faith

I really feel that I need to clear up this notion of faith as well. Everywhere you read, and most people you talk to, you get a definition of faith as "believing in what you cannot see", which has also come to mean, "believing in something you don't know exists." As in, faith is just a total shot in the dark, an absolute risk... "blind faith", if you will.

Well, let me just say that "faith", as described above, is not faith. What is described above is called "risk", possibly supported by "hope", at times. And the term "blind faith" is an oxymoron. There is no such thing as "blind faith". There is such a thing as "blind risk".

All of this comes from a misunderstanding of the definition of faith. Probably because there is such a lack of genuine faith, this wrong definition has been fostered. My experiences with God have gone something like this. You see something, or hear something, or experience it in some way, so that you know that it is real, and then later on, at some point when you cannot see it, or hear it, or feel it... but BECAUSE YOU REMEMBER THE REAL EXPERIENCES YOU HAD WITH IT BEFORE, you continue to believe in it. I think that might be faith.

From reading in the Bible though, we see from Jesus' words that real faith is even something more than that. He said if you any just even a tiny itty bitty amount of it, you could move a mountain. From this perspective, the traditional idea of faith is DEFINITELY not it! Wishing and hoping for something you hope is there, or that might be real? How silly is that? No wonder people get disillusioned with religion, when that false idea of it is propagated as the real thing.

So, we see that real faith is actually knowing, just the opposite of the generally accepted definition. And it just drives me up the wall to hear people keep calling that generally accepted definition faith. THAT'S NOT FAITH!

I have "faith" in God because I've seen him, heard him, felt him, seen him do stuff, etc. etc. etc. I am not following anyone blindly.

And he does not expect you to either. Because the whole purpose of "faith", if you will, faith in a God, anyway, is so that you can have a loving relationship with Him. And how could anyone possibly have a realationship with someone that you couldn't see, hear, feel, experience, etc.? That's ridiculous. The purpose of life is love through relationships, especially with Him!

Let's all get back to reality, back to logic, and get out of all the grey areas of mysticism, religion, and doctrinal arguing. Let's hear it for reality and truth!