How can a thoughtful person fall for something like “faith”?

Question

Please help; I am having a difficult time with this question. Thoughtful answers only please…

“Faith” can be defined as a belief in something for which there is no evidence. So my question is: how can a smart, educated, thoughtful person believe in something for which there is no evidence? Now I know what most theists will say. They will say that there is plenty of evidence but that I just don’t recognize this evidence as legitimate.

I have asked a similar question a few days ago. Here is a summary of the “legitimate evidence” for the existence of God that was provided by people who answered the question:

A. “The Bible is substantiated by archaeological proof.” – Well, that’s only partially true. Archeology proves that a Great Temple once stood in Jerusalem, but there is no evidence, archaeological or otherwise, that proves that Jesus drove the money changers out of that Temple. The person making this bold claim, of course, neglected to name even a single archaeological discovery that proves that his God exists. And no, that the Great Temple once stood doesn’t prove that Jesus lived. If this logic worked, then the existence of Manhattan proves that Spiderman exists.

B. “Well science gets things wrong all the time.” – True. There is no discovery, no observation, no scientific theory, and no law in science that is beyond correction. But, when a scientific theory gets tweaked, or tossed, it is because our understanding of what is observed gets better, not because of some divine intervention. It doesn’t follow that if science gets something wrong, then that proves God must exist. When science gets tweaked, this only proves that the scientific method is the best means for understanding how the world works. When we finally accepted Plate Tectonics, it was because of better observation of the natural world, not because God told us. And just because there are some answers that science hasn’t answered yet (or may never answer,) doesn’t mean that it is smart or reasonable to fill in those gaps with “God must have done it.”

C. “Even a scientist has faith in … science.” Wrong. Science is nothing more than a collection of publically verifiable evidence. Earth orbits the sun – publically verifiable. Bacterium, viruses, and other pathogen cause disease – publically verifiable. Objects with mass attract one another (gravity) – publically verifiable. If something is verifiable, then one does not need faith to believe; there’s evidence! Of course, one can not be an expert in all fields. Our current body of knowledge is so vast that one person can not know everything. Sometimes we must trust experts, but the point is that science can be verified. It can be personally verified by you if you wished to become an expert within whatever field.

D. “The Bible is proof that God exists.” – This is a horrible argument, and I can’t believe that so many “thoughtful” people make it. Basically this is a circular argument. [There is a God because the Bible says so. I know this because the Bible is the inspired word of God.] How can a thoughtful person not see the fallacy in such circular reasoning? Also, if one is going to assume that the Bible proves their God, then logically they must also assume that the Koran proves Allah, Bhagavad-Gita proves the Hindu Gods, and the Book of the Dead proves that the afterlife occurs in an underworld realm, etc… This argument also ignores our current understanding of who, when, where, and why the various books of the Bible were written.

E. “Pascal’s Wager” [Even though the existence of God cannot be determined through reason, a person should wager as though God exists, because they will have everything to gain, and nothing to lose.] – I don’t have room to get into Pascal’s Wager, but basically the wager is ripe with reason and logic fallacies.

F. “I have a personal relationship with God.” – Sure. However, how can one not understand that it is possible to feel the presence of God without Him even existing? Our brains are extremely capable of producing simulations for our conscious mind to experience. For example, I work as a nurse in a hospital; almost every night, we have delusional and demented patients that are challenged with experiences that aren’t consistent with reality. People who make the above statement should take an Intro to Psychology class and challenge themselves to learning more about how the mind works.

G. “The Bible describes faith this way: ‘Faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen.’ Hebrews 11:1” At least this person was honest -- Faith is nothing more than wishful thinking. But he fails to answer my question: How can a thoughtful, intelligent person believe that wishing hard enough for a God will make Him real.

Anonymous · Accepted Answer

I was raised in an intense non-denominational Christian church with some serious enthusiasts. It was normal to see people screaming in "tongues" or the laying on of hands on the entire congregation - resulting in hundreds of people laying on the floor oftentimes spazzing, crying, laughing, or screaming. We are talking about grown professional men and women with college educations being overwhelmed by the touch of a televangelist and sprawling on the floor in a puddle of their own slimy drool (all observed joyously by 1200 others who can hardly see through the tears and gold dust in their own eyes).

I say that to say this: peer pressure and the fulfillment of expectations. As a 12 year old with an open (and stupid) mind, I was willingly involved in all of this. I accepted the fact that I had faith without realizing what a treacherous logical error I was making. My parents, friends, siblings, and pastor all expected me to act a certain way and believe a certain thing; something I did with few questions.

I remained quite involved "in the church" until I was nearly 17. It finally dawned on me how foolish I was being, and I asked myself the same question you asked. Now, I can't believe that so many intelligent and competent people will blindly accept a fairy tale as the basis of their entire lives. After finding no answers to my questions (because no one has any), I left the church, losing most of my friends in the process. I realized that because these people wanted to have faith, they would always have faith, regardless of logic, physics, or reason.

I recently turned 22 and I still crave the feeling I used to have about Christianity. It was the greatest comfort in the world to really believe something that is so...nice. The "afterlife" was taken care of, I had a reason (God) to work hard and excel in school or sports, and I had a strong moral base with great friends. Now I feel mostly depressed and oftentimes lonely as I realize I will never have faith again without evidence.

My conclusion? Really believing in something is one of the ultimate motivations and people need it to survive, regardless how ridiculous it may be.

I'm sorry this was so long and fairly useless, but it felt good to write. I appreciate your post, you really organized some of my own thoughts better than I have before. Good luck on your quest.

-Robert

мooи sнiиe · Answer

By evidence, you mean physical - I assume? You are seeking physical evidence for an immaterial being. Not going to happen. We 'see' God, not with our eyes and ears, but with our soul. God is obvious to a majority of people on the planet, even without religious guidance.

Even physical evidence can be interpreted different ways, being the reason atheists don't all agree on the origins of life, although there can only be one. Just because God can't be determined by your particular standards doesn't qualify as non-existence. You seem to be very certain God doesn't exist, without any evidence to support your belief. You only have faith that no God exists, but no proof.

Facts Matter · Answer

People are taught in childhood that it is actually wicked to question certain beliefs. This is a very effective, self-protective, meme. 

You can alas see an extreme example right now in Pakistan, where "moderate" (!) clerics argue that anyone who wants to get rid of the blasphemy law is therefore an ally of lbasphemers and deserves death.

Anonymous · Answer

For me to answer your question, I would have to think (like you do) that a person of faith is not thoughtful and are just ignorant lemmings.  Your whole premises is based upon that one single aspect.  You start from "not be able to think and ignorant" then you branch out from there.  

Christian=stupid-- therefore I must draw all my conclusions from there.  I don't draw all my conclusions from most atheists are arrogant fools.  It is hard not to, considering that most atheist post questions or answers similar to the context you have.  I try to really listen to what they have to say, then I give my answers based on that.  I don't give my answer based on "well atheists are logical and rational" so I must agree with them or either heavily disagree with them

? · Answer

Faith and thoughtful don't correlate, unfortunately. I can confidently say that as an atheist.
These arguments are nothing new, but religious people dismiss anything to do with logic or reason.

Anonymous · Answer

Indoctrination can make people believe any idea as children, and not apply normal thinking processes to examine that idea as adults.

Anonymous · Answer

you can believe any thing, but it requires conscious thought to have faith in what you believe.  otherwise your beliefs can easily be changed.

free spirit · Answer

believing in the multiverse is a lot more fun than the bible....

? · Answer

I think they believe it because they want to believe it. It comforts them.

Anonymous · Answer

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Good luck!

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How can a thoughtful person fall for something like “faith”?

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