On Faith

Faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen and the fan which indulges the fire which burns within a man’s spirit. In his attempt to make sense of the world, a man will surely drive himself mad if he has no aberrance upon his belief in the Lord God in Heaven. For the atheist, I will surly tell you: every man has his own god in which he brings his forbearance to aid in carrying the burdens of life. Every man has a Bible which he seeks for guidance to live a great life. Truly, every man has his Son of God and Savior in whom he places his utmost faith within. For some, this may be the work of a philosopher; others may have a particular figure from history which he sees as his personal Father in Heaven. Some may even instill his entire being within the sacred heart of a wise man or woman who has heralded the mightiest pinnacle in their hearts. For whatever a man’s religion is, that is the chief trait about him, his character, his purpose in life and where he will be in the future.

            Some of the readers of this passage may say, “I have no religion, but I only have what I believe.” Aren’t the thoughts of a man correlated into a structural form not to be considered a theological aspect? Are your beliefs not your chief traits about who you are as a person? Whenever a man has an unalterable, immovable, unshakable virtue, is this not what would appear to be the pillars of his temple, the bones of his synagogue? Another man may respond to these questions by refuting, “But, I don’t consider my personal beliefs in any form of religion; I only believe what I have generated in my mind.” Do you believe that good deeds are the chief habits of character in most people you want to have in your life? If so, then you share a belief with almost half the world’s population consisting of those you may feel are “Religious Zealots”? What the atheist does not realize is that, while he believes that he is the sculptor of his own religion, his core values are those which religion has taught humanity for centuries. He does not realize that, to discard religion would be like repudiating our parents because we did not like their manners and clothes. The religious impulse is the art of impulse, and both are manifestations of love, and love is the basis of our sense of sublimity. What he does not realize is that good works and religion are one. Human beings are natural creatures of wanting to help one another, to live by one’s happiness and not by one another’s misery. He does not understand that religion is nearly ingrained within mankind’s DNA; as such, he will never be capable of shaking his connection with religion because his everyday thinking is a representation of the major religion he believes in, or the primary belief of those who surround him.

            To make the attempt of separating completely from any concept of religion is a difficult process, indeed! For a man to be freed from all religion which surrounds his culture, he must first begin as such: he must break away completely with any virtue which religion has aided in defining. To the atheist, I tell him that this is the most destructive decision he could ever make. What kind of man would he become if good works were shunned from his life? Where will he be in a year if over-indulgence is seen as a positive habit to engrain into his life? What kind of person would a man become if rape, murder and torture were seen as positive aspects in his daily life? This is not to say there are not religious sects which teach such practices to their followers, there are. However, there is no major sect of any primary religion in the world which does not attempt to teach their followers to live a life which is the antithesis of the previous statements. There are no laws in America, or civilized nations in the world, which would support such horrific crimes. No one would question the opposition to these actions, for it is the morality and ethical ideology of the society which decides that these crimes are emphatically wrong to commit. Funny how religious doctrine influences the lives of those who claim to belong outside the realm of religious doctrine when, in fact, religious ideology was the basis allowing morality to exist in the first place.