When you hear a word "faith," what is the first thing that you think of? A majority of people would say religion, unless they really have a strong opinion about other type of faith. Faith that I will discuss, however, is not necessarily confined to the religious one. It could be faith in certain statement, faith in rituals practiced by a culture, or faith in the morality of a person.
I am not a Christian and I don't believe in any religions. Does that make me a person without any faith? Not necessarily. I believe that eating other human beings is unethical. I believe that betraying other people for the sake of their own tribe is not right. To me, faith is more like a belief that someone holds on a certain statement. Because faith of a person gives me an idea about what that he/she is like, faith seems to be a good measurement of a person.
For this reason, I often judge people by their faith - not only what they believe in but how strong their beliefs are. (although we shouldn't be, we always tend to make some kind of prejudice on a person) The way people believe in something definitely tells us how they think of the society and what kind of person they are in the community. Therefore, people with the same faith or belief sometimes create a community of themselves, which may have positive effect and negative effect on the society as a whole. And what group a person is in often tells us who he/she is.
For instance, say one of my friends is an atheist, the one that does not believe in the presence of God. Just knowing that he does not believe in God tells me his personality: dubious, insubordinate, and indifferent.
In this sense, faith gives people something to rely on and an opportunity to be involved in the community with others. Faith does not just end up believing, but rewards people for their strong beliefs.
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3 comments:
James, I agree with you that faith shows people's personality and their insight in some ways:) If someone was to believe in idol, for a Christian like me, would tend to reject that person somehow without knowing since we may not have a same standard of judging values of the world. It is possible, as you have said, to judge someone by their faith in something. Also I think "strength" in their faith determines a person as well. If he/she has a strong faith towards something, it may imply that that person can be very reliable and can be trusted because he/she knows what he/she's believing in, and has confidence.
Anyways, just out of curiosity and no hard feelings, why don't you believe in God? :( lol
ps. thoughtful post!=)
i strongly agree to your opinion on that though one does not have a religion does not mean that one does not have faith. it seems most of the world is involved in different types of religioion and following one seems almost inevitable to some extent. however i admire your stand and belief of not having any religion and rather relating your faith upon more logical values. i also agree to your opinion about how it is possible for one to judge someone by their faith. though it may be wrong to judge others, and we are not in the position to judge one another, we are always obliged to judge. every action of a person requires faith either religiously, morally, or to any other value. therefore judging a person's characteristics through their faith seems reasonable.
i am impressed by your ideas and depth of your thoughts! good post:)
James, you have well defined ideas and have substantiated them well. A job well done. Mrs.Mc.
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