Why is faith a virtue? In what sense? Where's the virtue in believing in the existence of something or someone without evidence or with contradictory evidence? In what sense it makes us better people to follow that we can't see or percieve through any of our other senses? Wouldn't that just turn us into a bunch of naive blind idiotic retards to wander around believing in anything? Wouldn't it be better to have "reason" as the most valuable virtue instead, since it has lead us to truth more than sheer blind faith?
2007-07-24 03:17:01 · 18 answers · asked by Anonymous in Society & Culture ➔ Religion & Spirituality
Faith is an action. By faith-things happen, By faith-lives are changed.
Not sure where you got the virtue from, but faith definately makes things happen.
2007-07-24 03:19:59 · answer #1 · answered by Mulereiner 7 · 0⤊ 3⤋
Faith was perfectly well defined by the schoolboy: "belief in that which we know ain't true." It's at least the acceptance of any statement as true without criticism, examination, verification, or any other method of test. Faith of this sort is evidently the main symptom of the moron, the half-wit, the village idiot. It's this kind of faith upon the possession and exercise of which "religious" people always insist as the first condition of salvation.
Mr. A's response is typical. Religious people love to impugn science by pretending that it's just another brand of religion - which is amusing, since the implication is that religion is illegitimate. Of course, science and religion are actually precise opposites. Science deals with empirical data, which is exactly what religion is lacking - hence the need for "faith." The people who invented the automobile weren't "faithful" that their idea would work. They didn't pray to God for answers. They took a hard look at the logistics of the problem and worked out a practical way to achieve their goal through applied physics. "Religious" people ought to be grateful that not everybody in the world thinks the way they do.
Example: "I'm confused. I see no barriers to the belief in the God of the Christian Bible based on logic, or reason."
You're right. You ARE confused.
2007-07-24 03:21:07 · answer #2 · answered by jonjon418 6 · 2⤊ 1⤋
Faith is a virtue in the eyes of religions that want you to obey them completely and that have nothing to offer but fear and inducements of something better after it is too late to realize how wrong they are.
2007-07-24 04:32:25 · answer #3 · answered by Fred 7 · 1⤊ 0⤋
Do you have faith that your significant other loves you back? Or do you need to see charts and diagrams to believe it?
Do you have faith that when you are having an emergency that if you call an ambulance, help will arrive in time? What about all the stories about the times they haven't?
Or are you just talking about faith in a higher power? If so, you need to define your terms a little better.
And if that faith is the basis for concepts like 'love your neighbor' - is it really that bad a thing?
2007-07-24 03:30:05 · answer #4 · answered by LX V 6 · 1⤊ 2⤋
Faith is a virtue only if you choose to cling to your Beliefs. If you are seeking Knowledge, Faith is an obstacle.
Edit:
I'm referring to "blind" Faith. I am seeking Knowledge, and I have Faith that I will FIND it, not that I already HAVE it!
2007-07-24 03:24:20 · answer #5 · answered by Champion of Knowledge 7 · 1⤊ 0⤋
I'm confused. I see no barriers to the belief in the God of the Christian Bible based on logic, or reason. I also know if you look at the cases for evidence from both sides you will see which one makes the most sense.
Perhaps you should challenge William Lane Craig to a debate. Or perhaps Hugh Ross?
2007-07-24 03:23:42 · answer #6 · answered by G 4 · 0⤊ 2⤋
I tend to side with Richard Dawkins, who postulated that religious faith is an unintended side effect of an "accept with out question the words of authority figures" gene which, in primitive times, would have facilitated the passing of survival skills from one generation to the next....
2007-07-24 03:21:07 · answer #7 · answered by Anonymous · 2⤊ 1⤋
Faith is absolutely necessary to learn spiritual things because one has no actual spiritual knowledge or experience in the beginning. When experience comes, faith is no longer necessary because now there is knowledge.
2007-07-24 03:22:14 · answer #8 · answered by Jameskan Video 5 · 0⤊ 1⤋
I said this before and was argued extensively, but.....
Faith is a product of the evolved consciousness. The way I figure it, faith will eventually evolve away as a useless appendage as we become more enlightened over time.
2007-07-24 03:21:45 · answer #9 · answered by Spencer Y 3 · 2⤊ 1⤋
it's only a virtue if you want to promote blind faith for the rest it's something similar to a disease
2007-07-24 03:21:58 · answer #10 · answered by Anonymous · 2⤊ 1⤋