People have done good and bad in the name of reason. That does make reason a questionable thing, but opens up the discussion on “What is faulty reasoning?” There is faulty faith too, faith based on wrong premises or objects. And reason is also a choice. Smoking causes cancer. A reasonable person would accept that fact. Why are there still so many smokers?

We come to all of life with filters. When I use the word faith in a personal sense, it comes with baggage. The baggage is not necessarily good or bad, but dependent again upon our view of ethics and morality; other words which also come predisposed of a world view.

My faith is connected to the unseen, but verified in many ways for me. In my lief my experiences include answered prayer, physical healing, an inner “assurance”, etc, all things that no one else can tap into because they are my experiences. They may not be “adequate” for you, but for me they are, for my faith is more than rules, it is a relationship. The Bible is really about who God is, His character, and who we are, and how we can relate to God. That is relationship. Within my worldview is the sense of the value of all people, regardless of class, colour of skin, etc. This is not a universal belief, but it is foundational to mine.

That is related to the second problem, the main point of my essay. To the believer, the greater structure of the world is seen as having a purpose. Sure, they might think that God wants them to be good to others, but the political system or the environment or disease are things that are part of Gods plan. Monarchies were supported by the divine right of kings–basically, it was meant to be this way. The overthrow of monarchies did not arise by people who acted to get into heaven, or to improve their after life. It happened because people wanted to change this life. Believers have repeatedly looked at the unpleasantness of the world and said God has a reason for it, let it be.

http://heroesheretics.wordpress.com/2008/08/03/why-would-faith-be-needed-for-salvation/#comment-108

I also see you have faith as well, even though you do not consider it a virtue. Your faith is in the natural world. That is the engine of creation, the influencer of the world in which you live. You trust and understand (even if it is a limited understanding) “it” as the thing that makes the world go ’round. It is the thing that goes around. We all have faith in things, like political parties, financial institutions, money as the source of happiness, etc

Faith as a virtue is the understanding that all our life, everything, derives meaning and understanding out of our relationship with Jesus. Humility may look the same for you and me, but your interpretation of it excludes my undeerstanding of a personal God. For you faith isn’t a virtue and I wouldn’t expect you to understand it because you don’t subscribe to my world view. My faith is a response to what God has done for me, for humanity, and it drives me to invest more into people and my society. It is what also helps me to cling to the truth of Jesus, even when others would hurt or kill me for doing so. People have been martyred for both our countries, for freedom (aside from all the religious stuff). The soldiers belief is that there is a greater cause, a cause that hits at the heart of humanity. Sure, some do it for the money, others because they are ordered to (and in the army you need to obey orders), and a variety of other reasons. But one of the things that makes a sacrifial death meaningful is the faith that it is for a greater cause. There’s something virtuous in that.

Faith in general is believing in something bigger than yourself, in something outside of yourself. In the Christian sense it is understanding that God is who He says He is not just in blind obedience, but as a response to several things, which includes personal experience and historical records and interactions. The part about believing in the unseen as the singular definition of “faith” is not the whole experience and just touches it superficially. I have faith in God not just because someone told me to, but because I have tried and tested it in my life, studied where it came from and the records it contains, and have found what I consider truth.

Why is faith a virtue? One reason is because it does go beyond one’s self. At the heart of faith is openness and understanding, not selfishness and pride. Of what virtue is there in only believing in what you can see and touch? The only “truth” we would have would be isolated to our own experiences.

Believing in a meaning beyond this life actually means you might try harder, not less. You believe there are no consequences for what you do outside of this life (and only if you get caught for some), If you were held accountable beyond this life of 80 years, though, by something bigger than yourself, and all-knowing, it makes sense you would try that much more to set yourself up for eternity.

I go back to one of the first questions I asked in this blog–how can we determine true statements from false, based on faith? How do we make our faith virtuous, but faith in another God a vice?

It seems to me that whenever people try to answer the question I asked in this post, they do so by redefining faith–saying that faith is humility, faith includes works, faith implies submission. Then lets talk about humility, works, and submission, not faith. What specifically is good about faith, defined as believing something without evidence?