The question for this week is does history contribute/bolster faith, or does the past limit faith? This is a tough question for me because I am not a very religious person, however, thanks to the miracles of the World Wide Web I could look up history of different faiths. After some searching and reading I decided that history both contributes and limits faith. History is a funny thing when it comes to faith because, events that happen in the past, good or bad, is what makes the religion today. It is, what change's the idea's of faith and will form it into what it is today.
I feel that faith is contributed by history because, stories of different faiths is based on past events. Having faith is believeing in a past event that brings a sense of meaning to ones life. It allows someone to believe in something greater than themself. History is also a good thing to faith because it helps build the idea and can help one realize how great faith can be. Everyone learns from history including faith; so if faith can learn from its mistakes (which it does) then more people will start following its idea.
History can limit faith as well. History can limit every faith, religion, or country by the negative. Wars are one way faith can be hurt by history. People lose faith when one faith fights with another. Faith, like I said, brings meaning to ones life, however, if war hurts the meaning, people will lose faith. History can also push faith and make it hard to believe in faith. If a faiths history is pushing the ideas of todays life, people may have a hard time believeing.
This is a really deep question and has alot of different options to choose from. I personally had a hard time because, faith is not something easy to come by. I feel to have faith you must put your whole life into an idea, and base your life around it. There really is know right and wrong answer to this question ether. Someones faith may not be hurt by history, while others may be based around negative things from the past. All-around this question required a lot of thinking of ideas I never thought of before.
Chase,
ReplyDeleteI also said in my own journal that history promotes faith because it makes rituals special to the believers.
I also agree that wars are an example of history limiting faith, and I mentioned terrorism and warring in my journals. Good post.
Maria
Chase, I agree that through history one's faith can be limited or blostered depending on how one views history and the way it impacts you today. If you question your faith by what you have learned in the past your faith could weaken and you might not be open to strengthing your relgion.
ReplyDeleteChase, I agree that the past can both limit and support your faith today. It just depends on how you embrace it. Even if you are not the most religious person, I think that faith is something that can still be strong. Like you said, faith isn't something easy, but I think it is something that everyone searches for. However, becuase religion tends to be hard to understand, we put our faith in people and things, which don't give us that same promise for eternity.
ReplyDeleteI agree, it's a really hard question. History is long and complicated and the world is evolving all the time with new ideas and discoveries. However, I think sometimes the simple faith that people had in the past, when they often had nothing else, is really inspiring and something to learn from.