How to identify the quality of FAITH and BELIEF by its uses

Terry

BELIEF is spackle.

You can't see the crack in your thinking when you exercise FAITH.

FAITH is denying the reality of alternate explanations to yourself and everybody else.

Consequently, a person of FAITH can not, must not, will not allow others the option of non-binary references.

The Spackle patrol is on duty!!

Choosing certainty over uncertainty eliminates the spectrum of grey area between BLACK and WHITE.

If you are afraid of the gray area because there are too many variables to consider and compare and feel comfortable with....the simplest way

to ease your anxiety is to eliminate that gray area by dogmatically insisting IT ISN'T THERE.

Therefore, you can't allow those who disagree with you to access or reference it either! It brings that anxiety back into play!

Result? MAN INVENTS ORTHODOXY .

What demonstrates binary thinking more than:

1. Good OR Evil No gray areas! (Sin dominates man. God forgives or punishes it.)

2.God OR the Devil. No overlap! (If God orders the slaughter of man, woman, child, infant and animal it is automatically Good.)

3.Obedience OR destruction. (Adam and Eve could not expect discipline and a learning experience!)

4. Bible True or Man is lost (Corruption of texts and no provenance cannot be issues worth considering. Believe the Bible or you are done for.)

5.Good works vs Faith in Christ (Not even Mother Theresa can earn brownie points. Just say the magic word: JESUS!)

6.End Times always now vs never going to happen (Contemporary Christians are always THE generation Jesus will save. Only the faithless are skeptical.)

7.One True religion vs some truth in all religion (MY religion can only be right and your religion is infested with Satan's lies)

So, the next time a True Believer adamantly refuses to engage you in a rational discussion with all possible facts and variables being considered

simply realize that their FAITH is SPACKLE! They cannot allow themselves to see the cracks in their cognitive dissonance.

How does a person of Faith apply the spackle?

1.They will repeat a simple phrase in place of a factual, demonstrable reply. (Jesus is Lord! Jehovah will handle it. God said it, I believe it, that settles it.)

2. Label skeptics as heretics, apostates or demon possessed. False pity their opponents by warning them of Hell or Armageddon.

3.Appeal to mysticism. (God TOLD THEM PERSONALLY. They had an EXPERIENCE that convinced them. Spoke in tongues. Received an angel. etc.)

4.Insist you prove a negative. Drift into speculation which includes metaphysical possibility. Justify nonsense with Spiritual jargon.

5.Redefine words and load them with Ad Hoc "meaning" thus hijacking actual communication. "Accurate Knowledge", The Truth, etc.

6.Restate the Skeptics statements as a Strawman Fallacy and attack THAT instead. (Atheists hate God, Agnostics are cowards, Evolution is Darwinism, Creationism is Intelligent Design, etc.)

7.Marginalize opponents and lump them in with the worst possible groups (Atheists+Nazis or Stalin, Skeptics+abortionists+murderers, etc.

Summary:

BELIEF is spackle.

You can't see the crack in your thinking when you exercise FAITH.

FAITH is denying the reality of alternate explanations to yourself and everybody else.

AGuest

"... denying the reality of alternate explanations to yourself and everybody else."

Well, yessir, dear Terry, you have really opened my eyes and as a result I can “see” it ALL, now!

Well, you just go on wit’ you bad and “faithful” self, then!

And, again, PEACE!

An "unfaithful" slave of Christ,

SA

PSacramento

Do you think that Faith and belief have ANY role in life or any benefits Terry?

Terry

And, again, PEACE!

An "unfaithful" slave of Christ,

How does a person of Faith apply the spackle?

1.They will repeat a simple phrase in place of a factual, demonstrable reply.

And, again, PEACE!

An "unfaithful" slave of Christ,

BurnTheShips

It seems to me that this spackle is tied to fundamentalism. Few of the believers on this board employ the tactics you enumerate. The ones that do get driven to the exits.

This binary thinking is fundamentalist.

In fact, your post is fundamentalist. Faith is a binary "evil" to you.

No gray.

You've commited one of the classic blunders: The first one is never get involved in a land war in Asia. The second one is don't 100% buy into your own personal line of bullshit!

BTS

Terry

Do you think that Faith and belief have ANY role in life or any benefits Terry?

In the religious context of accepting what cannot be demonstrated....Faith plays the role of taking up the same space which might more practically be occupied by information of a factual nature.

You see, it is alot like this.

You are at a grocery store and notice a spill. You are not an employee. Do you report the spill or trust that somehow one of the actual employees will mop it up? Should you report the spill yourself? Surely, somebody else has already done so.....

In the above scenario outright affirmative effort trumps the passive acceptance that "somebody" is already taking care of it....or will do so.

Once you accept into your ACTIVE/PASSIVE decision process a defined alternative which places responsibility on OTHER (God, Jesus, Prayer, Prophecy, scriptural integrity, etc.) you UNPLUG from being a part of the SOLUTION.

Prayer is a really good example of doing nothing and thinking about it as though it were the most powerful thing ANYBODY could ever DO.

Faith is passive. Faith is phlegmatic. Faith substitutes FOR reality as alternative.

So, short answer: NO!

tec

Faith is passive. Faith is phlegmatic. Faith substitutes FOR reality as alternative.

Yes, all of those people who run charities to feed the hungry and poor, who give to those in need and who ask, out of love for Christ and fellow man - I can see the passiveness in their faith, yes I can...

Terry, just because someone prays does not mean that they don't also DO. Faith without works is dead. That is what is taught.

Tammy

PSacramento

Thanks for answering that Terry.

Obviously we don't agree, but that's ok :)

I don't view faith and belief in the same way you do and I think if I did view it that way or in the way you cite in the beginning, that I would probably be a very bitter and shallow person, it's not in my genome to be a "100% of one thing and 0% of another" type of person.

I HOPE I never become that way, I have FAITH that I won't and I BELIEVE that I won't because I will work my best to NOT be that way.

;)

Terry

Faith is passive. Faith is phlegmatic. Faith substitutes FOR reality as alternative.

Yes, all of those people who run charities to feed the hungry and poor, who give to those in need and who ask, out of love for Christ and fellow man - I can see the passiveness in their faith, yes I can...

Terry, just because someone prays does not mean that they don't also DO. Faith without works is dead. That is what is taught.

Tammy

I use to know a fellow (a grown man) who stuck his tongue out and moved it around as he was writing. I asked him if he knew he did it and he

sheepishly admitted he did. I asked him why. He told me he couldn't write UNLESS he stuck his tongue out!

That's the role of prayer in running charities and feeding the hungry and poor. An idea that something can't be done without an entirely superfluous ADDITIONAL thing which MAKES the important thing happen.

Christians and religious people aren't the only caring and charitable people. No, really.

(I'm wearing Tammy's patience down....I can feel it....)

Terry

Obviously we don't agree, but that's ok :)

I don't view faith and belief in the same way you do and I think if I did view it that way or in the way you cite in the beginning, that I would probably be a very bitter and shallow person

You've got me pegged! Bitter and shallow! Ask any of my family and friends--they'll tell you!

How to identify the quality of FAITH and BELIEF by its uses

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