Faith, definition of : firm belief in something for which there is no proof,
trust in things unkown or unseen.
Let me say first that this is not meant to be a secular post. As a very wise And well-traveled elderly Catholic priest told me once, “All over this globe God is called by many different names, just because the names he is known by elsewhere are not familiar to you doesn’t mean he doesn’t answer to them.”
Everyday people who profess to have no religious faith live by faith 24 hours a day. They set alarm clocks to awaken the next morning taking it simply by faith that not only will they be alive to hear it, but that the little blue marble that we call earth will still be in existence. They venture out into the world assuming by faith that they will not be struck by a passing automobile or bus, and that no great natural disaster or cataclysmic cosmic event will befall them. Almost every aspect of everyday human life operates because humans take it on faith that they will survive another day.
As I get older, the one thing that strikes me about mankind is the tremendous amount of hubris it has developed. The human race now seems to think that it has answers to all the possible questions in the universe. We teach our children now not to search for answers, because Google has all of them. Mankind now thinks it knows exactly how the universe was created, and although we have never set foot on any of them, exactly what the other planets look like, and what they are composed of.
We have turned the infintesimal amount of science we have developed and technology into God. One of our greatest minds of all time was Albert Einstein, who said ” The more I learn the more I realize just how much I don’t know”. One of the gurus of recent science was the late Stephen Hawkings, not to say he wasn’t a brilliant scientist, but he had explanations for almost everything about the creation of the universe, except for one thing. When he was asked what was there before the Big Bang, his answer was “Nothing”. Most people I know, and it’s a given that they are not nuclear physicists, would still find that answer hard to believe.
Many well thought of mathematicians, physicists, and astronomers have come to the conclusion that the universe and the cosmos didn’t, and some believe, couldn’t have simply “come” into existence by itself. They have stopped short of calling this God, they call it a “Grand Designer”.
Call it whatever you chose, but when you set your alarm clock, plan a vacation, start a retirement account, buy a house, or simply cross the street tomorrow, remember we ALL live by faith.
No responses yet