Most people think of religious faith in positive terms, such as:
trust in God and in his actions and promises.
This sounds good, but it’s kind
of a dead end. What remains in the
mind only has no real benefit to anyone.
If trust in God is further defined
as something that motivates loving, caring behaviour in the truster, that’s
good, right? If trust had a clear purpose or direction, it could be good.
The word ‘faith’ actually means:
any set of firmly held principles or beliefs; a system of religious belief
strong or unshakeable belief in something especially without proof or evidence
conviction of the truth of certain doctrines of religion, especially when this is not based on reason.
Note that none of these definitions
have anything to do with actions. They
describe a mindset only. And it’s a mindset
that's quite deliberately opposed to reason and grounded in nothing!
I’ve had much discussion with people
very firmly grounded in their faith. Often, they’re quite deliberately opposed
to reason, they see it as a ‘destroyer of faith’. They will, in what they consider a strong act
of faith, actually shut out reason! If
faith is opposed to reason and not based on evidence, what are they really
grounded in?
They’re grounded in their own
mindset. They’re grounded in a system
which is opposed to truth! Yes, they
are!
This is the definition of truth:
the actual state of a matter,
actual existence, the state or character of being true
conformity with fact or reality,
precision, exactness; an obvious fact
verified or indisputable fact; the
quality of being true, genuine, actual, or factual
Religious belief that’s opposed
to reason is opposed to truth. Period. It’s a prison of one’s own making.
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