Beliefs In the World
A belief is a mental attitude that some proposition is true. (dictionary.com) Beliefs can be, and often are misleading. Beliefs are developed from what is taken from the world around us, from how we are brought up and the morals and values we gain from our peers. Once beliefs are formed they are often held on to. Thesis: Beliefs are based on different elements such as facts, myths and lies.
Facts are a piece of information about circumstances that exist or events that have occurred (define:fact). The reason people believe in facts is because facts are a credible source of information that is real. Believing in something does as good as not knowing if something is real for sure, this is why people choose to believe facts. Beliefs are thoughts experienced in the mind. A fact shows observable proof. For example it’s a fact that gravity pulls down on objects, so if I were to drop an English book it would fall to the floor because of the gravities pull on the book. Facts are being thrown at us every day no matter where we go from commercials on television, magazines and newspapers and even from our peers. When we see these facts in our everyday lives and they become our beliefs. Often a belief is assumed to be a fact when the mind is determined that the belief is a fact. Sometimes we will just believe what we hear without knowing for sure if what we heard was true or not (Beliefs That Can Kill).
Religious belief refers to a mental state in which faith is placed in a creed related to supernatural, sacred, or divine (Religious Belief- Encyclopedia). Religious Belief mainly focuses on ideas. There are many different religious beliefs such as Christianity, Buddhism, Islam, Hebrew, Hinduism and many more. These religions all have different ideas and ways of practicing there religious believes. An example is exclusivism, this is when people of one religion believe that the other religion is either an error, corrupted or not true faith (Exclusivism). In the Jewish culture they believe anyone who doesn’t accept the teaching of the Jewish monotheism is excluded messianic. Christianity shows religious exclusivisim in the Catholic Church and the teachings of several denominations believe that only the ones who practice the true faith will reach heaven, the ones outside of the church will go to Hell. In the Islam religion they reject religious traditions that have no part in Allah or paradise (Exclusive, religious). There is also religious Inclusivism which claims that one religion is explicitly true, while all others are implicitly true and that God accepts an ‘implicit’ faith in lieu of explicit faith in Christ. That while there is no salvation outside of Jesus Christ, that He will extend His mercy to many who lead moral lives but may have incomplete, or no knowledge of Him in this present life (Inclusivism). An example of this would be if an inclusivist Christian were to say “I am Christian and believe that Christianity is the more superior religion, but I do think that there is some truth in Judaism and Buddhism.” This also goes the same for other religions.
Myths are colorful stories that tell about the origins of humans and the cosmos. Myths have always been around through the course of history. Myths can and often do turn into beliefs. A good example of this would be how children in certain cultures believe in Santa Claus, the Easter Bunny and the Tooth Fairy (Beliefs That Can Kill). These myths were made up way back in the day but are still being practiced today by individuals living in the present. Ancient Egyptians believed in mummifying the dead to preserve the body in the after life. These ancient beliefs were not forgotten over time. People today still cleanse and embalm the bodies to prepare the body for afterlife, they sometimes even place personal belongings in the coffin to carry on with them into after life. Another myth still practiced today is the rain dance; some tribes still continue this ritual to bring forth rainfall (Myths and Beliefs of Early Civilizations).
Beliefs are very important to everything we do today. Everything we hear on the news, in church, in political parties or wherever we are is based on someone’s beliefs. People put their beliefs in facts, religion, even myths from ancient times. Our beliefs decide who we vote for or where we go to church even on our level of success in life. So no matter what it is going on in life beliefs will always be a part of it whether.
