This is a fun thread… Some of the posts come close to my view on faith, but I thought I’d throw in my $.02.
I see faith as the last piece in the puzzle when determining beliefs when enough facts are unavailable. Take the basic debate: Is there a God?
There is evidence (not to be confused with proof) to support both sides of the debate. Both sides obviously find that their answer has the most evidence, and the least reasonable doubt, and both sides arrived at their conclusion the same way: using reason, logic, history and faith. History is the most diverse tool here, because it includes personal history, recorded history and the research presented by both sides throughout history be it scientific, theological or anecdotal, etc.
Because there is no definitive, scientifically-concluded answer to the question, history, reason and logic lead an individual down a path to belief, but the final ingredient – faith – is needed before belief is reached, be it theistic or atheistic.
That’s why a reasonable person, I think, can respect the beliefs of, say, Richard Dawkins and Pope Francis at the same time. Most would agree neither man is stupid.
(My 1st post! Thanks for sticking with it if you got this far!)
According to her, the light wasn’t so much bright, but it caused the Wafer to grow as a beautiful light too beautiful to look at and she had to turn away, she claims it happened out of the context of time, but now believes it was an illusion because no one else saw it and had it happened they all would have seen the same thing.
This is really neat. The light can be different in brightness and color, usually golden in color. She was relaxed enough to get a tiny glimpse of the spiritual dimension. There is no time in the spirit world that is why it was out of the context of time and she had to turn away to keep from weeping from the love she felt. This kind of experience is common and happens during moments of complete relaxation to near death experiences. What she saw was real. The others did see it because they were not in the same mind set as she was.
Just pointing out the obvious. We humans spend our time trying to make something out of nothing. We learn more and more about less and less until we know everything about nothing. In the while we miss the obvious. The crystal beauty of water tumbling over stones worn round by the motion, We miss the myriad tones of colors born by hundreds of flowers. The wind on our face gently in the spring with birds chirping through the trees. We miss the emotions of an old man helping a young girl across the street. We have forgot who we are. Such a waste, such a shame.
Oh please, Richard Feynman and many scientists today also look at those wonders, the real shame is to ignore the ocean of evidence that is out there to show how those wonders do not depend on the faith one mote of dust has in this universe.