11/04/2008

The Ridiculousness of Faith

Posted by Kevin |

Christian theology is not only opposed to the scientific spirit; it is opposed to every other form of rational thinking” ~Henry Louis Mencken

Quotes and thoughts like this have made me feel like a minority in the intellectual world. Like because I have a faith in God I must be lacking in some mental faculty, as if my belief necessitates an ignorance of sorts.

But does it?

Is faith ridiculous, irrational and stretching at times? Yep, which is exactly why it is called faith.

I don't have to be ashamed of my belief in creation, God or Jesus, because the evolutionist, the scientist and I all have faith in something. Some have belief in a Big Bang and that belief fills in the gaps between eternal matter and chimpanzee's evolving. Others have faith that God created all we know and that He has a design for each individuals life, and that belief fills in the gaps of a love and a greatness we can't wrap our minds around.

One's faith is atheist and says there is no God.
Another's faith is agnostic and says there might be a God.
Other's faith says there is a God or many gods or Allah or Budha or Self or...

We all have faith in something. All of us. So faith isn't an option, it's a recognition and a struggle between our minds and our hearts. Faith is a marriage of our soul and our mind that brings us, all humanity to an application of that reality. What will it look like for me? How does my faith change me, make me better, make this world better?

Is my faith scientific, non-committal, religious, based on past hurts or based on a relationship with a greater power that seems to be at work holding this world together?


It's Personal - A Former Atheist Speaks from dewde on Vimeo.

2 comments:

Unknown said...

For some reason I’m no longer getting your blog updates in the blogs I’m following section… it kind of makes me sad ): But anyhow, I so understand what you are trying to say. I took an Astronomy class a few years ago and for some reason I thought it was astrology, but that’s beside the point… people in that class would constantly get on my case because I was a Christian and because I had faith in God. One day I happened to snap at someone telling him that there is no difference between my faith in God and his faith in science… he was pretty much scandalized because I had dared to compare the two… it sucked though, I don’t think those who call themselves logical want to believe that they have faith in something… but it is faith because even Science isn’t certain… but what can we do? 1 Corinthians 1 explains it ever so well:
18: For the message of the cross is foolishness to those who are perishing, but to us who are being saved it is the power of God. 19 For it is written: "I will destroy the wisdom of the wise; the intelligence of the intelligent I will frustrate."

Anonymous said...

Hmm sounds like a very familiar discussion :)

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