How Does your Faith Influence the Choices You Make In Your Life?

[Waterfall]

Or not so much?

 

[Luce NDs]

It is a quandary; given all the information and misinformation one has to dig through to get to the bottom that might present reason, logic and such stuff that is the Sophia of God ... everything placed in adequate order for the greatest good ... given the corrupting temptations ...

Do you prefer to carry the virtue (pain of learning difference, divining) or the wealth of physical success ... there I vanish as a vapor ... in essence, not very successful ... but carrying great stories of the corruption I've experienced! It is all over the place like scattered knowledge and wisdom ... pick carefully for some of those berries are Dolls Eyes ... they can go either way! --- Bette Davis in black and white? Tread lightly ...

 

[Pavlos Maros]

Religious adherence guides"?" your moral and ethical compass, your sense of purpose and meaning, it sets up a community so gives you a sense of belonging it has rituals and practices to keep you controlled, it appears to offer comfort in face of hardship, and it influence all your personal and societal goals.
So I'd say you don't have your own choices only those controlled by your faith.

 

[Luce NDs]

It is said the great mystery divined ... that is like a split hare ... bifurcation of desire and know-how? Do not isolate them they are meant to go arm in arm ... sometimes like a barn dance ... doe see doe? Caution ... it is a complex connection as we relate ... out there a lot of green and jaded personalities that wished to control the entire field (Wahl) ... avarice ... a kohl character ... observe the whites of the Ayes, extremely carefully for red Marx ... she may have had a bad night (rudely cranked) and need comforting by a gentle sol ... according to the divide ... it needs to go both ways ... ↔ (thas called empiric)! You might find the emperor penguin all black and white ... some variants prerequisite ... like that lonesome sound out on the pond ... calling!

Perfect autonomy is not all that great ... get many mortals grift that way ... eating at the sense of a greater soul ... sol ... out on the quay? There's a word for that ...

In reality one might as well talk t themselves or write it down silently ... because of the non sense about disconnection and dissociation constants? Search out the alter ego ... often found to be beyond you are it can't stand the overinflated matter ... excited aÐ*m's ... mostly blowing electrons?

 

[paradox3]

Religious adherence guides"?" your moral and ethical compass, your sense of purpose and meaning, it sets up a community so gives you a sense of belonging

Yes, I agree with all of this.

it has rituals and practices to keep you controlled,

Here is where we part company. This may be true of some religious sects and denominations. But not all. Liberal Christians have rituals for sure but I don't see or experience them as controlling.

it appears to offer comfort in face of hardship

More than the appearance of comfort, in my experience.

and it influence all your personal and societal goals.

Maybe.

So I'd say you don't have your own choices only those controlled by your faith.

Not sure about this one.

 

[Mendalla]

Religion and spirituality are a source of values, there is no doubt. And that is not always coercion. After all, my embrace of the UU principles was entirely voluntary and they very much influence choices I make. UUs call themselves the "Chosen Faith" for a reason. Most UUs chose to be UUs rather than being "brought up in the faith". And I think that is true of many Christians, too, even conservative and mainstream ones.

However, the question was not whether religion is indoctrinated but whether faith influences choices and I would say, yes it does. Possibly inevitably. Since faith speaks to our beliefs about our place in reality, it influences and shapes our values, or at least reflects them (in the case of a chosen faith per above), and one would hope that we make choices that are in keeping with our values.

 

[Waterfall]

Religious adherence guides"?" your moral and ethical compass, your sense of purpose and meaning, it sets up a community so gives you a sense of belonging it has rituals and practices to keep you controlled, it appears to offer comfort in face of hardship, and it influence all your personal and societal goals.
So I'd say you don't have your own choices only those controlled by your faith.

That's pretty good, coming from someone who's an atheist and an observer. Of course it's not totally accurate IMO but I appreciate your perspective.

 

[Waterfall]

Religion and spirituality are a source of values, there is no doubt. And that is not always coercion. After all, my embrace of the UU principles was entirely voluntary and they very much influence choices I make. UUs call themselves the "Chosen Faith" for a reason. Most UUs chose to be UUs rather than being "brought up in the faith". And I think that is true of many Christians, too, even conservative and mainstream ones.

However, the question was not whether religion is indoctrinated but whether faith influences choices and I would say, yes it does. Possibly inevitably. Since faith speaks to our beliefs about our place in reality, it influences and shapes our values, or at least reflects them (in the case of a chosen faith per above), and one would hope that we make choices that are in keeping with our values.

Do you think you would be different without faith to help shape your values? How?

 

[Waterfall]

Yes, I agree with all of this.


Here is where we part company. This may be true of some religious sects and denominations. But not all. Liberal Christians have rituals for sure but I don't see or experience them as controlling.


More than the appearance of comfort, in my experience.


Maybe.


Not sure about this one.

Perhaps "boundaries" gets confused with control?

 

[Luce NDs]

Do atheists have limits that to some are confusing as morals and ethics? Maybe atheists have better processes for getting together without brutish free will that ignores the input of sol ... Saul? Somewhat of an enlightening power ... it comes up from time to time as a sign of something deeper ... conned science?

Bum steers ... some pious type will misinform for the sake of inflation! Difficult to take by times but ne must be tolerant f what painful lesson is buried there ... hypo, or subtle the tic? The Ode IHC's ... are scored in a place that's intangible to the super fish 'L ...

It appear to me that even atheists have goals and ideals that can be transcribed as gods ... then some have nothing ... just a vast formless desire that may come on a storm in the night ... a pall? Little squalling items of concern? Some of them worry about being aborted ... thus self-limitation that's embedded, where? I am ... not allowed to speak of it ... thus the word ineffable ... intangible to many who don't dig some gems ... as if they were trans vested ... sold off?

That's oul in the marketplace ...

 

[paradox3]

Perhaps "boundaries" gets confused with control?

Hmm. I have had debates about boundaries vs barriers with a clergyperson who liked to say that Jesus got rid of boundaries.

Boundaries are considered healthy in the mental health world. Jesus broke down barriers in my view.

Does moral guidance get confused with control, maybe? By boundaries do you mean limits?

 

[Luce NDs]

When going beyond the physical boundaries one become kind of an essence or ether ... numbing? Real folk will ignore ... if only for the eclectic value!

 

[Mendalla]

Do you think you would be different without faith to help shape your values? How?

Quite probably I would be different but the how is very hard. After all, I grew up liberal Christian. A lot of my values and even some of my beliefs are still deeply rooted in that upbringing even post-UU (after all, UUism came out of theological movements in Christianity). So it is hard to disentangle faith from other influences.

Hellenistic Greek philosophy is an influence due to my Classics degree, so perhaps I would be more Epicurean or Stoic than I really am now. But I am not sure what that me really looks like. Epicureanism leans dangerously close to hedonism if one is not careful or misinterprets parts of it but I am not really the right temperament for that. But Stoicism, while closer to Christian values in some regards, is bit too cold and impersonal so not sure I have the right temperament for that either.

It is an interesting mental exercise but, like all alternate universes, speculation at best.

 

[Luce NDs]

Quite probably I would be different but the how is very hard. After all, I grew up liberal Christian. A lot of my values and even some of my beliefs are still deeply rooted in that upbringing even post-UU (after all, UUism came out of theological movements in Christianity). So it is hard to disentangle faith from other influences.

Hellenistic Greek philosophy is an influence due to my Classics degree, so perhaps I would be more Epicurean or Stoic than I really am now. But I am not sure what that me really looks like. Epicureanism leans dangerously close to hedonism if one is not careful or misinterprets parts of it but I am not really the right temperament for that. But Stoicism, while closer to Christian values in some regards, is bit too cold and impersonal so not sure I have the right temperament for that either.

It is an interesting mental exercise but, like all alternate universes, speculation at best.

Imagine a medium or paradigm? No that wouldn't agree with the bias towards success and succession lines ... advantages must be absconded with for personal ascent ... all the rest can go down ...

 

[jimkenney12]

Before I started Sunday school and church at age 9, I just tried to be a good and smart person. My faith experiences have deepened my understanding and strengthened my tools for making decisions. Because I came to have a solid belief in the Holy Mystery, I chose to believe a vision in Grade 12 was something between a call to ministry and a declaration that I would become a minister whether I wanted to or not. My faith journey which has diverse inputs developed a sense of connection to everyone and everything. For example, a series of incidents led to deciding to donate a kidney if I could. When I was 66, I realized I was running out of time to do that so started the process of making an anonymous kidney donation. I am was 68.5 when I did that. To me it was not and is not a big deal. Most of us only need one kidney. The medical process is well established with relatively low risk for healthy people. It makes a huge difference in the life of the person who receives. It makes sense to people who want to contribute to a better world. It ties into my deep sense of connection. My faith and values affect my choices daily. I do have one negative consequence. I led a very active life, and still do. There was a lot of scar tissue around the kidney making for a difficult extraction. My abdominal muscles did not heal properly so I need to do exercises to prevent or reduce pain from walking or standing for long periods of time. This issue took about 5 months to become obvious and might be considerably less if I would have had physiotherapy sooner and started the exercises sooner. 9 weekes after the donation we went to Spain and Morocco. While in Spain, we walked 20,000 to 25,000 steps daily with no ill effects from the donation.

Sorry for being so wordy.

 

[Nancy]

My faith influenced my choice in a marriage partner. I knew I couldn’t marry someone who didn’t understand or participate in a faith. It didn’t matter that I was Presbyterian (at the time) and that he was Roman Catholic. We’ve learned a lot about each other’s faith practices over the years.

 

[paradox3]

When I married Mr Paradox, I was a lapsed United Church member and he was a lapsed Presbyterian. It has worked out very well.

I returned to church in my late thirties and he had no desire to do so. He has been nothing but supportive of my church involvement although it's not his thing.

 

[Jaebius]

My faith played a major role in my choice of marriage partner. At the time she was in a big Presbyterian church, and I was in a small Baptist one. The Christian faith that we share in common helped both of us choose someone different than ourselves in terms of race, nationality, ethnicity, culture, and language.

It also played a major role in my choice of university major. Before I was called to Christian university, I'd been mostly interested in studying Sociology.

It also played a major role in my choosing to leave Canada to live and teach on the other side of the globe in South Korea.

It also played a major role in my choosing to leave being a conservative Baptist to become a pastor at a Presbyterian church.

 

[Luce NDs]

Holy Mystery is a group of words that says a lot about why individuals and social groups do and behave! Mostly because of being led by the concept ...

Those that feel better following something they "don't know" are troublesome because generally they get a false sense ...

Recently I came across an old article about a study that went on in California involving simulated prison conditions; within a few days the simulated guards were abusing the captives and the study had to be discontinued because of abuse (of characters that in reality had done nothing illegitimate). Reminded me of Lord Acton's comments about corruption in power!

Can you imagine powerful Christians that disdain humility, justice and mercy because of their faith that they are better?

When a parent says to a mischievous child: "you're better than that!" Is there an innuendo ... something sort of oblique or of glancing nature not properly assimilated?

Should one study what they don't know or just peruse what's familiar and repeated many times like AD's? Thus conundrum's and dark enigmas ... always more's to learn about and the associated flaws give we are human. Doesn't it say something of that in the mysterious literature ... that humans are flawed for reason we don't understand ... the solution being an ideal that is way beyond us socially ... now autonomously there are individuals that believe they are winners ... could it be that they suffer the human misunderstanding? How else would they learn anything ... there some are stuck with the rod and shafted ... like a horse between leads ... it the cross tree breaks it presents a real danger ... same thing with a mast on a bote, that's ݑ in the alter Semi Tic ... as beh crosses the beam ... you can see due to the Ra ... Ra was significant in laying some Plank in literary intelligence and seeing through the clouds raised by powers rushing about to win god knows what ... a mystery shot with holes? Look up at night ... now that you see the containment accept that you may have to be Biden your time ... you might as well enjoy and learn something while here unless you feel above that process ...

 

[jimkenney12]

What they do depends on their character.