Endercreeper01

I doubt it...

The search for answers does not stop at the surface.

I am not so quick to stop looking for answers.

Why not? I'm only asking questions...

All you are doing is being dismissive. Why can't you respond with any reasonable counter argument to my posts? If my posts were really so illogical, it shouldn't be so hard to have an effective counterargument. ......So what? What are you trying to tell me that matters?

If the higher power is not considered to be a physical thing, it only follows that believing in the higher power is not the same as believing in a physical thing. If considering it as belief than it can have reasoning to support it. However we are discussing faith rather than belief. All you have done is ignore all of my arguments and respond with the same dismissive statements.

I clearly didn't say that it was "different because it's different". Stop straw-manning me. I will only say that such a statement is debatable, though it would not be a discussion for this thread.

I thought I already answered this. Believing in a higher power is not the same as believing in a thing, rather it can be described in a way as being a belief about reality itself. This makes it different than believing in a physical thing or entity. I have been answering while you seem to fail to understand how the statements that I make relate to your questions. It would be nice if you could stop the accusation game.

Faith in a higher power can be described as a belief about reality itself in some sense, and so it is not the same as a belief in a thing.

Yes, though it is at the center of many religions.

Faith in a higher power can exist and be discussed irrespective of a religious belief system. No religion has to be correct in any of their beliefs. The only belief I am discussing is the one that is shared across all religions, and that is of faith in a higher power.

I was responding to another poster's assertions that faith is delusion. I wasn't making a point towards my stance. And I wouldn't consider myself a theist or anything else. Because they started and developed differently.

The focus is not on any one particular system of beliefs, rather it is on the belief in a higher power that unites all religions. The belief in a higher power is a belief about reality itself. It is essentially choosing to personally accept, as truth, of one view of reality over another. Faith in a higher power has a higher relevance to the topic of existence, and as such should be treated with a form of legitimacy as a possibile explanation of existence, at the very least. Delusional beliefs do not have any higher relevance in this regard. Belief in an idea about reality cannot be proven with physical evidence as it is based in the abstract and non physical rather than the physical. Faith of something as abstract and non physical as a higher power cannot be proven or disproven by physical evidence, being abstract. Rather, one can be led to the path of faith through other ways. Delusions have no such context and as a result cannot be equated with faith.

Faith in a higher power has a form of legitimacy to the collective that gives it credibility as an idea. The difference lies in the commonly accepted and shared view of reality of the collective, that makes one belief legitimate and another belief a delusion. Delusions are typically in direct and obvious contradiction with the reality that is agreed upon as legitimate by the collective. Faith in a higher power is not the same as believing in mythical things. Faith in a higher power is about believing in a certain idea about reality. Belief in mythical creatures involves belief in a thing, not an idea.

To be specific, faith is being put into an idea with a certain form of legitimacy in the eyes of the collective. Such legitimacy involves the recognition as such an idea as being possible or being considered a possibility out of a set of ideas about something. Delusional beliefs are placed in ideas that don't have any such recognition.

It is simply because faith is not based in insanity or insane beliefs. A higher power is neither proven or disproved, so it is still possible that it exists. Faith should not have to be based in science to have a certain form of legitimacy.

I don't understand how that takes away from any of my arguments... Such is debatable, although debating a higher power's plausibility is not the focus of this thread. My point is that faith has more legitimacy than delusion.

I'll ask you again: What is the point of your link? I don't exactly understand what point you are making with such a link. That doesn't necessarily make faith illogical. Faith can be a result of one's own understanding of the world leading one to faith. It shouldn't be considered delusional if it is not something that has an obvious falsehood to it. You act as if everyone would agree that faith is completely false. When there is a debate about if such is true or not, it doesn't make sense to claim that one is delusional for believing in such.

My response is: what is your point?

I sounds more like hatred and contempt than anything else. You shouldn't just compare the two concepts of faith and delusion so easily without very proper reasoning. It is a very bold statement for one to make.

This thread is not the place to discuss consciousness, it is about faith. Faith can arise based on someone's understanding of reality and existence that leads them to such beliefs. Such a harsh view of faith only sounds of hatred towards faith. It's not fair at all to call faith a delusion.

That is a very harsh view of faith. Faith in a god is nowhere near comparable to schizophrenia. Such a comparison is an extreme overstatement. Not having any physical evidence to support it does not make it immediately false, nor does it make a belief in such delusional. You can't make the claim that a belief in a god is delusional. Such a claim represents a very extreme view. It is harsh enough to sound as if it was filled with hatred and contempt towards the mere concept of faith.

Delusion is quite a strong choice of words to describe faith. Faith does not have to be considered delusional.

I was talking about a single post that I posted that I wasn't getting a proper response to. I have already been responding to such posts. Are you going to address the off topic behavior of other posters on this thread? It is not about my reasoning. I am discussing how reasoning can support faith and belief.

No, that's not the focus of this thread.