What is faith?

When I was a young child I went to a live enactment of Peter Pan. We children were enjoined to clap our hands and believe so that Tinker Bell would live. Even though I was a child, I was angry and insulted that we were being asked to believe that my belief or lack therefore had any impact on Tinker Bell living. If it was up to me, she would have died on the spot. Fortunately for the script, the other children were more tractable.

Is faith clapping your hands and believing what the nice man on the stage tells you to believe?

There are many who grew up in Christian churches for whom the Christian faith is no different than children clapping their hands so that Tinker Bell can live. The lived it. They grew up in it. They found nothing but fakery and make believe in the entire experience. For them faith is a dirty word. An expression used only by charlatans and the credulous. Continue reading →