A theism, a theism, my kingdom for a theism

[Zeta-Flux]

Originally Posted by retina

You appear to have an a priori unquestioning belief in god. If this is not so then I would be interested to learn how you came to prove the existence of god.

First a small note. When discussing the the god of Christianity, his proper name is God. Thus, to use lower-case (whether you believe in him or not) when using the word as a name is disrespectful (and unnecessarily so). If you would prefer to use the lower-case, you could instead say: "You appear to have an a priori unquestioning belief in a god." I assume this disrespect was unintentional on your part.

To answer your question, no I didn't have an a priori unquestioning belief. [As I imagine is common among most of us, I've had many periods of doubt, worry, and questioning.] On my way to belief in God I did have a strong hope that he might exist, a belief that if he did exist he could communicate this fact to me, and a strong trust in those who taught me about him (in particular, my parents). Ultimately, however, my current belief in God is based on the answer he gave to me to my question and other experiences in my life.

[retina]

Originally Posted by Zeta-Flux

First a small note. When discussing the the god of Christianity, his proper name is God. Thus, to use lower-case (whether you believe in him or not) when using the word as a name is disrespectful (and unnecessarily so). If you would prefer to use the lower-case, you could instead say: "You appear to have an a priori unquestioning belief in a god." I assume this disrespect was unintentional on your part.

Indeed such disrespect was not intentional. My preference is to capitalise proper names as per normal English rules. I also capitalise the proper names of people I have absolutely no respect for, so for me it is not a matter of being respectful or not, but merely a grammar/punctuation/style thing. I am sorry if this offends someone but that is my style.

[Nick]

In Dutch, we use the polite version of the "you" pronoun (and "your" etc.) to talk to God:

Onze Vader die in de hemelen zijt,
uw naam worde geheiligd;
uw koninkrijk kome;...

In French, the familiar version of "you" pronoun is used, however:

Notre Père,
qui es aux cieux,
que ton nom soit sanctifié
que ton règne arrive...

I'm no expert, but presumably this is because French speakers view their relationship with God as a close one, whereas the polite pronoun in French also carries a connotation of distance.

[wblipp]

Originally Posted by davar55

Doesn't all active religious belief require some kind of belief in some kind of supernaturalism?

Only if you define "active religious belief" to mean that. I think most Buddhists and many Unitarian Universalists do not have supernatural beliefs and consider their religious behavior to be "active" in the sense that it guides their actions.

[axn]

Originally Posted by wblipp

Only if you define "active religious belief" to mean that. I think most Buddhists and many Unitarian Universalists do not have supernatural beliefs and consider their religious behavior to be "active" in the sense that it guides their actions.

Karma and Rebirth sounds suspiciously like supernatural phenomenon.

[wblipp]

Originally Posted by axn

Karma and Rebirth sounds suspiciously like supernatural phenomenon.

I guess it's been much too long since I checked out the full belief system of Eastern Religions. I'm much more confident that in the 1960's Unitarian Universalism was the religious home of many Religious Humanists, most of whom reject supernaturalism. They are still a substantial component of most UU congregations today. There are also many in those congregations that use the language of gods and other spirits, but understand them to be metaphor and/or useful anthropomorphism of natural things.

[chalsall]

Originally Posted by Zeta-Flux

Indeed, my faith teaches us to ask God questions about all sorts of things, including what to believe, and also teaches us to study things out in our minds.

If I may respectfully ask you, how did God answer your questions?

[chalsall]

Originally Posted by axn

Karma and Rebirth sounds suspiciously like supernatural phenomenon.

The issue, in my opinion, is the human brain evolved from those where false positives were less expensive than false negatives. Or, in other words, seeing things which weren't there resulting in less deaths than not seeing things which were there. This, IMHO, is where religion and superstition comes from.

With regards to Karma, I would argue this does not have to be supernatural. Give a hungry person or two in your neighborhood some food from time-to-time, and perhaps they'll talk about it. And, then, perhaps, the neighborhood will "watch your back" as you've demonstrated you will do for them.

Only my opinion, of course, based on my personal experiences. Not backed up by any rigorous double-blind scientific study.

[xilman]

Originally Posted by wblipp

There are also many in those congregations that use the language of gods and other spirits, but understand them to be metaphor and/or useful anthropomorphism of natural things.

AIUI, which is admittedly imperfectly, this is an accurate representation of ancient Egyptian religious beliefs.

Note that many of the Egyptian gods were at most semi-anthropomorhic. Relatively few were depicted as a fully human figure (maat being one example); many more were depicted with non-human representation.

[xilman]

Originally Posted by chalsall

With regards to Karma, I would argue this does not have to be supernatural. Give a hungry person or two in your neighborhood some food from time-to-time, and perhaps they'll talk about it. And, then, perhaps, the neighborhood will "watch your back" as you've demonstrated you will do for them.

I would also argue the same.

To me "karma" is an amalgamation of kindliness, consideration, charity (in the original Christian sense of caritas), love (in the senses of agape and philia, rather than eros), public spiritness, tolerance, wisdom and so forth.

Buddhism is far from the only religion to promote such qualities as desirable.

[Zeta-Flux]

Originally Posted by chalsall

If I may respectfully ask you, how did God answer your questions?

It has not been the same way for every question, and not always as clear and recognizable. I'll share two of my experiences.

Regarding my question of whether God was real, the answer came while listening to some music. I had been pondering the question of his existence for quite some time, and became very emotionally moved by some music about the divine. Then something else happened--a physical warmth enveloped me and (as best as I can describe it) my mind opened up. Knowledge was dumped in.

One of the clearest answers I had to a prayer was when my wife miscarried our first baby. I asked Heavenly Father a very specific question about this, in my head while I was driving my car. The answer to this question came almost immediately and unexpectedly, put directly into my mind. The closest thing I could liken it to is an epiphany, where you realize the answer to your question and also deeply understand that answer. The answer was also accompanied by the same physical warmth I had experienced earlier.