Rancid wrote:I agree Lady J.
I think faith is a contradiction is some ways because if God created us and wants us to have 'faith' in him, why did he give us logical reasoning ability? Faith is believing without logical reason.
Free will.
There is no need to MAKE people worship him. That would be wrong in every aspect. Therefore free will allows one to use the gifts of logic and reasoning to decide what they so choose.
BlueMonkey,
There is no difference.
Being willing to give your life (figuratively or literally) based on hope of an afterlife is the ultimate form of faith.
Most faith is based on teachings from a persuasive man. This is certainly how the Christian faith started (with Jesus, Peter and Paul) and how it continues (Billy Grahm etc.).
The distinction you trying to make is not based on anything more than personal bias.
ebrown_p wrote:
The distinction you trying to make is not based on anything more than personal bias.
As is your view on Mr. Billy being anywhere near Jesus and Paul.
I am not comparing the three... I am only pointing out that faith is faith.
You can have faith in a good man or good cause, or you can have faith in a bad man or a bad cause...
Faith acts in the same way whether the cause is good or bad. It asks you (or causes you) to follow blindly, to sacrifice and to take extreme steps for things that are not certain by any logical sense of the word.
Faith can often act in the cause of good. But it by definition asks us to do things without understanding.
One of the prime examples of faith in the Bible involved a father being completely willing to stab his son to death. In the story, God didn't have him go through with it, but it is clear that he would have.
Is the willingness to kill your child because you believe God wants you to a good thing, or a bad thing? I am afraid I would have failed this test anyway.
I had faith, and I saw people hurt by faith. I now prefer to keep my eyes open and my mind completely engaged.
There are many people who did good things with faith, but I am convinced that people without faith, acting with reason, understanding and values, can accomplish the same things.
The problem is, people have historically been very poor judges about whether they were on the side of right or wrong. People have done terrible things... but nearly all of them were convinced by Faith they were right. There are very few people who sacrafice themselves who think they are on the side of evil.
Faith is dangerous because it asks you to trust without thinking, and to act without questioning.
I agree with you ebrown_p.
Faith is often based on fear as well. If you dont have faith, then you will go to hell. Its not just Christians who believe in a place where people get tortured forever after they die, Islam is the same.
