Chicken or the Egg

Which came first? Faith or Belief?

Ok, how about yours? Where you are right now, whatever you believe, how did you get to where you are in your beliefs? Give yourself the following quiz:

1. What do you believe?
2. How did you come to that conclusion?
3. And where did you get it from?

99.9% of you will come to the conclusion that it was tradition, or family upbringing that instilled the beliefs you have now, it was just expected. You were probably born into it. 'That's just how it's supposed to be'. That is basic belief, but it's not necessarily a belief in God or a messiah as much as it is a belief in a structure and tradition. Rarely do people strike out on their own spiritually, but when they do it's usually into something 180 degrees away from what you were taught. This isn't a bad thing, but when the awakening starts to take place in a believer, the confusion from lack of walls from the structured environment they were used to sends them into a spin. Without a core set of principles to guide your journey, you are walking off the path you set out to find in the first place. So belief isn't necessarily a good thing, because it isn't enough to just believe. Faith is what takes place on the inside, and is by far the most elusive of the two - because faith isn't something that can be defined or written down into a set of guidelines to follow. You either do or you don't. Many churches have their 'articles of faith' but they define it by 'what they believe' and the two are not the same. You can believe in something and not have faith, but in order to have faith you have to believe. The paradox of spiritual existance.

So where are you? Why? Ask yourself. Don't be scared to challenge the walls of tradition and expectation.