The merits of having faith

 

 

Many years back - I had to write an essay that was centered around the topic of Faith - who had it - or not and what is it! - I do not remember it all.  It is of course an annual hot topic around Easter - well - for those of Christian persuasion anyhow!

However it is also a topic beyond simple religion. 

 

I contend there are three types of Faith:

•  Blind Faith
•  Skeptic Faith
•  No Faith

    Blind Faith - pretty obvious here - you just believe whatever your higher ups dish up - so for religion it is undying faith into the cause. This can equally be applied to Politics (think faith into "the Party doctrine") or Science (faith into Health advancements or Climate change or Evolution etc). Or indeed you trust blindingly your older sibling who tells you that this course of action (for example -- touch / pee on the electric fence and will not hurt one tiny bit) - is all right?!  Simply no questions allowed - be quiet and belief!

    Skeptic Faith of course is the one where you turn round (like Thomas) and say: "unless I can put my hands into the wounds of our Crucified Lords hands - only then will I belief that he is risen"!  Essentially it is an evidence based faith - and it applies to all institutions.  Show me the Money / Proof / Evidence before I invest something of myself into whatever you proclaim to be truth!

    No Faith is actually a misnomer - as essentially there is no such thing - in its essence!Even an agnostic person is a person of faith - who isbelieving in  - well nothing! Not that they will ever admit to that in itself. No faith is often used and expressed within/by the religious communities - describing people who do not accept the religious doctrines (Christian/Muslim/Jewish/Hindu etc). Of course the Climate dogma people will also use this if you even dare to question their particular "dogma"!

Cue Gallileo ---> One of the most famous examples of the clash between religion
and science is the trial of Galileo. He supported Copernicus' view that the Earth orbited the sun, a "heliocentric" theory which the church declared contrary to Scripture. Galileo was warned to abandon his support for this theory and instead embrace the traditional "geocentric" notion that the Earth was an unmovable point around which the universe revolved.

Naturally, a Blind Faith (ying / yang here)  can be seen as a strength if used in a "correct" setting - or seen as a hindrance to any future progress!! Your way of life - your reality, will depend and change with whichever side you tend to adhere to.  Of course it is possible to have all three happening at some stage in your life - or even concurrent!

As I am a "realist" I tend to question things more often then not - particularly when it comes to "have faith in future outcomes" - such as climate predictions! I know I lost some folks here at this point - and if you still with me bear with me and lets change some words and consider this:

If you have a neighbor/friend/relative who has for the last 50 years faithfully come to you every Saturday - or at least once a month and said: "We have all the data in - the horse is fit - the track is hard and fast and dry and the weather is looking great - no rain forecast, the Horse is injury free and in the form of its life and all the scientific evidence from our various Track Experts points to this particular horse in this particular race on that day to be a winner with the odds being 1500 - 1 - you need to trust me and put some of your hard earned cash on this bet!! "

Now - you can have blind faith and say "yup - ok here is half of my monthly income"  or you can sit back and say - ok when was the last time you had an actual winner??  What -- in the last 50 years NONE of your "predictions" have come true - then would you still be prepared to put your $$$$ into that bet - put the house on as its a "surefire" bet and risk everything???  

Would you?????  And if you did - what will that say about you??

Have fun!