Faith: Is it practical?

[LetThereBe]

Any of you think it is? Certainly, many wars and atrocities have been committed in the names of various religions, but I think faith is overly very beneficial. I think it is very difficult to find contentment without it. Not that I myself have experienced contentment, but that the only people who seemed to have were sincerely religious. (please note the sincerely, these were people who practiced what they preached)

[Gorgo]

What is faith? What is your definition of what you're talking about? Faith in what to do what?

[SoccerfreakAB2]

Quote by: LetThereBe Any of you think it is? Certainly, many wars and atrocities have been committed in the names of various religions, but I think faith is overly very beneficial. I think it is very difficult to find contentment without it. Not that I myself have experienced contentment, but that the only people who seemed to have were sincerely religious. (please note the sincerely, these were people who practiced what they preached)

For what reason do you think contentment is hard to find with no religion? Few who claim to have faith, actually have it. So the question reaches gray areas. I don't see how it would make a difference at all. A lot of people who have no where to turn are happy because they have this new father in the sky to pray to. I find contentment answering questions before my eyes, like what makes the sky blue? Or, how did Earth form? These questions I can go out and answer for myself by reading a science book, or exploring it myself. They are far more interesting and practical than God made the Sun. God made the Earth. God made everything. Kablaamo, here we are.

[Gorgo]

Inner peace is a decision. Trying to find one's self-worth by creating fantasy beings helps no one. That kind of self-worth does not exist.

[Jack]

Faith defined:
religion: a strong belief in a supernatural power or powers that control human destiny; "he lost his faith but not his morality"

complete confidence in a person or plan etc; "he cherished the faith of a good woman"; "the doctor-patient relationship is based on trust"

religion: institution to express belief in a divine power; "he was raised in the Baptist religion"; "a member of his own faith contradicted him"

loyalty or allegiance to a cause or a person; "keep the faith"; "they broke faith with their investors"

Faith is the fourth album by British alternative rock band The Cure, released in 1981

Faith is the third album by country artist Faith Hill, released in 1998

Faith is George Michael's first solo album which was released in 1987

Faith is a fictional character who first appeared in JLA #69

Faith is a fictional character from the television series Buffy the Vampire Slayer and Angel, played by Eliza Dushku

Belief without evidence

A convinced belief; a condition of mind fully satisfied; next to actual knowledge. We have faith the sun will rise to-morrow morning, but the knowledge can not be actual until after sunrise.

Faith is in general the persuasion of the mind that a certain statement is true (Phil. 1:27; 2 Thess. 2:13). Its primary idea is trust. A thing is true, and therefore worthy of trust. It admits of many degrees up to full assurance of faith, in accordance with the evidence on which it rests

There ought to be at least one definition in that list that we can use for the purposes of this thread. :)

[SoccerfreakAB2]

Quote by: Isherwood Belief without evidence

BINGO.

[carriew]

thats how my mom explained it to me too..

faith=belief without evidence or proof

is it pracitcal for us on earth no. but if there is an afterlife it most certianly would be wouldnt it?

[rusty]

To the Honorable Debators:

Hmm, to glibbly define Christian faith as belief without evidence isn't Biblical or scientific. I will agree that to ALL other religions one can define faith as belief without evidence. Christianity, if on trial, could win the trial by any standard of proof, currently used in American jurisprudence. The three used are 'A preponderance of evidence' - civil trials; 'Clear and Convincing Evidence' - generally involuntary civil mental commitments and 'proof beyond a reasonable doubt' - criminal trials. There is enough scientific evidence to win. Grant Jeffrey's books The Signature of God and Creation - Remarkable Evidence of God's design; all of Josh McDowell's books but especially The New Evidence that demands a vidict; The Priviledged Planet by an author I do not remember; and Reasonable Faith by William Craig Lane. My Christian faith is reasonable and there is much evidence for it. To those willing to investigate. I confess it is not 100% absolute, but it is very reasonable. I personally do not have enough faith not to be a Christian.

Rusty

[Jack]

As I said before, there will be those who believe despite anything we say or produce as evidence contrary to their beliefs. There are those of us, however, that have read those "evidences" and found them to be lacking as convincing evidence.

[LetThereBe]

My point is do you think that people who have faith are better off for it? I'm not asking if they are unreasonable lunatics, or if their faith is justified, just if it helps. To me, most who practice what they preach seem to be the happiest, nicest people I know. Perhaps that is not the case in your experience, and that is what I was asking.

[SoccerfreakAB2]

Quote by: LetThereBe My point is do you think that people who have faith are better off for it? I'm not asking if they are unreasonable lunatics, or if their faith is justified, just if it helps. To me, most who practice what they preach seem to be the happiest, nicest people I know. Perhaps that is not the case in your experience, and that is what I was asking.

Definitely not the case. Maybe for few believers, who actually think every bit of it is true, but they are crazy anyways. People believe in God for a variety of reasons and expect certain things out of it, whether its emotional help or physical help or a mix of the two. Those who want physical help, obviously rarely receive it, unless its probable that it will happen anyways. I know many who are in this condition and pretend to be happy because of what they believe. Some are very depressed because their beliefs do not produce results.

[Boetie]

What if you have a set of opinions at odds with established or generally received priniciples?

What is the price of originality and innovations?

Faith?

If someone asked you, "do you believe in god?" and you answered, "yes because I have faith", then you are asked, "what is this god you believe in?" your brain might go blank. You may suddenly realize you are not even sure what this god is. This is true with the atheist.

Me: Do you not believe in god?

Atheist: you have that right?

Me: what is this god you do not believe in?

Atheist: Huh?

Both theist and atheist may not even know what they are thinking.

So faith is a way of avoiding honesty with oneself i.e examining

[belverron]

It's practical in that it's safe. If you're wrong, the consequences aren't very dire.

[rusty]

Quote by: Isherwood As I said before, there will be those who believe despite anything we say or produce as evidence contrary to their beliefs. There are those of us, however, that have read those "evidences" and found them to be lacking as convincing evidence.

Sir:

With respect: What proof?


Rusty

[Mia]

Is love 'practical'? Need it be?

[LetThereBe]

Hmm, it seems here that those lacking a faith in religion claim it is not practical, but those with it tend to find it more so.

[carriew]

I have faith in religion (practicing catholic and all that) and think it is not practical...

[Isacki]

Now I'm confused as to what you mean by 'practical'. I'd be hard pressed to say, as a Christian, that faith, at least Christian faith, is 'practical' on earth. Far from it. Faith in a God often makes everyday living harder for people. In the worst cases, in the worst regimes, faith results in the person being killed or tortured for their beliefs. Here, faith sometimes results in ridicule and ostracisation for being too simple. For Christians, faith is not practical on earth but extremely practical, as someone said earlier, once you're dead and your faith is the only thing that, in my opinion mattered, with regard to eternity.
The great mathematician, scientist and philosopher Rene Descartes, who invented the cartesian system of coordinates we know and love, was a Christian (Catholic) and could be said to have had faith. In a debate the last argument he would use, though he did not like to use it, was that given that a person may be unsure whether or not there is life after death and that if there is life after death, your destination depends on your faith, it is better to have faith in God than none at all, because then you cannot lose - it makes no difference if there is no afterlife, and it certainly does if there is one.
So it isn't practical at all in life here. But faith in God could well come in handy once you're dead.

[ihaQ]

it is better to have faith in God than none at all, because then you cannot lose - it makes no difference if there is no afterlife, and it certainly does if there is one.

Blah, this arguement, better known as Pascal's Wager has repeatedly been proven illogical. The assumed premise is that there is a God who decides who goes to the afterlife but then presumes without factual or reasonable basis that god rewards those with faith, and those belonging to a solitary one out of the potentially infinitely diverse brands of monotheism exclusively.

[Jack]

With respect: What proof?

Proof? I didn't mention "proof". As you 'll see from my other posts in religious topics, I don't believe atheists can, nor do we need to, produce proof of the non-existance of god. I cannot prove the non-existance of supernatural things, since by their nature they are beyond nature, thus beyond scientific examination. What I said was;

there will be those who believe despite anything we say or produce as evidence contrary to their beliefs

"Evidence" being contradictions in the bible, lack of contemporary writings that mention Jesus or his miracles, things like that. There have been some excellent posts made in these forums displaying the illogic of faith in a supernatural being. I daresay none of those arguments have changed a single theist mind here. Thus I stand by what I said.