Help an atheist understand faith?

Question

The faith that you have in God, what is something comparable that I would understand?

When do you think the average individual experiences a similar method of forming a belief?

answer here or [e-mail]

Answer 1

You said... "what is something comparable that I would understand?"

You breathe do you not? Your lungs inflate and deflate without your conscious assistance. You have faith in your brain that it will perform the function it was designed to do by providing management of autonomic functions.

You don't know exactly how.

You don't know exactly why.

You simply know that you have no choice but to believe that your brain controls your lungs, and your heart, and your other vital organs. You depend on your brain to keep you alive, you simply accept the fact that you have no direct control, and that you must surrender to its will for your body. It knows what is best for your body, it knows what needs to be done to keep it on track, and there is nothing in the world that you can do to assist it. You can only live your life, and let your brain do its job.

Answer 2

I heard faith described in many different ways.

The analogy of a dog and his owner on two different sides of a door. The dog just knows that his owner is on the other side of the door. He can't explain how or why, but he knows.

Some have said that describing faith to an non-believer is like trying to describe salt- you can tell a number of things that it does NOT taste like, but what DOES it taste like?

I like the comparison to the smell of your neighbor barbecuing.

Developing faith is a process. It starts with a desire to believe, a desire to have faith. Then you at on that desire- read books of faith- I'd suggest some kind of scripture....

Best of luck.

Answer 3

Faith, by it's very definition, defies logical proof. That being said, I have faith that the sun will rise in the morning. Maybe it will but maybe it won't. Anything could happen, meteors, atomic blasts, or I could die in the night, ect. But I have faith the sun will come up in the morning anyway. And I have faith there is a God. Maybe there is and maybe there isn't---but I believe in both things. And I don't need logical proof of either event/being---that is the beauty and nature of faith. I know there are probably better analogies but I hope this makes sense to you---Blessings!

Answer 4

My faith in God is like you taking for granted your next breathe.

When a person has "the faith" that comes (and originates) from the true God, there comes an "assurance." As the one Christian New Testament Scripture says: "Now faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen." [Hebrews 11:1]

I do not have an answer for your 2nd question, as I would like it clarified. To me, the question is somewhat nebulous and undefined.

I hope my first answer helps you. Have a great weekend -- and grill your favorite meat on the grill in hopes (faith) that it will taste very good!

Answer 5

Faith.

If you asked someone to mind a great deal of money for you and then after a while someone else comes along and claims that your friend is having a mad time spending all you money,
You wont see the friend with the money for a while but refuse to believe what you heard is true,thats faith.

Belief is better than faith.
.

Answer 6

Faith to me is this: Believing, even though I can't physically see, that God exists. You know that there is wind even though you can't see it, right? Well, how do you know it exists? I'll tell you.. you can feel it, you can see things moving in it, you can see how it effects other things (hurricanes, tornados). God is the universe, he is the oceans, she (I'm using both pronouns because everything has an opposite) is the trees, he is even the snot that comes out of your nose! She MADE everthing so she is everything! Say you and I both have the same life. We both graduate from college, get a nice career, have a wonderful family.... you attribute it ALL to hard work and luck and I attribute it all to God.

Answer 7

Your whole premise is wrong. There is no God. Totally a man made invention to explain away the enormity of it all.. People who rely on one book or idea have closed minds and live in fear of anything that detracts from this.
Having said all that. I know (not just believe, belief is blind acceptance) that there is continuation after death and that we all live forever in various different forms and ways of being. I have had many personal experiences and glimpses thanks to a Psychic course I recently took. The amazing thing is that it's all perfectly natural and a normal part of what is. My biggest shock. But we are all part of what is. We are all God if you like (then drop the name God) No one rules us. We are free to do what we please. No one gets hurt. That is all illusion. if you want to take my journey of discovery I suggest you do what I did. Go to http://www.espcourse.com and get whats there. It works and has opened my eyes.

Answer 8

Imagine you had a cosmetic disease. Your scarred face made people afraid of you and everyday you thought about killing yourself. Then one day you wake up and you're completely cured. You're actually handsome now and feel an overwhelming sense of hope for the future. Imagine the gratitude you'd feel to some cosmic force that healed you. That's God...but I'm atheist too so perhaps my description is loaded.

Answer 9

The claim of being an Atheist is quite impressive! An Atheist is someone who has extensively studied every single religion and has come to the conclusion that there is no such thing as God. If you think about this is just actually another religion, everyone believes something.

The Bible clearly says that God does not believe in Atheists in Romans 1:20.
Faith is being sure of something that one cannot see. A lot of people want to see before they will believe, the problem is....God requires you to believe before he will show you, he has no need to prove himself to you.

Everyone comes to a stage in their life where they need to decide what they believe. The older you are though, the more set in your ways you become though, this I know from personal experience.

An eternity in Heaven is 100% better than an eternity in Hell.

Answer 10

Fair enough.

On the other side of the world, there is a place that has an interesting invention. It's a long string of cars that ride on magnets. I've heard about it, but I've never seen it for myself. It's called a 'monorail'

In space, there are these little holes in the fabric of space. Supposedly, if you were small enough, you could travel through this hole, and in just a few paces, be thousand of light years away. I've never seen one for myself, but I hear they are called " worm holes "

I'm not sure if this is the same thing, but it is for me. Best wishes.