My faith gets backed up for me personally every time I sit in church and get moved nearly to tears by the beauty of what's going on around me. It happens pretty regularly, too. And I'm not just talking visual beauty, either. I'm talking the music, the prayers (especially when sung), the thoughts of all the contributions from those around me going to create the grandeur that surrounds me, hearing "My Country 'tis of Thee" played on a pipe organ, timpani, guitars and handbells with the full choir (an awesome experience I'd recommend to anyone), and everything else that represents the beauty of 2,000 years worth of faith at work through the Church. For me, God is very real and almost palpable every time I have these experiences.
Music is really what moves me the most. My pastor has a wonderful baritone voice and, on special occasions, he'll sing the eucharistic prayers with organ accompaniment. To me, it shows a depth of faith that's unmistakable and is one of the clearest demonstrations of the beauty of God's love that I could ever witness.
I know there are those who would poo-poo all this, but I would challenge them to relate just one experience where they've truly felt the depth of a love much larger than themselves and have still come to the conclusion that such belief is not real. Personally, my faith is very real. The big challenge is to convey that to others.
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A truly open mind will seriously consider all points of view, even those with which it strongly disagrees for there may be a grain of truth in even the most ridiculous of opinions.
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