Do you believe what you are taught, or what you discover to be true?

[Jethro Bodine]

I think most believers believe what they've been taught, not what they have read and discerned for themselves.
What do you think?

 

[JLB]

I think most believers believe what they've been taught, not what they have read and discerned for themselves.
What do you think?

Yes, I believe when a new believer begins his or her quest to satisfy their insatiable hunger for God and His word, it usually translates into "going to Church" a often as the doors are open and "stuffing themselves" on everything the Pastor is teaching.

By the time many get to the point of "feeding themselves", their have already formed preconceived ideas [strongholds] about the scriptures and what they say.



JLB

 

[evenifigoalone]

It's an easy trap to fall into, especially when you get busy with life. People may not make time for their own reading, so it's easier to believe just what they were taught.
I would have to say there are doctrines I hold because I was taught them, and haven't had or taken the time to study further. There are others I have read for myself, too.

 

[Wrg1405]

Been there and have the t-shirt. For a long time I beleived what I was taught. And to be honest when I look some of the stuff I was taught or was told is shocking. I can now say shocking because I took the time when I came back to church what is it that I'm actually beleive. I have never ever doubted Jesus as the son of God.

What is shocking is that I was once told because I did not pray in tongues then that's evidence I wasn't saved. I was once told that because I wasn't fully emersed when I was baptised in an Anglican Church I wasn't baptised even though I professed my faith in Jesus. I'd been taught prosperity gospel and the list could go on.

The problem is that most beleivers whether new (and probably more applicable to them) or not are not Bereans. They don't confirm what they have been taught with scripture.

I suppose I have a caveat though. If the church is not preaching the true gospel, as I started to think about and I went to google there is an awful lot out there that will tell you that what you beleive is not true. Ok I went there to listen to the arguments against Jesus and I started to doubt, but I took the Berean aspect and looked at the truth and the arguements against what I beleive. It messed with my head for a while but I as I said I have always believed in Jesus and his claims from a vey young age after watching Jesus of Nazereth. Which is amazing since my heritage is Muslim. That came about as we watched Ben Hur and the Christ scene really reached out to me and I asked my mum if I could watch Jesus of Nazareth.

We need foundational teaching in the church. Jesus saves us, we are saved by grace, by that grace we want to be like him, walk with him, seek him earnestly and be like Jacob was with God. Never let go.

 

[Angel]

I grew up in AWANA, so I was taught and learned the scriptures. I believe I was 3 years old when I started AWANA. I accepted Christ when I was 8.

I have seen angels once, I have had many experiences supernaturally, I have heard the voice of the Holy Spirit. I have had demonic dreams and I have also had dreams of Christ. Honestly my heart is wounded from the bad experiences.

Since I have experienced the spiritual realm, I have no doubt that God is real.

I want more of God.
I'm trying to be more careful about the way I live lately...

 

[Not_Now.Soon]

From a generation that has a mantra to question everything, I've discovered there's a lot of wisdom from the things I was taught from those in generations older then mine. But also from a generation that considers education something of high value, (unfortunately high enough value that unrestrained debt is rampant in the form of student loans), I've learned I've not questioned the right things I've been taught until discovering a reason to question them. As with everyone, I think the things we discover for ourselves are the things we hold to be reliable truths. More reliable then many other things whether they are true or not.

As for believers, I think it takes a lot of reading on our own before we know to question what we were taught. Sometimes people question what they are taught, but not because of reading the bible, in those cases, they might not be better off or they might be. It's a hit or miss depending on what they were taught and what they reject.

 

[Jethro Bodine]

I've learned I've not questioned the right things I've been taught until discovering a reason to question them. As with everyone, I think the things we discover for ourselves are the things we hold to be reliable truths. More reliable then many other things whether they are true or not.

Very insightful.

As for believers, I think it takes a lot of reading on our own before we know to question what we were taught.

I agree completely.
Years of reading is what caused me to question fundamental doctrines in the church. Before that I could read the scriptures but I would automatically see what I had been taught about what I was reading instead of seeing what it actually said.

 

[jasonc]

This applies to more then just the bible.

 

[Deborah13]

Years of reading is what caused me to question fundamental doctrines in the church. Before that I could read the scriptures but I would automatically see what I had been taught about what I was reading instead of seeing what it actually said.

That is the way it was for me, too. I studied God's Word a lot. I used commentaries, Strong's, and Unger's Bible Dictionary. I read books, so many, many books. It wasn't until years later that I found I had been reading everything through the eyes of my early teachers rather than seeing many things as they were written in God's Word.

 

[Runner]

I think a large percentage of professed “believers” pretend to believe what they are taught because (1) they are lazy, (2) it’s socially convenient, and (3) hardline creeds of all types, Christian and non-Christian alike, come with a built-in paradigm that there is something wrong with you if you don’t at least pretend to swallow in their entirety the “truths” you are taught. I think, deep down, a large percentage of professed “believers” of such creeds, from fundamentalist Christianity to Mormonism, Scientology and beyond, don't actually believe what they pretend to believe. At some deep level, they strongly suspect it isn’t true – they may have a strong intuition of a spiritual realm, a supreme intelligence or even that Jesus specifically is the key, but deep down they know the creed they pretend to believe is a manmade thing and not the way the universe really works.

In regard to spiritual matters, where the Pope, Billy Graham and Deepak Chopra really "know" no more than you, me or Bozo the Clown, I have very consciously refused to accept anything I’ve been taught just because it was taught by some supposedly authoritative source. The one time I tried to be a good little sheep (in the Campus Crusade days of my youth), I don't think the experiment lasted more than a week or two. Over the decades I have formed my spiritual beliefs on the basis of a combination of life experience, observation, study and intuition (and perhaps revelation). If (but only if) these things tell me a teaching I encounter deserves to be regarded as authoritative, I'll fit it into my belief system. Ergo, I actually believe what I claim to believe and don’t have to live my life in a state of cognitive dissonance, pretending to believe things I intuitively know aren’t true. (I don't insist that what I believe is true, or that others believe it, but it is always my best current estimate of the Truth.) I truly believe a large percentage of those who cling to hardline creeds do live in a constant state of cognitive dissonance, even if they loudly deny it.

This isn't to say that living in a state of cognitive dissonance is necessarily bad. Whatever gets you through the night, as the song says. Some people are able to navigate life quite well by pretending to believe things they intuitively know aren't true, perhaps because pretending to believe provides an appealing social framework for their lives (church, friends, rituals, security, etc.) and they are able to keep a lid on their intuitive doubts. I happen to live in a heavily LDS area, and my sense is that I am surrounded by professed "believers" who have almost lobotomized themselves in order to avoid the cognitive dissonance that pretending to believe Mormonism would have to produce in anyone with at least one foot in reality; on the other hand, they seem to be generally happy zombies who exhibit many of the Christian virtues. However, I’ve always been more interested in the Truth, or as close to it as I can get in this lifetime, regardless of whether it is appealing or comforting or makes me popular.

Some people, of course, do the same hard digging I've done and find that their life experience, observation, study and intuition leads them to fundamentalist Christianity, Mormonism, Scientology or whatever. Good for them - they are true believers in those creeds, and I respect them. But I don't believe this is true of most professed "believers." My observation is that a very large percentage have opted for the easy way out for a variety of psychological and social reasons unrelated to whether what they pretend to believe is actually True. If there is such a thing as someone who genuinely believes what he or she has been taught merely because it has an ostensibly authoritative source (the Bible, the Pope, or whatever), this to me would be a very odd and pathetic human being. When it comes to spiritual Truths, where there is no such thing as "knowing" in the same way I "know" my Ford is in my garage, I think life is about learning, maturing and evolving, not "accepting what you're taught."

My response obviously goes beyond just the Bible or Christian doctrines. Even if I were just talking about "discerning" vs. "being taught" the truths of the Bible or of particular Christian doctrines, however, I'd say the same thing. What is true in Christianity is, for me, a product of my life experience, observation, study and intuition (and, I hope, revelation). This doesn't mean I ignore biblical scholars and decide for myself whether something is true or what it means. It means I read as widely as I can among biblical scholars of all types (the "study" element of my formula) and then filter what I have learned through my own life experience, observation and intuition (and, I hope, guidance from the Holy Spirit). I may end up believing precisely what Scholar X says, but not because he says it. It is the study and thinking that a large percentage of "believers" aren't willing to do, because it is extremely hard work and might lead them away from the comfort and security of the creed they pretend to believe.

 

[smaller]

I learned very early in life that people can be evil, beyond any question. Even religious people. Scriptures later confirmed this reality, written long before I showed up to make the same observation.

Luke 18:9
And he spake this parable unto certain which trusted in themselves that they were righteous, and despised others:

The above, I generally avoid, by hard learned experience and by scriptural dictate.