Ralij

Not saying that you wouldn't, by any means, I'm just naturally lazy (or its just living with allergens, but that may or may not be just an excuse) and need an extra bit of 'push' at times.

Why do you have to have faith in a supernatural being to do that?

I don't, by any means, but if a supernatural being does not exist that is the greatest effect I can think that the philosophy would have on my impact on my community is that I may go out of my way a little bit more often than I otherwise may have.

If it's a relationship, was there a time in the beginning of it when your faith wasn't as strong as it is now?

 

If it's a relationship, how can the connection be evaluated by anything other than your own one-sided perceptions and interpretations?

 

Is faith something that can start out more like hope before it eventually becomes steadfast and abiding and unwavering and unquestioning?

When you know someone, you know someone, in the same manner that I have faith that you exist. How would one evaluate a connection with a friend other than asking them or others who know them? There are plenty of others who know the same person, so its not one sided in that it comes from myself only. There are no question in the 'does the divine exist' sense, but there is always the 'why was this course of action taken' and more importantly the 'how the actions were taken' of them. God created the heavens and the Earth, but such things are not explained in detail. Did they pop into existence like a cartoon? Did it take place over a long period of time and using what processes? A day passes yet there is no sun yet so what qualifies as a day and how long is it in comparison with what we know of? There are questions upon questions, even before one gets into the quagmire of translations from a dead language to a modern one, but the existence of Him is not a question to me. I do accept that there are questions left unanswered satisfactorially. Scientifically I accept that there is no hard evidence in the same way that is usual or at least is not accepted as such, but I'll wait for it. In the meantime, even if I am crazy, if I go out of my way to help others as I believe to have been told I see no harm in it since I do not believe in violence, war, or hatred (or even anger to a great extent, though I fail at this as it is in my nature to react to such things in such a way, but that would remain as a part of me, regardless as to my religious beliefs) in the name of religion or faith.

Quite the contrary, both would require positive evidence, what is your point?

I have the evidence in my own experience, I only need that bit of knowledge to know of existance, whereas knowing something does not exist one must know literally everything to prove that it doesn't.

The irony in that is thick enough to choke a T-Rex....

It would only be irony if I claimed to be omnipotent, which I do not, merely that I know this one thing. Claiming something exists is much smaller dose of ability than to claim something does not.

So does your connection with reality in the rational world.

The connection with the rational world is intact, but I cannot say the same of the connection with smug elitists who think they are omnipotent.

Analogies fail often. God isn't as tangible as a vending machine, and when you don't get your Coke there are observable reasons why. How can you know if your prayer was answered in the negative, or if your faith isn't strong enough, or if there's simply no one listening? All three of those possibilities are unfalsifiable.

When you have a relationship with the divine options two and three vanish.

All people are hypocrits, religion has nothing to do with it except act as another outlet.

Greetings! Unlike many of you I do not have a background in science, but rather am more into the humanities. My current project is world building for a fantasy novel I've been working on, but would like it to be realistic geologically and ecologically, even bordering on the 'hard fantasy' subgenre. My primary focus tonight has been on the scaling of biospheres, particularly how various wetlands (bogs, swamps, and marshes) would interact with a tropical forest environment. I also have an area of a hot desert (on the protected side of a mountain range and next to a cold, southern moving current) that I'm not certain how far inland it would start or if it would be a sand desert or not... Anyway, thank you for the assistance!

I'm working from the definition that I find most people of faith around me use. These are predominately Christians who regularly use the explanation that their faith in prayers to their god can work miracles. If prayer doesn't work, they claim it's because the faith of those praying wasn't "complete", or strong enough in its conviction.

That's like saying a coke didn't come out of the vending machine because they didn't push the quarter in forcefully enough. That's just silly. Sometimes the answer is a flat out "No".