Well, there certainly is an unfortunate tendency among humans to engage in confirmation bias. It afflicts the religious and otherwise just the same. However, sloppy methodology and conclusions derive from said don't last long in the scientific world. The scientific method is very rigorous and the conclusions are based upon solid, demonstrable, thoroughly vetted data. Peer review isn't just rigorous, it can be nearly brutal. Faith is, well, faith. Put another way: One can measure, test, record, and study physical phenomenon. The same can not be said of supernatural claims made in an ancient holy book. To the point about what happened pre-Big Bang, the answer is simply "we don't know yet." But the "we don't know answer" doesn't mean we get to claim Yahweh did it without proof. For that matter, we don't get to claim Allah, Zeus, or the Flying Spaghetti Monster did it either, without evidence. Have evidence? Cool, present it. Don't? Well, it cannot be believed until it is provided.
I wouldn't say that religious people are closed minded in general, I just think that they believe what they believe in, usually for a specific reason, so when somebody challenges their way of thinking, it's hard for them to accept. A lot of religious people are open to all sorts of views, and are more than willing and happy to have their faith questioned because they know they believe in a certain thing for a reason.
I get it. I'm as enlightened as the next guy in this American culture. But whether the scientific method will accept it or not I still have scientifically unverifiable but very real experiences that have lead me to the conclusion of my faith. Does that make me close minded? Sorry if it does but I cannot just toss out these evidences in my life because science won't except them. I'm ok with the man of science not accepting my reality because it is mine and I can't prove it scientifically.
I think the ability to have enough faith to believe that Jesus is your savior requires a more open mind than only believing what can be proven by the world. I believe that everyone is entitled to their own opinion, but mine is that being a christian would not in any way make one closed minded or narrow minded. However, I notice that you say sticking to a religious system, and that is completely different than being a christian, so I can see how you could perceive religious systems to correlate with closed minded individuals.
Out of curiosity, what were these experiences? Presumably, they were religious in nature, but I'm genuinely curious what they were. Thanks.
People will believe what they want to believe, and that' the bottom line. Regardless of what the facts state or years of studying will produce. People are close to outside interpretation if they truly believe in something. As long as these people don't come knocking on my door thinking they can hand me a pamphlet, trying to change my mind, I'm ok with it. Think what you want to but just keep it to yourself, and don't preach. That's the way I like to play it out.
I know of so many religious people who are open-minded. They are those who stay calm when a religious debate is going on. They are the people on the sidelines who stick to their religiosity and always avoid confrontation with other religion. But come to think of it, what makes people engage in a religious debate when we all know that no one had ever won such a debate? Religion is supposed to be faith in God or belief in the supreme being so why use that supreme being for personal purposes?
No, not religious in nature (I don't think) but maybe. I just got to a point in my life when I realized that I was self-destructing with booze and really bad life style choices. I simply prayed that if God existed I wanted to know who he/she/it was and I really didn't care who he/she/it was. - I just figured I was going to be dead soon so all I really wanted was the "truth" - if it even existed. After exploring the world's religions, or which ones I could, I was taken by the resurrection of Jesus. The statistical improbability of it (it seems more likely that a laundry dryer has a chance of accidently folding my laundry while it dries than a dead man raising back to life) but when the Bible placed its entire claim of credibility on this point alone, I explored (heh, heh, oddly enough) with an open mind for the first time to the possibility that this was true. I simply prayed that if Jesus was alive as is claimed then I really wanted to know. So, it's been an amazing journey these last 21 years. I told Jesus, at that time, that I really didn't want to be a Christian (because I knew too many Christians who really did not impress me) and if I could ever actually discount his resurrection from the dead that I was back to my self focussed hedonistic lifestyle. While I've certainly struggled through this faith journey I've never once been able to deny the resurrection from the dead but rather the "coincidences" of my life have strengthened this position over time. These are mine. I don't share now because there is not time or space plus I really don't think anyone outside of faith would or could accept them as evidences. Maybe I am wrong but I will admit that if I spend too much time analyzing some of my own experiences I am apt in my Enlightend mind to talk myself out of faith. Faith is fragile, I do admit that.
exactly my point. and the funny thing is that I've been called close minded by several religious people when this kind of talks came along...
It really depends on the person. It's not fair to just pin a tag on someone because of their beliefs. There are atheists and non-religious people that are extremely close minded as well.
