What Per Cent of Your Faith Was Taught vs. Simply "Revealed"?

Not sure that question is clear but within you, how strong is your faith as taught to you versus that which you simply hold to be the truth? I was reading some posts about young adults simply having revelations or awakenings if that is those are proper terms after years of teachings that apparently were not enough.

I doubt that it can be broken down into percentages. One reason is because faith is something that continues to change as I age. The other reason is that there is no 100% (imo) concerning faith. There have been times when I have been "inspired", for lack of a better term, and there have been times when my faith was in the tank, and that appears to be a trend that will continue.

I think it's only human to experience times in the desert.

nota bene said:

I think it's only human to experience times in the desert.

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I would love to be one of the people who are always confident in their faith, who never waiver, and who find peace in the midst of the storms without seeming to really look for it.

Personally, I have a lot of trouble with faith. I have seen a lot of messed up things in my life and that has affected me deeply (to this day, darkness and despair feels a lot more familiar than happiness. Broken feels more comfortable than whole, but I have only experienced not feeling broken for maybe 9 months now). So while I do not doubt God's ability, I almost always doubt God's willingness to do this or that if I am in need of something.

I spent so many years begging to the divine for help only to not receive an answer, and then only in the last couple of years have my prayers been answered, I find it very difficult to get off the fence and trust. I suspect I will until the day I die actually, as sad as that is.

but i just tend to not trust life or people in general. I have been betrayed so many times ...

rhinefire said:

Not sure that question is clear but within you, how strong is your faith as taught to you versus that which you simply hold to be the truth? I was reading some posts about young adults simply having revelations or awakenings if that is those are proper terms after years of teachings that apparently were not enough.

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[It's annoying, I know, but I can never write a religious-related thread about things like my upbringing without pointing out my father's a minister - blah blah. lol]

My parents were highly religious and we lived in a tightly knit religious community in my childhood. All of it was taught. The only element I believed in without feeling it was crammed into my head was the existence of God - a belief I've let go of, but as a child I remember having firm belief in at least that. Everything else was related to my parent's wants, believes, and desires - an attempt to govern us children and control our lives as well as the lives of others.

In some religious concepts ministers and the higher members of the church have considerable social, religious, and interpersonal clout and influence. My father governed marriages and settled related disputes and issues.

I eventually saw it (oh - early in life) as a power grab over people's minds and hearts. A bit of a celebrity thirst.

I was 8 when I began to openly argue my parents. What started that was that we had to go to a dentist and he gave us full discounts because my father was a minister. The man was poor, told us stories of being a concentration camp survivor from WWII and had the tattoos and scars to show for it, and he was being nice - but I felt it was gross to just take free services from people.

My father didn't come to understand how normal people are treated until he stopped wearing his holy vestments in public and looked like Average Joe (in 2003). He had a heavy revelation: people were normal to him, but he saw it as being rude. That high level of politeness that his appearance and status would normally draw was gone.

rhinefire said:

Not sure that question is clear but within you, how strong is your faith as taught to you versus that which you simply hold to be the truth? I was reading some posts about young adults simply having revelations or awakenings if that is those are proper terms after years of teachings that apparently were not enough.

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you can be taught anything.
it isn't until you have to apply that knowledge is it worth anything.

people might try to teach faith but the you end up as a seed cast among the stones. you will sprout up and grow but when the sun comes out you will wither and die because there isn't a strong foundation.

Everyone i know has gone through trial and struggle and not sure why or for what reason. just as Job in the bible was tested so is our faith tested.
i know if it wasn't for the Grace of God and faith in him that I wouldn't be here today.

75% taught, 24% noticed.

rhinefire said:

Not sure that question is clear but within you, how strong is your faith as taught to you versus that which you simply hold to be the truth? I was reading some posts about young adults simply having revelations or awakenings if that is those are proper terms after years of teachings that apparently were not enough.

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The more I was taught the more I explored and the deeper my faith became.

Teaching is a guide. Seeking is the core of faith.

lizzie said:

I would love to be one of the people who are always confident in their faith, who never waiver, and who find peace in the midst of the storms without seeming to really look for it.

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there are no such people, we all have "dark moments of the soul"...

Even Jesus called out to his Father, "why have you forsaken me?"

Our greatest fear, of course, is that we are wrong...and that comes from teaching, "test everything, you will have many false prophets among you", influences and the constant badgering of atheists....

It is the influence of man, God's ground crew, where the danger lies