cafe
Well-known member
- Joined
- Apr 19, 2007
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- INFJ
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- 9w1
Your friend sounds like a fun guy.Does your INTP sincerely believe still? Or is that just an hold habit that he's passed up in favor of superior philosophical beliefs?
If he does, what exactly motivates him?
NTs tend to have difficulty finding inspiration to maintain their religious fervor because they tend to be impersonally inspired to live their lives the way they chose. An NF, I could understand how they'd retain their religious beliefs for a long period of time, as they need a personal reason to inspire their actions. As for example, believing that there is a being who loves them and would approve of their every action if they pleased him would likely suffice. This is much like their relationship with a parent or a spouse. I am not surprised that religious belief is much more common among Fs than Ts and even NFs who are much more in tune with reason than the majority of the populace stand a considerable chance of being life-long Christians. Yet, I just wonder how NTs, especially INTPs or ENTJs--the radical thinkers manage it, without feeling like it all has been a terrible drudger to bare.
Would appreciate if you'd let me know more of his general approach to Christianity and how he finds the motivation to remain in faith. Does he not become envious of other NTs who have the great liberty to explore ideas that he does not, being tied to religion like a dog to a chain?
I have an older ENTP friend who is a senior pastor at a pentacoste church, recently we've discussed my philosophical discoveries after losing faith. He has not told me about his mindset, but we connected much better after this. He even made a comment that implicitly suggested that because of his fascination with chaos theories, he likes messing with the minds of SJs by asking open-minded questions and being as intuitive as possible and thus stirring them into a panic. Whilst, because of his mastery with persona building (skills associated with dominant Ne), they can not come after him because he successfully passed himself off as their fellow fundamentalist.
In short, he is compelled to keep on searching for reasons to keep his faith (it all has to come from within for him because his Ti is strong, just like for myself, and it all has to be founded on impersonal motives) because of all the emotional obligations that he is environed in in his church--stemming from his inferior Fe, yet cannot find any genuine reasons to do so, as he is stuck in the mud. He certainly envied me for how I was able to explore ideas without wondering what orthodoxy I've just crossed. He is tied to his religious worldview like a dog to a chain. And he is an intensely externally focused ENTP, I would never wish such an evil to happen to an INTP, a type that tends to produce personalities that are likely more idea oriented than he is.
I don't know all the details of my husband's inner workings on faith. My impression is that his belief is sincere and possibly more orthodox than my own. Our problem has always been more with the difficulty of finding a community in which we are not ugly ducklings or feel the need to be lobotomized in order to fit in, not because we do not believe in the orthodox teachings (we're Pentecostal, too) but because the leadership tends to do such a poor job getting those teachings across and explaining the Biblical/theological reasoning behind them. Not that most of the congregations seem to mind.
That is where our discussions tend to go. I don't, honestly, consider it my place to inquire a great deal into all of his reasonings on every subject, especially one so personal as religion and faith. I consider that something that is between him and God.
I can tell him you are interested in his thoughts on the subject or you could PM him. He usually pops in on the weekends to read my blog. He might respond.