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“Two things are infinite: the universe and human stupidity; and I’m not sure about the universe.”
Albert Einstein
The World In Pictures
Ryo Taira (r.), and an unidentified man lift a baby porpoise out of a flooded rice field after it was swept inland by a tsunami following an earthquake in Sendai, in this picture taken Tuesday. Taira found the porpoise struggling in the shallow seawater and, after failing to net it, waded into the field, which had yet to be sown with rice, to cradle the animal in his arms and return it to the sea. (Asahi Shimbun/Reuters)
People who fled the unrest in Tunisia stand in line after arriving at the southern Italian island of Lampedusa. Almost 15,000 people have landed in Lampedusa since the beginning of the year, according to Interior Minister Roberto Maroni, exacerbating Italian fears that the upheavals in North Africa could unleash a wave of clandestine arrivals. (Alessandro Bianchi/Reuters)
A cat sits under a blanket at an evacuation center for pets and their owners near an area devastated by the earthquake and tsunami in Kesennuma, Japan (Kim Kyung-Hoon/Reuters)
Port-au-Prince, Haiti: A boy walks past an incinerator for waste from a cholera hospital (Photograph: Hector Retamal/AFP)
Faith, what’s in a word? or Ed’s ramblings about faith.
Most of the people I interact with online, blogs, Twitter, Facebook, fall into two general groups. Christians and Atheist. When I speak to both groups about faith they assume I am talking about religious faith, belief in God.
The Mirriam-Webster dictionary tells me that when used as a noun faith means:
a : allegiance to duty or a person : loyalty b (1) : fidelity to one’s promises (2) : sincerity of intentions.
I think most people use the word as a verb:
a (1) : belief and trust in and loyalty to God (2) : belief in the traditional doctrines of a religion b (1) : firm belief in something for which there is no proof (2) : complete trust
This is why it is so important to start a discussion of a word, or idea, by defining it as precisely as possible.
I will admit it seems a bit of a stretch for me to use “Faith” in the way I use it. My faith is not an allegiance to anyone, or anything.
The source of my faith, the process found in nature, evolution of species, has been tested and proven, using the process of testing know as science. However a theory in science is never considered the final word. New evidence, better tools to examine evidence, will likely come-up with a better theory that fits this new evidence. The most I can say is I have 99.9% confidence in any theory, it is the best idea that fits the current evidence.
With both religious both and non-religious faith trust is vital. With religious faith 100% trust is the standard, although I think many of my Christian friends will admit that’s a standard that is hard to live up to.
To my Christian friends there is proof for their faith. Every time they feel they are in God’s presence their faith is validated. Just because I have never felt the presence of God I can’t say no one else has.
Enough rambling.
What is your definition of the word faith?
I’ll start with a question, what do you think faith is? How does having it improve the quality of your life? How does not having faith make living harder?
For me faith is what gives me the confidence to look forward to facing each new day. Faith makes me confident that I can pass any test that life throws at me. I know I won’t be completely successful in passing all these test, but I will at least survive them to one degree or another. I know someday my life will end but since I can’t know when that day will be faith allows me to believe that I can make the most out of whatever time I have left.
In the first part of my life I lost whatever faith I had in myself, and everyone I might have believed in, my family and the God I was told to pray to. With no faith I tried to end my life. When I survived I made the decision that I had to find a way to make my way in life. As I get through each new day, made more good decisions than bad ones, my confidence grew. I gained faith in my self. I also learned that sometimes I needed help. Not asking for help when I need it continues to be a problem for me. However I learned that are people in the world a lot smarter than me and if I sought their help they would help me make better decisions. My faith in my fellow man grew, well at least in most of them. 🙂
There are still times when my faith waivers a bit, like when yet another girlfriend gives me the “it’s me not you speech”. 🙂 We humans have still not overcome war and poverty, but I see enough progress to maintain my faith in my species.
My faith is in my ability to make the decisions I need to make to survive, and thrive, in life. That we humans will continue to evolve and make our world a better place in the future. I can’t wait to see what each new day has in store for me, even it if is a test.
The World Through My Eyes 
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