Faith is something that we often associate with others.”Do you have faith in me?” And sometimes we associate it with the practice of going to church. The act of praying in a predetermined manner giving us the comfort that we are somehow proving ourselves and demonstrating our commitment to being faithful, once a week without fail… bearing any unforeseen interruptions or big sporting events. (Yes, I am being sarcastic.)
But faith is more than all this.
Someone once told me that faith and delusion had identical definitions. They they were synonyms.
He went so far as to challenge me to look it up in a dictionary.
So for the sake of this weeks collection of thoughts lets do that.
According to Dictionary.com Faith is:
1. strong or unshakeable belief in something, esp without proof or evidence
2. a specific system of religious beliefs: the Jewish faith
3. Christianity trust in God and in his actions and promises
4. a conviction of the truth of certain doctrines of religion, esp when this is not based on reason
5. complete confidence or trust in a person, remedy, etc
6. any set of firmly held principles or beliefs
7. allegiance or loyalty, as to a person or cause (esp in the phrases keep faith , break faith )
8. bad faith insincerity or dishonesty
9. good faith honesty or sincerity, as of intention in business (esp in the phrase in good faith )
Delusion, by the same source states it is:
1.an act or instance of deluding.
2.the state of being deluded.
3.a false belief or opinion: delusions of grandeur.
4.Psychiatry . a fixed false belief that is resistant to reason or confrontation with actual fact: a paranoid delusion.
Besides the immediate recognition that one of the words tends towards more positive ramifications, there is little to differentiate between the two definitions. Some would go as far as to point out that the mere acceptance as faith being a positive thing is held only because a subculture of people commonly accept similar beliefs that thus add validity to the collective ‘delusion.’
So in this modern definition…. Faith IS Delusion.
However, if one takes this a step further then one could also admit that those who utilize money, adhere to laws, or present themselves to have knowledge in any given field also share a subcultural understanding of a set of norms that make assumptions on some predetermined estimations and therefore they too live within a realm of shared delusion.
But wait!! We know that grass is green and 1+1 is 2 and that water is blue and wet. If we *know* it then it must be a fact and thus true and therefore NOT a delusion.
I submit that in the absence of light grass is not green and 1+1 is 10 as in binary math or 3 if one looks at it reproductively and that water, like grass, is influenced by something man has named the color spectrum. And further more Water is sometimes NOT wet but rather frozen or even simply suspended.
Man in general seeks to learn, to understand, to grow, rationalize and evolve. Man is organic, and its lifetime… in its present form… is finite.
Man gives parameters to help test and evaluate that which is around it. To make sense if you will of its very existence.
If you doubt this… then examine modern day studies of quantum physics. Consider how the world was discovered to be round or that it evolved around the sun… not the sun around it.
All “facts” were once thought as delusional. As human science, in its limited capacity has proved, some perceived delusions do sometimes add to the fabric of our sense of reality.
This entry is not being written to prove definitively that God exists, or that any one faith is stronger or more correct than another.
It is being written instead to submit to those in this world that seek to take away from someone elses’ belief structures… that faith truly does have its place and not all things can be immediately understood.
While surfing the net ….not sure which site off hand I found this recipe for Christian Maturity and I thought it might be relevant to add here.
Recipe for Christian Maturity
1. First preheat the oven (trials).
2. In a bowl put in wisdom (1:5), add faith and works (2:17) this is important because faith without works is like dead yeast, it will be inactive and not produce life.
3. Then add marinated or tenderized tongue (3:17).
4. Strain out any selfishness floating to the top (4:10).
5. Wait patiently, basting all the while with prayer (5:8).
Blessed Inspiration 