Why do you need faith?
So, in my latest attempt to destroy my liver I found myself reasoning with a friend along these lines.
If you are standing at the top of a large building, say for example, the buildings in the "jump" program in the Matrix - and; you had no sense of gravity. You were entirely unaware of it's existance. There was nothing pulling you down. Would you have any problem in walking off the edge of the building?
For those who need help, the answer is no. You wouldn't, as if you was not aware of this gravity thing, you would have concern over it.
So, now pose the question. Why don't you generally go stepping off buildings? Because you know that gravity exists, and if you do you will die. It's simple, you just know it, you wouldn't do it.
Now, the whole God thing. If - please imagine if you don't believe - if God exists, and you knew this was true, just as you know gravity encourages you to fall from buildings. If... you knew this, and you knew that if you didn't do what he asked of you, on pain of death. Say, for example, being fed feet first into a tree chipping machine; is there any reason why you wouldn't? No. You would have no real choice in the matter.
Such as you have no real choice in the matter of stepping of a building. You could do it, but you would regret it just after the point-of-no-return.
So what makes God different? Simply, you can't know he exists. This was established after an hour of physics and other such joys. So what do you have to do?
You have to believe that he exists, because if you don't, and don't do as he wishes, you will find yourself regretting it.
This may prove a problem, how can you believe in something that it is impossible to prove (see earlier point on physics). What you need to do is take all your reasoning, what you think is acceptable, and how you conceive the universe - and put it to one side. You then need to go over this, or take a 'leap of faith'. Push aside your reasoning and logic and just accept it. Have faith in the existence of God, and believe that if you follow your path how he hints, will mean you won't regret it later.
Either way, I thought it was a good way of putting faith into context.
If you are standing at the top of a large building, say for example, the buildings in the "jump" program in the Matrix - and; you had no sense of gravity. You were entirely unaware of it's existance. There was nothing pulling you down. Would you have any problem in walking off the edge of the building?
For those who need help, the answer is no. You wouldn't, as if you was not aware of this gravity thing, you would have concern over it.
So, now pose the question. Why don't you generally go stepping off buildings? Because you know that gravity exists, and if you do you will die. It's simple, you just know it, you wouldn't do it.
Now, the whole God thing. If - please imagine if you don't believe - if God exists, and you knew this was true, just as you know gravity encourages you to fall from buildings. If... you knew this, and you knew that if you didn't do what he asked of you, on pain of death. Say, for example, being fed feet first into a tree chipping machine; is there any reason why you wouldn't? No. You would have no real choice in the matter.
Such as you have no real choice in the matter of stepping of a building. You could do it, but you would regret it just after the point-of-no-return.
So what makes God different? Simply, you can't know he exists. This was established after an hour of physics and other such joys. So what do you have to do?
You have to believe that he exists, because if you don't, and don't do as he wishes, you will find yourself regretting it.
This may prove a problem, how can you believe in something that it is impossible to prove (see earlier point on physics). What you need to do is take all your reasoning, what you think is acceptable, and how you conceive the universe - and put it to one side. You then need to go over this, or take a 'leap of faith'. Push aside your reasoning and logic and just accept it. Have faith in the existence of God, and believe that if you follow your path how he hints, will mean you won't regret it later.
Either way, I thought it was a good way of putting faith into context.