Is questioning one's faith inevitable?

As the title says, is it inevitable that one will eventually come to question their faith?

I know that we've had some 'discussions' regarding the definition of faith, so I'm going to give a rough definition of what I mean. For this thread, when I am talking about faith, I mean someone's religious or spiritual beliefs.

Given the number of people that join this forum even if they don't participate (roughly 100 a month), I would suggest the answer may be yes.

I do think that questioning one's beliefs, if only briefly, can actually be a good thing, because it can serve as a reminder why we do believe. Or if not, lead in a new direction.

I wouldn't say that it is inevitable for everyone. There are plenty of people who go their entire lives with unshaking faith in their chosen religion. It is my opinion that those people may have led sheltered lives, however.

I'm not saying that I think everyone should switch faiths at one point in their lives, just that everyone should ask themselves why they believe what they believe. If the answers tell them to stay with their original faith, great, if they feel the need to search for another faith, also great. Also, the answers they get don't have to make sense to anyone but themselves.

Goken wrote: I'm not saying that I think everyone should switch faiths at one point in their lives, just that everyone should ask themselves why they believe what they believe. If the answers tell them to stay with their original faith, great, if they feel the need to search for another faith, also great. Also, the answers they get don't have to make sense to anyone but themselves.

This I agree with; for my own self, questioning my beliefs lead me here.

We're down to that sticky definition of faith again, aren't we? Because the two senses of faith I ordinarily hear discussed are "deeply held convictions", or "spiritual traditions", and sometimes a combination of the two.

I'm not sure questioning one's convictions is inevitable (in the sense the thread suggests), because they're just... there, beneath everything else. But questioning one's religion, and the structures or practices it entails... as well as one's own approach and the propriety of the path one takes, that to me is not only natural, but necessary in order to truly understand what one's convictions really mean.

Since I first encountered the concept of the Tao, the Force, the unified field, I just knew deep down that it was the truth of things. Since then I haven't wavered in that, but the paths I've taken to follow that faith have varied and I've wavered or even changed direction many times.

tzb wrote: We're down to that sticky definition of faith again, aren't we? Because the two senses of faith I ordinarily hear discussed are "deeply held convictions", or "spiritual traditions", and sometimes a combination of the two.

This is why I tried to give a rough definition.. I am leaning towards 'deeply held convictions'.

But questioning one's religion, and the structures or practices it entails... as well as one's own approach and the propriety of the path one takes, that to me is not only natural, but necessary in order to truly understand what one's convictions really mean.

I'd agree with this.

Edan wrote: As the title says, is it inevitable that one will eventually come to question their faith?

Only if one examines it.

"Those who never rebelled against God or at some point in their lives shaken their fists in the face of heaven, have never encountered God at all." --Catherine Marshall

As a child, I didn't know how to question my faith - didn't have the mental tools or skill set to do so. Thoughts of any nature other than what I was taught in church and school (the two were closely linked in my hometown) weren't really on my radar, and when they were I'd been trained to gloss over them (and in most cases wasn't capable of understanding them). When I asked 'why' I generally received the same answer ("It's God's plan") or was ridiculed or punished.

In my teens, I broke free of that isolated daydream and began seeing things from different perspectives (in large part thanks to various psychedelic experiences). Essentially, I had to deprogram and learn how to use the tools of logic and critical thinking. Had I not gone through that process, I would have continued to live comfortably numb in a religion that isn't compatible with who I am (and vice-versa).

I've since been involved with a number of religions and spiritual traditions, and have gained something positive and worthwhile from each of them. Even when I've decided to move away from a particular faith or belief system, I still recognize the benefits of knowing that something doesn't work for me and often continue to utilize aspects of those belief systems in my life.

I constantly question my faith(s) and definitely see the value in this. The 'why' for me has become a key question in the consideration of everything I think or do. I would like to believe it's inevitable that everyone would question their faith at some point (and think that's the healthy choice), but there are circumstances (like those during my childhood) that make it probable that some people never will.

In life, one would hope that a person would adjust as they go along. Being on the sea for a few years you learn that as you plot a course so the directions never change. It is the journey that you change. Storms waves winds, everything around you changes and it is those changes that sets your daily course. I have learned that thru the years my goals stay the same but the methods change. It may come to a point where the goal is changed it self but thats the part of walking your path of life, the life part , the part that constantly changes and as it does so do you. The more you know the more people you meet the more things change. Its ok to question and adjust at any given time. Thats the joy of free will! To experience what it is that the Force has for you. Just my opinion though lol CARLOS

I think if we are 100% honest with ourselves then we all question our faith at times.

It is the way we answer that seems to separates us. For some the answer is "don't question just believe" or "I believe it because I want to - insert self justification here". Others may take a lazy approach and believe simply because someone else does or assures them it is so.

I don't fear the truth or want to live with a lie so I question constantly and try to answer in an unbiased way. As a result my faith either becomes stronger and easily defensible or it changes in accordance with the information I have at hand. It is an iterative process and to date i've only seen positive outcomes.

I approach faith from the other direction... the only faith I would like to have is that which I create and deem necessary. It's not that I don't trust what someone else says is true, its just I'd rather find out for myself before I assert it as [strike]true[/strike] required on faith alone. In that regard I guess I have a large degree of conditional faith (continues questioning), and only small carefully crafted elements of pure faith (questioning suspended). So for me real faith only comes from questioning conditions to determine a requirement for it to exist without questioning
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Questioning faith, no matter the definition of that word, is part of the process. It's just critical thinking. It doesn't have to be any more complicated than that. Through your faith you are presented with information, you analyze it, and come to a conclusion. Over time you're presented with new, possibly conflicting information and you analyze that as well. It's completely natural and important for one's spiritual growth. If one isn't confident enough in one's self and in one's faith to handle questions, especially from one's self, then I think a deeper level of questioning is in order. If you can ask yourself, "do I really believe this?" and give yourself an honest answer, no matter if that answer is yes or no, you have grown tremendously.

When it comes to questioning things about yourself, I've always felt that we always have the answers we're looking for. The trouble is, we don't always ask the right questions.

The fact that we have a word and concept for faith implies that we would question ours, as well as that of others, and would have our's questioned as well.

For me, it always boils down to a fact that I have trouble getting behind any large story. I have always found prayer absurd, and I was told that I felt that way because I lack faith. As a child I was a part of an Evangelical youth group called Awana's, like religious boy scouts. We spent a lot of time in the church, playing out door games and then would come it to memorize parts of the bible and talk about it with our youth leaders. You got awards and advancements for this. The youth leaders would always ask us a bunch of questions and test us, and in this way I found out for the first time that I did not have faith. I would always fall in to these logic traps that I could not get out of with out faith in their lines of questioning. It is not surprising, my family never attended church. I was in the program because there was a girl that I knew from school who was in the program and I liked her.

I have found that I only have a little faith in a few things, because I have spent a lot of time examining my beliefs to find what would rise to the top as faith. Faith is only there to back up why we believe something that is not explainable. I can not explain why I feel alone in a group, but never like I am by myself when away from others. I can't explain why I feel like I knew my children when they were born, or why I knew that my wife was the person I wanted to spend the rest of my life with. But I do have faith that those are things that exist. Everything else is up for questioning, those are just a few of the things that I have faith in that I ponder.

"faith" is the sum of the answers to our questions.

I think faith should be questioned. If it is not it would grow stagnant in a sense. Believing in something is a good thing but I think blind faith can be dangerous. Do you believe what you believe because you read it, thought about it, and chose it or do you believe it because a preacher or friend told you how it should be understood? Think about that question.... you just questioned your faith.

Edan wrote: As the title says, is it inevitable that one will eventually come to question their faith?

I wouldn't call it "inevitable", but rather "common".

questioning one's beliefs

It would be ludicrous, purposfully blinding and ignorant if you didn't.

Did I offend anyone?

Streen wrote:

Edan wrote: As the title says, is it inevitable that one will eventually come to question their faith?

I wouldn't call it "inevitable", but rather "common".

I donno, after living in the Bible Belt for so long I'm not too sure it's common either hahaha.

I don't think questioning your faith is inevitable but I do think it is very good practice. And one I try to follow quite often.

I remember as a young kid, I was sitting in Sunday School and being taught the 10 Commandments. I was told "Thou shalt have no other gods before me." meant "[Our Christian] God is the only one, true, God. All others are fake." I had already fallen in love with the mythology of the ages and I sat there thinking But...how could the Egyptians and the Romans and the Greeks have been so wrong? How can you go through life worshiping something that's fake? What makes us so much more right?

Unfortunately, I didn't have open-thinking role-models at the time and just accepted what I was fed for 20 years. I do appreciate the church I grew up in and the love of the congregation, and I do slightly envy those who don't seem to go through the angst of getting 'lost' while looking for answers to questions, but I feel like I'm a much better and stronger person for getting lost and poking around at what I believe in.

It's as natural and inevitable as a snake shedding its skin, yo. In other words, humans are intrinsically metaphysical. As consciousness evolves, so must ones beliefs or "faiths" correspond to this evolution. Faith must decay before it can grow anew, and since growth is a a natural property of consciousness, it follows that all faiths must in some sense decay. This sense of "decay" could be elaborated further, but I would generally consider "questioning" one's faith to be either a kind of decay or a symptom of decay, depending on how you want to approach describing the phenomena.

What is essential never really dies, however. So one may qualify my original answer with a few other distinctions and terms, etc.

I honestly believe if one is diligent about their studies they will take what they once learned from the frame of new knowledge (which may then be applied). This usually means completely reevaluating most personal outlooks in life and everything GOOD that will come from that.

On a side note, I question my faith of task everyday as everyday for me is a new challenge at university. Always be working on something that fulfills you and it will only help to align you to your innermost faith, the one which resonates the most for you.

Not really. Some people just go with it, never stopping to ask themselves 'why?'. A word of advice: there is no definitive answer to why we're here. At least I don't believe so. The only thing I know for certain is that I'm here, right now, and I'd rather not be spending all my time thinking about a possibly imaginary hell that I could or could not end up in because I didn't believe in something that was telling me how to live my life...