The (Many) Problems with Faith

“Faith is to believe what you do not see; the reward of this faith is to see what you believe.” ~ Saint Augustine

When a Christian tells me that she has faith, I struggle to see the difference between this and when a Muslim tells me she has faith. What's the difference?

Both believe without evidence. Both resort to their "faith" as justifications for their belief. And both are more likely than not born into a region of the world dominated by their faiths.

So why is faith an argument for religious belief? All religions claim (demand) faith and all hold this as a central tenet to the legitimacy of their belief.

Faith is not enough!

Saint Augustine was describing the now well known theory of Confirmation Bias - the man was truly well ahead of his time.

Welcome - Yet Another Blog

Welcome to yet another new blog on the blogosphere! One more among many hundreds of thousands of other blogs with hundreds upon hundreds of topics and themes. So most likely, this one will go the way of most and eventually peter out as the author's enthusiasm wanes with each day and comments are as rare as rocking horse shit.

But nothing ventured, nothing gained, no cliche left unturned. So I'm going to give it a go, and with luck, effort, some interesting topics, a writing style that you will enjoy, and more luck, mostly luck, then maybe, just maybe, this blog will gain some followers and start to enjoy a to-and-fro dialogue between author and commentators.

The main topic at hand is that of "faith". And that means religious faith, taking things unseen and without evidence as truthful. I will, however, also speak to other subjects that interest me as takes my fancy from time-to-time. Hopefully this will help keep the blog interesting and vibrant.

But the main thing that keeps a blog interesting and vibrant is the participation of the reader, and that's you! Please comment. Please dive in with your thoughts and opinions. You are free so say what you please, but trolls are obvious and when spotted will be sent underneath the bridge to torment billy goats gruff.

If you have ideas for posts, or you would like to participate as a guest poster, please email me at reasonmakessense[at]gmail[dot]com. I'm open to anything, but please don't feel bad if I don't get back to you, I have a day job, although I promise I'll try.

So let's get started. I'll be looking at ways to promote my blog via social media sites and other tools, and if you see something you like, please share it with others.

Thanks for reading, I hope we can share an internet adventure together.

Sincerely;
Paul

Faith - The Dictionary Definition

Faith [feyth] noun
 

1. confidence or trust in a person or thing: faith in another's ability.

2. belief that is not based on proof: He had faith that the hypothesis would be substantiated by fact.

3. belief in God or in the doctrines or teachings of religion: the firm faith of the Pilgrims.

4. belief in anything, as a code of ethics, standards of merit, etc.: to be of the same faith with someone concerning honesty.

5. a system of religious belief: the Christian faith; the Jewish faith.

6. the obligation of loyalty or fidelity to a person, promise, engagement, etc.: Failure to appear would be breaking faith.

7. the observance of this obligation; fidelity to one's promise, oath, allegiance, etc.: He was the only one who proved his faith during our recent troubles.

8. Christian Theology . the trust in God and in His promises as made through Christ and the Scriptures by which humans are justified or saved.

This blog discusses definitions 2, 3, 5, and 8.