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How deep do your convictions go?

Aunt Spiker

Cheese
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My father's a minister - which means that he made every choice possible in his life to live a Christian life, surround himself (and thus me and my sisters - and my mother) wit ha religious community, and made every effort to instill in us the same values he holds.

Every aspect of my life has been altered or governed by his religious views:

Where we lived when we were born.
Every move we made (state-state / church-church).
The friendships my parent's hand and the friendships us children were permitted to have.
Books and movies we watched.
Food we ate.
Our weekend life.
Charity.
Efforts to engage the community and bring them into church issues.
Deaths - lots of death bed calls and last prayers.
Evening visits.
Taking homeless families into our home.

His religious beliefs were more important to him than his marriage and even us children.

This is serious conviction. The life of not just him - but everyone around him - has been impacted by his beliefs. He feels he is so *right* in his beliefs that making a lot of these decisions, and whether or not they were the right ones, never seemed to be a concern.

And I believed in none of it. It was an irritation, a senseless 'purpose', a reason for him to get up in the morning and walk through the town and come home in the evening after handing out pamphlets.

Most people don't have a fraction of that type of conviction - and in fact - his conviction was so thorough and so deep that I now look at it (and he still lives this way, btw) and I wonder what makes him really tick. Why does he believe in something so firmly that he would dedicate every moment of his life (since he was 15 - 50 years) to it.

So this makes me wonder: how deep do other people and their convictions go. Would anyone else go to such great lengths to satisfy their religious beliefs? Where do most people draw the line, if there is one.
 
I don't really think there is a line where people decide they have gone too far, or need to take a step back. Some people just have the ability to be that devoted to an idea and a belief. My parents were that way- especially my father, but it wasn't something that he pushed on other people- he just lived it himself. He was devoted to God and family, and everything else took a back seat.

I can only wish that I had that kind of faith. The older I get, the more it seems to be tested and tried, and at this point in my life, it's not too strong, to say the least. I wish it were.
 
My father's a minister - which means that he made every choice possible in his life to live a Christian life, surround himself (and thus me and my sisters - and my mother) wit ha religious community, and made every effort to instill in us the same values he holds.

Every aspect of my life has been altered or governed by his religious views:

Where we lived when we were born.
Every move we made (state-state / church-church).
The friendships my parent's hand and the friendships us children were permitted to have.
Books and movies we watched.
Food we ate.
Our weekend life.
Charity.
Efforts to engage the community and bring them into church issues.
Deaths - lots of death bed calls and last prayers.
Evening visits.
Taking homeless families into our home.

His religious beliefs were more important to him than his marriage and even us children.

This is serious conviction. The life of not just him - but everyone around him - has been impacted by his beliefs. He feels he is so *right* in his beliefs that making a lot of these decisions, and whether or not they were the right ones, never seemed to be a concern.

And I believed in none of it. It was an irritation, a senseless 'purpose', a reason for him to get up in the morning and walk through the town and come home in the evening after handing out pamphlets.

Most people don't have a fraction of that type of conviction - and in fact - his conviction was so thorough and so deep that I now look at it (and he still lives this way, btw) and I wonder what makes him really tick. Why does he believe in something so firmly that he would dedicate every moment of his life (since he was 15 - 50 years) to it.

So this makes me wonder: how deep do other people and their convictions go. Would anyone else go to such great lengths to satisfy their religious beliefs? Where do most people draw the line, if there is one.



That is an interesting question, and an interesting example, thank you.

Generally speaking, more is expected of a minister than a layperson, in this regard. After all, someone has to do the ditch digging and plowing and planting and so forth and so on; not every life is completely given over to religious activities in its entirety in such manner.

Even as ministers go, I'd have to say it sounds like your father was a man of deep conviction.


I like to think of myself as a man of strong and deep convictions... and I think in most ways I am, I try to keep to what I believe... and now we come to the BUT:

But, I have a healthy respect for my own fallibility. I have a healthy respect for my own ability to be WRONG; to misinterpret sometimes; to misunderstand God's will or possibly even engage in rationalization.

I have a healthy fear of how much evil a man can do if he is too certain of his own rightness.


So I'm careful about being too convinced of my own "rightness" in all things... especially where it impacts others.


I am also not of the viewpoint some have, that every single thing we do (as Christians) must be only to glorify God. I believe we have healthy and normal desires to do things that are just "things" and not necessarily some form of worship... to swim or swing on a rope or hunt or fish or laugh or play, and that not every minute of every day has to be entirely about God. I just don't think He is THAT demanding.... I think God is perfectly willing to let us have a little breathing space. :)
 
{snipped for brevity}...So this makes me wonder: how deep do other people and their convictions go. Would anyone else go to such great lengths to satisfy their religious beliefs? Where do most people draw the line, if there is one.
`
At 13, I parted ways with my strict Baptist parents and was sent to live with an aunt. I rebelled against their religion. It's not as simple as I state it but I have certain convictions of my own....still waters run deep.

Nonetheless, too much conviction overrides logic.
 
`
At 13, I parted ways with my strict Baptist parents and was sent to live with an aunt. I rebelled against their religion. It's not as simple as I state it but I have certain convictions of my own....still waters run deep.

Nonetheless, too much conviction overrides logic.

I think there may be something to that (the bolded). I didn't really rebel against my childhood religion, but I did stray and I did a lot of reading, searching, and looking at other belief systems. The urge to believe is probably at least partially genetic in me. I have my parents' impulse to practice religion of some sort, but the dogma of religion just doesn't resonate with me. The biggest way in which I am different from my parents is that I question everything. Neither of them questioned- they just accept. That is what I wish I had some of- the ability to just be content and accept things.
 
I think conviction is more of an internal thing. I mean, if you have true conviction, it should impact who you are and what you do. At the same time, you want to avoid the trap of doing things for the purpose of being seen doing those things therefor glorifying yourself (not saying that's true of Aunt Spiker's dad, just generally speaking). It's easy to be a Christian in the US and here I can say that I think my conviction runs pretty deep. There's a lady in a Muslim country (can't remember which), sentenced to die unless she renounces her faith. I'd like to believe I'm committed enough to die for my faith, but I just don't know.
 
Conviction is great as long as it doesn't become plain stubbornness. I have convictions, but those convictions begin and end with the information I have available at the time. If I'm wrong about something, I'd rather admit it and accept a new truth than hang on to my preconceptions. At least I'd like to think so.
 
My father's a minister - which means that he made every choice possible in his life to live a Christian life, surround himself (and thus me and my sisters - and my mother) wit ha religious community, and made every effort to instill in us the same values he holds.

Every aspect of my life has been altered or governed by his religious views:

Where we lived when we were born.
Every move we made (state-state / church-church).
The friendships my parent's hand and the friendships us children were permitted to have.
Books and movies we watched.
Food we ate.
Our weekend life.
Charity.
Efforts to engage the community and bring them into church issues.
Deaths - lots of death bed calls and last prayers.
Evening visits.
Taking homeless families into our home.

His religious beliefs were more important to him than his marriage and even us children.

This is serious conviction. The life of not just him - but everyone around him - has been impacted by his beliefs. He feels he is so *right* in his beliefs that making a lot of these decisions, and whether or not they were the right ones, never seemed to be a concern.

And I believed in none of it. It was an irritation, a senseless 'purpose', a reason for him to get up in the morning and walk through the town and come home in the evening after handing out pamphlets.

Most people don't have a fraction of that type of conviction - and in fact - his conviction was so thorough and so deep that I now look at it (and he still lives this way, btw) and I wonder what makes him really tick. Why does he believe in something so firmly that he would dedicate every moment of his life (since he was 15 - 50 years) to it.

So this makes me wonder: how deep do other people and their convictions go. Would anyone else go to such great lengths to satisfy their religious beliefs? Where do most people draw the line, if there is one.

If you believe Your religion, and it's implications, it would be insane not to have it dominate your life, my belief in Christianity certainly dominates my life as it should any christian's life.
 
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