Comment by Forrest Curo on 7th mo. 26, 2016 at 12:01pm

I would say that no "belief" will do it; but God gives everyone life and enlightenment to the extent that a person's beliefs and orientation will let them accept it, in (as he says) 'a continuing encounter' with God --

but what I'm hearing in these posts, instead, is more like:  ~"Our belief in what form God's ongoing intervention takes is what makes that effective."

God and I, I believe, agree quite otherwise. I think our guy Jesus agrees as well, though I don't know whether you'd agree we can conclude that from the attributed quotes we've received from his followers.

Comment by Patricia Dallmann on 8th mo. 2, 2016 at 10:13am

In this morning's reading from The Great Mystery (p. 224), I came across this exchange between a Puritan and a Friend, which gives a number of descriptors of faith, all of which ascribe its origin to God. It appears as though the Puritan in this exchange was mistaking "belief" for "faith." 

The Puritan has asserted "that faith was not perfect." 

The Quaker responds: "Faith is holy, and the gift of God, and purifies, and justifies, and is a mystery, in which is the unity, by which God is pleased; and this is perfect, being the gift of God; and from this he [Gifford, a priest] hath showed his reprobation, and his ignorance."

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