After writing my previous post, I read one comment. Thank you Anon 7:59 for your comment although instead of writing you a comment in return I had decided for a new post.
Faith is more than religion. Faith is knowing with almost up most certainty that it is true.
Everyday, we walk across streets. We are placing faith in walking across for at any moment we may be run over. It is improbable but the chance is there.Your faith makes it worth taking the risk. Nothing in life is for certain except that we are born and then die. Some are born with sight and find themselves blind after a tragic event. The doctors have told many of people that they may never walk, and we find more and more people with the drive to overcome what the doctors had said would not occur. They had faith. They had a certainty that they would succeed.
Statisticians would tell you that there is nothing that is 100% accurate outside of certain known laws; law of supply, law of demand. For example 1+1 always equals 2, but it is not known for certain that you will live or die today. You believe that today you won't die and so you invest your time in working to enable you to receive more in the future. If you knew without a doubt you would die today, you would not go to work but do anything that may actually kill you.
Faith is what lets you complete actions throughout the day. No, faith is not dumb. How can it when it allows us to live.
Because of faith we cannot understand government intervention. Why government intervention only proves a lack of faith in the market. Are we really to believe that government officials can control an economy better than a market that fixes itself? I think not, and I came to my conclusion through faith...
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6 comments:
When I cross the street, I look both ways. Thus, I determine whether it is safe to cross before crossing. I don't just go and have faith I'll make it. THAT would be faith, and I wouldn't last long.
You mentioned people who overcome large obstacles, such as recovering from seemingly terminal illness. I don't call this faith; I call it drive, a will to live. When you have no alternative, trying to overcome large obstacles is better than giving up. This doesn't fit my definition of faith, though. It's a will (like I'm a will).
Some philosophizing is required to do so, but it's quite possible to live life without any faith in anything whatsoever. I know because I do it every day. Now, I did go through a period of despair and hopelessness where I withdrew and pondered, but I'm out of that stage now. I'm able to question everything, accept nothing, and still live day-to-day like any other person would, for the most part.
Moreover, I think my lack of faith could help me in the long run. Where others take what they have for granted, I will work to ensure it will still be there for me tommorrow. Where some take their health for granted, having faith it will be there, I will be keeping myself healthy consciously. Where some people spend haphazardly, having faith that paying the minimum on their credit cards will work well into the future, I will save my money. And where some people live their lives expecting an afterlife, I'll live knowing that my life is all I have.
Faith isn't necessary. For some who are too dumb to think for themselves, it may be the only way to make it through the day. But for those of us with "critical thinking" skills, it isn't necessary. When children are indoctrinated by faith, it hinders brain development, I think, encouraging them to believe rather than deduce.
I'd like you e-mail, also. We tend to have interesting discussions.
Have faith in the fed.
http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=-4312730277175242198&q=America%3A+Freedom+to+Fascism
To anonymous 3:54
I would like to know without faith what is the purpose of life? Is it to work hard to obtain wealth and keep yourself in good health only to die in the end with leaving nothing but the memory others hae of you, other that will also die eventually? Also you said that having the will to overcome something does not fit your definition of faith, so what is your definition of faith? One more question... Do you or have you been with someone you love? Don't you have to have faith in them that they won't cheat on you? If you don't then you will just constantly be parinoid that they are cheating on you.
To your first question, the purpose of life is to enjoy it, mainly. There is no ultimate purpose. Our lives are all relatively meaningless, but they're all we have, so we should make the most of them, collectively.
To address your second question, the reason I don't consider it faith is because there's no real choice in the matter. Faith, to me, is choosing to believe something with a lack of evidence to back that belief up. I don't think having a will to live, no matter the odds, is a choice really. I suppose you could call it faith, but I think it's something different.
Finally, yes I have been with someone I love, and I trusted them as a result of "evidence" I had accumulated. It wasn't faith, it was a reasoned judgment.
You make very good arguement and I can see you have definately thought these things through. I choose to have faith and believe in a God and an afterlife but that is a personal choice for me, just like you not believing in faith is a personal choice. Therefore, I would not call faith or atheism dumb, just a matter of choice. Thanks for answering my questions atheism is something I've alway had a hard time grasping.
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