We have faith in plenty of things we don't understand. Did you understand the mechanics of television before you turned it on? Probably not. You took a step of faith, turned it on, and after it worked, understanding how it worked wasn't that important. We accept that there are unseen television waves right in front of our eyes. We can't see them because they are invisible. For them to manifest, we need a receiver, then we can enjoy the experience of television.
2007-09-27 15:24:51 · 21 answers · asked by Saved by Grace 3 in Society & Culture ➔ Religion & Spirituality
As far as I know, the word atheist referes ONLY to the lack of belief in a god. I hadn't heard the word "atheist" related in ANY sense to faith in other things.
But maybe I am wrong and you are right. It happens all the time.
2007-09-27 15:28:55 · answer #1 · answered by kamelåså 7 · 5⤊ 0⤋
Did you know that your Non Question Statement is in error? While personally i do not know exactly how a Television works. There are People who do. People who could DO IT right in front of me. Then i would know. It takes no Religious type faith for that. Only a common faith that everyone elses TV works so mine probably will too.
2007-09-27 15:29:49 · answer #2 · answered by Anonymous · 1⤊ 0⤋
Yes, everybody who has a functioning brain has emotions and the ability to understand where emotions come from. Faith, hope, desire, annoyance, anger, compassion, love, hate are all emotions and, true, Atheists have them too. They just do not use the emotion of faith to know anything or explain radio waves, or videos, or how airplanes stay up in the air, or why if you let go of your pencil, it drops to the floor.
What you know, whatever it might be, you do not know by virtue of any emotion and certainly not by virtue of faith. You would lie if you said "I know God." Instead, you say "I believe in God." Knowledge and faith are two entirely different animals. A primitive person might believe that the earth is round, but a scientist, and I presume you, knows that the earth is round.
Before the radio or the television can transmit and capture the magnetic waves produced by sound, one must DISCOVER their existence and one does not discover with faith, one discovers with Reason. Knowledge is the accumulation of sensory perceptions and the accumulation of intellectual discoveries that are built upon each other. Faith, on the other hand, is a feeling that depends on some knowledge. I see the beauty of the sky or the sun setting (sensory perception) and think about it. If I say that somebody has created the sky and believe in that conclusion based on a smattering of sensation, I have not added one atom to my knowledge. All I have is sensation and feeling.
With feelings I am free to invent anything. I can say that radio waves might be sent to us by extraterrestrials and be content with that explanation based on NO EVIDENCE whatsoever. That's what faith is. We all have it. But should we use it as knowledge? Do we know the multiplication tables by believing them? Do we know who is guilty of a crime by faith? If I said that I feel you are murderer. Is my feeling enough to put you away without evidence? Why, then, do we do that with the supernatural? Is it just faster, easier, more comfortable to believe than to discover? Who is a lover of the truth, and who is the man who cheats himself and others, the man of science or the man of faith?
2007-09-27 15:53:45 · answer #3 · answered by DrEvol 7 · 2⤊ 0⤋
Yeah, I have faith in lots of things, Einstein. Tangible things. No atheist has ever denied such a thing. Atheists simply don't believe in supernatural beings.
I can scientifically and logically figure out how a TV works. It doesn't require faith, just the willingness to learn. That's the difference between believers and nonbelievers. Extending your analogy, the nonbeliever would tear the TV apart to understand what makes it work, while the Christian would just stare at it and, rather than try to figure out how it actually functions, just give the lazy answer: "God did it."
2007-09-27 15:27:48 · answer #4 · answered by Cap'n Zeemboo 3 · 4⤊ 0⤋
The fact that we learn how thing work in greater and greater detail without ever having to invoke deities is a good reason to be an atheist. You don't have "faith" in TV until you see it in action. Also, you don't need a TV to detect the waves. That's not faith, that's learning.
2007-09-27 15:36:34 · answer #5 · answered by novangelis 7 · 0⤊ 0⤋
I see your point (other believers have told me the same thing) but the difference is if I want to know how that TV works, I can study, research and figure it out using my own two hands and my brain. Therefore, there is proof that it is not magical or unexplainable. There is no such chain of events that gives me satisfactory proof that any of the bible stories ever happened.
2007-09-27 15:31:57 · answer #6 · answered by Anonymous · 0⤊ 0⤋
Nope
Faith is when you take something you don't understand, make up and explanation, and believe it even when there is evidence to the contrary.
And I do happen to know how a TV works. I got curious and rather than say it was magic, I looked it up.
2007-09-27 15:38:15 · answer #7 · answered by Anonymous · 0⤊ 0⤋
Honestly, the workings of a tv have no importance in my life, so this is just a bunch of bologna of a comparison.
I don't mind normal believers, but I hate those types like this who try to tell us who and what we are and all those details. Why do you think you get to speak for us instead of us speaking for ourselves? Are you that self righteous?
2007-09-27 15:39:36 · answer #8 · answered by Anonymous · 0⤊ 0⤋
There is a difference between not understanding how something works but knowing that somebody out there does, and believing in something for which there is absolutely no rational basis whatsoever.
2007-09-27 15:40:29 · answer #9 · answered by Anonymous · 0⤊ 0⤋
You are mistaking faith for experience. We can measure the effects of these waves. We can do nothing with God.
2007-09-27 15:36:52 · answer #10 · answered by skeptic 6 · 0⤊ 0⤋