About Faith

[KnowSelf]

The foundation of Christianity is faith and so also it is also in the Jewish Tradition. The idea of faith came up at work while attending a client whose doctor was Asian (do not know exact bloodline) He mentioned I was a man of faith where as he was not.

What exactly does that mean? Eastern religions depend on individual accomplishments, discipline and awareness unlike faith based religions rely on divine guidance, discipline and high morales.

Commonly both Eastern and Faith based belief system hold Love as the eternal objective to life and living.

 

[HighWatch]

The foundation of Christianity is faith and so also it is also in the Jewish Tradition. The idea of faith came up at work while attending a client whose doctor was Asian (do not know exact bloodline) He mentioned I was a man of faith where as he was not.

What exactly does that mean? Eastern religions depend on individual accomplishments, discipline and awareness unlike faith based religions rely on divine guidance, discipline and high morales.

Commonly both Eastern and Faith based belief system hold Love as the eternal objective to life and living.

Faith is, and has always been, a reliance on "something" greater than ourselves to fall back on when all else fails. How ever we elect to act from day to day, we seldom use our faith as a carrot to exact "right action" regardless of the apparent circumstances, until we find ourselves up against a wall. Religiosity emphasizes the practice of our Faith, as each so dictates, toward the glorious and "final" end. Spirituality is the recognizing, or remembering, our "oneness" with All regardless of the path or practice, Faith or farce, attitude or aptitude. The Creative Energy exists in every degree of manifestation from mineral to "man" and can only be comprehended in the physical as Love, no matter what other name we may ascribe to it. In the physical, we are obliged to imagine it in our own image.

 

[Cino]

Commonly both Eastern and Faith based belief system hold Love as the eternal objective to life and living.

Well, there certainly is a lot of recognizable faith going on in the SE Asian country where I used to live. Swap the details of architecture, liturgical language, and furniture, and it would have looked very much like south European or Latin American Christianity. So I don't buy your Faith vs Eastern opposition.

Love as the unifying eternal objective of life, on the other hand, I think that has been mainly a Western ideal ever since Plato and Xenophon wrote down their conflicting memories of the Symposium. Some Eastern religions even fundamentally deny that anything could be eternal. And even in Western tratitions, Love means very different things depending on whom you ask. If you compare a Protestant's reading of Pauls first epistle to the Corinthians with a Sufi's hot longing for the Beloved, as expressed in the Masnavi, or with Crowley's Law of Love, you get very distinct conclusions which the West made of this ideal.

 

[RJM]

David's faith was in a God who actually made himself present in battle against his enemies.

In modern terms there has to be a bit of reading between the lines. But David knew God was with him, even when God appeared not to be -- for whatever reason.

The story of Lot explores this faith in spite of God seeming to have abandoned him.

I believe that God will respond to sincere prayer. Any religion, any place, any time. God will demonstrate himself as real. After that, it's faith. Imo.

Faith is learning to let God take over completely.

 

[muhammad_isa]

..I believe that God will respond to sincere prayer. Any religion, any place, any time..

Exactly! G-d is not a bigot

 

[KnowSelf]

Well, there certainly is a lot of recognizable faith going on in the SE Asian country where I used to live. Swap the details of architecture, liturgical language, and furniture, and it would have looked very much like south European or Latin American Christianity. So I don't buy your Faith vs Eastern opposition.

Love as the unifying eternal objective of life, on the other hand, I think that has been mainly a Western ideal ever since Plato and Xenophon wrote down their conflicting memories of the Symposium. Some Eastern religions even fundamentally deny that anything could be eternal. And even in Western tratitions, Love means very different things depending on whom you ask. If you compare a Protestant's reading of Pauls first epistle to the Corinthians with a Sufi's hot longing for the Beloved, as expressed in the Masnavi, or with Crowley's Law of Love, you get very distinct conclusions which the West made of this ideal.

Thank you, but not Faith Vs Eastern opposition. My faith in God provides me with everything I need, however, Eastern Philosophy teaches me how to live as a human being. Although different they are essentially the same because one cannot exist without the other, together contributes to the wholeness or completeness of the person.

 

[KnowSelf]

Faith is, and has always been, a reliance on "something" greater than ourselves to fall back on when all else fails. How ever we elect to act from day to day, we seldom use our faith as a carrot to exact "right action" regardless of the apparent circumstances, until we find ourselves up against a wall"

I appreciate your statement "How ever we elect to act from day to day" as it is I who chooses my actions, no one else, not even God. What I know is true perhaps to all Christian believers, living one with God. On the other hand, sinfulness restricts my relationship to God. It seems, an especially good time to communicate to God is outside crisis mode...too preachy oh well.

 

[Thomas]

What exactly does that mean? Eastern religions depend on individual accomplishments, discipline and awareness unlike faith based religions rely on divine guidance, discipline and high morales.

I disagree.

The fundamental principles of Eastern religion are received in faith. The Four Noble Truths of Buddhism cannot be proven, they are articles of faith.

... however, Eastern Philosophy teaches me how to live as a human being

And western religions don't?