# Scripture verses. **URL:** \ **Category:** Great Debates\ **Created:** [May 25, 2000, 10:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/scripture-verses/20557 "2000-05-25T22:43:48Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 8\ **Page:** 5
**Author:** ![andros](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/e480ec/32.png) [@andros](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/andros)\ **Post date:** [June 2, 2000, 11:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/scripture-verses/20557/81 "2000-06-02T23:25:17Z")
:snort: But **Euty** , that would mean that all the books weren’t actually _written by God_! ---
**Author:** ![tracer](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tracer/32/20578_2.png) [@tracer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tracer)\ **Post date:** [June 3, 2000, 1:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/scripture-verses/20557/82 "2000-06-03T01:39:14Z")
jenkinsfan wrote: > [@](#): > > If you honestly want to know how God feels about you I suggest that you read Max Lucado’s book, In the Grip of Grace. I figure, if God **wants** me to know how He feels about me, I wouldn’t **have** to read about it in a book. Whether said book is _In The Grip of Grace_, or the Old and New Testaments. ---
**Author:** ![matt\_mcl](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/7ab992/32.png) [@matt\_mcl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/matt_mcl)\ **Post date:** [June 3, 2000, 3:45am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/scripture-verses/20557/83 "2000-06-03T03:45:19Z")
> [@](#): > > Since when? I’ve often heard this argued, but in my experience it simply doesn’t hold. Faith is the source of an unfathomable freedom, not anguishing doubt. Once you cease to challenge your faiths with your doubt, they become fossilized and dogmatized. A true, living faith is one that you can use all of your faculties of doubt upon, and that still makes sense to you. Otherwise, you’re just accepting it because someone told you to. That’s not a faith, that’s a dogma. ---
**Author:** ![matt\_mcl](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/7ab992/32.png) [@matt\_mcl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/matt_mcl)\ **Post date:** [June 3, 2000, 3:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/scripture-verses/20557/84 "2000-06-03T03:47:19Z")
> [@](#): > > Since when? I’ve often heard this argued, but in my experience it simply doesn’t hold. Faith is the source of an unfathomable freedom, not anguishing doubt. Once you cease to challenge your faiths with your doubt, they become fossilized and dogmatized. A true, living faith is one that you can use all of your faculties of doubt upon, and that still makes sense to you. Otherwise, you’re just accepting it because someone told you to. That’s not a faith, that’s a dogma. ---
**Author:** ![Amulet](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/4491bb/32.png) [@Amulet](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Amulet)\ **Post date:** [June 3, 2000, 5:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/scripture-verses/20557/85 "2000-06-03T05:33:50Z")
> [@](#): > > I figure, if God **wants** me to know how He feels about me, I wouldn’t **have** to read about it in a book. How, exactly, would he do this? Hit you upside the head with a rock? Stand on top of a building with a megaphone? What could he do that would get your attention? > [@](#): > > Once you cease to challenge your faiths with your doubt, they become fossilized and dogmatized. A true, living faith is one that you can use all of your faculties of doubt upon, and that still makes sense to you. Otherwise, you’re just accepting it because someone told you to. That’s not a faith, that’s a dogma. Are you sure? Sounds rather dogmatic to me. What if I had an encounter that pretty much removed all doubt? Are you a believer? ---
**Author:** ![matt\_mcl](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/7ab992/32.png) [@matt\_mcl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/matt_mcl)\ **Post date:** [June 3, 2000, 4:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/scripture-verses/20557/86 "2000-06-03T16:27:36Z")
No, I’m not sure. That’s the point. As to matters of faith, you should never be sure. Once you’re sure, it’s a dogma, not a living faith. Then you get into nasties like Phelps and Robertson. I bet those people never doubt anything either. That’s not to say I don’t think my beliefs are right - if I didn’t think they were right, I’d believe something else. But I am continually doubting as a conscious process in order to maintain that belief as a living faith. ---
**Author:** ![matt\_mcl](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/7ab992/32.png) [@matt\_mcl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/matt_mcl)\ **Post date:** [June 3, 2000, 4:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/scripture-verses/20557/87 "2000-06-03T16:28:05Z")
No, I’m not sure. That’s the point. As to matters of faith, you should never be sure. Once you’re sure, it’s a dogma, not a living faith. Then you get into nasties like Phelps and Robertson. I bet those people never doubt anything either. That’s not to say I don’t think my beliefs are right - if I didn’t think they were right, I’d believe something else. But I am continually doubting as a conscious process in order to maintain that belief as a living faith. ---
**Author:** ![Amulet](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/4491bb/32.png) [@Amulet](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Amulet)\ **Post date:** [June 4, 2000, 5:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/scripture-verses/20557/88 "2000-06-04T17:49:45Z")
What should I not be sure about? Are you saying that I should go around telling myself daily that God _might not_ be real? Should I not be sure he loves me? What is any of that supposed to accomplish, save paralyzing me and making me pretty nigh worthless to society? Should I obsess about it to the point where it consumes me? Or trust that, in the end, _all shall be well, and all shall be well, and all manner of things shall be well_, and get on with living my life? I made a conscious decision to accept this as true. I had the truth of it reinforced through an encounter that still humbles me. Time to get on with doing what I was put here to do. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/scripture-verses/20557.md?page=4)