RE: A Believer's Thoughts on Faith
July 6, 2022 at 9:54 am
(This post was last modified: July 6, 2022 at 10:02 am by The Grand Nudger.)
Capital G or lower case - I talk about this all the time. Apologists tend to want to argue with a straw version of a given persons position - but if and when they do encounter a person who actually would argue the gist of their straw - the results are as underwhelming as ever. I don't mind saying that I know, for a fact, that every single god and kind of god ever described by man is a narrative device. A character in a story who's mouth is useful - but nothing else.
Common retorts on the boards have been..
You don't know everything!
-Sure don't, but I don't need to know everything to know one thing.
What if there's something in some corner of the cosmos that you can't possibly know about that has godlike abilities?
-Cool...hope so! What's that got to do with the narrative devices humans use to posit their normative principles?
Now we can add:
That's faith!
-I don't think so. I think faith is confidence in a proposition beyond what the evidence for that proposition can support. I think this is a fair description, personally - it describes a thing I also experience, something relatable and sensible. Where you might have some evidence for something - but it's spun out into some greater claim that's harder to cash with whatever evidence referenced.
Common retorts on the boards have been..
You don't know everything!
-Sure don't, but I don't need to know everything to know one thing.
What if there's something in some corner of the cosmos that you can't possibly know about that has godlike abilities?
-Cool...hope so! What's that got to do with the narrative devices humans use to posit their normative principles?
Now we can add:
That's faith!
-I don't think so. I think faith is confidence in a proposition beyond what the evidence for that proposition can support. I think this is a fair description, personally - it describes a thing I also experience, something relatable and sensible. Where you might have some evidence for something - but it's spun out into some greater claim that's harder to cash with whatever evidence referenced.
I am the Infantry. I am my country’s strength in war, her deterrent in peace. I am the heart of the fight… wherever, whenever. I carry America’s faith and honor against her enemies. I am the Queen of Battle. I am what my country expects me to be, the best trained Soldier in the world. In the race for victory, I am swift, determined, and courageous, armed with a fierce will to win. Never will I fail my country’s trust. Always I fight on…through the foe, to the objective, to triumph overall. If necessary, I will fight to my death. By my steadfast courage, I have won more than 200 years of freedom. I yield not to weakness, to hunger, to cowardice, to fatigue, to superior odds, For I am mentally tough, physically strong, and morally straight. I forsake not, my country, my mission, my comrades, my sacred duty. I am relentless. I am always there, now and forever. I AM THE INFANTRY! FOLLOW ME!
