faith kirstin faith is being sure of what we hope for and certian of what we do not see. 990418 ... ceorl comfortable with the unprovable 990419 ... amy none explain the way and i won't call it insanity 991209 ... valis i'd like to think that everyone knows something, but no one knows everything, and thats a fact. and you dont have to. sooner or later, we all have to trust someone completely. it's how we learn to trust ourselves. 991228 ... tnt that his green eyes will whisper the truth even when his lips will not. 000114 ... gaudior rain falling hypnotically to the sidewalk a warm fire the green eyes of venus and a guardian 000114 ... old hick Consider the implications of salvation based on faith alone. Faith in Jesus Christ's sacrifice of himself for the sin's of the world and in his triumphant resurection over death. By it's very nature, faith is belief in something unseen. More acurately, maybe, it is belief in something unseeable, unknowable. So picture two people in your head. One has faith that Jesus is the truth the light and the way. The other believes that he is not. Both are beliefs based on something unknowable. A man cannot KNOW that the gospel is, well, the gospel; nor can a man KNOW that it is NOT the truth. If God can only avert his judgement for those who believe one way, the other has to be damned. So here are two guys doing the SAME thing; believing in something unknowable. One gets damned, one doesn't. That could be viewed as arbitrary punishment from God. And before you start with arguments along the lines of "everyone gets to hear the gospel before they are damned" remember that the nature of faith means that someone would have to switch from one faith to another for an arbitrary reason. This is one of the two reasons why I can't be a Christain (notice: can't, not won't). I suppose that fundamentalist Christian thought could be true, but it appears to imply that God is arbitrary in his salvation. Leaving some poor bastards out to dry. God, let me renounce religiousity. 000215 ... MollyCule my only faith is in my own faithlessness . . . 000509 ... e anela but it goes back to my theory -- if he truly was divine, then he knew the outcome of his sacrifice before he made it and the notion of predestination takes hold and seemingly negates the concept of faith. on the other hand, if he was genuinely afraid and not entirely willing to play along with the game then it stands to reason that He Himself was experienceing a lack of faith. It raises the question: If God doubts Himself and the outcome of His own plans, is He really God? 000509 ... tarin faith is when seeing and believing become the same thing. 000509 ... plain religious man faith may be in the unseen; but the unseen is not the unknowable. some things can just be known to be true, by some kind of intuition, without needing any external evidence. maybe you won't believe this to be possible; but maybe if you were one day to feel this for yourself, then you might understand. and thinking of belief as that which others want you to do. forget about the others. just ask yourself, what do I want to believe? 000608 ... vermouth so this agnostic hiker is out in the backwoods on a very challenging hike, when he slips and falls into a gully, breaking both his legs. To make matters worse, a curious grizzly bear spots him and starts loping down the hill. This man is terrified. he has never prayed a day in his life, but at this moment, he piously clasps his hands together and says "Oh, dear god. I know I've been a sinner all my life, but if you will only make this bear a Christian right now, I will be content with whatever misfortune the rest of my life brings, and I will sing praises to your name. Amen." The bear stops in her tracks, clasps her paws together and says "father, bless this food of which I am about to partake..." 000907 ... sabbie faith in myself is all i need... though faith in goddesses and gods and faeries and angels and humans and monsters and spirits and mermaids and dragons and dinosaurs and pooh bear are fun games too. 000918 ... marjorie if you tell me that you are flying i'll smile and nod and i'll believe it but i'll still look cynical 001104 ... daxle as stupid as I think you people of faith are, I would be you if I could doesn't make sense, I know 001229 ... unhinged the day i lost faith in the world i gained an immeasureable amount of faith in myself. my middle name is faith. i wonder if that has anything to do with my neediness. 010123 ... Morelen What happens when you have no faith and god, and one day you realize you are that god 010124 ... chanaka even though i still have a headache even though my contacts are blurry even though i am irritable even though i have a wall of work in front of me and a wall of ice behind me even though my hands shake and my feet ache i still have faith in me. do you know that you can never get to me, get me down? the reason is because i have faith in myself...i am the only one who can make a difference in my life. me. 010124 ... silentbob i get so sick of those fucking jokes talking about atheists and agnostics getting eaten by bears or getting in car accidents or plain wrecks. it really makes me think about that one book that tells everyone to love everyone else and it makes me angry that people "of faith" only have faith in themselves and others like them. i have faith that everyone will get what they want after they die. But other people only have faith that i'm going to be fuel tossed into an endless furnace, keeping the angels warm....some faith... Just because i don't have faith in the same thing as you does that mean i'm worse off? is the idea of someone who isn't "fortunate enough" to have said faith getting eaten by a bear funny? Sure, it's a funny joke. But if i've heard one, i've heard them all. 010124 ... kx21 Can one live without faith? 010125 ... grendel i've been doing it for some time now 010125 ... mikey faith is people who are not fake and pretend to be grand people yet every day but sunday they are scum of the earth like everyone else. faith is letting another person take care of your children. faith is opening the door of your house and expecting your car to still be there. faith is one who holds head high yet wont try and push their mind onto others. faith..is someone who DOESNT need to quote a bible verse every 10 minutes to make them stronger. to me a strong religious person is one who has a open mind not closed. rules are made to be broken. the most predictable thing about life..is the fact it is unpredictable. there are few in this world today who TRULY have faith. most or false claimers and biggots who only follow certain philosophies for selfish reasons or peer pressure. 010306 ... Moe ...knowing that the Devil might take delight in the things that I do, but being a little holy, dont care...fate 010320 ... dB Faith. Improbable. Humans tend to use faith as a crutch to support themselves. Faith is similar to trying, eg: I have faith that he can do it. It's rediculous. 010320 ... mikey i agree with dB 100% 010320 ... kx21 Belief that does not rest on logical proof or material evidence... Faith is Illogical... Faith is Blind? 010321 ... The Truth Faith is the exact opposite of doubt. Faith is knowledge of God's will. Faith is like exercize for your spirit. When you believe (have faith) in good things like healings, and blessings, and good will towards poor people, you are giving with your spirit, and that takes, and makes your faith stronger for the next time. Faith is the power within us that proves that we are children of God. Without it, we are incomplete...always worried that something is missing from our lives. There have been many GREAT men and women (and angels) from many different religions and "faiths" that have spoken volumes of truth about faith. My favorite teaching about faith comes from Jesus Christ, on that one day when he said, "If you have enough faith, you can say to this mountain, 'Lift up, and fall into the sea' and it will be as you have believed." Do you think that's a lie? At first I didn't believe what I was reading, then I wondered about the human mind, what it is capable of, the limitless qualities of the imagination. I know this teaching is true, I have even tried it, feeling luke-skywalkerish and to the amusement of my friends. I tried to tell Mount Ranier to fall into the Puget Sound, I believed I could do it, but there was always that tiny hinge of doubt in the back of my mind that whispered "You can't do it! It's impossible!" I still try. Nothing is impossible. 010412 ... oh pee um everything happens at the right time. this is called faith in the universe. 010425 ... phil there is nothing to believe in, sadly, happily, undoubtedly, who knowedly,. 010426 ... dB Is there nothing to believe in? In this case maybe we need a new casue. Maybe for once we have to believe in ourselves, and each other. If you believe the man in the seat in front of you in the bus is a good, decent person. Or if you believe the lady at the stall who sells you your paper every morning is honest and caring, then it's a start. 010426 ... phil see what I mean? 010501 ... phil Faith is just a part time thing, just sticks on ya, after you stop thinking for a while. You are in your thoughts which are, for me anyways, different depending on how you look at them. They make sense, yet they jsut go off on their own. Faith is when you decide it's ok to get stuck on a thought and you start believing in all sorts of wierd shit. Like everyone burping is telling you something. Or everytime you see a tea bag it means something special. Beliefs cannot be avoided, but I think they are jsut one of those things that can't stand there ground but keep coming back. 010501 ... kx21 Tell me your True Faith and I will Tell you how wonder you are... 010501 ... george michael well i guess it would be nice... 010501 ... Dafremen Yes..yes..yes I do...I've got faith..how about you? Faith is turning your PC on without even CONCERNING yourself with the idea of it crashing on you. Faith is looking forward to your paycheck EVERY SINGLE payday completely disregarding the fact that it's already spent before you get it. Faith is marrying the "girl of your dreams" at a time when you aren't old enough to know what the "girl of your nightmares" is like or whether or not her and your dream girl just might be the same person. Faith is biting into a sweet juicy apple WITHOUT looking for insect holes or bruises first. Faith is assuming that Direct Deposit is so easy to start up that it's probably just as easy to STOP. Faith is eating at Taco Bell. Faith is going to sleep unconcerned with the notion that you might not wake up again or that the whole thing has been one big dream. Faith is unprotected sex. Faith is driving a $300 car, with no insurance on the Expressway. Faith is all of the potato chips you expect to get when you buy that bag o' chips n' air out of the vending machine. Faith is sitting on a public toilet seat without wiping first. Double faith points for not looking either. Faith is trusting contraceptives. Faith is blowing your nose and not looking at the kleenex afterwards. Same goes for wiping your ass and toilet paper. Suicide is NOT faith, neither is religion. Although some might say that suicide is a religion and most would agree that religion is suicide. Faith is believing what you read or DISBELIEVING what you read without REALLY objectively investigating the validity of what you read. Faith is pressing the 'change return' button on a vending machine. Faith is letting someone shave you with a straight razor. Double faith points if they're blind, triple if they really don't like you all that much. Faith is drinking cheap