Does believing in something help?

Does it help you having a religion when going through bad times. Why/why not?

"Having a religion" and having a faith are two different things. Religion is only the practice of a certain set of beliefs. I suppose that for some people, the simple act of going through certain rituals would be of some help, but for me it has to go deeper. I need to know there is someone there that knows and listens to my needs as well as my gratitude and praise.

What do you think, about believing in something or someone... have you ever? Did it help you?

I know there have been times where believing in God helped me tremendously. There are also ppl that I have "believed in" for certain results and have been better and worse because of their actions...

"Does believing in something help?"... Yes I think so

Does religion help?... I don't think "religion" helps unless there is belief which goes along with it.

I'm not speaking from myself here, I'm repeating something I've heard another person say...

Someone I knew said that he found the ritual to be soothing. Partaking of a ritual that has been around for centuries. Helped him feel like he was part of something greater than himself. He felt a sense of connection / communion with others. He is sort of an athiest, though I guess it can be hard to classify / categorise people. He had a respect for spirituality and used to wonder...

Yeah he found the ritual and ceremony offered by religion to be soothing...

He felt helped by it immensely.

I don't really get that from religion though I get it from art and stuff like that. Religious art in particular. The ceiling of the cistene chapel and stuff like that. I enjoyed art history at school a great deal. I guess I found what he found there. And I find the sense of communion in malls lol.

For me, it's been key to my recovery & survival. But I can only speak for me. I absolutely agree that it's so very important to separate religion from spirituality & belief.
In my darkest times, I've always known that I'm being watched over and will be pulled through. My mental illness has never been a cause for me to examine or question my beliefs. Perhaps I've been lucky -- or blessed -- in that way. My personal belief system also holds that there are no coincidences; that this is my personal journey; that there's a purpose for my life, altho' there are times when it's hard to discern. This really helps.

Belief in Greater Spirit/God yes helps soo much. Religion, No. To worship and glorify Great Spirit/God is awesome but by religiouse rules no; unless it follows the word of God/ Bible in truth and not twisted.
mlyn

how do you get belief.. do you have to be born with it?

I think you are born with it.

Do you have love? Standards of behavior? A conscience? Compassion? A sense of what justice and mercy are?

Let's start by figuring out what you do have.

Maybe it's more than you think.

Well I've got a conscience, and I used to believe in God, but somewhere my faith just died. I have mercy and compassion. Not sure about the others.

Hmmmm......ok, sounds like you have some good things.

Maybe we should figure out what faith is?

What does it mean to you?

love in your heart to give to another

Rresearch shows that those who believe in a higher power (God), and live a spiritual life are healthier, live longer and are more content than those who do not.

I have faith in God but not a religion. My faith doesn't just comfort me but when I pray to God for guidance with an open heart, and I'm truly willing ti accept God's way instead of my way - it is an incredible experience.

There are many different "takes" on this I think. Some would call this "being in harmony" with one's self or perhaps "bring balanced" or creating "good karma" I could go on....

For me, it has always been m faith in God.

Faith is believing in things that are self-evident but generally not seen.

Yes....John 20 verse 29...Jesus said unto him; Thomas, because thou hast seen me, thou hast believed; blessed are they that have not seen and yet have believed.
Nurture faith. Start out small. Look at something as simple as the night sky and know that you are only a small part of a vast and all encompassing God. We are all born from the "spark of God". Many of us are just not concious of this fact. We go about searching for God when...just the fact that we are living and existing under almost impossible odds should be enough for understanding that someone much greater caused this to happen.
Are you born with belief? Of course not! Belief would be part of concious choice.
You are already born as a part of God. It's now up to each and every one of us to realize this and accept it.
That is the beginning of "belief".
Then...it's all up to faith.
m.b.

> Rresearch shows that those who believe in a higher power (God), and live a spiritual life are healthier, live longer and are more content than those who do not.

did they control for non drinking and smoking?

http://moses.creighton.edu/JRS/2005/2005-11.html
http://moses.creighton.edu/JRS/2006/2006-1.html

http://kspark.kaist.ac.kr/Jesus/Inte...20religion.htm

I have to say I'm dubious... This is from the first study (for example)

> Pressing questions include the reasons, whether theistic or non-theistic, that the exceptionally wealthy U.S. is so inefficient that it is experiencing a much higher degree of societal distress than are less religious, less wealthy prosperous democracies. Conversely, how do the latter achieve superior societal health while having little in the way of the religious values or institutions? There is evidence that within the U.S. strong disparities in religious belief versus acceptance of evolution are correlated with similarly varying rates of societal dysfunction, the strongly theistic, anti-evolution south and mid-west having markedly worse homicide, mortality, STD, youth pregnancy, marital and related problems than the northeast where societal conditions, secularization, and acceptance of evolution approach European norms (Aral and Holmes; Beeghley, Doyle, 2002). It is the responsibility of the research community to address controversial issues and provide the information that the citizens of democracies need to chart their future courses.

And then there is the correlation between religious experience and temporal lobe epilepsy...

I think it is important to distinguish between
1) Belief in God the creator
2) Belief in God the creator as a personal God (ie one that cares about us
3) Belief in God as talked about in a particular religion (ie the Hindu Gods or the Christian God/s etc)

Are one or more of the above innate?
I don't think that belief in a particular God (3) is innate. If it was innate then there wouldn't be a point to missionaries. Fact is that the same religion isn't independently discovered at different points around the globe, however. Rather missionaries 'spread the message' therefore belief in a god of a particular religon cannot be innate.

There are many peoples who don't believe in a personal god so that can't be innate either.

There are many peoples who don't believe in god and so that can't be innate either.

To say the concept of God is innate is very strange indeed... Is our concept of an airplane innate? How about our ability to speak a particular language? Our concept of God is a meme, or an idea that we pick up from our society as we become enculturated.

(That isn't to say anything at all about whether there is such a thing as God or not, it is just to say that we acquire the concept of God just as we acquire the concept of the USA and of supply side economics).

Personally...

I should be careful because the trouble is that this board is supposed to be a board in support of religious faith or belief. As such I don't think I'm allowed to answer your question by saying 'I think I've found benefit to not believing in God'. I don't think I'm allowed to say that...

If you want a balanced conversation / thread I don't think you can find one in the faith board here because of the limitations on the scope of the faith board.

But maybe...

You did want reflections on how it helps?

Read the research and report back. I have monitored such things as I have 1000 other concepts I need to monitor to stay up with the mainstream research in my field.

sorry, did you mean i'm to read the research and report back or that you are going to?

i'm wondering because i've provided examples of research that shows a correlation between religious faith and societal distress whereas you have not provided links to any studies at all...

It depends on who's research you read. You'll find pros and cons either way depending on who you read.

From personal experience, my faith has made is much easier to cope with my illness as well as all other aspects of my life. The Dr. is right.

Yes, and those who pray heal faster, and also those who are prayed FOR heal faster and at a higher percentage..so something is going on.

I was referring to research published in peer reviewed, reputable journals of psychology or psychiatry.

the first two links i provided was from a peer reviewed journal as follows:

http://moses.creighton.edu/JRS/toc/About.html

i try not to post links to journal articles that require institutional or individual subscription as i don't think the majority of people on the boards have institutional or individual subscription access.

i'm still waiting on a reference for your claim. don't get me wrong, there is a lot of research out there and i'm fairly sure you can find a study from somewhere to support your claim...

you will note i changed the topic rather from benefit to the individual to benefit to society.

i also don't see why psychiatry / psychology journals should be given priority over other journals such as religious studies journals or sociological journals. i would have thought an inter-disciplinary approach would have been better...

on the relationship between TLE and religiousity (see for example):

http://neuro.psychiatryonline.org/cg...stract/9/3/498
http://www.springerlink.com/content/ktx4026123vnp222/

http://taylorandfrancis.metapress.co...t&backto=issue,8,11;journal,17,18;linkingpublicationresults,1:104609,1
http://www.springerlink.com/content/w54q13592vk33038/
http://www.springerlink.com/content/x85247k73330nhp2/

Dr. psisci is not backing up his statements with links.

My own experience in praying with people for healing is that it sometimes seems to have a good effect--and sometimes not.

Nobody knows why or even how or even IF it has to do with anything more than the power of suggestion.

But I suggest we keep praying in humble hopefulness.

Not much point in believing in God if we can't take every concern to that God and hope for help.