Faith
Faith.
What is it with faith? I would like to understand it, please ... help me out here; because I have great difficulty comprehending the concept. I am not a "Person of Faith", it all seems so pointless, since faith is founded on deception, falsehoods and outright lies. Nobody ever arose from the dead. Nobody performs miracles. If you need faith to believe in these things, then you are - your faith is - delusional.
I look forward to a new film next year by Martin Scorsese ... Silence; I hope that experience - Scorsese is one of my favourite directors, he tells stories in a way I can understand - will give me some insight.
I have dealt with the issues of FAITH and BELIEF in my book with no title but instead three definitions for the term en.light.en.ment
For many, many years I have tried to have a discussion with a person of faith, about what it means to have faith, and - importantly - what it means to them when the obvious drawback of faith - that it is not founded on facts, reality or truth - is pointed out to them; all in vain, without a skerrick of a satisfactory resolution.
A few years back we had the Catholic Youth Day in Sydney. I loved it ... so many excellent photo opportunities. I tried three times to talk to a priest whom I stopped in the street. The conversations didn't go anywhere, they went something like this:
"What is it with faith when it ostensibly is not based on facts or truths ... but rather is delusional?"
"We believe in
the Truth of the Trinity ... God is the Father, the Son (Jesus Christ),
and the Holy Spirit."
"But there is no proof whatsoever any of that holds the truth, is real."
"You have to have
faith to believe in it ... it will give you peace of mind."
"But how can an
intelligent, conscious, awake person believe in something that - in truth - does not exist?"
"You've got to have faith."
"But, but ... I can't have faith. It doesn't make sense."
Big, BIG smile.
A circular, nonsensical
argument, if there ever existed one.
OK, I understand the concept that peace of mind is all that counts ... and (arguably) it doesn't matter how it is achieved. Yet, what about the issue of intelligent discourse that addresses a glaring inconsistency ... the fact that this peace of mind is come by through delusion and deception?
And never mind the much, much greater issue ... that of all the bad stuff resulting from faith, i.e. murder and mayhem. This characteristic of faith - where one has to ask: has there ever been a positive aspect, a positive influence of faith? - I have dealt with in depth in my series of blogs 691, 692, 693, 694. And should you yearn for more clarity on that angle of faith, you need just two books: The God Delusion, by Richard Dawkins and God Is Not Great by Christopher Hitchens.
Anyway, I look forward
to the film.
