S
Spike~
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What do you think faith is? What is the difference between blind faith and just plain faith? Do you think that there are varying degrees of faith? Do you think faith is good or bad, wise, or foolish?
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CF has always been a site that welcomes people from different backgrounds and beliefs to participate in discussion and even debate. That is the nature of its ministry. In view of recent events emotions are running very high. We need to remind people of some basic principles in debating on this site. We need to be civil when we express differences in opinion. No personal attacks. Avoid you, your statements. Don't characterize an entire political party with comparisons to Fascism or Communism or other extreme movements that committed atrocities. CF is not the place for broad brush or blanket statements about groups and political parties. Put the broad brushes and blankets away when you come to CF, better yet, put them in the incinerator. Debate had no place for them. We need to remember that people that commit acts of violence represent themselves or a small extreme faction.
I think there are difference between. If a someone I don't know well tells me they will meet me somewhere, I can have blind faith that they will. If a friend that I have known for a long time who has been reliable in the past tells me the same, I can have faith in them based on past experience. There can be different degrees of faith. If that friend doesn't show up, but later tells me that they will meet me somewhere again, I will have less faith in them.Spike~ said:
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Spike~ said:
Faith is usually considered to be the opposite of knowledge. We cannot know everything, and so when we act many times it's from faith alone. When people lose faith, they try to gather more knowledge before they act. The less faith they have, the more knowledge they feel they need to collect. Is it wise to substitute faith for knowledge? It depends. What's your objective? Usually, if you're materialistic, and protective of your material posessions and position in the physical world, knowledge is wiser to rely on than faith. But, for a spiritual person, one seeking God only, faith is superior, because all the knowledge in the world is worthless then.
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SolomonVII
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Becoming cognizant of the fact that our limited ability to know the world will always fall short of the totality of what exists, faith in God may be defined as a fundamental trust that our lives and our reality are meaningful and purposive. In the face of uncertainty, there is no possibility of such an assertion without faith.
In a sense, to believe in meaning is to believe in God. Similarly, not to believe in God is also to not believe that the meanings and purposes that one's life possess are fundamentally grounded in reality. While believer and unbeliever can understand their lives and reality as a whole to be meaningful, it is only through God that such a belief can be justified.
Because our ability to know is limited, God can neither be irrefutably proved or disproved to the satifaction of all. Therefore it remains a matter of belief rather than fact on whether we posit reality as meaningful or not. How we ultimately regard reality invites us to make a decision. To decide not to choose in itself means that one is only choosing not to trust.
Because non-believers decision is to not trust in the ultimate meaningfulness of life, it would be a misnomer to say that their position is based on faith. Yet because of the uncertainty inherent in our limited ability to know, it cannot be stated that believing to trust is any more irrational than choosing to not believe.
A believer's decision to trust in God is based in the totality of his or her experience of reality. It is not just based on limited concept of reasoning that has been so successful in modern scientific endeavor. It is much more based in the depth of experience and the qualitatively different ways we have of experiencing such as through or appreciation, our emotions, our actions, our sense of aesthetics, and our will. In the classical sense, not just cognition, but all of these different aspects through which we come to know ourselves and the world were regarded as rational.
As it is only through deciding to open ourselves open to another that we experience love, so it is only through the decision to trust in God that we become aware of God. That believers are in fact aware of God's presence in their lives demonstrates the rationality of the choice.
In a sense, to believe in meaning is to believe in God. Similarly, not to believe in God is also to not believe that the meanings and purposes that one's life possess are fundamentally grounded in reality. While believer and unbeliever can understand their lives and reality as a whole to be meaningful, it is only through God that such a belief can be justified.
Because our ability to know is limited, God can neither be irrefutably proved or disproved to the satifaction of all. Therefore it remains a matter of belief rather than fact on whether we posit reality as meaningful or not. How we ultimately regard reality invites us to make a decision. To decide not to choose in itself means that one is only choosing not to trust.
Because non-believers decision is to not trust in the ultimate meaningfulness of life, it would be a misnomer to say that their position is based on faith. Yet because of the uncertainty inherent in our limited ability to know, it cannot be stated that believing to trust is any more irrational than choosing to not believe.
A believer's decision to trust in God is based in the totality of his or her experience of reality. It is not just based on limited concept of reasoning that has been so successful in modern scientific endeavor. It is much more based in the depth of experience and the qualitatively different ways we have of experiencing such as through or appreciation, our emotions, our actions, our sense of aesthetics, and our will. In the classical sense, not just cognition, but all of these different aspects through which we come to know ourselves and the world were regarded as rational.
As it is only through deciding to open ourselves open to another that we experience love, so it is only through the decision to trust in God that we become aware of God. That believers are in fact aware of God's presence in their lives demonstrates the rationality of the choice.
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