There are two definitions for faith. The faith in a daughter's education, paying off debts (and having a secure retirement), and faith that humanity will learn and evolve from its mistake are all rational faiths. With such faith one is aware that result is not certain. Yet the choice is made to pursue the goal anyways in hope of attaining the result.
The other flavor of faith is blind faith. Blind faith postulates that the result is certain. Therefore if the goal is pursued, it is not a matter of hope, but a matter of certainty that it will be attained.
Quote:
Originally posted by raeanna74
Now if you are talking about faith in a supreme being - there is no reason in the world that you have that is suffient to convince me that I'm better of believe that this world is completely caotic and a result of chance. You cannot convince me that there will be no ultimate punishment whether it be carma, reincarnation, or hell for the deeds of those who so disrespect other humans as to torture or kill them without regret. Faith in a supreme being or God is necessary to most humans and will always be. It's the fountations of most cultures and cultural traditions. It's not going away its just too ingrained.
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Saying that one cannot convince you of your conclusion that there is no such thing as chance creation/existence or the non-existence of ultimate punishment; make me presume that you have blind faith on this matter. Another words you are certain of this knowledge. Yet I do not believe that you are an irrational or dogmatic person. Correct me if I am wrong but I believe you are saying that you are not convinced by the alternatives to your religious beliefs and therefore do not wish to accept them as truth.
Therefore if you were in fact a rational person then I would assume that you have rational faith in the existence of god and god’s creation of the universe, as the knowledge is uncertain.
When it comes to the subject of metaphysics most people simply feel the need to take sides in the arguments. In such a case they simply pick a side and have faith that it is correct. Other people, like myself, do not chose sides readily but rather choose to have faith in neither argument until one is proven correct.
Blind faith is not as common as some atheist would have you think. If it were then we would still be living on a flat world, as all scientific discoveries would have been dismissed. Yet it does occur and when it does it is the greatest abomination to all humanity because blind faith is the anti-thesis of though and knowledge. For blind faith does not allow one to question nor to allow other possibilities to come into play.