Comments on: The Human Condition http://www.spiritualtramp.com/blog/2009/01/the-human-condition/ Musings on Christianity Sat, 04 Feb 2012 09:00:00 +0000 hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.2.1 By: Scott http://www.spiritualtramp.com/blog/2009/01/the-human-condition/comment-page-1/#comment-386 Scott Fri, 16 Jan 2009 17:46:57 +0000 http://www.spiritualtramp.com/blog/?p=211#comment-386 <p>My favorite definition of faith has always been "faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen". It ties faith, hope, and the unseen together. Faith and rationalism need not be in opposition I have both faith and reason active in my life. I don't view faith as a sort of shortcut. Faith is not the same as intuition. </p> <p>Religions faith is also not quite the same as me saying "I have faith that my wife won't cheat on me." It's close I suppose. It's like how we use the word love. "I love chocolate." is not the same as "I love my wife." but there is an echo there. I have faith in God. I can't prove to you that God exists in any quantifiable way and I don't believe in him because I've taken some sort of mental shortcut or made a snap judgment. My belief in God is more born out of that hope and the evidence of the things he has given us all (love, joy, peace, faithfulness, gentleness) whether we believe or not. </p> My favorite definition of faith has always been “faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen”. It ties faith, hope, and the unseen together. Faith and rationalism need not be in opposition I have both faith and reason active in my life. I don’t view faith as a sort of shortcut. Faith is not the same as intuition.

Religions faith is also not quite the same as me saying “I have faith that my wife won’t cheat on me.” It’s close I suppose. It’s like how we use the word love. “I love chocolate.” is not the same as “I love my wife.” but there is an echo there. I have faith in God. I can’t prove to you that God exists in any quantifiable way and I don’t believe in him because I’ve taken some sort of mental shortcut or made a snap judgment. My belief in God is more born out of that hope and the evidence of the things he has given us all (love, joy, peace, faithfulness, gentleness) whether we believe or not.

]]> By: J. Daniel Sawyer http://www.spiritualtramp.com/blog/2009/01/the-human-condition/comment-page-1/#comment-2129 J. Daniel Sawyer Fri, 16 Jan 2009 03:06:05 +0000 http://www.spiritualtramp.com/blog/?p=211#comment-2129 As Margaret Thatcher once said: "There's nothing wrong with intuition. Intuition is reason-in-a-hurry." But is faith really intuition? Or is it something else again? Or is the fact that there are several distinct definitions getting in the way? As Margaret Thatcher once said:
“There’s nothing wrong with intuition. Intuition is reason-in-a-hurry.”
But is faith really intuition? Or is it something else again? Or is the fact that there are several distinct definitions getting in the way?

]]> By: sidfaiwu http://www.spiritualtramp.com/blog/2009/01/the-human-condition/comment-page-1/#comment-2128 sidfaiwu Fri, 16 Jan 2009 01:50:17 +0000 http://www.spiritualtramp.com/blog/?p=211#comment-2128 I'm one of those people "who claim to favor a rational, logical decision-making process" but I agree that "There simply isn't enough time in the day to make all of one's decisions based on logic; there must be shortcuts, rules of thumb, appeals to authority and snap judgements..." I would even extend that from decisions to beliefs as well. However, beliefs based on such shortcuts need not be 'faith'. We rationalists hold those beliefs as conditionally true. We are quite aware that such beliefs could be overturned when rigorous reason is applied. We also seek to minimize those beliefs. This is especially true of beliefs we consider important enough to be passionate about. Those who have faith in, say, the Qur'an or the Pope, believe absolutely or at least find it unnecessary to apply rigorous reason. Passion can be behind these beliefs without critically analyzing them. "Is faith in religion really all that different than faith in anything else?" I reply in the affirmative in my own post. You can read why I do so on Monday. I’m one of those people “who claim to favor a rational, logical decision-making process” but I agree that “There simply isn’t enough time in the day to make all of one’s decisions based on logic; there must be shortcuts, rules of thumb, appeals to authority and snap judgements…” I would even extend that from decisions to beliefs as well.
However, beliefs based on such shortcuts need not be ‘faith’. We rationalists hold those beliefs as conditionally true. We are quite aware that such beliefs could be overturned when rigorous reason is applied. We also seek to minimize those beliefs. This is especially true of beliefs we consider important enough to be passionate about.
Those who have faith in, say, the Qur’an or the Pope, believe absolutely or at least find it unnecessary to apply rigorous reason. Passion can be behind these beliefs without critically analyzing them.
“Is faith in religion really all that different than faith in anything else?”
I reply in the affirmative in my own post. You can read why I do so on Monday.

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