Faith and Faith
This is off-topic as regards the scientific issues, but on-topic as regards some objections that have been brought up against ID theory here at Cornell, and especially on the Evolutionlist (now online). I always find it amusing when people go on about "ID is not only bad science, it is also bad religion!" For one thing, we ought to be willing to consider the truth value of a given theory whether or not it has uncomfortable religious or philosophical consequences, and then again . . . if I really wanted religious advice from them I would have asked :-). There was probably a reason I didn’t.
The argument goes this way. "According to good theology, Christians are supposed to accept everything on faith. Faith (and this is a Richard Dawkins definition) means blind trust, in the absence of evidence, even in the teeth of evidence. If intelligent design is true you might perhaps not require this sort of faith to believe in God. Therefore all good Christians should flee from ID theory, and the perfidious slippery slope toward rationalism that it entails."
The problem with this reasoning is that there are two definitions of faith, and Dawkins’ definition is quite different from the Christian one. Dawkins’ is of the sort used in the "I’m not going to take common descent on faith any longer; give me half-decent supporting evidence!" of a disgruntled Cornell student; but the other, "Have faith in God.", means something quite different, and is rather more akin to a trust or conviction based both on strong evidence and reason.
Paul at Exiled from Groggs points us to several paragraphs from Francis Schaeffer which help illuminate this issue.
One must analyze the word faith and see that it can mean two completely opposite things.
Suppose we are climbing in the Alps and are very high on the bare rock, and suddenly the fog shuts down. The guide turns to us and says that the ice is forming and that there is no hope; before morning we will all freeze to death here on the shoulder of the mountain. Simply to keep warm the guide keeps us moving in the dense fog further out on the shoulder until none of us have any idea where we are. After an hour or so, someone says to the guide, “Suppose I dropped and hit a ledge ten feet down in the fog. What would happen then?” The guide would say that you might make it until the morning and thus live. So, with absolutely no knowledge or any reason to support his action, one of the group hangs and drops into the fog. This would be one kind of faith, a leap of faith.
Suppose, however, after we have worked out on the shoulder in the midst of the fog and the growing ice on the rock, we had stopped and we heard a voice which said, “You cannot see me, but I know exactly where you are from your voices. I am on another ridge. I have lived in these mountains, man and boy, for over sixty years and I know every foot of them. I assure you that ten feet below you there is a ledge. If you hang and drop, you can make it through the night and I will get you in the morning.”
I would not hang and drop at once, but would ask questions to try to ascertain if the man knew what he was talking about …. In my desperate situation, even though time would be running out, I would ask him what to me would be the adequate and sufficient questions, and when I became convinced by his answers, then I would hang and drop.
This is faith, but obviously it has no relationship to the other use of the word. As a matter of fact, if one of these is called faith, the other should not be designated by the same word. The historic Christian faith is not a leap of faith in the post-Kierkegaardian sense because He is not silent, and I am invited to ask the adequate and sufficient questions, not only in regad to details, but also in regard to the existence of the universe and its complexity and in regard to the existence of man. I am invited to ask adequate and sufficient questions and then believe Him and bow before Him metaphysically in knowing that I exist because He made man, and bow before Him morally as needing His provision for me in the substitutionary, propitiatory death of Christ.
Francis Schaeffer, "He is There and He is not Silent": Appendix B IVP:1990
Good post. Many people equate all faith to “blind faith.” But the Bible defines faith as the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen (Hebrews 11:1).
Comment by Art — March 16, 2006 @ 4:52 pm
Give me one shred of evidence that there is a big guy in the sky, and I’ll give your second definition of faith some credit. Until then, or until I’m struck by lightening or go to hell, I’ll keep an open mind. In other words, if I ever come across any evidence of a supreme being, I’ll believe it. The reason suicide bombers exist is faith. Not a concept I like much as a result. Cheers.
Comment by Will Schubert — April 14, 2006 @ 10:37 pm
Will, thanks for your comment. The point I ws making was that the Christian definition of faith is not that of a dogma you’re being asked to take on in the absence of evidence (or even in the teeth of evidence). So we don’t want you to go believe “in a big guy in the sky” without reason; if there is a God, and “he is there and he is not silent” I guess he can be found by looking. Best use the open mind!
Comment by Freawaru — April 16, 2006 @ 12:34 am
But that’s just it! It IS a dogma held by too many people, none of whom have any evidence for it. However, I will grant you that there is no evidence against it. Additionally, “God” cannot YET be found by looking. Perhaps someday that will be possible. Currently, it is not.
Comment by Will Schubert — April 16, 2006 @ 1:22 am
Will: God disagrees with you. He says there is enough evidence for you to know that he is there. Even without the Bible. If you choose to ignore that evidence, then that’s between you and him.
Thanks for the TB.
Comment by Paul — May 2, 2006 @ 10:44 am
Paul, this interests me greatly. Provide me with some evidence, since seemingly you can actually HEAR God speak! That seems miraculous and wonderful. For example, if you could ask him what my mother’s middle name is, and get back to me, I might give some credit to your claims. In the off chance that doesn’t work for you, I would highly recommend you read a recent book called The End of Faith, by Sam Harris. It details exactly why people like you will be the cause of the end of our society as we know it, and a return to living in caves, killing with spears. Seriously, come on man! Give me something concrete here, no more of this “if you listen god will find you” bullshit. Blah blah blah. Can’t you guys understand how stupid and crazy you sound?
Comment by Will Schubert — May 2, 2006 @ 4:52 pm