I always hear people comparing faith in God to having faith that your chair will hold you when you sit in it. You don't know for sure the chair will hold, but you still sit in it, having faith that it will. I think that's how it goes, right?
Does this comparison work? Why or why not?
2007-10-01 03:34:42 · 12 answers · asked by Linz ♥ VT 4 in Society & Culture ➔ Religion & Spirituality
My believe that my chair will hold me when I sit down is not based in faith, it's based in evidence.
Because there is extensive evidence that my chair will hold me up, my belief that it will has nothing remotely in common with people's beliefs in gods, nor does it say anything at all about applications of faith.
Faith is not belief in the absence of proof, it's belief in the absence of evidence. That's not even remotely the same thing, and people making the analogy you mentioned are simply not making appropriate distinctions.
2007-10-01 03:40:52 · answer #1 · answered by Anonymous · 5⤊ 0⤋
The chair analogy is not used to prove God's existence, nor is it used to say that if you can sit in a chair in some way that relates to your belief in God.
The chair analogy is used for those who profess belief and it is only to show the difference between mental assent to an idea, and a level of trusting faith. It is not intended to deal with faith or the lack of faith. It is instead an analogy used to judge the quality of one's faith.
Faith requires more than a mental acknowledgment it requires a trust. Therefore people say that faith is not simply saying a chair can bear my weight it is sitting in the chair.
That is all that analogy is getting at--nothing more. It is an analogy directed toward those who profess faith not toward those who do not.
2007-10-01 06:29:12 · answer #2 · answered by Todd 7 · 0⤊ 0⤋
Faith is one of those words that changes meaning depending on the context, speaker, etc.
"Faith" in God is belief without evidence. When asked for evidence, religious people answer "faith" meaning that it somehow stands in the place of evidence.
When they say that it takes faith to sit in a chair or that the Sun will rise, they are attempting to put that on par with religious faith. It's poor equivocation. If someone asked you how you knew the chair would not collapse, you would not answer "faith." You could provide actual reasons.
Does it require faith to observe a pattern or even trust our senses? I would argue no. Because if these things did not take place, we would have basis of knowledge at all. And one cannot debate the validity of knowledge without first assuming the existence of knowledge.
Basically, sitting in the chair requires acceptance of facts, believing in God requires faith.
2007-10-01 03:43:30 · answer #3 · answered by Eleventy 6 · 4⤊ 0⤋
Well, I think the primary difference is that having faith in God means having faith that it exists at all whereas having faith in the chair is merely having faith in it's structural stability, which is easily testable. If the chair is invisible, though, it might be a bit harder to just sit in it based upon faith. You might break your vestigal tail.... but then many don't believe in them either.....
2007-10-01 04:03:58 · answer #4 · answered by ZombieTrix 2012 6 · 1⤊ 0⤋
Nope, it's not the same thing.
Having faith in the chair is trusting that the people who made it did a good job of tightening down the screws and making good welds, etc. Physical, real-world stuff.
Having faith in a supernatural being is just wanting to believe in something that you have no evidence for. Wishful thinking.
2007-10-01 03:39:21 · answer #5 · answered by Cap'n Zeemboo 3 · 4⤊ 1⤋
Faith in God is a very powerful thing. When I needed God the most when times for me were really bad God answered my prayers. When My family was fighting and abusing me God got me out of that situation and into a much better place. I am now married and I always wanted a little girl. I prayed and I was sent a beautiful little girl. God is amazing, if you call and pray for Jesus and your in need of help, he listens to every prayer.
2016-04-06 22:27:46 · answer #6 · answered by Anonymous · 0⤊ 0⤋
When the chair lets us down, we never say that the chair is simply trying to test our faith.
No, I don't think this comparison works.
2007-10-01 13:14:32 · answer #7 · answered by ragdefender 6 · 0⤊ 0⤋
There is a huge difference. My chair is solid. It moves to wherever I put it. It reclines and swivels. It is matter.
god however, is invisible. He's there only when he wants to be (never). He is unmoving and stiff (at least according to the bible). He is imaginary.
I trust my chair, though I know that one day it will wear out and no longer be usefull (kind of like god)
2007-10-01 03:59:14 · answer #8 · answered by Anonymous · 1⤊ 0⤋
I don't think it works really, because to truly have faith in something, you have to not be able to see or have any evidence of it. To say that you have faith in a chair wouldn't be considered true faith, because you can (usually) plainly see it.
: )
2007-10-01 03:42:42 · answer #9 · answered by rockiebattles411 7 · 3⤊ 0⤋
We see a chair and think it will hold up,but it take,s faith to know it will,we know God if we are a child of God and
know without a thought that he is with us.
2007-10-01 03:40:30 · answer #10 · answered by Anonymous · 0⤊ 4⤋