Faith vs. evidence

[unixronin]

I'm with Millie's mom on this one.

Comments

[pernishus.livejournal.com]

"Well, you may have faith, but it is not(or so I would assume on the basis of my admittedly limited knowledge of your particulars) true faith..."

[unixronin.livejournal.com]

See, the way my mind works, if I have tangible evidence that, say, there's a foot-thick concrete wall in front of me, experience says all the faith in the world isn't going to save me brom contusions and abrasions if I get on a bicycle, ride straight at it as fast as I can, and close my eyes. The wall doesn't care whether my eyes are closed, and it doesn't care how hard I'm believing closing my eyes will make the wall go away. It is supremely unimpressed by my faith or lack thereof. It's still a concrete wall, and it's still there, and hitting it is going to hurt.

Far too often, faith seems to be the art of saying "There is no wall there! Just run headlong at the space where it appears to be, brother, and you will see! ...Me? Oh, no, I can't run at the wall right now, I have to ... um ... enter these checks in my ledger! Yeah, that's it!"

[pernishus.livejournal.com]

Well, I have to admit that, insofar as the concrete wall is concerned, your faith and mine seem remarkably similar... but we have to remember that, at least according to one thinker whose ideas about faith seem to me to be admirable, we are of "little faith" -- indeed, rather less than a mustard seed's worth, apparently... Anyhow, my idea of faith makes its applicability to the sociological/socio-psychological question of 'ownership' somewhat more hopeful than its application to contradicting well-established laws of physics...