Faith

To have faith is to have the belief that something that isn’t proven factual is true to you. People
may question that if it is not proven to be true, how can it be true? Therefore why would you insist on
believing in something that isn’t conspicuously true? This is because if you believed something that
is conspicuously true then it wouldn’t be believing, it would be knowing. And if you know something,
then this would be knowledge/information. This is why faith is thought to be more ‘emotional’ than
rational. One who has faith believes because of the optimism, devotion, hope and determination it gives
them. This is more of an emotional personal ‘way of knowing’ rather than a factual indubitable ‘way of
knowing’.

For subjects such as Maths and Science, you can’t have faith that something is true as there must
be evidence to prove it therefore faith can be said to be an abstract way of knowing. When believing
something in Maths or Science, you have the opportunity to ask for reasons or justifications however
when having faith in something like religion, you don’t expect to find some justified evidence as you
would just have faith that it is true. And as each person’s mentality differs, it is understandable that faith
would differ from person to person. In Science if you were told that metal is a good conductor of heat
as the molecules of metal are closely packed together allowing heat energy to be easily passed through
the metal from molecule to molecule, therefore making the metal hot faster than a liquid would as the
molecules are far away from each other; then you would be inclined to believe it. Regardless of what
religion you are, how old you are, where you’re from, what sex you are, you will sleep in bed that night
knowing that metal is a good conductor of heat. This is not the same for faith.

Faith is often related with religion and religion differs from person to person. On the concept
of ‘having good things happen’ to you, a Buddhist would believe that it is important to ‘do good’ as it
would mean that in the concept ‘karma’ and ‘rebirth’ doing good would benefit you as it is believed
that there is a cycle of suffering and rebirth. Therefore a Buddhist would have faith in doing good as
this would mean that good would come to them in the ‘cycle’. However I was raised as a Catholic and I
have the belief that if good things were to happen to me, it is from God’s love as God gave me the ‘good
thing’.

Personally I believe that having faith in religion gives people a meaning to life. In moments of
desperation, I can turn to God. It gives me hope, determination and strength. I also believe that my faith
in God has shaped my morals and ethics. Catholics believe in elaborate and official statements in the
creeds.

However having faith can lead to limitations as if one were to have faith in an idea that does
not appear to benefit them then this can just be viewed as stupidity. Personally, I believe those with
superstitions have faith in something meaningless. I believe that having faith in religion can shape
your morals and ethics and give you a meaning for life, however whether you walk under a ladder or
not, should not have some clear affect on you or your life. Thos who believe in superstitions can let
it control their life to an extreme extent that they are unable to live freely under constant fear of the
consequences of insignificant actions such as walking under a ladder.