''Faith and evidence. There it is. One man's faith is another man's evidence and one man's evidence is another man's faith.'' I would agree with this.
I tried to debate 'faith' in this post here: http://atheistforums.org/thread-257.html and I had to conclude that having to employ 'faith' in any situation immediately puts you at a disadvantage because you are suspending 'certainty' and holding out for 'proof' which you believe one day will be manifested. (This was not the case in the 1st century. The apostle Paul and the first century Christians supposedly had supernatural experiences- they witnessed miracles; Paul had a personal encounter with Christ, etc that meant their faith was not really the same faith I have to employ. Non believers coming into contact with them would initially hear their claims and then after a miracle, they would have had 'evidence' that what they were being told was true. Even Jesus recognised people's problems with believing something because someone tells you to believe it. Doubting Thomas was given the proof he needed to believe). When we talk about faith in a 'natural' situation there is a good chance we will see the end result- (you did find out who killed the man), but to have faith that the 'supernatural' exists- I can see how scientific minds have a problem with us believing this.....I struggle with it myself......
I tried to debate 'faith' in this post here: http://atheistforums.org/thread-257.html and I had to conclude that having to employ 'faith' in any situation immediately puts you at a disadvantage because you are suspending 'certainty' and holding out for 'proof' which you believe one day will be manifested. (This was not the case in the 1st century. The apostle Paul and the first century Christians supposedly had supernatural experiences- they witnessed miracles; Paul had a personal encounter with Christ, etc that meant their faith was not really the same faith I have to employ. Non believers coming into contact with them would initially hear their claims and then after a miracle, they would have had 'evidence' that what they were being told was true. Even Jesus recognised people's problems with believing something because someone tells you to believe it. Doubting Thomas was given the proof he needed to believe). When we talk about faith in a 'natural' situation there is a good chance we will see the end result- (you did find out who killed the man), but to have faith that the 'supernatural' exists- I can see how scientific minds have a problem with us believing this.....I struggle with it myself......
"The eternal mystery of the world is its comprehensibility"
Albert Einstein
Albert Einstein
