Most ideas that have any real weight or consequence will only offer up their full blessings to people who are committed to them. And that's why they're so hard to describe to anyone outside. Belief in God, and Christianity in particular, has many huge benefits socially, mentally, and spiritually. But it also has plenty of repulsive traits...unless you're on the inside, at which point those often become positives. I think most things are like this. Eating gluten-free, living green, obeying the speed limit, donating blood, working out, raising kids - they all require devotion if you're going to reap the rewards. And inevitably some people become fanatics about them. It can appear cult-like to outsiders, or at least a bad case of Stockholm Syndrome, but I think that's the only way it works.
But I'm curious how you would respond to C.S. Lewis, who makes the point that Christians often have some hesitation or resentment toward Christianity, but they continue devoting themselves to it because they think it's true (https://www.mydailylewis.com/#date=2022-6-5). Do you feel desire toward your faith? Or is it more of a desire for reason and coherence, and faith is the framework that supplies this?
Most ideas that have any real weight or consequence will only offer up their full blessings to people who are committed to them. And that's why they're so hard to describe to anyone outside. Belief in God, and Christianity in particular, has many huge benefits socially, mentally, and spiritually. But it also has plenty of repulsive traits...unless you're on the inside, at which point those often become positives. I think most things are like this. Eating gluten-free, living green, obeying the speed limit, donating blood, working out, raising kids - they all require devotion if you're going to reap the rewards. And inevitably some people become fanatics about them. It can appear cult-like to outsiders, or at least a bad case of Stockholm Syndrome, but I think that's the only way it works.
But I'm curious how you would respond to C.S. Lewis, who makes the point that Christians often have some hesitation or resentment toward Christianity, but they continue devoting themselves to it because they think it's true (https://www.mydailylewis.com/#date=2022-6-5). Do you feel desire toward your faith? Or is it more of a desire for reason and coherence, and faith is the framework that supplies this?