Why should I have faith?

And the Quran. And the Rig Veda and the Hindu epics. And the texts of various extinct religions. And the teachings of various modern cults, including Scientology, David Korresh, Aum Shinrikyo, Heaven’s Gate, etc.

Personally, I’d go with the faith the Hindu epics tell you to have, because they have the coolest battle scenes.

This is a great question. I ask it to myself often. I can see no reason for myself to have faith. So I don’t, and I feel perfectly content.

Me: Who wrote this book?
Faithful: It was written by man and inspired by God.
Me: How do you know that?
Faithful: You got to have faith.
Me: Why should I have faith?
Faithful: The Bible says so.
Me: But, but, but…

Have faith because everything will be allright in the end.

@GAMBIT, at the rate religious belief is declining in America and in Europe, I’m inclined to agree. :) Though I don’t see why I need faith.

@Loofa – it seems you have a rational mind. There are others like you! Such as myself. Welcome to the club :)

@Qingu – The faith is that when all is said and done we have fulfilled our destiny.

Am I not rational? Is my mind diseased with fallacy and falsehoods?

@squirbel – I believe you are rational.

I dont know if its a lot of the religious people or even just a small portion but i know with some of the members in my family when tragic things happened like the death of my grandmother my own mother became very religious and into Church.

It seems like when traumatic things in peoples lives happen they dont know what to do with themselves, they think that this must be some life lesson from a higher power and they turn to it. Maybe they just want to talk and cry to someone who will listen like “God” who will never judge you.

Personally if that works for them, its not hurting anyone else. Just not for me. I cant put my hope into something that will never show face.

Faith isn’t something instilled by instruction, or learning, and it has less to do with religious beliefs than most people realize. My question is: What makes you think you don’t already have any?

Haven’t you heard the story about the little farming town that was stricken with a year-long drought? The people tried everything to bring rain, including religious prayers and ceremonies. Then the mayor got everyone together and told everyone to bring ‘objects of Faith’ to the town square that night and everyone would collectively pray to their own higher powers and have the spiritual boost of their Faith items. That night, while all these people held up Bibles and crosses and rosaries and old pictures of dead grandparents… one little girl held up an Umbrella. That is faith.

@gambitking – Great story. Thank you for sharing that.

@gambitking, holding up an umbrella to prevent drought is just as irrational as holding up a Bible.

I also think we should be careful not to play any semantic games with the word “faith.” I find that religious people often redefine the word to mean things like “belief” or “hope,” and claim that, look, even secularites have “faith!”

@Qingu – yet in his/her story the people had some type of faith. Isn’t that what was asked. Only faith not religious artifacts?

Faith and rationality, I believe – can co-exist.

There are many iterations of faith. That said – I believe what you are rejecting is that particular explanation of faith that you have been exposed to. Rather than debunk all the different faiths – I will present mine.

“Now faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen.”

It comes from the Bible.

But I don’t follow a religion. I don’t go to Church. I don’t read the Bible often. But I do believe, and have unfailing faith in God.

Not because I fear him, or fear what might happen to me. I don’t believe in G-d because I think “Well, better to believe than not, even if it turns out to not be real!” I honestly can’t explain why I believe. But I do. This is what faith is – and faith is not equivalent to religion. Not everyone has faith [though they say they do.] Faith is like the self-actualization of psychology – but for religious subjects.

But in the same token – this does not prevent me from seeing life as it really is. It does not prevent me from thinking through and gleaning wisdom from every man I meet. Faith does not cloud judgement.

I believe in micro-evolution – that is something I know and have seen. I reject macro-evolution because it is too far-fetched, and I haven’t seen and can’t see it.

People reject G-d unintentionally, in my opinion. What they are really trying to reject – is the religion, or the Church. You throw the baby out with the bathwater.

And now that atheism/agnostisism is gaining popularity, I pity the true atheists because now they have to deal with all the sheep who are just there because they don’t believe in a god, not because they’ve actually thought it through.

@squirbel, what do you have faith in?

That a cosmic Jewish zombie, who is his own father, had himself crucified as a sacrifice to himself so that humans could be saved from his own punishment for disobeying the laws he gave to them, laws that humans are incapable of following to begin with because our ancestor, who was made out of clay, listened to a talking snake, ate a magic apple, and in the process absorbed an evil force?

Sounds pretty irrational to me.

I have always questioned the bible also, and how we know whether or not it is legit. How do we know that it is true, what if it was just some book written a long time ago that was dug up and then all of a sudden people did what it said. What happens if years and years and years later on some one digs up an old Harry potter book and start practicing what it says and believes in everything that happens in there was really and Harry really is a prophet
Now excuse me I have to go to confession

@Quigu – You can ridicule – but I told you. I have faith in God. I never said that I believe in Jesus.

You do not know who I am. Read more of my responses, and you will be enlightened. You are a pup.

@aisyna I Lol’d at the Harry Potter religion. Hopefully someone will dig up the Zombie Survival guide and we will live in a post apocalyptic zombie paranoid world :)

Wait a minute. You reject macro-evolution because “you haven’t seen and can’t see it.”

But you have no problem believing in God?

(By the way, which God do you believe in? Apparently not the God of the Bible. How did you determine the identity of the God you believe in?)

Also by the way, what on earth do you think the difference is between “micro-evolution” and “macro-evolution”? What arbitrary number of genetic mutations does your credulity level stop at?

I’m a “pup”?

Actually, I’m an ancient Babylonian demon. You may not have any rational reason to believe me, but you can have faith.

It has been my experience that people have different levels of faith in which we all should embrace some are at a minute level others are extremely high just like anything else that has to do with human life. This has absolutely nothing to do with religion or the interpretation of the many spiritual books that have been written on the subject.

@Qingu – Ancient Babylonian demon? Well you should know all about this you’ve been around for a long time.

@Triiiple- post apocalyptic zombie would by far trump harry potter world :)

[Mod says:] Removed double post.

You shouldn’t. Faith allows you to have confidence in a conclusion that is not based on logic and evidence. Without faith, you are forced to rationally support your beliefs at every step.

Ivan beats me to it again. That’s it, exactly.