(May 16, 2014 at 1:22 am)Last Things Wrote:So... hummmm... everyone else has addressed this pretty much how I would... now I feel like a fifth wheel....(May 2, 2014 at 7:47 pm)pocaracas Wrote: The sacraments? What are those? Why should I care about then?
Doctrine? What is that thing? Is it related to some doctor?
Do note that both those term have implicit belief that some extraordinary agent exists... around here, that belief is far from granted.
Besides, any institution that requires belief automatically lacks credibility. Think about it...
If belief is hope, then pretty much anything requires it. If I get a job, it is with hope for money and their hope for my work. Everything I do requires faith in something for us to function as a society.
[spew something nonetheless]
A job requires a contract (if it's a legal one) and that contract stipulates everything. The employee knows, beforehand, that he has the power of the law behind him, if the employer doesn't pay his wage. The same applies for the employer who has an employee who does not perform his duties.
So you have an institution that's known to work in a particular way, requires no belief from you, just plain observation.
To repeat what others have said: Trust in other human beings does not equate to faith in the existence of some non-corporeal entity.
The funny thing is that this faith does tend to start out as "trust in other human beings", hence the widespread practice of indoctrination by trustworthy people, typically, the parents. Here's a thought experiment for you: What happens if you remove indoctrination from the whole of mankind?