Photography by Joe Raedle/Getty Images
Everyone has a measure of it. Children have faith in their parents, people have faith in their spouse or loved one, their friends, their community, their doctor. No one gets in an airplane, train, car or bus without faith that it will get them safely where they are going. No one goes in for surgery without a certain amount of faith in their surgeon and anesthesiologist to bring them through safely.
Faith is defined in the dictionary as: “complete trust or confidence in someone or something”; and defined in the Bible as: “the assurance of things hoped for, the conviction of things not seen.”
Some would say that those who put their faith in God practice “blind faith”. That can only be said by people who do not know God, who is perfect, and created and is in control of all. Those who don’t put their faith in God, by default put their faith in man. Man was created in perfection, but, because he also was given free will, chose to become imperfect. Hence anything man does or creates is inherently imperfect. Just consider the current Takata airbag defect issue, possibly affecting up to 34,000,000 vehicles; and the exploding lithium batteries, to name just two current evidences of the imperfection of man’s creations (of course there are hundreds of thousands of examples). On putting faith in man, a study in the September 2013 issue of the Journal of Patient Safety says that between 210,000 and 440,000 patients each year who go to the hospital for care suffer some type of preventable harm that contributes to their death. That would make medical errors the third-leading cause of death in America, behind heart disease, which is the first, and cancer, which is second.
The millions who know and put their faith in God can live with assurance in an imperfect world, being imperfect themselves and surrounded by other imperfect people, because we put our faith in the perfection of God rather than the imperfection of man. That is not to insinuate that nothing “bad” ever happens to those who put their faith in God, but we have the assurance that whatever does happen is in God’s control, and therefore not “bad” at all, but necessary for ultimate good. That allows us to live in a state of peace in a world that does not know peace.
Personally, I would much rather be viewed as foolish by people for putting my faith in God, than to actually be foolish by putting my faith in what I know to be imperfect. To quote Mr. Spock: “I find that highly illogical.”
E.J. Lefavour
http://www.hobbithousestudio.com
Good Morning Gloucester 
I feel that the word “assume” or “(an) assumption” (as in, “I assume that the doctor knows what she/he is doing and the operation will be successful”) can be used just as effectively as, “faith.” I do not see what the difference is, no disrespect intended.
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Hi Linda,
First, no disrespect taken; questioning, debating, discussing, etc. is critical to our learning and evolving. While assumption and faith are similar, they are not the same. And while assumption may be a more accurate definition of how many people approach certain situations in life, it is the weaker cousin to faith.
Assumption definition:
1. Something taken for granted; a supposition (an uncertain belief):
Synonyms: presupposition; hypothesis, conjecture, guess, postulate, theory.
2. The act of taking for granted or supposing.
Synonyms: presumption; presupposition.
Faith (secular definition):
Complete trust or confidence in someone or something.
To me, both assumption and faith (human definition) entail a belief based on some prior knowledge or experience; whether assumption or faith depends on our level of conviction resulting from that knowledge or experience. Example: I have flown many times without incident, and therefore assume (or have faith) that this upcoming flight will be the same. Which one I say depends on my level of conviction in my belief; one is uncertain belief, the other complete trust.
The spiritual definition of faith is the conviction of things not seen, which goes one step further.
I have certainly made many assumptions and put human faith in many people, things and situations in life, and been proven wrong many times by experience.
However, once we step out in faith in the unseen, unknowable (from our tiny human mind’s perspective), incomprehensible, unfathomable, unprovable existence of God, incontrovertible, unshakable proof is given. Unlike human faith, which requires some modicum of prior knowledge or evidence to enter into, spiritual faith requires acceptance without any provable evidence, and then proof is given. In fact, everyone has within them (whether they acknowledge it, accept it or not), the knowledge of God because he created us. It may seem a monumental thing to step out in that kind of faith, but God is right there just waiting for us to seek him so he can show Himself and his incomprehensible love of us. We just have to ask.
“Ask, and it will be given to you; seek, and you will find; knock, and it will be opened to you. For everyone who asks receives, and he who seeks finds, and to him who knocks it will be opened.…”
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I let the quote from one of my favorite writers speak to this as I have so many that I like, and each contributes to what grows inside of us all food for thought and answers to why!! 🙂 Dave & Kim 🙂 I choose this one below fro very personal reasons as anger remaining inside is not good for us humans…It is so much about your family, friends and foundation only you can walk from within!
“Forgiveness allows us to live in the sunlight of the present, not the darkness of the past. Forgiveness alone, of all our human actions, opens up the world to the miracle of infinite possibility.” Kent Nerburn
Sourced at: Read more at: http://www.azquotes.com/author/18353-Kent_Nerburn
The Reverend Mr Black
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I never heard that song before, thanks for sharing, although I don’t think we never walk it alone (unless we choose to), and often we are being carried. You are so right about forgiveness. Refusing to forgive can hold a person back in life more than just about anything. That is why Jesus told Peter when he came and said to Him, “Lord, how often shall my brother sin against me and I forgive him? Up to seven times?” Jesus said to him, “I do not say to you up to seven times, but up to seventy times seven.… People don’t realize sometimes that their failure to forgive hurts themselves so much more than it hurts the one they are refusing to forgive. The bigger the “injustice or wrong”, and the harder the forgiveness to give, the grander the freedom once we give it.
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I meant to type, I don’t think we ever walk it alone
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Your are correct there is always someone with you within or outside. I only sent the song as reflection I did not write it or the words! 🙂 Dave & Kim 🙂
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