We live in an age of conspiracy theories, and for the longest time, to this day, people believe in things like ghost

We live in an age of conspiracy theories, and for the longest time, to this day, people believe in things like ghost.

I always stood out from this as a rational person. Conspiracy theories were most of the time easily debunked, and were held by people who didn't want to see the world for how is actually is. People believed in ghost and spirits out of uncertainty about if there is a realm of the dead that exist, along with the natural fight-or-flight mode humans have. None of these things were intelligent to believe.

I feel that since the dawn of man people have attributed things that cannot be explained to god, and the things that we could not explain that we were able to eventually research never came up to a supernatural realization. So that was my immediate answer to things like fine-tuning, and philosophical arguments for the existence of god. We don't know yet, and from our experience researching things the we thought were supernatural but weren't, I would most likely expect a similar result if we could technologically find an answer to these things.

Sure, science can't explain everything about the universe, it's constantly changing and what we have now in terms of science and technology is far from trustworthy. But all the things that we are able to prove as objective fact beyond the point of needing more evidence (that also takes place in this universe) like:
So with that said why can't we say that more than likely with this information that the universe isn't caused by the supernatural? Sure you can use arguments like metaphysics, or philosophy, but given the information we have now, and weighing the things from an unbiased view, what seems to be more likely?

I've noticed while reading the Bible, especially in Paul's teachings but also in general, that we need to close our minds off the knowledge. But as a naturally skeptical person it seems like a neigh-impossible task for me to do, and I don't want to do that to myself. Still, I tried and used mental gymnastics, for I really wanted to believe. But what happened was a feeling of being uncomfortable and uncertainty. And with it I was still scared about life. No matter how close I try to get to God I still don't feel him in me. I pray and ask for him to reveal himself in me, for I want to know he's there, but I get nothing.

To sum things up, is it possible to be reasonable, and skeptical, and open-minded, and be confident in the existence of God?

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What

did not read a word

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You realize people conspiring isn’t anything new right? And the church itself teaches saints can intervene which can sort of be interpreted as ghosts. You want to feel superior to others so badly you did away with genuine logic and shoved your head so far up your ass you can’t see God.

stopped reading there

haha that frog dabbin

love is just a chemical. you're born alone and you die alone, oh wait except your mom gave birth to you, but forget about that and suck my dick mOooooRTY *burp*

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I'm generally referring to passages like 1 Timothy 6:20, I could search for more that I found but you get the meaning. For the like "the Tree of Knowledge" and whatnot


You're making huge assumptions for who I am based on a single post. I am like this because it's just how I am, you can be inclined to believe in God and superstition and still be intelligent. What I'm saying is how, as a skeptical person, understand God and be open-minded and reasonable with the world around me.


I should've used skeptical

Yes. For me, Thomas Aquinas' argument of the unmoved mover has no good refutation that I can think of or that I've heard of, so as far as I'm concerned the existence of a singular, perfect, all-powerful and all-knowing God is settled as a matter of pure logical fact in my mind. And from there I can just pick out the one that White people picked on the assumption that White people are spiritually superior to Indians and Arabs and would therefore be more inclined to just naturally know which one is right. There are also accounts of miracles which can't be explained by psychosomatic symptoms, such as Mary's appearance at Fatima.

This is my struggle as well. I guess it's the same cross Saint Thomas had to bear: he had a hard time accepting Christ on faith alone and needed evidence. Fortunately, there is evidence and reasoning enough for us to deduce the existence of God, and it is possible to come to faith through this means. But it would be better for people like us to just stop thinking so much and try to simply believe. This is because an overactive mind will constantly doubt and question absolutely everything all the time, even those things which can be proven beyond a reasonable doubt, and this is obviously not an ideal environment for faith to grow in.

If life is just about the spreading of your own genes, it is worthless. If the purpose of your life is to just be born and then suffer then you should just kill yourself as a rational person. To think that every thing in existence is reliant on some infinite loop of events is illogical as every thing in existence is finite.

As human beings we are limited by our perception of reality, because of this limitation we cannot fully understand everything. Much like a dog can sense the world through smell that we cannot physically ever do. This is why modern scientists like to throw stuff out like the "simulation theory" and "multiverse theory" that is complete superstition by any rational standards. Now THAT is the opium of the people, to sedate you into comfortable slumber.

The only logical thing is to have faith in something greater than yourself.

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Unironically this. You have to surrender your intellect to Christ. Without that, you'll get nowhere.

That's how I found faith, anyway. Atheism lead me to a terrible place in my life, so I finally said 'Screw it, let's just assume Christianity is true' and went from there. I faked it 'til I made it, so to speak.

I'm not going to lie, sometimes I still feel like I'm faking it, but my life is so much better since I joined the Church that I can't turn my back on it now. I don't know what would happen if I did, but I'm sure it wouldn't be good. The trick is to just persevere through these periods of despondency. Eventually you'll come out the other side a stronger Christian.

Forgive this semi-blogpost, but I'm just coming out of a recent state of despondency and kinda needed to share.

Strong skepticism is the sign of a naive infantile mind. I used to be like you, thinking conspiracy theories and superstition were “naughty.” Then I grew up and learned it’s better to assume there are shady forces going on than to be taken advantage of and potentially harmed without understanding why. The solution to your problem is to grow up or get your ass handed to you by someone evil.

"Credo ut intelligam" /I believe, that I may understand. - St. Augustine

Not always his biggest fan tbh, but that's a good one.

Augustine sounds a lot like an INTP.

I'm vaguely familiar with MBTI. Is that how INTPs work? Sort of intuiting a model, then picking it apart later?

ISFP here…apparently.

I don't give much credence to the MBTI personality test - it seems to me to be horoscopes for 'smart' people - but for what it's worth I'm an INTP.

I get it as much as I get arguments with Protestants on verses which say "Vain Philosophy" or the such. False knowledge is not to be interpreted as knowledge in general.

Think about it as handing a person the knowledge to make a nuke. Like, legitimately, would you?

Saying that faith is against reason is a modern thing by people who think that it meant "believing something in which no proof exists", it even sounds atheistic form there. It is nontraditional.
Furthermore it is nonbiblical because in the Bible God shows his power visibly in multiple instances, sometimes even to prove people who are doubting him. Jesus Christ even stated as such that if he did not show signs and wonders people would not believe.
Furthermore is not apostolic(if you even care about that?) because the Catholic, Orthodox and Coptic churches do not agree to such belief. You can read the Catechism for information on this for example, or other Orthodox/Coptic documents.

No thanks.

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This is great. winnie the pooh saved user.

I wasn't saying faith and reason are opposed at all. What I am saying, is that for myself (and I assume this is true for others as well), my mind was so accustomed to the atheistic worldview that I couldn't allow Christ in. To do this, I had to surrender my logic to God and 'just go with it' for a bit. Once I had become accustomed to the patterns of Christian thought I was able to re-frame my mind within the Christian paradigm. Once there, my rational faculties were able to be used for the fortification of my faith, as is their purpose.

I hope that makes sense and gives a better explanation for what I mean when I said one has to 'stop thinking.' I didn't mean you should just blindly accept the tenets of the Church without critical thought, or that the expression of reason is antagonistic to our religion. I just meant that one needs to abandon the old ways of thought that are antithetical to Christ and the Church before coming to accept them; for some of us that means abandoning ALL thought, because our minds were so warped that every piece of them rebelled against God.

And because it pertains somewhat to your post, I will say that I am Orthodox and thus the traditions of the church mean a great deal to me. I know I've read a similar line of thought (that of abandoning thought) in at least one book of the saints. I can't remember exactly where, but I want to say it was St. John of the Ladder.

...

Imagine wanting to be any of these things.

This is what some groups believe us Catholics or even Orthodoxes do for real…