Faith Journal
Summary of What is Faith?
Two words that are key to the secular definition of faith are trust and belief. To have secular faith, you must have complete trust; even though you are not certain of something you believe in it. Secular faith could be called a calculated risk even if it is a reasonable one, since faith is put into something that is not certain.
The Theological definition of faith:
an intellectual assent to a loving God and his revelation.
This kind of faith is given to us by God but it is our choice to accept or not accept it.
Two Important Ideas
Nihilism- a viewpoint that traditional values and beliefs are unfounded and that existence is senseless and useless.
Nihilism seems strange to me and it seems like a belief that people thinking about suicide might have. I personally believe that there is meaning in existence and instead, I believe that there is no meaning in death. To quote Lloyd Irving from Tales of Symphonia:
"What will you accomplish by dying? Nothing! There is no meaning in dying!"
Another quote from Tales of Symphonia concerning nihilism:
"Just because the logic is sound, it doesn't mean it's right."
Since nihilism is based on reason and not at all on belief, it can be hard to argue against it without bringing your own belief systems into the argument. The problem is that for someone with beliefs it is hard to not bring them into any argument. The logic may be sound but it goes against everything that I believe so, to me, the nihilist views are incorrect.
Radicalism- Continuing to believe something though there is no evidence to support it or though it has been disproven.
While nihilism was reason with no belief, radicalism is beliefs with no reason to back it up. Like nihilism, radicalism is just another way to ignore truth and reality. Instead of saying nobody is right, like nihilists, radicals say that they are right and everybody else is wrong no matter what. It seems like it would be hard to convince a radical that he is wrong using logic. In Tales of Symphonia, the villain, Mithos, is a radical and after his beliefs are proven to be flawed, he simply replies:
"That is merely logic. People are not moved by logic."
Radicals have too much faith in their own beliefs and ignore, liminally or subliminally, everyone else's beliefs or reason.
Important Image to Remember
Since I play a lot of video games and my favorite game is Tales of Symphonia, when I think of faith, the game's main protagonist, Lloyd Irving, comes to mind. All throughout the game his beliefs are challenged as he struggles to create a world where "no life is be born for the sole purpose of dying", yet in the end he sticks to his beliefs and succeeds. Because of his faith in the good of existence, he is able to create a world where no life is sarcrificed and where people are not hated just for being born.
Question to Ponder
On a scale with radicalism at the far left, faith in the center, and nihilism at the far right, where do you fall?
I think this is an interesting question that everyone should periodically ask themselves. Usually, I think I fall somewhere in between radicalism and faith.
<-radicalism-----------------------------me------------------------faith-------------------------------------------------------nihilism->
My personal opinions and beliefs affect everything I do. I am not a complete radical because I admit my errors in belief, but I am not a complete man of faith since I sometimes think rashly and can be uneven. At different times I fall at different place in between radicalism and faith,and sometimes I get really close to either one. Nihilism, on the other hand, is not something I can accept or accidentally find myself practicing. Like I said earlier, my beliefs affect everything and I can be too stubborn to let them go. I also believe that truth can be found though sometimes it can only be found in degrees. That is why I cannot accept nihilism.