what is wrong with blind faith

[IAMANOBODY2015]

I have another stupid question.

I have seen a lot of criticism on people that are viewed to have blind faith. I don't get why people get criticized for it. If there faith causes them to rape or kill people, yes criticize them.

But what is wrong with people believing something simply because they want to. I can understand why atheists wants proof about God when someone is trying to convince them. But why do people have to justify their faith when they are not trying to convince anyone? Why can't people believe what they believe simply because they can and they want to?

I have had spiritual experience and that is why I believe what I believe. My roommates who are not Christians give me a hard time about my beliefs. And when they ask, I say because I want to believe this way or because I was raised this way. I don't feel like I have to justify it. They say I have blind faith. I say what's wrong with that. If my belief doesn't harm anyone or kill anyone who cares.

 

[Swan7]

Matthew 15:10-14
And he called the multitude, and said unto them, Hear, and understand: Not that which goeth into the mouth defileth a man; but that which cometh out of the mouth, this defileth a man.

Then came his disciples, and said unto him, Knowest thou that the Pharisees were offended, after they heard this saying? But he answered and said, Every plant, which my heavenly Father hath not planted, shall be rooted up. Let them alone: they be blind leaders of the blind. And if the blind lead the blind, both shall fall into the ditch. ~KJV

It's actually quite important to check what is being said by us, so that we may see the truth for ourselves from God. This is why prayer and ever seeking His face is so important as well. We make mistakes, but God does not.

Let's put it this way: If someone were to suddenly become blind and he's left to his own devices, he/she would be trying not to bump into anything and see with their hands. If someone were to lead them, this blind person can't see the person leading him/her. This person leading the way for the blind could be deceitful.
Such as the way of our hearts and why Jesus knows our heart best.

I grew up going to church, but that didn't' mean I believed, though I had hope. I grew up with loads of questions of why things were the way they were. I made a lot of mistakes along the way trusting people too much. I trusted them more than Him which is not prioritized correctly. I don't just believe, and like I stated above, in my heart - I know.

I hope this helps even a little. This is only my experience and I'm sure many others have theirs to share with you as well.

 

[Nithavela]

There's nothing wrong with someone personally believing whatever he/she wants.

But more often than not, these people are either influenced by those blind faiths to make some decisions that might appear suboptimal to people not sharing that believe, or they try to push their belief onto others.

 

[KitKatMatt]

But what is wrong with people believing something simply because they want to.

Blind faith isn't "believing something simply because they want to". Blind faith is exactly what it sounds like: believing blindly. Without asking questions, without using sense, without even thinking "I wonder if the way I believe hurts anything?".

Having blind faith can be dangerous. You need to ask questions and use sense to keep from causing harm, whether to yourself or others.

 

[Jack of Spades]

They say I have blind faith. I say what's wrong with that. If my belief doesn't harm anyone or kill anyone who cares.

"Blind faith" as used by militant atheists or your roommates, is a propagandistic word which they twist to mean same thing as "believing something that's not scientifically proven." It is possible to believe something without scientific evidence and be right about it. If that was not the case, nothing new would have ever been discovered, not even in the scientific world.

Interesting part is that even the Bible doesn't promote concept of actual blind faith. Jesuses disciples walked with him, talked with him and saw miracles done by Jesus. Jesus himself said something like "if you don't believe in me for my words, believe for what you see I'm doing". When one of them, Thomas, fell into skepicism, Jesus appeared for him. Jesus kept giving reasons for his followers to believe in him, altho that was not done in manner that would have convinced all of the world at once.

Also, Jesus said that good tree brings forth good fruit, thus instructing his disciples to look the actual practical results of teachings and teachers. That's not blind faith in whatever is said in Gods name.

Blind faith is exactly what it sounds like: believing blindly. Without asking questions, without using sense, without even thinking "I wonder if the way I believe hurts anything?".

Yeah, there are many other ways to be critical or to become unblindly convinced about something than as a scientist in a laboratory.

I have had spiritual experience and that is why I believe what I believe.

Technically, if you've became convinced about faith as result of personal experience, it's not blind faith. Altho I doubt your roomates would see the difference. Blind faith is about unquestioning submission for ideas or authorities.

Why can't people believe what they believe simply because they can and they want to?

Of course people can, but only those who stop giving a damn about what others think about their beliefs, will succeed in being free to do it.

 

[KitKatMatt]

It is possible to believe something without scientific evidence and be right about it. If that was not the case, nothing new would have ever been discovered, not even in the scientific world.

I don't know if I'd count believing certain things, even without hard scientific evidence, as blind faith.

I'll use the atom: the discovery of the atom was preceded by bits of possible proof that atoms may exist. Yes, the people who believed the atom existed could have been wrong, but they were also following a chain of thoughts and interpretations to reach that belief. They were asking questions and seeking answers, not just proclaiming "I believe this!" without any possible lead that such a thing may exist in the first place, and not looking any further into the matter.

 

[Jack of Spades]

They were asking questions and seeking answers, not just proclaiming "I believe this!" without any possible lead that such a thing may exist in the first place, and not looking any further into the matter.

Yeah, you are right, it's different. Scientists faith in his theory isn't entirely comparable to religious persons belief in God. For scientist, belief or speculation about possibility is just the starting point, and the process ends with finding the proof which convinces everyone.

Experiential religion is different, likewise there is some reason to start the journey, like personal experience or just a hunch that theres something missing. But the ending is different, it doesn't end up with final proof which results it becoming accepted truth for everyone, instead it results in deepening personal conviction. It's really an inner journey of heart, not quest to produce visible results.

But I still think that religious discovery is not always only about one person. For historical example, what begun as Martin Luthers personal spiritual journey, ended up repainting the religious map of entire continent. It appears to be possible to transfer religious discoveries from one person to another too.

 

[Soyeong]

I have another stupid question.

I have seen a lot of criticism on people that are viewed to have blind faith. I don't get why people get criticized for it. If there faith causes them to rape or kill people, yes criticize them.

But what is wrong with people believing something simply because they want to. I can understand why atheists wants proof about God when someone is trying to convince them. But why do people have to justify their faith when they are not trying to convince anyone? Why can't people believe what they believe simply because they can and they want to?

I have had spiritual experience and that is why I believe what I believe. My roommates who are not Christians give me a hard time about my beliefs. And when they ask, I say because I want to believe this way or because I was raised this way. I don't feel like I have to justify it. They say I have blind faith. I say what's wrong with that. If my belief doesn't harm anyone or kill anyone who cares.

The main thing that's wrong with blind faith is that there is no such thing. It is humanly impossible to believe something without evidence simply because you want to. Whether you want something to be true certainly does influence your ability to interpret evidence, but it is not in itself sufficient for the formation of a belief. When a belief is formed it is only because it has been indicated to you that it is true. Someone might not agree with you that what you based your belief on is a good indication that it is true, but that's their subjective opinion against yours. You might even be persuaded by them and come to realize that your belief had a poor foundation, but that does not mean it was a blind belief because when it was formed you had sufficient reason to think it was a good foundation. You consider your spiritual experience to be a sufficient reason to believe what you believe, so that is not a blind belief even if everyone else disagrees with you.

I would advise building a stronger foundation because if you ever have doubts about what you experienced or about your interpretation of what you experienced or God forbid some sort of crisis, then you are going to want a solid foundation to fall back on or else your belief may crumble. We should seek to believe things not because we like them or want them to be true, but because they are true. That way in times of doubt you can look back and remind yourself of all of the solid reasons that you have for believing as you do. Or if you investigate the truth of a belief and find that its foundation crumbles, then you are better off without a false belief. The stronger you reasons are for trusting God the more that you are able to trust Him. God gives us faith by giving us more reasons to trust Him.

 

[keith99]

When I had the puppies they had faith in me. But never blind faith. They had seen with their own eyes that I loved them, fed them, played with them and when they were sick took them to a place where someone could help them get better. (Yup they were smart enough to figure out the vet was their friend).

If instead I beat them and starved them I would have expected them to lose their faith in me and rightfully so.

Sad that some dogs are far smarter than some people.

 

[variant]

But why do people have to justify their faith when they are not trying to convince anyone?

This never happens.

Any and all attempts to justify are implicit attempts to persuade.

 

[AHH who-stole-my-name]

There is no blind faith only faith that other people don't recognize anything to have faith in.

 

[2PhiloVoid]

I have another stupid question.

I have seen a lot of criticism on people that are viewed to have blind faith. I don't get why people get criticized for it. If there faith causes them to rape or kill people, yes criticize them.

But what is wrong with people believing something simply because they want to. I can understand why atheists wants proof about God when someone is trying to convince them. But why do people have to justify their faith when they are not trying to convince anyone? Why can't people believe what they believe simply because they can and they want to?

I have had spiritual experience and that is why I believe what I believe. My roommates who are not Christians give me a hard time about my beliefs. And when they ask, I say because I want to believe this way or because I was raised this way. I don't feel like I have to justify it. They say I have blind faith. I say what's wrong with that. If my belief doesn't harm anyone or kill anyone who cares.

Hi IAM...,

I agree that we should have the freedom to believe beneficial ideas without being raked over the coals for it, but we do want to keep in mind too that a Blind Faith contributes to directionless beliefs and, sometimes, detrimental outcomes. Just think of news stories where parents believe their sick children will be healed by nothing but prayer...and then the children die because they never receive a doctor's intervention. These types of parents are exercising Blind Faith, and Christ did not call us to act blindly, but rather in wisdom and proactively.

Just a word the wise.
2PhiloVoid

 

[loveofourlord]

A saying I once heard forget where, "Even in a world of magick there will be frauds." I believe in god, the bible and Jesus, but I'm also concerned about frauds. Remember anyone that tells you to believe them unquestioningly probably has something they don't want you to think about. Even the bible says, not everyone that says they speak for god does, not everyone that claims to be of or for god is.

Too many people get duped and lied to and led astray because they follow religious leaders and what they tell them to do. As already mentioned, you have those that let their children die before being helped by doctors, you have people handling snakes believing in a false scripture in the bible. You have people voting in poloticians that don't care about them, I don't think even believe in god, but use your belief in god to get you to vote against whats best. People will use your beliefs to abuse and hurt others we should always be careful about believing in false things, because ultimatly even Christians I think will have to answer to god when he asks, "Why did you do X, you should know I didn't want that." and saying, "My preacher/pastor/bishop or what ever told me." won't be a defense.

 

[Itinerant Lurker]

I have had spiritual experience and that is why I believe what I believe. My roommates who are not Christians give me a hard time about my beliefs. And when they ask, I say because I want to believe this way or because I was raised this way. I don't feel like I have to justify it. They say I have blind faith. I say what's wrong with that. If my belief doesn't harm anyone or kill anyone who cares.

The problem with believing something because you want to believe it is that we know from experience that this is a very unreliable way to figure out what is actually real and what is not. People have all kinds of experiences from religious raptures from all kinds of faiths to alien abductions.

Clearly, all these experiences aren't actually real - regardless of what people want to believe or how they were raised. To figure out if something is true we don't look at what we want to believe, we appeal to evidence. If your belief doesn't harm anyone or kill anyone then I certainly don't see the harm.

 

[Ana the Ist]

I have another stupid question.

I have seen a lot of criticism on people that are viewed to have blind faith. I don't get why people get criticized for it. If there faith causes them to rape or kill people, yes criticize them.

But what is wrong with people believing something simply because they want to. I can understand why atheists wants proof about God when someone is trying to convince them. But why do people have to justify their faith when they are not trying to convince anyone? Why can't people believe what they believe simply because they can and they want to?

I have had spiritual experience and that is why I believe what I believe. My roommates who are not Christians give me a hard time about my beliefs. And when they ask, I say because I want to believe this way or because I was raised this way. I don't feel like I have to justify it. They say I have blind faith. I say what's wrong with that. If my belief doesn't harm anyone or kill anyone who cares.

This is a really good question in my opinion. What is wrong with just believing in something because you want to? Answer...nothing. I'd say that there's absolutely nothing wrong with just believing in something because you want to believe in it. Nothing inherently wrong anyway.

The problem occurs when you start making decisions/choices based upon this belief. You don't believe it because it's true...you believe it because you want to. That means this belief isn't necessarily based upon reality....it's based upon your personal emotions. When you start making decisions or choices because of this belief...or when this belief starts to guide/influence your choices...you're going to run into some problems. Your emotions don't necessarily reflect reality. That means your choices will be based upon something that isn't reality.

What if that decision is something very important in your life? Would you want to look at reality, facts, and evidence before making the decision? Would you prefer to just think of how you feel, what you'd like to see happen, and how you want things to turn out and base your decision on those?

Does this make sense to you? I think the truth is important...because whether the truth is something we like or not, we make better decisions/choices when we know the truth. If something we believe is based upon desires and emotions...then that belief may not be true. When we start to make choices based upon that belief...we can really mess things up and (quite often) we won't understand why we made a bad choice because we still hold that belief.

If you'd like some real life examples, just say so, and I'll gladly pull some right off this site.

 

[Autumnleaf]

Most people don't want to think. So when they are compelled to they are easily led astray. Hence, thinking before being in the position to be led astray is key if faith is to last. This is why college professors and public screwls mess up Christian children. My wife gets mad when I question the church, but there is a reason why I do so. When the kids meet the teacher or professor they have nothing on their old man who has shared his arguments with the best arguments the internet has to offer.

 

[quatona]

I think it needn´t be explained how blind faith is a problem in real life situations, does it?

However, in metaphysical matters (the unlimited playground for creative mind, the domain of the unfalsifiable) "I believe it because I want to believe it; i believe it because the belief works for me" is not only a perfectly legitimate justification, but actually the best I have come across. IMO.

Now, at those points where metaphysical beliefs and real life meet, things can be a bit more tricky. I.e. where people ask others to have "blind faith in God" but actually mean "have blind faith in me and my doctrine (so that it becomes easy for me to instrumentalize you and your transcendent desires for my very earthly purposes)". You know, we have come to be suspicious when someone asks you to act on blind faith for good reasons, and religion suggests itself - by its very nature of dealing with the supposedly objective and often transcendentally authoritative - as a very effective power tool.

I have another stupid question.

I have seen a lot of criticism on people that are viewed to have blind faith. I don't get why people get criticized for it. If there faith causes them to rape or kill people, yes criticize them.

But what is wrong with people believing something simply because they want to. I can understand why atheists wants proof about God when someone is trying to convince them. But why do people have to justify their faith when they are not trying to convince anyone? Why can't people believe what they believe simply because they can and they want to?

I have had spiritual experience and that is why I believe what I believe. My roommates who are not Christians give me a hard time about my beliefs. And when they ask, I say because I want to believe this way or because I was raised this way. I don't feel like I have to justify it. They say I have blind faith. I say what's wrong with that. If my belief doesn't harm anyone or kill anyone who cares.

In short:
Having blind faith is your personal business. You´re the one who will have to deal with the consequences (if there are any).
Demanding blind faith is very suspicious, for obvious reasons.
Praising blind faith as a virtue is typically followed by the demand for it.

 

[Dave-W]

Loved them!

 

[Black Dog]

I have another stupid question.

I have seen a lot of criticism on people that are viewed to have blind faith. I don't get why people get criticized for it. If there faith causes them to rape or kill people, yes criticize them.

But what is wrong with people believing something simply because they want to. I can understand why atheists wants proof about God when someone is trying to convince them. But why do people have to justify their faith when they are not trying to convince anyone? Why can't people believe what they believe simply because they can and they want to?

I have had spiritual experience and that is why I believe what I believe. My roommates who are not Christians give me a hard time about my beliefs. And when they ask, I say because I want to believe this way or because I was raised this way. I don't feel like I have to justify it. They say I have blind faith. I say what's wrong with that. If my belief doesn't harm anyone or kill anyone who cares.

I worry because if someone can be convinced to have one unjustified belief, they can be convinced to have more unjustified beliefs. A classic example that comes to mind is some people thinking Sarah Palin would have made a good POTUS. What a disaster that would have been. Another example would be believing in Intelligent Design, and then believing it's a good idea to have it taught in science class. That hurts our already terrible education system.

 

[Black Dog]

Most people don't want to think. So when they are compelled to they are easily led astray. Hence, thinking before being in the position to be led astray is key if faith is to last. This is why college professors and public screwls mess up Christian children. My wife gets mad when I question the church, but there is a reason why I do so. When the kids meet the teacher or professor they have nothing on their old man who has shared his arguments with the best arguments the internet has to offer.

Don't you think you should let your children make up their own minds about their religious beliefs?