[Grovenet] "faith"

[Ron D'Eau Claire]

Yes, that's why "extremists" are the dangerous ones. We seem to have a
bumper crop of them around, both Christian and Muslim. 

Of course, those extremists would never consider one who admits to any doubt
as a "person of faith". To them a "person of faith" can have no slight
doubt, especially no doubt in the views of the extremist. 

Ron D'Eau Claire 

-----Original Message-----
From: grovenet-bounces at rdrop.com [mailto:grovenet-bounces at rdrop.com] On
Behalf Of JBlair2154 at aol.com
Sent: Monday, October 23, 2006 10:58 PM
To: grovenet at rdrop.com
Subject: Re: [Grovenet] "faith"


 
In a message dated 10/23/2006 2:19:11 PM Central Daylight Time,  
grovenet-request at rdrop.com writes:

The act  of "faith" means not questioning. That's very important. It means
the  faithful one has willingly closed his mind to further debate. 


Ron,
In some cases, i.e., extremists (who are usually  fundamentalists) this is 
true. However, MOST "people of faith" have many doubts,  from time to time,
and 
often question the validity of what they have been taught  and what, in
fact, 
they may currently believe. This process, I've learned, can  be a healthy
one 
-- spiritually and intellectually -- and a vehicle for personal  growth. I
can 
only speculate as to why some people choose this path and why  others lock 
into a certain rigid belief system and will die defending  it...but I
suspect 
that fear may be the deepest motivation: the fear of moving  from a
comforting 
"I know" zone into unfamiliar territory. (And as I think of  it, this same 
mindset seems to define certain conservatives I know, who cling to  the past
and 
view any sort of cultural progress as dangerous...)
Joy


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