Do We Have Faith?

Do We Have Faith?

According to Webster, faith is the firm belief in something for which there is no proof...complete trust. Is that us? Do we have faith or trust in anyone, or are we the ones who say, “I trust no one because they always let me down!” We have probably been on both sides of the fence. There are certain things in our lives that influence us towards “throwing in the towel” when it comes to issues of faith. These things tend to be so negative, that we tend to ignore them by turning away from them. Whomever or whatever we perceive as being responsible for this action will immediately loose our trust and our faith. In some instances, we will even isolate ourselves from this uncaring entity, making reconciliation very difficult.

Let me ask you a question: Have you ever been handed a bag of food from a pick-up window at a fast food restaurant only to find the fries are cold? You trusted this place and expected them to serve hot food. Luckily, there are two major choices we can make. The first is not to ever go the the drive-through again. The second choice is to try the drive-through again because it is so convenient. After a few successful meals, reconciliation has be made and “faith in the fries” is there once more.

Of course, this is a silly example. Why? Because cold fries really do not measure up to the importance of a cheating spouse, or the death of a loved one. So is it safe to say that faith is directly proportional to our perception of what is important, or maybe the risk involved? Little risk (like fries) requires little faith. Large risk (death) requires a large amount of faith. Or is it the opposite whereas the amount of faith is inversely proportional to the risk. It's easier to have a lot more faith in hot fries than a cheating spouse. Would having little faith or trust in your spouse inspire jealousy?

So if we can say that the higher the risk, the higher the faith needed to keep us in a somewhat comfortable state of mind, would life be considered a high risk? If so, would we trust it to anybody? Most people would answer that question with a resounding, “No!” Since our reality is based on our perceptions, could our perceptions, at times, be wrong? Is it possible we consider our reality our truth? Wouldn't that make truth relative and in this case wrong? If a man dove off the Empire State building thinking he could fly, the law of Physics would take over an with a few seconds he would be dead, along with his reality and his truth, which were completely unable to save him.

Back to the question, “Would we trust our lives to anybody?” I submit to you that almost all of us do on a daily basis. Case in point: Have you ever traveled on a two lane road with cars going a high rate of speed in each direction, with nothing to separate the oncoming traffic but a painted line? You know nothing about the drivers coming towards you. Have they been drinking, doing drugs? Are they upset or impatient and want to pass the car in front of them? Are they new, inexperienced drivers talking on a cell phone? Are there old drivers a few heart beats away from a heart attack? What effect would a flat tire have on somebody half asleep? Are any of these scenarios potentially fatal? Of course they are! So why do we continue to drive on two lane roads? Why don't we stop at every green light and look for cars running the red light? Because we have faith, a belief in something for which there is no proof, in people and circumstances we know nothing about. We have complete trust! How complete? We bet our lives with every car coming at us or every intersection we go through or every time we cross the street and traffic is coming at us in both directions. We show huge faith every time we stop at a red light because we are completely exposed and vulnerable to the traffic behind us. It would only take one person focusing on texting instead of driving to smash into you.

There are amusement parks, airplanes, cabs, in fact a list too long to list where we trust our lives to those we know nothing about. So I ask the question one last time: "Do we have faith?"