour. God is real, God exists.
      
      So... what now?

      replyreport
   2. 49

      Norine Williamsposted 8 years agoin reply to this

      RL: GREAT!  Have you learned to "Walk in the Spirit" which is according to HIS WORD!  Walking in the Spirit, believing & exercising "faith" enhances 1 to realize benefits (POWER) of the Holy Spirit!
      
      Have u studied Bible? Have you been baptized?

      replyreport
   3. 61

      RLWalker LMposted 8 years agoin reply to this

      I've been baptized and I've read a good bit of the bible although I can't recall most. I'm a generally good person and I even say prayers. So my point is, what's the point? What does believing or not change? Does it solve anything? Belief is overrate

      replyreport
   4. 49

      Norine Williamsposted 8 years agoin reply to this

      RL: In order to obtain a POWERFUL relationship w/GOD, the FIRST thg 1 must do is STUDY HIS WORD!  If 1 doesn't know what ONE likes, how can 1 please ONE r "believe" for lack of knowledge? Ultimate goal:  Utilize POWER 1 receives to the Glory of GOD!

      replyreport
4. 61

   RLWalker LMposted 8 years ago

   So this is my current understanding of what belief is.
   
   With regards to knowledge, that being the knowledge of facts and truths about the world, ourselves and reality and everything that we have any knowledge of, everything that we know is gained through the channel of our five senses and that sensory input is further filtered through the brain as necessary processing until it reaches consciousness as an actual conscious perception.
   
   Optical illusions, fallacies, biases, recall of things that where never there and overall "brain failure" as astrophysicist Niel deGrasse Tyson calls it is a clear indication of the fact that what we think we know or even perceive is only the story our brain is telling us, from the story that the senses are telling it. And that is happening all of the time, not sometimes.
   
   Plato wrote the allegory of the cave in the 4th century BC. It is exactly about what I just mentioned and if you haven't read it you should.
   
   Rene Descartes was a 16th century French philosopher, scientist and mathematician who is well known for the proposition "Cotigo ergo sum" which is translated from Latin to "I think, therefore I am." He explains further that you cannot doubt your own existence while you are doubting. I mention this only to point out how he was trying to find at least one single thing that he could know absolutely, and that is the fact of ones own existence.
   
   According to some and with valid reason, that is the only thing you know directly. Everything else is secondhand data.
   
   Belief, is even one step further from second hand data. Here not only do we have no sensory data, having never seen what we only believe. But through reason, logic and deduction we find in our thought that said thing probably is so based on a certain amount of evidence.
   
   This is useful when deciding whether or not to lock somebody up, or whether or not trust another and so on. We have to make decisions all the time with incomplete knowledge.
   
   This must be why we even have a notion such as belief.
   
   When you think about it, we do not seem to be designed for truth at all. We are instead highly equipped for making assumptions, fitting perceptions into preexisting categories (stereotypes), believing not what is probably true but what is most beneficial to you evolutionary imperative. All very useful. In fact, why on earth would we be equipped for knowing spiritual or philosophical truth? What does that have to do with survival and reproduction?

   replyreport
   1. 49

      Norine Williamsposted 8 years agoin reply to this

      We were designed by GOD to know "spiritual or philosophical truth" for "reconciliation" to HIM!  "Reconciliation" IS the "survival" process & once "in Christ" we show our love for Him by "reproducing" (or teaching) others who will also "GLORIFY G

      replyreport