Reseña del libro "Behind The Faith: Why Christians Believe What They Believe (en Inglés)"
Many of us believe what we do because we were raised in a particular church, under a particular view in the faith, with particular traditions. That being the case, as we get older we tend to stick with this belief system or drop it all together. This however, is no reason to believe in a particular doctrine or subscribe to a particular denomination. It simply is no answer and is less of a reason in and of itself to believe in or serve under some religious pretense. We should not base our beliefs on some emotional experience we had, which we cannot really explain with any substance, other than to attribute the experience to something we want to be- lieve was spiritual or God-inspired. This choice, belief and faith, should not be an unexplainable gut feeling, or some thought shrouded in a cosmic concept of God that is neither specific nor explainable. Neither should we hide behind peer pressure that makes us feel guilty if we denied having any real belief in the ex- istence of God at all. None of these aspects are the basis to knowing anything, let alone foundations of a faith. The question then becomes, how do we know what is true and what to believe on the ground where we live? What are the facts behind the faith and what is folklore? How can we know for certain? Many attribute their belief based on some life experience, but these experiences are often cloud- ed because of some traumatic emotional circumstance. Any answers we tend to get for these moments are either vague or wrapped in some traditional antidote leaving us unsatisfied. In many cases we would be better off making something up to believe on our own. At least that way it would be more personal. In the Christian faith, finding these and other answers to even harder questions are relegated to the scriptures of the Bible. The challenge there is that we can get answers that may be couched in religious doctrine. There are over 2300 evolving translations of the Bible, which have been used by millions over time to manipulate billions of people for thousands of years. The Bible has been used to justify countless evils and atrocities. How then can we trust a writing that has been so manipulated over the ages? If the Bible and all that it represents, is not real and not the absolute literal truth, our faith on any front is without merit, and we have all been played the fool. There have been many books written about the Bible, examining and criticizing, even supporting the scriptures. This effort will attempt to answer a simple, yet compelling question: What is behind the faith?
