Faith

It's really hard to hold an argument on intangibles and that's why the world's biggest problem till date has not been on money, weapons or numbers(they can be justified and accountable for). It has been on religion because it questions the very nature of faith. I was searching for differences between contentment and happiness for the GP essay and stumbled across this enlightening article: http://www.darshanchande.com/2009/09/are-you-atheist-or-believer.html

There are some harsh truths revealed in them that have supported those lingering questions I have of believers.

One particular excerpt which has really struck me was this:

"Putting faith on something means forcing it on your mind. God is not something to be forced on your mind. God is to be “known”. There is a difference between knowing and believing. Belief is a forced upon thing, while knowledge is natural. You only believe in something which you have no knowledge of. You “believe” in God, because you don’t “know” God. When you know God there remains no question of believing in it. There is no need for faith.

You know that tomorrow the Sun will rise again. You know that the Moon will show up tonight. You never say such thing as “I believe Sun will rise every morning.” You just say “Sun rises every morning”. This explains the difference between knowing and believing. There is no need for faith there, for you know that Sun and Moon exist. Likewise, when you know that God exists you will stop believing and start realizing God.

The first time you seriously contemplated God was when you were unhappy or insecure. And then every time when you are happy and contemplate God it is because you don’t want to lose happiness/security. Do some introspection and you will know it’s true. In any case, humans expect a favor from God when they contemplate God. Favor is the only reason for which humanity needs to believe in God. May it be taken on faith, but God is desperately needed for the want of favor. Other than the want of favor there can be no reason why you would like to believe in God. Has the belief that God is come with your birth? No. Have you ever given it a thought why then you force on your mind the existence of something which no one in the world has ever seen? It’s only because of the fear that not believing in God will land you into some sort of trouble, and believing in it will make life good.

Look at you. You need God because you want to be rich, or want a good wife, or want to become “something” in your life. These are all your worldly pursuits."

It was a coincidence that I've just dabbled on the issue of religion and spiritual matters recently. I know there are many believers around me, with some having a choice in their belief, and some being born to believe. The topic of religion has never really been brought up in the household because for some reasons, we are keen atheists and would like to keep it that way. I have never questioned people's faith for something but I've always wondered the difference between believing in God and believing in oneself.