is faith a good thing or a terrible thing?

History shows us that faith is a terribly dangerous thing. Take Jesus, for example, his faith in the mythical character, God, led him to commit suicide by cop, which is not a good thing.

Faith is the assurance of things not seen

Faith in God comes through hearing the word of God

Most people who believe in God have had some sort of experience with Him (answered prayers, miracles, hearing God or experiencing His guidance or His presence or Having received dreams and visions from the Lord etc). Most believers believe because they've had an encounter with the Lord

I may not be able to prove my experience to you but it is proof to ME that God is real

Just because my personal evidence is not tangible does not make it unreliable or unreal

If a testimony were too unreliable to be considered as evidence I'm sure courts wouldn't entertain witness accounts

What I actually want to say is that only blind faith is the dangerous type. Faith based on experiences or personal research and meditation is definitely a virtue because it demonstrates that one is open minded and does not limit all concepts in the universe to the scientific method of verification

I mean, if you dreamed that something would happen and then it happens, I'm sure there would be some people who would tell you that it was a coincidence or that you need psychiatric help etc but the point is that your personal experience opens you up to consider the supernatural as something real

Faith - the belief in things not proved - is a very bad thing. Religion which relies on the faith of believers, creates mobs which can by faith be motivated into a mob like rule and kill innocent people. We have evidence of this all over the world and historically.

Being open minded allows the thinker to consider all options on many subjects and take the best option to solve problems and make decisions. Logic and reason are the tools of open minded people.

That depends on how you use it. To ONLY take things on faith without looking into them to make sure you properly understand them is VERY dangerous. You will eventually wind up making the wrong choice.

For example, snake handling. That is the wrong choice. Just because it is written, "they will take up serpents; and if they drink anything deadly, it will by no means hurt them (Mark 16:18)," doesn't mean we should go out of our way to do this ourselves. Why? Because, again it is written, "you shall not tempt the LORD your God (Matt 4:7, Deuteronomy 6:16, Luke 4:12)." And again it is written, "Man shall not live by bread alone but by EVERY word that proceeds from the mouth of God (Matt 4:4, Deuteronomy 8:3, Luke 4:4)." By EVERY word that proceeds from the mouth of God, not just one particular verse. Just because Paul was not harmed when bitten by a poisonous snake (Acts 28:3-6), doesn't mean we should purposely cause a snake to bite us.

And just because a Christian and ESPECIALLY a pastor says that something is true or that "the bible says 'this'" doesn't mean we should just believe it. We must search the scriptures to see whether or not their testimony be true (see 1 John 4:1-3, 2 Timothy 2:15 and Acts 17:11). Once you know what the scriptures say and mean, you can compare them to people's statements, current events, history, science etc.

Hope that answers your question.

http://amazingdiscoveries.tv/c/2/Total%20Onslaught...

I guess that depends on the context. Faith as a religious "virtue" is useless. It does nothing good, especially if you have a sick kid dying and you place whether he lives or dies on whether "God" will answer a prayer. There are probably other kinds of faith, something different from the religious kind. Those might suffice better.

Faith is a wonderful thing, how people choose to practice their faith can and has been a terrible thing.

exciting question. relatively than putting a spiritual slant on it, i think of it is extra approximately guy's effect on the earth and what we've achieved to animal and flowers, we effect the climate appreciably, so i think of that lots of the climate types are via way human beings have taken care of the planet. yet, all organic events are additionally by utilising definition - organic. there'll constantly be earthquakes, storms, floods, tornados, volcanic eruptions when you consider that's the character of our planet and how new reefs and land is formed, it is how existence is supported in the international. without the so observed as failures, there may well be no existence. Human sin in a spiritual sense has not something to do with organic failures. Sin is a judaism/islamic/christian thought as none of those recognize unfastened will and evolution of self and soul.

Good Faith is good. Example: Unitarian Universalism or Baha'i faith or Quakerism.

Bad Faith is bad. Example: People's Temple.

Hard question to answer really. I mean I have my faith that gets me through the day, but who am I to say that those who do not have faith are wrong?

Having "Faith" and being "Open minded" are two different things.

Open mindedness suggests that someone is willing to consider all perspectives and all points of view, and form a personal opinion based on that.

Faith is a reason why someone doesn't need to look any further or gain any other perspective.