One of my favorite lines in a movie:
‘Mission Commander Swanbeck: Mr. Hunt, this isn’t mission difficult, it’s mission impossible. “Difficult” should be a walk in the park for you.’
Better yet, watch the clip! 🙂
It came to mind recently as I debated with a very devout believer of the Mormon faith. I still find it cathartic and enlightening to check my reasoning by debating and discussing religion online. Â Guess I’m just that angry atheist that can’t leave religion alone.
The true reason behind my efforts though is to wake people up to the broken mode of thinking they have built their life on. Â However, it’s a uphill battle as many who’ve walked similar paths can attest to.
Religion is the one area of our lives where we can literally make-shit-up, then present it as fact without a shred of evidence whatsoever and then be proud that we have so much faith that we don’t need any evidence to believe it.
In any other part of our lives we simply don’t act that way. Or do we? I suffered a small epiphany this morning on the topic and figured it was worth blasting out into the blogosphere.
At its most basic foundation relgious belief relies on circular logic and reasoning. It because of this debating a believer is so exhausting. Â Circles are forever if you want to keep going around them!
For me the transition beyond this circular trap began with a desire to weigh the evidence for my faith with the same tenacity I resevered for things like figuring out what was wrong with my circuit board or solving the reason my motorcycle wouldn’t start. I made the cardinal sin of actually checking out my own belief that my beliefs made sense. That of course lead to the Fridge and this little corner of the internet but that is another story I’ve already told.
What you discover pretty fast actually is your beliefs don’t handle skepticism any better that any other competing religion. They just don’t make sense. And eventually your only choice if you want to still believe is to ‘just have faith’ shelve your doubts and move on.
The other path is a collapse of everything you were so sure you ‘knew’ but if you are honest about it you didn’t know, you just hoped. You hoped that dream you had was real, because it gave you peace. You hoped that sign you saw wasn’t a coincidence because it helped you cope with a loss.
I think this hope is very much part of our human nature and this is where it gets interesting. Because a myopic view of the world around us is also very human. Cognitive sciences have exposed all sorts of biases that we suffer from when trusting our own perceptions.
Could this be a survival trait though? The fact is we don’t equally weigh evidence, and maybe that is a good thing at times.
Consider Ethan Hunt and how he inspires us to greatness by accomplishing the impossible.  Could it be that the illogical irrational core of religion is exactly what appeals to us? After all difficult when compared to impossible really is a walk in the park!  Maybe if we believe completely illogical things that helps us cope with the mundane, it puts ‘difficult’ into a manageable perspective so we don’t give up hope. Often times the person that succeeded just didn’t give up!
Maybe next time you debate a believer and stand flabbergasted at how he or she can’t even seem to grasp how illogical their stance sounds. Consider this, maybe they need it, because without it they will lose hope. Difficult in thier lives will litterally become impossible to deal with.
After all, Fridge knows we are all wired differently. Our brains are similar, but not the same. To some the hope they get from thier faith isn’t at all logical, and that could be exactly the reason they need it. They need to believe the impossible so they can handle the difficult.
Do I have any evidence to back up this observation? Nope, I guess you will just have to take it on faith! 😉
Is Faith a force? Or words the container of the force by which God/believer can crtaee their own world? How is that Mark 11:23-24 speaks about the God-kind-of-faith? Does faith become the believer’s object of faith? Or does God become the object of one’s faith? If in fact faith becomes the believer’s object of faith than it id a false faith. If in fact God had to have faith who is He trusting? If in fact God had to have faith than He is mere man; not God. How do you interpret Hebrews 11:1, 2? Is faith a living channel of trust in the God of the Bible? Or is faith a metaphysical faith by which it becomes a force, as to release into the earth realm by the mere words of believers? Is Man God? Or Is God Man? Is God Servant? A magical bellhop at the beck and call of the Faith believer? I appreciate for your prompt response.
Is a question meaningless if it has no evidence?
Faith in the Fridge is a force by which you can change your life 🙂
Mark is a book of the philosophy’s of men. The Fridge speaks to us from the book of Freon (full of truth.)
Faith that changes your life can never be false for it did change your life.
The Fridge needs not faith for it just works.
The God you believe in is in fact the Fridge, always was.
Is the Fridge a servant of man? Of course and what better love is shown than that of service?
The Fridge is there for you, just open the door and see the light 🙂
To which question? You asked 13 of them.
I will answer them in order.
Is Faith a force? No, electro magnetism is a force. Faith is not even remotely in the same ballpark.
Or words the container of the force by which God/believer can crtaee their own world? Nope and saying silly things that sound truthy don’t make them true. unless it is about the Fridge then it is true :). http://churchofthefridge.com/i-know-this-church-is-truthiness/
How is that Mark 11:23-24 speaks about the God-kind-of-faith? Because it is fiction. Fictional writing can talk about anything real or not.
Does faith become the believer’s object of faith? More truthiness. That only applies to the Fridge. http://churchofthefridge.com/i-know-this-church-is-truthiness/
Or does God become the object of one’s faith? By loading the language using the term ‘or’ you make it seem like there isn’t another answer. Which their is. Faith is the intentional setting aside of reason and logic to believe in fairytales. You are scared of death so you believe in God. Doesn’t make him real.
If in fact faith becomes the believer’s object of faith than it id a false faith. All religious faith is false.
If in fact God had to have faith who is He trusting? Good question. Thing about that when you claim there has to be a god to explain it all.
If in fact God had to have faith than He is mere man; not God. False assumption. No fact to assert this.
How do you interpret Hebrews 11:1, 2? As fiction. Like it actually is.
Is faith a living channel of trust in the God of the Bible? Believers say shit like this, but if you ask them to prove it they are chicken.
Or is faith a metaphysical faith by which it becomes a force, as to release into the earth realm by the mere words of believers? More truthiness, that stuff only applies to the Fridge.
http://churchofthefridge.com/i-know-this-church-is-truthiness/
It says so in the book of Freon.
Is Man God? Yes
Or Is God Man? Sort of we did make him up.
Is God Servant? Metaphorically yes.
A magical bellhop at the beck and call of the Faith believer? Yes. According to definition provided by most believers.
That’s a misquote of House.
The real quote is “Rational arguments don’t usually work on religious people, otherwise there would be no religious people.
Source: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zHZyrYWIYhw
Thanks for the heads up
Well I agree that for a lot of people they feel or actually do need a religion to help them cope with life which I suppose is fine because it helps them from their point of view(mine is it traps them and prevents them from becoming something so much more .I prefer an ugly truth to a beautiful lie).What is so illogical to me is to discuss religion with some it becomes a ridiculous argument based on nothing but belief touted as fact with absolute certainty that the unknowable(without dying of course) is knowable based on illogical poorly thought out reasoning.Truly humanity is a wonder indeed
There is support for this in classical epistemological philosophy. Look up the work of William James for example. Here’s a good talk on the subject:
http://youtu.be/uzmLXIuAspQ
This idea helps me chill and have more understanding of those that choose to believe even when they see the mounting evidence against the church. Maybe they are not ready for the coolness of the Fridge. Maybe I’m not either. Maybe humankind in general hasn’t/won’t evolve to be ready to give up the hope derived from unsubstantiated belief in comforting ideas. I’d like to think that we are ready for this though. I’d like to think that religion and faith are an evolutionary phase we are emerging out of.