a quick word about faith

just a quick word

so far, i've been making pretty long posts. well, here's just a little taster. i came across a comment on youtube which i've seen SO many times in one form or another, i figured i would just respond to this one dude and paste my response here as well for all to enjoy. ;)

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HigH!

you seem to be confused as to the proper usage of the word "faith".
(either that, or you're being intentionally deceptive)
either way, here's a little refresher:

1) "faith", as used in a religious context, refers to faith without evidence, without proof, without any reinforcement(consistency, reliability, etc.). like flipping a coin and having "faith" that it landed as you called it(without checking it).

2) "faith", as used in a scientific context(yes, the "faith" that you so vehemently declare all evolutionists to have) is something more reliable. for example, the faith i have in my family to be honest with me, because i am familiar with their characters, and have never known them to be dishonest. and even THAT isn't as solid as the faith i can safely have in the scientific method, because the method itself is internally consistent, and if properly applied, leads to consistent results. in short, the scientific method is a great roadmap to use in order to be honest with YOURSELF.

you appear to be obsessed with the history of individual scientists(or hoaxers who aren't even scientists) producing inconsistent results because of a misapplication of the scientific method. but you seem to forget that it is OTHER scientists, properly applying the self-critical properties of the scientific method, who successfully exposed those frauds/mistakes, etc.

now, i don't even know what your religious beliefs are, or what you have faith in, but if you are indeed religious(as i suspect), then you may argue that your religious faith has produced reliable and consistent results for you, so you feel justified in classifying it under category 2. well, i'm sorry to say, it just doesn't work that way. for while your OWN religious faith may have produced consistent results for YOU, it also consistently produces wildly different results for OTHER people. true category 2 faith, as shown above, is consistent for ALL people at ALL times. true faith of that sort transcends all barriers of language and culture, unlike religion.

if you have FAITH in something besides methodological naturalism, that's fine.
just remember what kind of "faith" it is. and learn the difference.

peace,
-b