Faith, Hope and Love - the pillars of destruction?

[Ciel_Rouge]

I am rather eager to see your views on the following:

Faith = ignorance
Hope = inaction
Love = obsession

Based on my observations of people's lives and my own, I have recently reached a conclusion that perhaps the famous triplet of values is indeed a sick trap for the body and spirit. By resorting to faith we refuse to apply reason. Hope does not only die last but may be the very cause of death as it implies refusal to take any action and settling on wishful thinking. Lastly, love may actually be a learned behaviour based on obsessive monogamy and jealousy rather than our true feelings.

I have also some up with a fresh set to offer a nice alternative:

Thinking - instead of blind faith
Action - instead of apathy
Sensuality - instead of obsession mixed with jealousy

Looking foward to any opinions on that.

[FallentoReason]

I am rather eager to see your views on the following:

Faith = ignorance
Hope = inaction
Love = obsession

Based on my observations of people's lives and my own, I have recently reached a conclusion that perhaps the famous triplet of values is indeed a sick trap for the body and spirit. By resorting to faith we refuse to apply reason. Hope does not only die last but may be the very cause of death as it implies refusal to take any action and settling on wishful thinking. Lastly, love may actually be a learned behaviour based on obsessive monogamy and jealousy rather than our true feelings.

I have also some up with a fresh set to offer a nice alternative:

Thinking - instead of blind faith
Action - instead of apathy
Sensuality - instead of obsession mixed with jealousy

Looking foward to any opinions on that.

I've always thought along these lines as well. You've described my thoughts perfectly.

It's rather frustrating seeing the three in action when you talk to someone. The most frequent conversation that springs up where I see these three in action is the topic of healing:

"But we can heal! Through the Holy Spirit!" - Faith
me: I have yet to see it for myself.
"Just have faith in God and he will pull through" - Hope
me: ...

Love will be playing throughout the conversation and it's pretty much the thing that keeps the other two (faith and hope) active. Love means that they will not take a step back from their beloved Jesus and actually analyse the situation. It is indeed a deadly combination of values to have.

[Kayenneh]

I say love is the least one to worry about here. I'm no romantic myself, but I see nothing wrong with a little bit of caring, altruism an lust rolled into one, as long as the feeling doesn't overpower you. As always, all in moderation.
As for hope, I say why not, as long as you don't fool yourself into wishing what you want into existence. Proactively doing things for your own happiness is a far more effective way, but there are things that are totally random anyways. I have met hopeful people and people who have lost all hope, and I know which group I prefer.
Faith in many a thing is silly. So, your wife beat you once, but she says that she cares for you and is really sorry, so you have faith in her to not do it again? No. You wish to believe in something that has never been proven or seen, something you can't understand, bigger than yourself, because it makes you feel better about yourself and your life? No. Faith is the last resort when you refuse all sensible options.

[Ciel_Rouge]

It is indeed a deadly combination of values to have.

Hi FallentoReason and thank you for that, it summarized the point in a such an elegant way On a side note, I think it did not come out of nowhere. With Christianity being originally a cult for slaves, this particular set of values fits a slave perfectly.

I mean a slave was not supposed to have his own mind about things or question the master's words - hence the blind Faith.

A slave was not supposed to act on his own, have initiative or show disobedience - hence the apathy and naive Hope.

A slave was not supposed to follow his own feelings, just be obsessively loyal to his master and even sacrifice himself - hence the obsession of Love

[Undeceived]

Imagine a world with no faith, hope or love. A world of doubt, despair and hate.
Would you live in it?

When we talk of faith we mean 'informed faith', not 'blind faith.' If your spouse cheats on you but promises never ever to do it again, you better have faith she'll keep her word. If you don't you'll be suspicious your whole life and there will be a wall between you. As for hope, have hope in something or someone great. And love someone who will not disappoint. If we have faith, hope and love in Jesus Christ we never see the forms of faith, hope and love portrayed here. How sad if you think all faith is baseless and all hope is on thin air and all love undeservedly given.

Jesus died for our sins--we have faith this forgives us. He resurrected. We have hope we will resurrect too. He shows his love in sacrifice, filling us with love to pour out on others.
John 3:16
1 John 3:16

[Ciel_Rouge]

Imagine a world with no faith, hope or love. A world of doubt, despair and hate.
Would you live in it?

There is already a lot of despair and hate generated by people who refuse to use their minds and doubt. I wonder if any of you read Orwell's novel called 1984. The repressive authority applying torture etc. was called there the "ministry of love" Anyway, as suggested before, in a world without the deceitful concept of faith-hope-love one could resort to the more natural thought-action-sensuality. I suppose this had almost been done in 18th century France and the world did get a bit better then for a while. Unfortunately, it soon reverted to doubt-despair-hate caused by faith-hope-love ;-) I mean seriously - faith in contradictory religion soon leads to doubt and confusion, resorting to hope and inaction shall result in disaster and despair and those who obsessively love often obsessively hate soon afterwards.

[FallentoReason]

Imagine a world with no faith, hope or love. A world of doubt, despair and hate.
Would you live in it?

When we talk of faith we mean 'informed faith', not 'blind faith.' If your spouse cheats on you but promises never ever to do it again, you better have faith she'll keep her word. If you don't you'll be suspicious your whole life and there will be a wall between you. As for hope, have hope in something or someone great. And love someone who will not disappoint. If we have faith, hope and love in Jesus Christ we never see the forms of faith, hope and love portrayed here. How sad if you think all faith is baseless and all hope is on thin air and all love undeservedly given.

Jesus died for our sins--we have faith this forgives us. He resurrected. We have hope we will resurrect too. He shows his love in sacrifice, filling us with love to pour out on others.
John 3:16
1 John 3:16

I understand where you're coming from and I actually agree in theory that having 'proper' faith, hope and love in Jesus would work. The problem lies in that your starting point is Jesus is the absolute truth. Then I see F+H+L as dangerous because you've boxed yourself into a mentality which in my personal opinion is harmful. Think of the pastor who died from a snake bite (the end of Mark says that shouldn't happen). Clearly that mindset doesn't work in reality but there's nothing that will make you snap out of it because of the nature of the 3 elements in that mentality.

[Oldandeasilyconfused]

When we talk of faith we mean 'informed faith', not 'blind faith.'

There is no difference. By definition,'faith' is belief based on authority rather than proof.A more honest word for faith is 'superstition'

Faith Hope,and love all exist as concepts because they each serve at least one function.

I lack faith, but have no right to deny it to others.

I really don't know what word 'love means' ;empathy and unconditional acceptance? The closest I've ever seen to that ideal is maternal love. I suspect the narcissistic obsession we call 'romantic love' is no more than a biological urge. It is also my perception that there are altruistic acts,many,but so far I've never met an altruistic person.


Hope as an excuse for inaction is not hope me. For me hope has always motivated me and given me confidence for a successful outcome. Without hope, I despair.

[spockrates]

I am rather eager to see your views on the following:

Faith = ignorance
Hope = inaction
Love = obsession

Based on my observations of people's lives and my own, I have recently reached a conclusion that perhaps the famous triplet of values is indeed a sick trap for the body and spirit. By resorting to faith we refuse to apply reason. Hope does not only die last but may be the very cause of death as it implies refusal to take any action and settling on wishful thinking. Lastly, love may actually be a learned behaviour based on obsessive monogamy and jealousy rather than our true feelings.

I have also some up with a fresh set to offer a nice alternative:

Thinking - instead of blind faith
Action - instead of apathy
Sensuality - instead of obsession mixed with jealousy

Looking foward to any opinions on that.

I'm guessing you are saying this tongue in cheek. I'm thinking:

Faith = the opposite of mistrust
Hope = the opposite of despair
Love = the opposite of hate

There is nothing wrong that I can see with any of these, as long as the object of faith is worthy of trust and the object of hope does not disappoint and the love is guided by wisdom.

If God does not exist, then one should not trust in him, nor expect him to do anything, nor accept what others say he commands as the way we should treat one another.

What do you think?

[MountOlympus]

In literal terms and at least one definition,

Faith
Hope
Love

are all crazy to have. It all depends on context.