Survey: Motivation of faith

Originally posted by BigDoggProblem
For the theists...

What is the primary reason you have faith? Which [b]one option (if any) is the strongest motivation?

a) fear of hell or other punishments for not believing
b) stop self-destructive behavior/bad habits
c) taught by parent(s) or other mentors
d) historical evidence/research
e) to join a social network (local church or religious community)
f) read religious text(s)[/b]

Good post. Makes people think instead of the constant spewing.
Unfortunately, your a-f list of answers omits the impetus for some people's faith, including mine.
My faith is based on being shown One who answers all relevant questions, and who also asks the questions I would not have thought to ask.
Although one might call this 'd,' my faith began at an age when those aspects, i.e., evidence and research, would have been lost on me. Which is not to say research hasn't been conducted since that time, but the impetus was His answers to my questions.

The majority of people come faith in Christ when they realize that they are a sinner and they need for Christ. They hear and understand the Gospel and the Spirit convicts them.

Originally posted by Coletti
They hear and understand the Gospel and the Spirit convicts them.

In that case"The Spirit" gave me 30 days for disorderly conduct.

Originally posted by aspviper666
In that case:The Spirit" gave me 30 days for disorderly conduct.

Did they provide free smokes? 🙂

Originally posted by Coletti
Did they provide free smokes? 🙂

No free smokes.I played chess for them 🙂

Originally posted by BigDoggProblem
For the theists...

What is the primary reason you have faith? Which [b]one option (if any) is the strongest motivation?

a) fear of hell or other punishments for not believing
b) stop self-destructive behavior/bad habits
c) taught by parent(s) or other mentors
d) historical evidence/research
e) to join a social network (local church or religious community)
f) read religious text(s)[/b]

What is clearly being missed in most of the answers so far is the question of where the faith started. Most theists are answering the question "Why do you worship God who you already believe in?"

My understanding is that to a large extent faith starts as a decision we make (for whatever reason) to believe something to be true (a leap of faith). From that point forward there is very little decision making as we already hold it to be true without doubt. It is very hard however to make the initial decision to believe unconditionally if we can not see any evidence to support the belief.

Originally posted by Coletti
They hear and understand the Gospel and the Spirit convicts them.

Your vision of paradise is a maximum security prison? Fits the bill if you ask me...

Two posters answered:
"You forgot the most important reason:
Because my faith proclaims the Truth about God and his Creation."
"I choose to be his servant because he is my creator."
What motivated you to start having faith in the first place?

Of course people come to faith for a wide variety of reasons. I fully expected to see...
"Unfortunately, your a-f list of answers omits the impetus for some people's faith, including mine."
I wanted to avoid vague motivations such as "spiritual epiphany". Such experiences are often unique to the individual and perhaps not easily understood by others.

Originally posted by whodey
I will not deny that one of my parents was a Christian. I suppose you are implying that my parents have programmed me. Having said that, what is Biblical faith? Faith comes by hearing and hearing by the word of God. This is simply how we are wired. Have you ever heard the expression if you tell a lie long enough you will start to believe it. I am not im ...[text shortened]... yiing that the Bible is a lie. What I am saying is that we must choose what we feed our mind.

who in their right mind would choose to believe a fictional story? the bible covers many moral issues and is a good living guide in general but to actually believe in the entire religous aspect (moses, parting the sea?! can you imagine the impact on our earth this would have?!) is ludicrous.

also, why do these discussions always revert to christianity, why not allah, or the ancient greek gods, roman gods, egyptian gods? if, as many people believe, these are simply forms of the same god why have some been forgotten and others in conflict? simple, religion is used far to often as an excuse. for many things, lack of knowledge at the time, war, genocide etc...

Originally posted by Rolfey
who in their right mind would choose to believe a fictional story? the bible covers many moral issues and is a good living guide in general but to actually believe in the entire religous aspect (moses, parting the sea?! can you imagine the impact on our earth this would have?!) is ludicrous.

also, why do these discussions always revert to christianity, why ...[text shortened]... far to often as an excuse. for many things, lack of knowledge at the time, war, genocide etc...

Why have the other religions faded into obscurity? Good question. I would agree with the exception of Islam. Lets consider the major religions of the world. We have Judism, Christianity, Islam, and far Eastern religions such as Hinduism and Budahism. The list of major world religions seems to be shrinking steadily from where it used to be. In fact, the big three of Judism, Chrisitianity and Islam all follow their roots back to one man who is Abraham. It seems to me that this is more evidence of who the true God is. I suppose it all depends on ones perspective and beliefs regarding how data is processed.

Why choose to believe the stories of the Bible instead of just taking the text to be a good moral code? It is because of one simple reason. There is a God. If you believe that there is a God, why is it then hard to believe in miracles such as the Red Sea parting? It is amusing to me when people try to reason away miracles. What is the point? If there is a God, then he is capable of anything. Since we are not God, we do not understand how he does these miracles. Otherwise we would be God. As far as simply using the Bible as a good moral text, why would I? If there is no God, morals become subjective and realative. Who is to say what is good or bad? No one likes to be told there wrong. Why would I subject myself to such critism if there were no God?

Originally posted by whodey
Why have the other religions faded into obscurity? Good question. I would agree with the exception of Islam. Lets consider the major religions of the world. We have Judism, Christianity, Islam, and far Eastern religions such as Hinduism and Budahism. The list of major world religions seems to be shrinking steadily from where it used to be. In fact, the ...[text shortened]... likes to be told there wrong. Why would I subject myself to such critism if there were no God?

The Buddhists, Hindus et al are on the endangered list and soon the Children Of Sumer will reign supreme.
Praise be.

Originally posted by BigDoggProblem
Such experiences are often unique to the individual and perhaps not easily understood by others.

I'll try the very specific approach, and see if it is permissable for the purposes of your survey.

At eight years of age, while taking out the trash one evening, I looked up into the night sky, and for the first time, truly noted the stars. It occured to me then, there must be Someone behind this (life, creation, world, universe) whole thing. I asked aloud, to that Someone, if it were possible to know who They were, whether They were knowable at all.

Less than one week later, a bus came by, taking kids in the local area to a neighborhood church. As neither my mother or my father were affiliated with any church up to that point, my mother simply saw the opportunity for a few free moments in the middle of a week-full of afternoons, and allowed my participation in the Vacation Bible School.

There, I learned who that Someone was, and, for an eight year-old, it seemed plausible. Careful study since then has only reinforced that eight year-old's faith, despite many years very much removed from the same.

What began as the epiphany, as it were, was later established with study.

I had not planned on responding to this thread as I sometimes grow kind of weary "faith threads." However I had an experience tonight that I will share as I am different tonight than I was yesterday or the day before in terms of faith.

A week ago today, my youngest daughter had a routine tonsilectomy. She did fine. The doctor talked about the risk of bleeding in the first few days. My wife was out of town today, but I got a call on my cell from her that I needed to go to the emergency room as Julie was there and she wanted to know what was happening. While I was out, she started to hemmorhage. My oldest daughter had the sense to get a neighbor who took her to the emergency room which is about 200 yards from our house. When I got there it looked like she was fine though I could see evidence of earlier bleeding. After a few minutes it began to gush. Projectile bleeding from her mouth. I had a bucket next to her, but we were all covered in blood and vomitus. She got pale and I started to "think" (actually I was scared shitless) If here is ever a time to have literary license to break the foul language rules, this is it. Anyway I started to "think" about her blood volume and whether she was in immediate danger of dying. Anyway they rushed her to surgery and took her to intensive care. After I left her in surgery I went to the chapel and quietly prayed.

Tonight I am suffering from a little PTSD as I can't seem to keep flashbacks from entering my brain about the blood gushing and her eyes rolling back.

Back to the intent of the thread. I will speak for myself that experiences I have often over-ride and influence my faith beyond what I "learn" from the "shoulds" of life. Thanks for listening.

Originally posted by kirksey957
I had not planned on responding to this thread as I sometimes grow kind of weary "faith threads." However I had an experience tonight that I will share as I am different tonight than I was yesterday or the day before in terms of faith.

A week ago today, my youngest daughter had a routine tonsilectomy. She did fine. The doctor talked about the risk ...[text shortened]... nce my faith beyond what I "learn" from the "shoulds" of life. Thanks for listening.

I hope your little girl is alright. I have three of them myself, and my thoughts are with you and your family.

Originally posted by kirksey957
I had not planned on responding to this thread as I sometimes grow kind of weary "faith threads." However I had an experience tonight that I will share as I am different tonight than I was yesterday or the day before in terms of faith.

A week ago today, my youngest daughter had a routine tonsilectomy. She did fine. The doctor talked about the risk ...[text shortened]... nce my faith beyond what I "learn" from the "shoulds" of life. Thanks for listening.

There's the Spirituality.