[Heckya]

Originally Posted by DigitalShadow

First, let me explain that I am not religious, but am very curious about religion in general. My wife is LDS, I go to church with her most of the time (for just over a year), I've talked with our Bishop and also a couple missionaries but no one has been able to provide satisfying answers to my questions so I decided to come here.

I have always been fascinated with the concept of faith. All religious people I have talked to refer to faith as an inherently good trait, but what exactly is "faith" and why is it good? I've always understood it as a belief in something that there is no evidence for. But there are an abundance of concepts out there that have no strong evidence for them, blindly believing in all of them doesn't make any sense to me, but if you blindly believe one, why not more of them?

Having a strong scientific background, in general I accept whatever I've seen the most evidence for. I would like to be religious, but I can't find any strong evidence that any of them are true. But even if I did find evidence that one were true, I wouldn't be doing it correctly because it wouldn't be out of "faith", it would be because I've seen enough evidence for it. This presents somewhat of a paradox to me and I would like other people's opinions on the matter.

I've been told to pray about the matter, but I've not received any divine inspiration as of yet. I've been told that I don't really want answers and maybe that is why I'm not getting them, but if someone really wants answers badly enough, when they receive them, how do they know it's not just their brain filling in the gaps and giving them what they want? How else do you explain why there are so many religions out there and how people can receive "divine inspiration" with completely conflicting messages?

I'm sorry if this comes off as hostile, I really don't mean it to. I am just trying to fully present my viewpoint so that it can be properly discussed.

I just have to say that you should just like my husband. The only difference is that we are just about to start going to church once we get settled in our new community. Anyhow, I hope you find the answers you are looking for. My guess is that you will have to find the answer through prayer. I think that prayer with an open heart takes a lot of practice and patience for some people. I am one of those people. My husband doesn't believe in prayer....it doesn't sound like you do either. I'm not pointing fingers, it's just a struggle especially if someone comes from a nonreligious background. Take your time if you need to. I know my biggest struggle with prayer and faith is letting my guard down completely. It's a stuggle, but I know that is worth working towards. I think it's the only way you can really let the Spirit in. Humbling yourself can be very challenging. I'm dealing with all of it right now!