Faith Requires not Questioning

by Godlessons on May 25, 2010

I came across a quote by Frater Ravus about faith, and I found it rather funny, but when I posted it to my status on my Facebook page, someone asked me a question that got me thinking.

Faith does not give you the answers, it just stops you asking the questions. – Frater Ravus

The question that got me thinking was whether or not questioning precludes faith.  I hadn’t actually thought about it prior to the question, but now that I have, I would have to say it does.

First of all, you either believe something or you don’t.  I’ll give you an example.  Do you believe you had a mother that gave birth to you?  Even better, do you believe that you exist?  If you say no to either of those questions, you should be reading a psychiatry blog, not this one.  Now, do you ever question whether or not you exist?  Do you ever question if you had a mother that gave birth to you?  If you seriously question either one of those, there are some problems.

Now, in order to have faith in God, you must believe he exists.  If you truly believe that, it would seem just as insane to you to question it as it would to question the two things in the previous paragraph.

So, let’s say that you do question.  Do you truly have faith?  Do you truly believe?  I would say that questioning it would, at the very least, make you agnostic.  You don’t know God exists, you want to believe it, but you don’t actually believe.

So, someone that truly has faith really can’t question it without it being somewhat rhetorical.  This is not true questioning.

  • http://inthearmchair.wordpress.com Armchair Guy

    The basic premise that you either believe something or you don't is not widely accepted. I think you mean that, for each statement, either it is true or it isn't. Whether you believe that something is true or not is a different question. For example, I state that I am wearing blue jeans right now. Do you “either believe it or not”? You have very little information one way or another. You likely have a “degree of belief”, like a 40%, 50% or 60% chance that the statement is true. Degrees of belief is a common term used in philosophy. Often this is somehow identified with probabilities, e.g. posterior probabilities given your knowledge of the universe.

    Depending on what you mean by “have faith”, the rest of the article might be valid or not. You seem to be assuming that humans are rational, something which is not true under most definitions of “rational”. A lot of people display cognitive dissonance when it comes to matters of religion. For example, one might believe gods don't exist from a scientific point of view. Still, praying and doing other religious things might give enough rewards that the person momentarily suspends disbelief and “believes” in gods. The person isn't being rationally consistent, but such things do happen.

    You might of course say they don't truly have faith in this situation, which is why I said it depends on the definition of faith. But if you do that, your conclusion is practically tautological.

  • http://godlessons.com Godlessons

    I understand what you are saying, and it makes sense. A 90% level of knowledge still makes a person agnostic. Unless a person is at a 100% level of knowledge, they can't say they really know something. They can only say they have X% of certainty of their position.

  • Mark S

    Faith is a cop-out. If the only way you can accept an assertion is by faith, then you are conceding that it can’t be taken on its own merits.
    Dan Barker, “Losing Faith in Faith”, 1992

  • http://godlessons.com Godlessons

    I like that. It is so true.

  • Mark S

    Faith is a cop-out. If the only way you can accept an assertion is by faith, then you are conceding that it can’t be taken on its own merits.
    Dan Barker, “Losing Faith in Faith”, 1992

  • http://godlessons.com Godlessons

    I like that. It is so true.

  • carpe_diem740

    You’ve commited so many fallacies in this. First, you’re making some presumptions of people who question if they’re mother is really their mother and whether they really exist unfairly.  Neither have to go on faith. Your parents told you who your father is and who your mother is, and if you dont’ believe so or question their assertion, you can get a DNA test. This is what can happen if you ask questions and don’t assume on faith. People ask the question of existence all the time, it’s one of the main questions of philosophy. Have you ever heard of the quote “I think therefore I am.”? To question god’s existence is just as healthy as questioning one’s existence, it’s just a sign of intelligent and critical thought, which you are obviously not capable of.

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