Free For all - Open Discussions and DebatesFaith is blind and downright dangerousI was brought up by secular parents but went to a Church of England school where we were encouraged to believe in God and were taught about the teachings of Jesus Christ. I became very interested and read the Bible extensively. I felt there was much to be learnt, many fine moral allegories and teachings, but it seemed far from infallible. There was also a great deal of very questionable morality. I had great trouble believing in it as a lot of it seemed far fetched and frequently contradicted itself, as well as being at serious odds with science and common sense. In the end, I felt it was completely irrational to put my faith in an invisible deity as defined in an ancient book written by people whose world was very different from our own. I have never seen or heard God, and I don't know anyone else who has, even though I know quite a few Christians. And yet, in the Bible, God is rarely absent. He's always talking to people and putting in public appearences. Jesus performed ostentatious miracles which would have attracted an enormous amount of attention and yet there isn't a single recorded first hand account of him anywhere outside the Bible itself, and even that was written at least 130 years after he supposedly died. So when you ask me about faith, I have faith in my personal relationships, but this faith is founded on actual experience rather than superstition. I do not have faith in anything else. I genuinely think faith is very dangerous. I prefer to look at evidence and I am prepared to adapt my thoughts, ideas and beliefs if evidence arises which contradicts what I had previously thought. This is very important. This is the process by which we all adapt, evolve and grow. It drives progress. Faith on the other hand cuts off progress. If you place total faith in something, there is no longer any need to doubt, question or re-assess. You close yourself off to all other possibilities. For a long time it didn't worry me that some people like to base their entire world view on faith in an invisible, unproveable deity. Why should it? It doesn't do any harm. Or so I thought. Events like September 11 and the London Underground bombings show the inevitable outcome of faith taken to its extreme. Suicide bombers need faith to do what they do. They may well be mis-interpreting their scriptures, but it's faith itself which is the problem here. When I joined this forum, I was very interested to learn more about how an individual or group can put total unquestioning faith in something which is totally invisible, unproveable, and in my view at least, completely irrational. I decided to profess some faith as I wasn't sure I could even enter the forum otherwise. In retrospect, I regard that as a mistake, I should have been more open about my actual beliefs. It was intended as nothing more than a benign deception. You don't know me, so what should it matter what I believe? I enjoy a hearty debate, but I am not interested in deliberately trying to offend anyone. |
🌈Pride🌈 goeth before Destruction
When 🌈Pride🌈 cometh, then cometh Shame