I know that I was born to have a crazy kind of faith. To believe for the impossible. To trust the unseen.
However, there can be a fine line between faith and superstition. I didn’t really think about this until I was talking to Kate about my desire to increase my faith.
Superstition is based off of fear.
Faith is based off of a relationship.
- Superstition: Going to church because you fear something bad will happen if you don’t
- Faith: Going to church because you want to commune with the body of Christ and hear the Word
- Superstition: Praying for God to fix your situation – to bring luck to you – to bail you out of a jam
- Faith: Declaring God’s promises for you which include perfect health, perfect joy, love, and peace that surpasses all understanding
- Superstition: Accepting salvation because you are afraid to go to hell
- Faith: Trusting that Jesus died for you because he loves you and you can now live in the fullness of his love and grace.
In just allowing myself to know and recognize the difference between faith and superstition…my faith is increased.
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Nicely put.
Great Blog
So picking up a four leafed clover for good luck – that’s faith, not superstition? Lucky pennies aren’t superstition?
Tommy – I’d probably rate a four leafed clover as “Irish Folklore”. HA!.
On a serious note, I would think everyone agrees that those are both superstition. I guess I’m specifically talking about “religious acts” disgusing themselves as faith when it’s actually superstition.
I think your use of labels is extremely confusing and not the least useful. Even if you don’t (as I do) think that religion is a superstition, you are completely changing the definition of superstition to say that superstitions are based on fear. It would be more useful to just say “Some religious acts are based on fear, and that’s not cool, since I think they should be based on a relationship”, since that seems to be the point you are trying to get across.
Tommy – thanks for your input.
Just to point out…Wikipedia agrees that superstitions are based on fear:
…used in Latin as a unreasonable or excessive belief in fear or magic, especially foreign or fantastical ideas…
Webster’s dictionary also mentions that superstitions are based on fear.
I am really not trying to change any definitions here…I’m just saying what Superstition and Faith mean to me.
…excessive belief in fear or magic
Note the “or” – belief in fear OR magic, meaning it isn’t defined exclusively in terms of fear. Religion falls quite nicely into Wikipedia’s actual definition (the part you quoted was about the roots of the word, not the definition):
“Superstition is a belief or notion, not based on reason or knowledge.”
“I am really not trying to change any definitions here…I’m just saying what Superstition and Faith mean to me.”
That doesn’t seem to be what you’re trying to do. The only way I can make coherent sense out of your post is if you were trying to say “Some religious acts are based on fear, and that’s not cool, since I think they should be based on a relationship”, and in the process misused some terms.
Tommy – I think we can safely agree that you and I will probably never agree on faith, religion and God.
I don’t expect my post to make sense to someone who doesn’t have the point of view that Faith in God and pursuing Him whole-heartedly is valuable. I think we will just have to agree to disagree…
To suggest that belief in God is not based upon reason is fairly arrogant (although probably not intentionally so). Are you suggesting that all those who profess such a faith are unreasonable? Because that would include the vast majority of history’s greatest thinkers.
And science has done nothing to hurt the viability of the notion of God -though it has changed the way in which many religious people view the Bible (and well to the good, I would suggest).
Don’t confuse religion with faith. Religion does contain many superstitious elements, as Judi pointed out. I think the trick is to strengthen one’s faith while leaving religion behind.
Christian – I agree with you. Thanks for your input!
“To suggest that belief in God is not based upon reason is fairly arrogant (although probably not intentionally so). Are you suggesting that all those who profess such a faith are unreasonable?”
No, I would say that certain belief is unreasonable. The same way people think smoking is unreasonable and yet, granted that knowledge, people still smoke. I wouldn’t say that as a whole they are unreasonable people, it was rather unfair of you to take a giant step and suggest that meaning.
If someone is unreasonable just once in their lifetime, by your logic, they are unreasonable people.
“Because that would include the vast majority of history’s greatest thinkers.”
- Appeal to Authority
“Don’t confuse religion with faith. Religion does contain many superstitious elements, as Judi pointed out. I think the trick is to strengthen one’s faith while leaving religion behind.”
Here we meet another fallacy. If you leave religion behind (this includes holy books, dogma, tenants, etc), for what reason do you have belief in a christian god over any other god. Just curious as to why one would take that rather odd approach.
Rock, holy books do not a religion make. How holy books are interpreted and acted upon may create religions. Ergo the numerous denominations (religions) under the umbrella of Christianity. Not a good thing, in my book, but it is what it is. The problem with many people is they believe that faith is a static thing – you come to believe something and hell or high water will not compel you to reconsider it. But faith can and should be dynamic and need not be tied to a specific set of man made doctrines or creeds. Admittedly, lots of Christians (and others) get terribly annoyed at this idea, which points out (IMHO) their lack of faith.
It is possible to entertain a faith without religious trappings. And of course is great part of all of our lives, including atheists. It is made up of our expectations and how those expectations dictate what we do and what we think.
Cigarettes? They are pretty much known by all to be very harmful. Nevertheless, not everyone suffers from their use and they are (I am told) quite pleasurable and the process of quitting is quite painful. So it is not unreasonable for someone to smoke. Their reasoning might be subject to question by others but….
And to have faith (even if it were unreasonable) is not the same thing as lapsing into an occasional unreasonable thought or action. It is an ongoing, daily and permanent state for many people. At times faith may lag, there may be doubts, one might even start to question their own reasoning ( I am no stranger to this) but through certain tried and true methods (some fairly ‘religious’
) faith returns and often much stronger.
It is not remotely comparable to the occasional silliness (which ain’t always bad either) or a lifelong addiction.
You didn’t answer my question.
I will comment on what you wrote though.
“Rock, holy books do not a religion make. How holy books are interpreted and acted upon may create religions.”
Ok. So what you’re saying here is that Christianity, for example, did not create the bible, the bible created Christianity. Fair enough.
Then you go on to say that this lead to a number of denominations due to different views and interpretations. Say for example someone does not adhere to any of these denominations but still professes to the bible. Aren’t they just like the rest? Just a denomination in itself? One would even say, given the definition of religion, that they are in fact religious?
“It is possible to entertain a faith without religious trappings.”
Again, I ask you the same question. Why a christian god?
Or maybe I am assuming too much and you do not believe in a christian god, but rather just a belief in some god?
I knew even before I posted that someone would comment on my analogy without seriously considering my point. I was simply stating that people can have unreasonable beliefs, even though they can generally be reasonable people. The point is they are still unreasonable on that certain aspect and that no one is impervious to ill-logic. Albeit smoking is not the best of analogies.
After reading what you wrote, I think you would define religion very differently than any dictionary out there. I fail to see how you can have faith in a god and not be religious in some form.
The definitions of religion vary. I might be a little off the mark, but the word religion has its root in “religare’ which is Latin meaning to tie back, fasten to or or restrict. This is a form that institutionalized faith often takes. Jesus in essence came not to strengthen religion, or create a new one, but to help sever those ties that bind man’s spirituality to forms and customs that often take the place of God in one’s ‘religious’ life. This devotion to ‘idols’ is often the source of much evil done in the name of God.
The religious idea appeals to people because man has this incessant urge to discriminate, separate from others and identify with particularly ‘correct’ groups. My tribe has got God on our side – your tribe (denomination) is…wrong.
I considered your point, Rock, and founding it wanting (with all due respect). I have a pretty good idea what you are saying and your premise is based on the priori understanding that having faith in something that can provide no physical proof is in some way ‘unreasonable’.
But faith is not founded on logical analysis – it is based upon relationships, with others and a trust in others. I know my wife loves me even that love my not be evident to others. I have no clear evidence available to me that it would take over 4 years for light to travel from Proxima Centauri to my retinas but because of relationships with important people in my life I believe it. I trust what I have been taught. The same can be said for my faith – it was because of relationships with others that helped me to discover my relationship with God.
If I was born in Medina or Bombay or Osaka I would most likely not be a Christian. I have, due to many circumstances, encountered God through Jesus. I have no doubt that others encounter the divine in other ways . Do all faiths lead to God? Not if they ignore the supreme law – Do unto others as you would have them do unto you. Just about every major faith tradition holds that to be sacred, just as Jesus did.
“Tommy – I think we can safely agree that you and I will probably never agree on faith, religion and God. ”
I wasn’t asking you to agree with me about faith, religion, or god. I was just pointing out how silly this post is.
“To suggest that belief in God is not based upon reason is fairly arrogant (although probably not intentionally so). Are you suggesting that all those who profess such a faith are unreasonable?”
This completely missing the point of my comments. However, I would like to ask: why is it that people say their belief is based on faith, then get offended when others say their belief is not based upon reason?
I guess Silly is not the worst thing I’ve been called!
Tommy, I’m sorry if I missed your point entirely…that was probably because I was in denial that anyone would think my thougths and ideas to be silly.
But now that I think about it, I really do have a crazy kind of faith. The kind of faith that will never be understood by people who haven’t accepted the love of God. It is a radical faith and you can call it unreasonable…because, YES, it’s unreasonable for me to believe that someone would die for me without knowing me. To believe that one man’s act of love can wipe out all the sins of man is completely unfathomable.
I’m not offended by you at all and I welcome your comments…
Hey, I wasn’t offended and I didn’t mean to offend, just trying to point out how your remark comes across. In essence you are saying that people of faith are unreasonable. But to say that lack of evidence proves non-existence of something can also be considered unreasonable. “I love my daughter so much that I would die for her”. Yeah? Well then prove it.
But I’ve already addressed that with Rocklobster. Faith and reason are not mutually exclusive. Faith can be unreasonable, just as anyone is lacking reason when they blindly except what other’s say without due inspection. Like Goebbel’s said and the Soviets proved time and again; people will believe lies if they are repeated loudly and longly enough.And reasonable people do it every day.
It is not ‘reasonable’ to believe half of the claims that those who study quantum mechanics make, yet we do (as do I). Some things just defy the imagination. Of course imagination is essential no matter what one studies, including theology.
accept, not except. sorry.
I totally love this, and completely agree. Wishin’ I had written this post girl.
““I love my daughter so much that I would die for her”. Yeah? Well then prove it.”
Umm, I hate to break it to you, but we usually have a lot of evidence for that kind of statement and no reason to question it. Generally there is a strong emotional bond between parent and child. We can observe the parent’s actions towards their daughter. We also have no reason for believing that statement to be false, not much reason to care about it, and it would just be impolite to call it into question.
“It is not ‘reasonable’ to believe half of the claims that those who study quantum mechanics make, yet we do (as do I).”
You have a very odd definition of reasonable if you don’t think it reasonable to believe the claims of highly trained professionals dedicated to studying a field which has yielded extremely precise predictions.
“But now that I think about it, I really do have a crazy kind of faith. The kind of faith that will never be understood by people who haven’t accepted the love of God.”
Again, I was not talking about your faith or your beliefs, but just the way you chose to get across what I believe to be the thesis of this blog entry.
if you don’t think it reasonable to believe the claims of highly trained professionals dedicated to studying a field which has yielded extremely precise predictions.
But it is reasonable for me to believe it because of the trust I have in those professionals, which they have earned over the years through my reading as well as the teachings I received at the hands of others who earned my trust and so on. But there is no evidence at hand for me to accept that one particle might exist in two places simultaneously or that a particle might cover a tremendous distance instantaneously or that the singularity present at the beginning of time had the entire known universe contained within itself and that volume was zero etc etc. It is very much counterintuitive and a tad fantastical. Especially when you consider that much of this can only be ‘proven’ on the blackboard. We will never physically observe that singularity.
Just as faith is in many ways counterintuitive in that we will never physically observe God. Back when faith was intuitive we had ample evidence for God but science has told us that tornadoes and volcanoes and earthquakes have physical causes and are not evidence of God. And that is true…up to a point.
this post was extremely useful for me. and nothing can take away what God has spoken to your heart. thank you for this post!
oh, and thanks for all the swag!!
After reading a lot of the nonsense and logical fallacies in these comments, I have to resign myself to the realization that faith and belief in God is simply not for those who choose to reduce our vast universe down to mathmatical and scientific formulas. One must open one’s mind in order to gain better understanding about theology.
Mark, good point. To be fair I think that sword cuts both ways, though. Too many people of faith tend to close their minds to other ideas, which tends to create a sort of backlash among many non-believers.
Christian, I agree! A thoughtful believer can understand that God and science can both exist without being completely opposed to eachother. Unfortunately a lot of people in the science world think that the two are mutually exclusive.
Great post. Superstition vs. Faith = fear vs. relationship. Nothing in it was foolish or silly. But it seemed to have stirred up something out there. What’s interesting to me is that I clearly understood the juxtapoz but it was quickly re-constructed to say superstition and faith = sillyness, fear and religion. It’s the challenge of sharing the workings of our relationship with our God in this open forum of the internet. I just want to encourage you, from a believers stand, you hit it right on the head. I’d add a couple other superstitious practices we’ve often heard over the years in our circles: 1) doing confessions of scriptures hundreds of times, not for the purpose of building faith, but out of fear to keep something from happening and/or to make something happen 2) Not driving over the speed limit out of fear that angels will abandon protecting you (?) 3) yelling at the devil to somehow defeat or control him, even though he was already completely defeated at the cross 4) getting rid of all artifacts from other cultures because they have demons in them 5) throwing a couple bucks in the offering (like pennies in the fountain) so God will bless your finances 6) thinking if you’ve sinned God won’t hear your prayers…. and on and on. How Jesus must just shake his head at some of these things. Thank goodness He made it about relationship and not religion.
off of p. sharon’s post, i thought of something that i’ve done that’s fairly superstitious. years ago i started praying on my way into work. sometimes if i didn’t feel like praying, i would be afraid that something awful would happen to me that day if i didn’t and i’d force myself to pray. as if God would take his grace away from me and something really bad would happen. now, when i start to feel that way and am praying on the way to work, i have to mentally remind myself that i’m not saying some sort magic spell for a good day, but that i’m preparing myself spiritually for whatever may come my way. i ask God to help me handle the events of my day with His grace and wisdom.
“But it is reasonable for me to believe it because of the trust I have in those professionals, which they have earned over the years through my reading as well as the teachings I received at the hands of others who earned my trust and so on. But there is no evidence at hand for me to accept that one particle might exist in two places simultaneously or that a particle might cover a tremendous distance instantaneously or that the singularity present at the beginning of time had the entire known universe contained within itself and that volume was zero etc etc.”
I read this as saying “I have many reasons to believe what those professionals say, but I don’t have any reason to believe what they say.”
I fail to see the analogy between believing things on the authority of scientific experts (which is evidence, when you take into account the scientific method and peer review process) and believing in things on faith.
Mark, perhaps these people of science tend to see things that way because of the close mindedness of reactionary people of faith.
Tommy, as an outsider to the scientific community I have to take it on faith that their process is accurate. We have seen that at times, it is not. But you are right, the analogy does fall short. My ‘faith’ in God is much stronger than my faith in science because God is demonstrably much more dependable in my life than any human is.
Demonstrable to me, that is, and perhaps a few of my close friends.