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[Grok]

Has your faith been tested? How so? What was the outcome?

An example might be:

I was raised as a Catholic and was devout, until I learned about the Spanish Inquisition. This made me doubt my faith. I reconciled by converting to a different denomination of Christianity.

Something like that.

I would like insight into why people have faith and are religious in the first place. And also, how they hold onto their faith.
I personally was raised a Catholic and would say that I’m no longer practicing and not particularly religious. Some might call me agnostic or atheist.

But I simply consider myself to be a Secularist.

I put my faith in science, reason, critical thinking and altruism.

I don’t (and never did, even in my youth when I was attending Sunday School) take the Bible, both OT and NT, to be factual or literal. I have always thought that the stories were like fables. That they were true only in that they metaphorically expressed moral truths.

They were just examples on how to be. How to be good. How to be kind. How to be a responsible citizen. How to be ethical. How to be compassionate.

As I grew up, I found the Catholic church as an organization did not uphold those lessons. And furthermore, I’ve experienced that most religious people are rather unkind, intolerant and lacking in compassion.

I abandoned my Catholic label in my teens. But I retain what I learned and I maintain a kind of ambiguous spirituality.

I’m genuinely curious about how and why others have not reached similar ends. And why people continue to be religious or even find religion later in life.

[jimwalton]

Several years back I went through an extremely difficult time in my life, a horrendously deep and dark depression. I almost walked away from Christianity. I pondered suicide. My anger at God was fierce, and I didn't hold back from telling Him so. I was an emotional mess, a spiritual war zone, and it was affecting me physically as well.

During that time I sought God with an insane intensity. I read the Bible and books like a starving man. I prayed like a madman. The more I read and prayed the worse it got. I was journaling at the time, and reading my entries from then is quite uncomfortable. I was so angry at God, and every day made it worse, until I was ready to kill myself. The more I sought Him and came up dark and empty, the more I resented Him. But I never gave up. I couldn't get around the resurrection (I knew it was true), and so I knew God was real, and so I kept seeking, praying, reading, crying, and screaming. It was the most awful time of my life. It lasted about 3 years.

One day I remember having an observation that both helped me and just about did me in. I had a eureka moment where I realized that all of the thoughts I had been having were lies from the pit of hell. I had been filling my own mind with all kinds of false thoughts that I couldn't escape. That was a light for me in a very dark tunnel. But at the same time I realized that God had let Satan fill my head with all these lies exactly at the time I needed God to be showing me truth. I was angry I could have killed Him. How dare He let Satan fill my head with lies when I was so desperate for truth and health, so needed God and help. Of all the nasty things. And to think I almost left the faith and left this life. But I didn't. God made sure I didn't. I didn't know it, but He was holding me.

From that time on I started having more positive experiences. When I would read the Bible, I'd go, "Oh, I see now." I slowly started to understand and to put pieces together. Over the course of many more months and years, I came to more and more understanding, left the period of depression behind, found the truth about God, and have been growing ever since.

Why do I have faith?

1. I gain a relationship with God.
2. I am forgiven from my sins and my slavery to sin.
3. I am given new life in Christ. I am a new creation.
4. Christianity gives my life meaning and purpose.
5. I am a Christian because I find that the evidence for Christianity is convincing.
6. I am a Christian because Christianity squares with the way the world is and the way people are. It tells an honest and accurate story of humanity and life.
7. God changes lives. In Jesus my mind is transformed and renewed and my actions are focused to the direction of purpose and significance: the glory of God, the improvement of life, justice in the world, hope and help for the poor, and goodness toward humankind.
8. Christianity helps me understand history, science, philosophy, and psychology.
9. I am a Christian because Christianity makes logical sense and is reasonable.
10. It makes sense with what I see of conscience, morality, beauty, and purpose.

> I put my faith in science, reason, critical thinking and altruism.

So also do I believe in science, reason, critical thinking, and altruism. These things are neither inimical to or contradictory to Christianity. You don't have to check your brains at the door to be a Christian. I have deep love for, respect for, and commitment to these four things.

> I don’t (and never did, even in my youth when I was attending Sunday School) take the Bible, both OT and NT, to be factual or literal. I have always thought that the stories were like fables. That they were true only in that they metaphorically expressed moral truths.

I've studied them deeply and consider them to be historical, factual, and authoritative. An AMAZING book.

> As I grew up, I found the Catholic church as an organization did not uphold those lessons

I, too, have huge problems with the Catholic Church, especially in light of recent (in the past 2 decades or so) revelations of horrible child sexual assault and of many abuses of unwed mothers and adopted children that I read about. Horrific stuff.

> And furthermore, I’ve experienced that most religious people are rather unkind, intolerant and lacking in compassion.

My experience is totally different. I find Christian people to be caring, generous, full of grace, forgiving, and compassionate.

> why people continue to be religious or even find religion later in life.

Why do I continue to be "religious" (a Christian)? Because it's true. God exists, Jesus came, the presence of God in my life is a stunning, life-changing reality, the Bible is an amazing book, and there's no doubt in my mind of the truth of all of this. The deeper I dig, the more convinced I become.

Obviously, we need to talk more. Let's talk.