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A test of faith
I ride a bicycle. I don't ride for exercise or fun, I ride for escape. I have a need to get outside, to sweat, to push tension out through my pores. The random route I found myself on today took me by a corner vacant lot featuring a big eroding sign. The lettering on the broad board was the plastic transfer type and the letters were warped like weird curly fries. The sign read: The Future Home of the Church of the Living God. I was listening to the David Gilmore song I Can't Breathe Anymore on my MP3 player as the words registered in my brain. I thought, "hmmmm, that sign was probably erected in the faith that the proclamation would become a reality." I wondered if the hopes of the people behind the making of the sign were still intact. But then I thought that "a faith that isn't tested doesn't require much effort at all."
But you know what? I don't want my love of the people in my life to be tested. I want to always believe in them but without testing my faith in them. A friend tells me I live in a fantasy land. Maybe I do. I guess I do. I can't help but want endings to be happy.
Then the real reason behind my melancholy illuminated. I had read some of Mother Theresa's diary entries from a magazine while having the oil changed in my car the other day. She wrote of the great yawning emptiness in her soul. Her fervert prayers ever constant always followed by a thundering silence, never an answer. Later she found a surpassing peace. That she did find peace made me happy.
Just thought I would write this cause it is on my mind. I'll be glad when this melancholy passes and I can joke about how I am a glutton for emotional punishment. *smiling*
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Re: A test of faith
Ferret, your idealism is refreshing to me;
:) .
My studies have exposed me to the following perspectives:
1) Faith is a spiritual belief in spite of contrary evidence; therefore, True Faith requires no evidence (because it is akin to being instinctual).
2) If proof for Faith is required, then it cannot be considered as Faith at all.
I feel you on not wanting the love of the individuals in your life to be tested Ferret; however, it is only through exercise that strength, and perhaps Faith itself, grows but more than that, thrives and flourishes.
I mean, nobody welcomes the test, since there is always the possibility of failure and disappointment, but I believe that True Faith would prove any of these, in addition to any doubts, to be unwarranted; thus, strengthening the Faith/ belief being tested-
For were it not so, how would one's Faith fare? The things in which you have Faith in, do you have Faith in them because they have proven themselves to be true, for you, "despite contrary evidence" ?
The true test of strength is the test of its breaking point, but it can never be observed without first applying pressure; i.e. the test.
I see Peace, in a sense, as a form of Faith. It is believing that what needs to happen/occur will do so, regardless of one's efforts toward or away from the goal. I believe that the quote, "There is a reason for everything," illustrates the true nature of Peace, because without it, people try to avoid/prevent or bring about/encourage things which are simply not meant to be- This is when people feel they have lost their Peace.
Peace comes from the acceptance of the circumstances that we cannot change.
Ferret, I am glad that you shared this because here is a thought:
"Never be afraid to express yourself, for without your knowledge, you may be speaking up for those who simply can't do so for themselves."
I am sorry that you are melancholy;
*Sends Ferret a light therapy hat to fend the S.A.D. away*
I hope you feel the warmth of a Ray-of-Sunlight through the forest soon, Ferret.
http://i1.treklens.com/photos/9470/sunbeam.jpg
:flirt: .
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Re: A test of faith
Let me say that I need to read and probably reread your post since there are a multitude of points to absorb. I just want you to know, from one spirit to another, that I appreciate the sharing and concern. *smiling* Peace.
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Re: A test of faith
Faith is a throughly useless thing; what a silly and quite frankly dangerous notion.
The reason you hold faith in a believe is not due to some deep dark mystery, it is because there exists no evidence for your held belief or in some cases your belief is completely contradictory to the evidence.
This mode of thought that leads people to jettison their logical and critical faculties is something that should be opposed and challenged at every corner. Not milled over in pretty language with no substance or waxed lyrical over.
Faith in ideologies has been involved in all almost all of humanities worst incidents Fashisim, Communism, religion, nationalism.
I put it to you instead of "testing" your faith with some vacuumus notion of unanswered prayer or the meaning of a sign coinciding with your I-Pod song choice! Maybe you should look at why you believe what you believe; apply some rational thought, critical thinking attack it from diffrent view points and see what you come up with.