Why Belief?

This is actually a very great question.The initial cause of my belief was nurture, I'd have to say. As a child, for as early as I can remember, Mom read us a Bible story before we went to bed at night. As the oldest, it was soon my job to help read the stories. They expanded pretty quickly to include the Just So Stories and they were given the same weight. Church was a weekly affair and pretty early I fell under the guidence of Joe Wood, one of the more remarkable priests I have known.So the basis was set from birth if not before. As we grew older it became the custom for the older kids to read Bible stories to the younger ones and the adults would then read from the Bible with the older kids. Questions were always welcome but usually resulted in a reference for us to go look something up. As a young kid I experimented with other Christian religions, our family was also deeply into both the Episcopal Church on Dad's side and the Presbyterian on Moms, but there were also forays into Baptist Churches where I became an RA (she had the most beautiful golden hair I've ever seen) and a stint at a Lutheran Church (she had dimples and freckles and pigtails and liked baseball and kites and played cowboys and indians and was the best dier of any of the kids) and my parents encourage such forays.We lived in a Jewish neighborhood for much of my early years so it was impossible not to get some familiarity with the Jewish Faith. I joined in a Seder every year with friends and many times went with them to Synagogue (she had dark hair and an accent and smelled like flowers and her mom always had something baking and on the weekend I could come over and see her and run errands and turn on lights and do all kinds of stuff that she couldn't).Then, at about what would be Middle School I went off to an Episcopal Boarding school, but I've talked enough about that.

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Aslan is not a Tame Lion

I'm pretty sure that British (or American) gunboats and troops had little to with Christian churches being in India, China or Hawaii.

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Aslan is not a Tame Lion

Gotta ask for a clarification there sir.

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Aslan is not a Tame Lion

Well, that's not the only way that can be interpreted.Since we are talking about why belief it might be appropriate to look at that from other perspectives.Should we try to carry forward on that or just let it drop?

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Aslan is not a Tame Lion

Would you accept "Humans created religion" instead?

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Aslan is not a Tame Lion

There is a difference between GOD and religion.Humans invented religion.

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Aslan is not a Tame Lion

If GOD exists, She exists regardless of what any religion says or believes. I don't see that as a given.IMHO what we see is that religion is an stumbling attempt to understand and explain something very real, the Presence without and within.

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Aslan is not a Tame Lion

We can agree that religion thinks their God is GOD. No argument there. True, that is your argument but I believe that like any other invention, religion itself is neither good nor bad but rather the use of religion by people can be good or bad. IMHO, religion is without a doubt one of the most powerful inventions of mankind and can be both enabling and destructive.But that, my friend, is grist for yet another thread.

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Aslan is not a Tame Lion

Faith and Belief are an individual relationship. What is right for one may not be right for all. However, when something has worked, it is reasonable to teach that method. It may well be only one of many possible methods, but it is one that works.Consider something as prosaic as Martial Arts. How many schools of Martial Arts are there? If you find one school works for you, does that mean the other schools are invalid?

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Aslan is not a Tame Lion

That's a subject that's been discussed here at considerable length. It's one you and I may discuss one day in the future. But it also has nothing to do with the question you asked in the prior message or this particular thread.You asked: My response is that one faith or belief may work better for an individual than a different belief system, and some other method may work better for someone else. Of course. Who said that was not true?

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Aslan is not a Tame Lion

Faith is an action, a method, not a concrete object. It's like running or walking, like skipping and jumping. It's individual and aesthetic.

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Aslan is not a Tame Lion

From what I can gather there doesn't seem to be much religious oppression in Belarus, but rather a flourishing almost leading to a Theocracy. It looks like the Orthodox Church and the Russian Catholic Church, even the Islamic and Jewish Faiths are blossoming. The new religious laws simply make it difficult to come in or compete with the established churches.Gimme that Old Time Religion...

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Aslan is not a Tame Lion

And your evidence is?

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Aslan is not a Tame Lion

I was asking for support for your assertion that "There was religious oppression in Belarus until the tyrant took over." but I agree, when your whole post is considered it is difficult to make any sense out of it. So, for now let's stick to just the evidence for religious persecution in Belarus today.

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Aslan is not a Tame Lion

Help Ola do what? What evidence is there that Christianity is being oppressed in Belarus?

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Aslan is not a Tame Lion