the deficient understanding of faith

ive been in some discussions recently, where people have claimed that faith is in our physical domain and that we need faith to believe in everything we do daily.

for example, we need faith in the air we breathe, because we cannot see it or feel it but we know it is there. or we may not understand everything about how a car works, but we have faith that it will bring us where we want to go.

but i honestly dont buy this. we know there is air because it is a scientific theory, proven by fact. our belief in air is rooted in what we can hypothesize, test, prove. air is a theory that has stood the test of experiments, of logic. and hence air is the best explanation for why we live; there is no better proven theory. most people's belief in religion, on the other hand, is not rooted in the senses. it is rooted on the idea that god is unknowable by the senses and hence that they need to take a jump into the darkness. the leap of faith is so called because it is exactly that - a leap. a leap that contravenes logic.

likewise, we know that that is a car because we can see, feel, touch it. it has driven us to work before, it will again. the arguments on air and the car have a proper premise. that is, the premise of the logical process. it is important to make this distinction on what faith is, on how utterly ungrounded the biblical notion of faith is.

let us dispense with faith. everything one does should have a premise. i believe in air because it is a scientifically proven notion. i believe in my car because i (roughly) know how it works, because it logically follows that if you ignite petrol to work cylinders to turn wheels, you will be able to drive. i would not, for example, jump off a cliff, because i know that there is no good premise for it.

that is the difference between faith and belief. belief is a conclusion made with adequate consideration for a premise. faith is a conclusion based on a decision to avoid a premise. faith is fallacious. if you would not do anything in everyday life that is fallacious, why would you do he same for religion? neither is the bible a solid premise; saying "i believe in god because i believe in god's word: the bible", is a fallacy of begging the question/circular logic.

therefore let us base our belief in religion on a solid premise.

one thing you might have thought of at this point is that the conclusion of logic as the ultimate basis for truth is itself not based on a premise. well, its all we have. its the best, the only way we make sense of everything in the world. rationalism and empiricism are grounded in the here and now.