06/13/2005
To Ergo Sum:
"It is not an excess of criticism that embitters the world, but an absence of self criticism." - G.K. Chesterton
In other words i wanna say "I'm sorry for my inherent arrogance."
Yes. You are right. The following is what the dictionary and even what many Christians think faith to be. But, the dictionary is not dogma, nor my faith, nor is what the dictionary writer defines to be neccesarily true. Obviously, not all dictionary definitions are complete. We cannot take Webster ex cathedra, and I am sure you, as a reasoning and logical man would agree. I think, that in this definition lies the major conflict between our perceptions of what faith really is, safely assuming I represent the believer and you the atheist. The Merriem Webster definition follows, (wherein lies my disagreement with you):
Faith -- firm belief in something for which there is no proof, something believed especially on personal conviction.
My main problem is in the "no proof" aspect of the definition.There must be a degree of vision required for every conviction. You love your mother. She loves you. Can you prove that? Is the love itself tangible? Can something intangible be proven, evidenced, incarnate? I think its safe to assume that, your love, mainly something intangible, is physically evidenced! What makes you convicted of that intangible reality? Faith, as Paul defines it, and not the dictionary, is the conviction of things unseen. You, yourself, I know, are convicted of many unseen things, are you not? And who is to say that you have "no proof" for something you believe by faith. Conviction, again, comes from apprehension of truth. Faith is the acceptance of reality. Reality, as we already touched on, is , however, not always blatantly clear? Also, I just need to make a disclaimer here, which i should have done originally: I AM WRONG ABOUT MANY MANY THINGS! I DON'T CLAIM TO KNOW WHAT I AM TALKING ABOUT! Just tryin' to think things through as they make sense, thats all.
post scriptum
please do not infer from the disclaimer that i am not trying to convinve you of God's existence: I am!
"It is not an excess of criticism that embitters the world, but an absence of self criticism." - G.K. Chesterton
In other words i wanna say "I'm sorry for my inherent arrogance."
Yes. You are right. The following is what the dictionary and even what many Christians think faith to be. But, the dictionary is not dogma, nor my faith, nor is what the dictionary writer defines to be neccesarily true. Obviously, not all dictionary definitions are complete. We cannot take Webster ex cathedra, and I am sure you, as a reasoning and logical man would agree. I think, that in this definition lies the major conflict between our perceptions of what faith really is, safely assuming I represent the believer and you the atheist. The Merriem Webster definition follows, (wherein lies my disagreement with you):
Faith -- firm belief in something for which there is no proof, something believed especially on personal conviction.
My main problem is in the "no proof" aspect of the definition.There must be a degree of vision required for every conviction. You love your mother. She loves you. Can you prove that? Is the love itself tangible? Can something intangible be proven, evidenced, incarnate? I think its safe to assume that, your love, mainly something intangible, is physically evidenced! What makes you convicted of that intangible reality? Faith, as Paul defines it, and not the dictionary, is the conviction of things unseen. You, yourself, I know, are convicted of many unseen things, are you not? And who is to say that you have "no proof" for something you believe by faith. Conviction, again, comes from apprehension of truth. Faith is the acceptance of reality. Reality, as we already touched on, is , however, not always blatantly clear? Also, I just need to make a disclaimer here, which i should have done originally: I AM WRONG ABOUT MANY MANY THINGS! I DON'T CLAIM TO KNOW WHAT I AM TALKING ABOUT! Just tryin' to think things through as they make sense, thats all.
post scriptum
please do not infer from the disclaimer that i am not trying to convinve you of God's existence: I am!
posted by Velvet at 6:11 PM
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