Faith

Faith is another word for belief.  The Bible is said to encourage belief even though we don't see.  In other words "blind faith".  The great doubter, Thomas, was an example of this.  He saw and believed but the Bible says, blessed or happy are those who believe and have not seen.

Unfortunately, this is a classic example of how religions coax people into unwitting acceptance.  Some would call it intellectual suicide.  There must be reason and logic in faith, or must there?  I can begin to accept that there are mystical elements present in life.  I know, for some, this mystical, unexplainable feeling forms a part of spiritual belief.  However, to push for an unintelligent form of belief that guides the whole of your life does seem to be intellectual suicide.  To base your whole moral fabric on blind acceptance is pathetic and dangerous.  Maybe intellectual suicide is a virtue in religious thought?

Faith, in my opinion, must have a basis and any religious system that pushes for blind acceptance is a cult that is focussed on control and brain washing.  The word cult is a word that has many meanings, both positive and negative associated with it.  Here is a humorous definition with a curious amount of truth.

"...if you believe in it, it is a religion or perhaps 'the' religion;
and if you do not care one way or another about it, it is a sect;
but if you fear and hate it, it is a cult." Leo Pfeffer.

When the big questions cannot be answered anymore we are told to turn to faith and believe.  Actually the words faith and belief both mean the same thing in the New Testament’s version of the word. 

I have often heard the religious saying that we exercise faith everyday.  Things like having faith that a chair will hold us or that a car will get us from A to B.  Well I'm not sure if they're good examples anymore.  Let's call it confidence for the moment.  I can have confidence in my car to get me to work, but I still have a car breakdown insurance (RACQ) just in case.  If my car was a bomb I certainly wouldn't have too much confidence in it.  If the chair was ricketty I wouldn't have confidence in that either.  My point is that it is easy to say we have confidence in things that cannot be tested.  I can test my car and the chair I sit in and have a measure of confidence.  At the end of it all I can touch, see feel even drive my car.  When we talk about religious matters they can hardly be classified in the same ball park as chairs and cars.  Cummon Christians, poor analogy.

So which faith is the right faith?  In whose opinion of faith should we put our faith in?  Is faith just another word for blind belief?  Is faith a pseudonym (another word meaning the same) for learned ignorance?

Why does religion flourish in the presence of the inexplicable (unexplained)?

If faith is being sure for what we hope for (Heb11 ;1), how can you be sure?

More on faith.

What do you think?

Email me at mikesforum@tpg.com.au

Quotes on faith:

Belief without evidence in what is told by one who speaks without knowledge, of things without parallel.  Ambrose Bierce.

"Say what you will about the sweet miracle of unquestioning faith, I consider a capacity for it terrifying and absolutely vile."  Kurt Vonnegut, American author.

"Faith is the commitment of one's consciousness to beliefs for which one has no sensory evidence or rational proof. A mystic is a man who treats his feelings as tools of cognition. Faith is the equation of feeling with knowledge. "  Ayn Rand, Russian-born author (1905-1982).  (The Fountainhead)

"Faith means not wanting to know what is true." - Nietzsche