I have heard this multiple times so I thought it was worth losing 5 points to bring it into the open. Pretty much because I feel sorry for the weakness of these arguments and don't want anyone to get embarassed in person using this, religous or not.
Faith is basically believing something without evidence.
Having faith that my car will start when I turn the key would be a completely incorrect, moronic statement. It is the complete opposite of faith. (although I can't drive yet) First of all I don't 'know' my car will start when I turn the key. I make an educated guess based on the fact that the car will start when I turn the key, lets say, about 39 out of 40 times. This is an observation, and based on this observation I come to conclusion it is probable for the car to start when i turn the key. This is a perfect example of a scientific conclusion. If I had a particularly bad car, lets say it starts about 1 out of 200 times..there would most likely be no such 'Faith'.
2006-12-10 07:51:59 · 16 answers · asked by Poo 3 in Society & Culture ➔ Religion & Spirituality
Do you understand why that statement is very stupid now?
2006-12-10 07:53:08 · update #1
do you wanna sell your car?
2006-12-10 07:54:19 · answer #1 · answered by Anonymous · 2⤊ 0⤋
That is a bad argument for faith.
That said, 'faith' is needed to learn pretty much anything.
Religion is a set of practices designed to develop the mind in certain ways. Yes, many religion are confused or even wrong about those processes, but that is not the issue here.
By the very nature of a learning or developing mind it does not have perfect knowledge. 'Faith' is just the belief that what you have learned will allow you to reach another level of learning and understanding.
2006-12-10 16:02:34 · answer #2 · answered by Bad Buddhist 4 · 1⤊ 0⤋
I think you're thinking correctly about this, and coming to make the important distinctions. Many people seem to confuse "evidence" with "proof", and believe that anything you can't 100% prove is something that you have to just accept on faith. That's not true, as you have pointed out: I can't prove that my car will start the next time I get in, but I certainly have a LOT more than just blind faith backing my belief that it will.
I know you'll get a lot of confused answers about this, but let me say that you're going the right direction in your thinking, and encourage you to keep thinking about these things.
(You shouldn't believe things based on authority, but I'll throw in anyway the fact that I've got four college degrees including two Masters and a Ph.D., with significant background in probability and statistics and epistemology, so I think that my endorsement of your ideas oughta count for something
2006-12-10 16:04:20 · answer #3 · answered by Anonymous · 1⤊ 1⤋
moreover, if you bother to learn how, you can take apart the pieces and figure out for yourself WHY the car starts when you turn the key.
You can visit the plants where it was constructed and see how it came about firsthand.
You can also attribute the reliability of the starting with the amount of preventive maintenance you put into it.
if you only assume it will always start, you will have a crisis of faith that cold day when you're stranded at the mall.
2006-12-10 15:58:29 · answer #4 · answered by kent_shakespear 7 · 1⤊ 0⤋
Actually faith is believing that something will happen without having proof that it will. If you drop a rock off a building and you believe that it will fall, thats not faith because you already know the outcome. However if you believe that it wont fall, while knowing about gravity and whatnot, that is faith, you don't have any proof that it won't fall. You faith can be very wrong, but the fact that you believe something you can't prove means that it is faith.
2006-12-10 15:55:40 · answer #5 · answered by Anonymous · 0⤊ 1⤋
I went to Ft Benning fishing when the temp was 29o degrees. I was Catfishing. Out there 3 miles in the woods. I finally decided to quit fishing and come home. My truck had a dead battery. Now you want to know how I felt that I had to walk 3 miles in the cold until the MP's saw me walking and I was about half froze. The lesson here is, don't go fishing when it is cold at night 3 miles in the woods on Ft Benning.
2006-12-10 15:57:27 · answer #6 · answered by Anonymous · 3⤊ 0⤋
Intelligent people trust it will start because they know that things act in certain ways, and in the case of the car it should start when the ignition is turned. As long as nothing is wrong, and without evidence of that, there is no reason to assume it won't work. Things behave in certain ways because they have certain natures, this is causality...
2006-12-10 15:56:13 · answer #7 · answered by Chuglon 3 · 1⤊ 0⤋
Does the same "observation" apply to things like the sun rising tomorrow, breathing, etc?
Faith is believing something DESPITE the evidence or lack thereof.
I have a friend who had a tumor in her brain. Chemo was great, but no promises; today she is cancer free - she had faith, not in the doctors, or in science - but in the ONE TRUE GOD who brought all those things in motion and who guided the hands of the ones working on her.
2006-12-10 15:58:59 · answer #8 · answered by watcherd 4 · 1⤊ 1⤋
You are absolutely correct. Religious people like to interject faith anywhere they can, even if there is no reason for faith to exist in a given scenario.
2006-12-10 15:56:18 · answer #9 · answered by Chris J 6 · 3⤊ 1⤋
I have faith my car will start too--but my car takes more faith than you car
2006-12-10 15:57:29 · answer #10 · answered by Anonymous · 3⤊ 0⤋
Hmm.
I've never heard of this argument, but I think you hit the nail on the head on this one.
2006-12-10 15:55:21 · answer #11 · answered by Mellorine~ 3 · 1⤊ 0⤋