(July 18, 2012 at 11:13 pm)jonb Wrote: Now don't get me wrong, I am as certain there is no god, as I am last tuesday existed, and the concept of a god is to me childish, but what interests me is this faith thing, sure I can read a dictionary and I can see the definitions, but to me, who has always been on the outside of religion. I am supposed to think something is there without being sure it is?
I honestly do not understand it. I can see why somebody might not want to take responsibility for their own actions, and might want an intangible force to blame or reduce the starkness of the memory of the harm they may have done. I can see that an individual in a community with a commonly held philosophy might want to sublimate their personal view point to fit in more easily. I can see somebody might want something more tangible than hope to cling to, but that is not so evident as to be easily dismissed, but is there anything more to belief than that?
Faith has been defined by theologians even during the protestant reformation as much as trust in God as believing that he exists. I take it to mean trusting what you know is true. For example, I may know that my best friend is 100% honest, but not trust him with my wallet. If this were the case, I would not be trusting what I know to be true, namely, that he is completely honest and so wont steal my money.
"the intelligence of the intelligent I will frustrate" (1 Cor. 1:19)
