Is Loosing Faith A Bad Thing?

[nailit]

I have a friend of 36 yrs.
We regularly swap reading material/online posts etc

He messaged me today (in response to a vid that I sent him)
Saying that he was 'Hanging on to his faith by a thread'.

Why do people hang on to a 'faith'
(IE, Believing in something without good evidence and without good reason)


As an ex evangelical, I can HALF understand it, But personally,
when I started to question, I had to let it go for the nonsense that it was.

[Atheist]

Nailit; I guess that deciding and admitting that you've been wrong about something for many years is a difficult thing to do. How would you feel if you eventually decided that it might just be possible that there is a divine creator? You would possibly toy with the idea and be torn between two awful choices.

[Buenchico]

Google 'confirmation bias' for an insight into what it is that makes people continue to believe in falsehoods even in the face of overwhelming evidence that their own beliefs are wrong.

Or, for a simple summary, see this page:
https://www.psychologytoday.com/gb/blog/supersurvivors/201705/why-do-people-believe-things-aren-t-true

[nailit]

//Nailit; I guess that deciding and admitting that you've been wrong about something for many years is a difficult thing to do//
Trust me, I've been there!

//How would you feel if you eventually decided that it might just be possible that there is a divine creator?//
But there wasn't/isn't...

How would YOU feel if Allah is real?
Or Zeus? Or Mithra? Or Osiris?
Think you get the point!

If there was (And he showed himself/itself to me) then things would be different....

But they are not.

[nailit]

Interesting page Chris...
Perused it quickly, will have a better look tomorrow.
Thankx

[Atheist]

Nailit; If you told me that some god had shown itself to you, I wouldn't necessarily believe that you had discovered a truth - I'd probably assume that you had joined the believer gang. You might believe what you had seen, but I would not.
I'm not trying to make you believe something I believe, just to explain why I think that some people have beliefs.

[Paigntonian]

Here we go again. A non-believer knocking believers. Nailit: there must be something seriously wrong with you for to continuously lambast something that you once believed in. If it's all nonsense why bother?

[nailit]

ATHEIST...
//You would possibly toy with the idea and be torn between two awful choices//

No!
Heaven or hell presumebly?
What about reincarnation?
What about just ceasing to exist?
What about certain people continuning
to exist while others simply cease to exist?
What about the idea that all will eventually be saved?

Add infinititum
Here's an idea from observation
(As appose to speculation)

We die!
End off.

[albaqwerty]

Losing faith, as an individual whose entire life is surrounded by those who are devout could have a huge impact (I'm thinking more Amish and wee frees)

[Paigntonian]

Nailit: Suggest you skip this religion stuff and find something else to do. You're obviously obsessed by it and don't think it's healthy for to get yourself wound up about it every other day.

[nailit]

// Nailit: there must be something seriously wrong with you for to continuously lambast something that you once believed in//

Hey, It passes a few minutes ;-)

[nailit]

//don't think it's healthy for to get yourself wound up about it every other day//
Not wound up at all!

Its the religious that seem the most wound up.
Im chilled.
Thanks for your concern...

[Paigntonian]

Nailit: Another thing. You say you lost your faith when you were an Evangelical. Perhaps it was that experience, which can take many forms, that led to you losing faith. That could have been in tandem with your personal circumstances, perhaps your mindset. I only mention it because I regained my faith when I changed Churches. No criticism intended. Faith is no more an absence of doubt than bravery is an absence of fear.

[Canary42]

/// Why do people hang on to a 'faith' ///

Fear

[Paigntonian]

Canary: Not in the slightest fearful I can assure you. The opposite.

[naomi24]

Clinging to faith helps some people cope with the nastier realities of life - like dying. One of the sweetest, gentlest, most beautiful things I’ve ever witnessed was a very poorly lady lying in bed with a contented smile on her face, quietly singing a simple hymn shortly before she peacefully departed this life - and I was happy for her. I’ll knock the bad as vocally as anyone - and there’s plenty of it in religion - but I can’t knock the good. I would never have denied her that fearless, pain-free, death.

[Canary42]

///Canary: Not in the slightest fearful I can assure you. The opposite.///

Precisely my point - faith neutralises fear.

[fripfrip]

naomi24,21:02 thank you for that post it's so sweet.

[Old_Geezer]

Gotta believe in something. I believe I'm gonna have another pint in a minute. One needs faith or one collapses.

[mibn2cweus]

Some seem to fear that questioning their faith might somehow diminish it. I suppose they have a point there.

[nailit]

//some seem to fear that questioning their faith might somehow diminish it. I suppose they have a point there//

And so it should be diminished.

Would you have 'faith' in an airline pilot that had never had a flying lesson??

Just don't get this notion of 'faith' anymore?

Pascal's wager?
Believe or be damned so its better to believe just in case?
Eh??
As if an all knowing God can be decieved.


Would NEVER make an arguement against someone who is dying,
But against the living I would...

As someone who has attempted suicide in the past,
I had no fear of death, still don't, and if my life became unbearable
in the future still don't.

I don't need any prospect of eternity with God to help me live or threat of ETERNAL torment to let me die at a moment of my choice.

(Though I hope to die a natural death)

Anyway, my friend is terrified of dying without his comfort blanket.
I'm not!
Give my comfort blanket away a long time ago....

Accepted that one day I am going to die and cease to exist.
Just like the piece of lamb that I had for dinner today