What is Pure and Authentic Faith?

 The Times of Israel, By Gabriel Lamza, March 9, 2023, https://blogs.timesofisrael.com/what-is-pure-and-authentic-faith/Faith is often presented as a virtue, a connection to the divine, or a means of understanding the world. However, in attempting to defend this notion, many religious arguments reveal their own contradictions. One such example is an article that claims the biblical phrase "made in God's image" refers to humanity’s ability to think independently. Yet, this directly contradicts the biblical narrative, which states that Adam and Eve lacked moral awareness until they ate from the Tree of Knowledge, thereby gaining the ability to discern good from evil. If humans were truly created with independent thought, then why was acquiring knowledge seen as an act of defiance? This contradiction exposes the apologetic gymnastics often required to reconcile faith with reason. The article further asserts that faith requires the complete submission of one’s reasoning to divine authority, essentially equating godliness with obedience rather than critical thinking. This idea undermines the initial claim that thinking is what connects humans to God. By its own logic, faith is not a tool of intellectual independence but rather a mechanism for suppressing thought. This is precisely why faith can be dangerous—when belief supersedes evidence, there is no limit to what one might justify in the name of faith. While many use faith for good, history is filled with examples of atrocities committed under divine justification. Adding to the confusion, the article includes a bizarre analogy involving a train and tiny horses, meant to illustrate how humans often misinterpret the unknown. Instead of accepting ignorance as an opportunity for further exploration, the author suggests that one should simply assume an unseen force—God—is at work. This highlights a common problem in religious thinking: the insistence that unanswered questions must default to divine intervention rather than admitting uncertainty. However, just as educating people on how engines work eliminates the need for "tiny horses," education and critical thinking remove the necessity of religious explanations for the unknown. Finally, the article claims that faith is a rational conclusion and that even the most logical individuals will ultimately arrive at it. However, this ignores the fact that many people leave religion precisely because of rational inquiry. The more one scrutinizes faith-based claims with logic and evidence, the more their foundations crumble. The argument that a professor cannot explain their 50 years of knowledge to a child is used to justify the supposed incomprehensibility of God, but this reasoning is flawed. The Non-Prophets, Episode 24.10.3Kelley Laughlin, Lewis, Mateo, and Aaron JensenBecome a supporter of this podcast: https://www.spreaker.com/podcast/the-non-prophets--3254964/support.