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Imadethisupwithnoforethought's avatar

What parts of your own belief system do you have trouble accepting as true?

Asked by Imadethisupwithnoforethought (14682points) July 21st, 2012

Meant for anybody with a belief system: Aesthetic or Deist or whatever.

When you think over the logical implications of your beliefs, which part do you just accept with a grain of salt is true and try not to dwell on?

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10 Answers

Cruiser's avatar

None. I have no doubts in any or all of my beliefs and I have the scars to prove it.

talljasperman's avatar

That someone can help another without empathy.
The logical implications is that people need both objectivity and subjectivity for empathy.
Sometimes I forget that doctors are lousy as friends, and that friends are lousy as doctors.

wundayatta's avatar

If you had doubts, then how could you say you believed it?

I have doubts that people understand the nature of the universe very well. So I don’t believe in any theories that claim to understand the nature of the universe. Similarly, I doubt that anyone can predict the results of the baseball season very accurately, so I don’t believe in any prognostication system having to do with baseball.

These are but a couple of the many, many doubts I have about so many things in the world.

Mariah's avatar

Call me a fence-sitter or what have you, but my beliefs as an agnostic athiest are centered on the idea that I really don’t know much with any degree of certainty. So, I guess the parts that I have trouble accepting as true are all of them. I certainly have an opinion on what I think is the most logical and likely scenario, but you’ll never catch me calling that the truth.

That said, if you want to look at my hypotheses and guesses and refer to them as my belief system for the purposes of this question, there’s very little I’m uncomfortable with. Because quite simply, I choose my beliefs based on what I think is most logical and likely. I don’t choose what I want to believe and then try and twist reality to fit my expectations.

I guess the topic that has aroused the most wonderment in me is consciousness. I’ve gotten more comfortable with it over the years as I realize it’s probably note quite as “special” as it seems – it’s just another adaptation. It still feels like there’s a little something missing along the way though.

Dunno if you’re interested in anything besides religious beliefs, but meat eating is one concept I have to sort of turn a blind eye to. I can’t find a logical reason why it’s okay that other animals die so that I can live. But I need meat, so I just kind of ignore it.

Blackberry's avatar

I don’t have doubts, but I’m sure there are things I’m unaware of. I’m only 26, I don’t know everything.

Fly's avatar

Exactly what @Mariah said about being an agnostic atheist. My entire belief system (or lack thereof) is based on what I find to be most logical, all the while fully admitting that I can’t possibly know one way or the other. I don’t have to subscribe to any beliefs other than my own, making it very rare for me to have a conflicting belief, though I do occasionally struggle with death and “consciousness,” as @Mariah also states.

tups's avatar

I have trouble accepting anything as being absolutely true, so yes.

downtide's avatar

I’m an atheist and yet, because of some experiences I’ve had, I believe in reincarnation. I can’t rationally justify this conflict, it just is, and I don’t think it will ever change. (I just figure that reincarnation is a natural process that happens without the intervention of any deity).

OpryLeigh's avatar

I believe in a God of some kind and the belief system I am most familiar with is Christianity (I wouldn’t say I was raised as a Christian but when I think of the religion I am most aware of it’s Christianity) and, whilst I believe in God I don’t believe much of what I have read in the Bible. I don’t buy into the Adam and Eve theory or the whole “the animals went in two by two” business. I also don’t like a lot of what the Bible teaches. The Bible was written by man not God. The God of my beliefs is not as judgemental as the Bible would have us believe.

Maybe “God” is the wrong word for what I believe in. I have always preferred “higher power”. I embrace science and the higher power that I think of works with science.

Actually, I can’t explain what I believe in or why. I have always (without persuasion from family) that there is something more, helping us all on our path in life and keeping everything connected but the Gods of the religions I am aware of don’t really fit my idea of God. Maybe I am a hippy and believe that nature is God. I don’t know.

Sorry if none of that made sense. I really struggled to put my thoughts into words for this answer!

Paradox25's avatar

This is an iffy, but very good question. I guess that I could use Christianity as an example, being a former Christian myself. Most Christians who either doubt the validness of their religion, or believe that parts of their religion translate a negative message usually turn atheist. There are still many occasions where practicing Christians still question their own beliefs too.

I still hold the Bible in high regards, but I also agree with many tenets that Spiritualists teach. There are many new age messages in the Bible, but most Christians in my opinion take many verses literally, when they have a much deeper spiritual meaning behind them. I’m not going to get too deep here, but I’ll try to answer your question.

I guess that my one qualm with my own research (this would be considered my own beliefs to others) is that I believe there are many people in the void (or hell) and many people in the upper parts of hell, known as the summerlands (the summerlands, despite being a part of hell are still much more pleasant than anything on earth) which I think would have easily exchanged places if their life circumstances were inverted. I’m still learning yet, but I don’t find this fair. Maybe these scenerios are the results of past karmic debts.

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