FAITH, is it self hypnosis?

I think it definitely can be self hypnosis. And I can show you many examples in Christianity, but percentage-wise by far the greatest number of people who I think are self-hypnotized are atheists. The mantra they repeat over and over is, "There is no god. There is no proof. There is no god. There is no...." To me, it seems that the position most atheists take against religion would be much like going to a junkyard, trying to start a few cars that have no battery or maybe even no engine and summarily pronouncing all cars everywhere are good for nothing and walking away. I have looked in a few junkyards myself and found the same problems, but I didn't stop until I found a dealer of new cars. The atheists are too busy with their mantra to see what I did.

Is there another definition of faith? Not to the typical atheist or Christian perhaps, but I loudly and forcefully proclaim, "You bet your boots there is!" Mine is a carefully considered, carefully reasoned and very reasonable, rational and defensible faith. Were Stephen Roberts standing in front of me this moment, I would say to him, “I contend that we are both believers and men of faith. I just believe in more thing than you do, and for very good reason. When you fully understand why I also dismiss all the other possible gods, you will understand why I believe in mine, and you will believe also." Do you have faith that your employer will pay you at the end of the week what you have earned? Or do you insist on being paid a few dimes, quarters and pennies every minute? Do you have faith your home will still be there when you get off work? Do you have faith your brain will be working five minutes from now? Or do you say, "I'll not believe it until it is proven!" Blind faith hobbles and cripples, especially the spirit, I would imagine. Having no faith at all incapacitates, but having a faith like mine is very liberating indeed. How would I know? I have over my lifetime experienced all three in varying degrees. If you continue to believe and proclaim all faith is blind faith, then your faith is very blind indeed.

Just in case you are wondering, my (religious) faith is the Baha'i Faith. I find it rather amusing and telling that fairly regularly some atheist will claim he has read something I have written, then claim to know religion even better than I, and then in the next sentence call me a "mindless Christian."

Edit: In rereading the above, it may have appeared I simply kept looking for something I could put some faith in and did not quit until I found it. Nothing could be further from the truth. What I did was spend well over a decade futilely trying to prove the Baha'i Faith was just as flawed as all the other religious systems. There is such a plethora of, to me, blatant contradictions, irrationalities and inconsistencies in every other religious group that I came to believe there was no God and no true religion. Atheists either do not recognize it or refuse to admit it, but there are at least as many holes in their "proof" as there is in most of what they claim to prove wrong. Recognizing that, prior to hearing about the Baha'i Faith I had started to develop my own anti-god and anti-religion proofs, philosophy and school of thought. I probably spent more time unsuccessfully trying to prove the Baha'i Faith wrong than the time I spent finding fault with all the rest put together. And it kept knocking holes in what I had thought to be a good start on proof of no God. So much so I ended up with not even a straw to lean on. I have now been a Baha'i for a number of years, and I have yet to find even the first minor inconsistency.

I still have faith in my ability to cook, but once in a while you will see smoke coming from my kitchen and a very happy dog in my back yard. I have faith in my ability to do some fairly complex mathematical computations, but once in a while I will still have to make a frustrated second Saturday morning trip to the lumber yard, or have to cover a bounced check. I have faith my car will get me to work, but there are times I have to rely on other transportation. And there will come a time when I will have to trade it in on something newer or have my sanity questioned. If you will pardon my locution, the Baha'i Faith has never failed to start at the turn of a key. It has never required a mechanic. It requires no maintenance, and yet helps me with my own personal maintenance. Having an occasional new car in my driveway is nice, but unless you can point me to something better, I will still be driving "Old Faithful" each and every day, and you will find it proudly in my driveway even after I make the next "big move."

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Mind is where we experience life, real or not. A normal mind can know what is real. Consider this passage about mind.

P.1217 - §4 Mind is your ship, the Adjuster (spirit) is your pilot, the human will is captain. The master of the mortal vessel should have the wisdom to trust the divine pilot to guide the ascending soul into the morontia(spirit) harbors of eternal survival. Only by selfishness, slothfulness, and sinfulness can the will of man reject the guidance of such a loving pilot and eventually wreck the mortal career upon the evil shoals of rejected mercy and upon the rocks of embraced sin. With your consent, this faithful pilot will safely carry you across the barriers of time and the handicaps of space to the very source of the divine mind and on beyond, even to the Paradise Father of Adjusters.

Moral cowards never achieve high planes of philosophic thinking; it requires courage to invade new levels of experience and to attempt the exploration of unknown realms of intellectual living.

For another look at faith : Scroll to page 1114 ,

http://www.urantia.org/papers/paper101.html

If you're familiar with hypnosis, then you've no doubt heard of Master Hypnotist Steve G. Jones. His book, "Ultimate Conversational Hypnosis" has been voted as the best hypnosis course ever made. The book is also available in electronic format at: http://www.hypnosistocontrol.net/

If you want to get an edge in everyday communication and lead other people towards your goals this is a must read.

faithis the beliebing, delusion, is the belief. It is self hypnosis, ansd yes, it can be narrow in scope, and specific, and unaccompanied bu other alternatives, and yes can be equally as devastating as it is positive. Yes there are two sides to everything, but they are only used , one at a time, anyway. So yes this does cause narrow mindedness.

However, some of us learn better, and wwe often find more than one portal for our perceptions. You will notice , on your computer, and the internet, 'THE MORE WAYS YOU HAVE TO LOK AT A TOPIC, THE MORE YOU KNOW AND THE MORE OPTIONS YOU HEVE". The same is true for any idea, and also there is usually a complete system, of people already living there.

Does anyone else see the Hebrews definition as questioning faith, not supporting it? Closing your mind to any alternatives?

Faith is a belief, belief is something we choose ourselves,again we are coming down to free will, hypnosis does not put everyone under.Faith is not just about religion ,you can put your faith in someone,trust in a feeling and have faith in a doctor so there are many ways that faith can be determined..

It's nothing at all like self-hypnosis.

Faith is simply acceptance of what we cannot prove or know directly (usually on the authority of someone else who does know or can prove the matter in question).

In religion we accept on faith issues related to spirituality conveyed to us by individuals who have direct knowledge of the spiritual world (e.g. Jesus).

Hebrews 11:1 "Only faith can guarantee the blessings that we hope for, or prove the existence of realities that are unseen."

notice the words 'the existence of realities'

warm regards... [7:38]

Faith. Is it like science. A hypothesis decided upon to be tested. And when seen to be true considered to increase the personal evidence that your faith is well placed? So then faith grows and you step out again to Taste and see the Lord is good.