“...because the decision to consent to any notion of divinity is a mighty jump from the rational over to the unknowable, and I don’t care how diligently scholars of every religion will try to sit you down with their stacks of books and prove to you through scripture that their faith is indeed rational; it isn’t...Faith is belief in what you cannot see or prove or touch” (175).
Faith is something people turn to in order to explain the unknown. The whole basis for it is that there isn’t anything to back it up. Having some kind of faith or religion helps people to cope with the changes that are going on all around them. It makes them feel secure because they know where they are going to end up in the end. Whether that is in heaven, hell, or in some reincarnated form, again, no one can be certain. Despite this, we still believe. We still hold on to our faith and try to teach others that what we believe is right. What makes people so steadfast in a belief that they cannot be shaken from it?
The most interesting part of this quote for me is when Gilbert highlights the fact that there is no way to prove that any religion is rational. We all have our beliefs for particular reasons and sometimes maybe because that religion was there when we needed something to believe in. Faith, itself, is a “belief in what you cannot see or prove or touch.” So why do some people think they are more correct in their faith than others? There is no way to prove who is right and who is wrong, but yet there are still self-righteous people in this world.
Even farther into my train of thought, I began to question why there are so many different religions. People want religion to explain the unknown and give them something to look forward to and believe in. All religions originated for the same purpose, but there are still so many different forms of faith and religion. I think this further supports my idea of the webbed religions because they did all start out the same and to fulfill the same purpose. I think if one looks deep enough, similarities can be found in all religions. They are wildly different now in general, but they came about for the same purposes.
Faith is something people turn to in order to explain the unknown. The whole basis for it is that there isn’t anything to back it up. Having some kind of faith or religion helps people to cope with the changes that are going on all around them. It makes them feel secure because they know where they are going to end up in the end. Whether that is in heaven, hell, or in some reincarnated form, again, no one can be certain. Despite this, we still believe. We still hold on to our faith and try to teach others that what we believe is right. What makes people so steadfast in a belief that they cannot be shaken from it?
The most interesting part of this quote for me is when Gilbert highlights the fact that there is no way to prove that any religion is rational. We all have our beliefs for particular reasons and sometimes maybe because that religion was there when we needed something to believe in. Faith, itself, is a “belief in what you cannot see or prove or touch.” So why do some people think they are more correct in their faith than others? There is no way to prove who is right and who is wrong, but yet there are still self-righteous people in this world.
Even farther into my train of thought, I began to question why there are so many different religions. People want religion to explain the unknown and give them something to look forward to and believe in. All religions originated for the same purpose, but there are still so many different forms of faith and religion. I think this further supports my idea of the webbed religions because they did all start out the same and to fulfill the same purpose. I think if one looks deep enough, similarities can be found in all religions. They are wildly different now in general, but they came about for the same purposes.
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