I'm sure many of you have heard the phrase "faith is a virtue" before and it has become one of those sayings that we have heard so often that we no longer look at the words which make up the saying and simply have an understanding of what the collection of words mean. We understand it to mean "belief in god is good" (which i would disagree with anyway).
But let's suspend our ignorance for a second and actually look at the saying and what the words mean.
Faith - Belief that does not rest on logical proof or material evidence.
Virtue - A particularly efficacious, good, or beneficial quality; advantage.
Is "faith" really a "virtue"?
The saying implies that to believe something that has no evidence, No reason and lacks logic is a beneficial, advantageous quality. Really? I would say the exact opposite.
I would say to have "faith" makes you idiotic, Naive and a simpleton, A long way from "virtuous". How many drugs have been developed on "faith"? how much "faith" was used in the space missions? if you were to look at what "faith" has brought mankind you will see nothing but mistakes, Ignorance and war, Nothing virtuous to see here.
So next time someone rattles off this meme as if it proves a point explain to them what it really means and ask them to explain exactly how "faith" is supposed to be a "virtue".
Hmmm....I think I'm not a fan of organized religion because they ask you to have things like faith and try to deter you from knowledge by having a story that basically states 'don't be smart' or you'll be damned from Eden. Perhaps this was a way for the people in power to convince the peons to stray away from it as to keep the populace ignorant and retain dominance.
ReplyDeleteTo get back on topic, I think this 'faith is a virtue' is yet another way to get people to stick to their way of thinking. Ignorance is a virtue....
Just my thoughts, yet again
Now, excuse me for just one second about the story that states "don't be smart"
ReplyDeletePeople often misquote that. It was the tree of knowledge of good and evil. Now, when they ate the fruit of the tree they realized how everything could be corrupted. That is why they covered themselves up. They did not know what rape was before, then after they knew that sex could be corrupted in such a way.
Oh, well thanks for correcting me. Besides that I think all my points are still valid
ReplyDeletePretty much, faith isn't a virtue, what they mean is "OUR faith is a virtue." I dunno, I am also not a big fan of organized religions.
ReplyDeleteNo problem, people often try to use that argument so I had to research it a little bit.
Every time I went to church with my mother I always thought 'Who is this guy and what has he done worthy enough to tell me how to live my life'...King of similar to how I look at the police...just because he went to police academy doesn't make him a 'just' person.
ReplyDeleteI also find it very ironic how they say "don't judge, but you are a horrible person if you do this." Some, I can understand (i.e. abortion, though in specific circumstances I have mixed feelings) who are they to judge? But I digress...
ReplyDeleteOn a side note when they say "faith is a virtue" they may not mean blind faith, but educated, thought out faith that questions everything and yet still believes...maybe.
Interesting post, flawed but interesting. You attack faith while exercising it everyday. When you sit down you are exercising your faith that the chair will hold you. Now you are going to say that is not what you are talking about, but it is. Your faith is built up on experience, so is the faith of those whom Christ has called to be his own. Now the man in the church has done nothing that he should tell you anything but he has been called by God to proclaim the gospel of the life, death, and resurrection of Jesus Christ which is the only way rebellious man can be reconciled to holy God. This is the means God has chosen to save some of the rebels.
ReplyDeleteIn Christ
Alan
http://truthincontext.blogspot.com/
Can't you read Alan? The definition of faith is "Belief that does not rest on logical proof or material evidence".
ReplyDeleteHow is me expecting a chair to not collapse not based on logical proof or material evidence?
(And don't preach)
Matt,
ReplyDeleteThere is no reason to resort to ad hominem attacks. Faith defined by the author of this post does not make it so. Faith is a trust in someone or something. I will preach whenever I am called to. We are all separated from God because of sin. Sin everyone commits makes it impossible for any to be good in God's eyes therefore Jesus Christ is God in the flesh and He lived a perfect life we never could and died on the cross to reconcile sinners to Himself.
In Christ
Alan
Alan i am the author of that post.
ReplyDeleteWhen someone sits on a chair they accept that it may collapse, they aren't certain that it wont, But considering that chairs seldom collapse it's a risk the person is willing to take.
What are you saying? That people who sit on chairs don't have a right to criticize the illogical, irrational unsupported belief that a god exists? weakest argument ever.
You can preach wherever you are "called", but you haven't been called to this blog so please refrain from it.
Matt,
ReplyDeleteI am not saying that at all. I am saying that everyone exercises some type of faith so to universally disregard it is illogical. You are perfectly free to criticize whatever you wish, whether it rational for you to do so or not.
Obviously, faith is not a virtue - just look at all those dead Iraqis murdered by the WMD lie that so many bought in spite of evidence to the contrary, or the "global warmin ain't real!' lie that's helping destroy the planet.
ReplyDeleteAlan all you are doing is projecting your own illogical view of the world on to everyone else.
ReplyDeleteThere is a huge difference between faith (believing something for absolutely no reason) and expecting a chair to not collapse (based on the countless times it hasn't happened before).
There is faith, And then there is idiocy. Its idiocy we see when people continue with thier faith based opinions in the face of moutains of evidence to the contrary.
ReplyDeleteAnother term that gripes my ass & that is flavored by the same absurd ideology is the "miracle of science". Uuuuum NO!
ReplyDelete