Is 'Faith' a childish position?

There's a carrot and stick motivation attached to believing without evidence.

Jesus tells his followers that they can't enter into the kingdom of God unless they believe as little children, which to me means without questioning. (Matthew 18:3 & 19:13-15, Mark 10:13-16 and Luke 18:15-17)

And in John 20:29, Jesus blesses those who believe without evidence.

So the religious leader sows the seeds of fear about his followers questioning anything they're told they must believe, and the hope of being saved if they believe without needing evidence.

Blind faith is required because the beliefs would not of course stand up to critical enquiry; anyone who did so would once have been considered lost, and possibly a traitor warranting ex-communication.

I got a sense of freedom ever since realising that faith was based upon nothing but itself and that religious beliefs were no different to those of ancient beliefs in gods and goddesses. I'm happy and at peace with this; and I've found the humility to admit that I don't know everything, rather than masking this by invoking a deity.

We are told that some 95% of the World's population believes in God. That puts a lot of people in a childish position. There are some very clever people within that 95%. How they come to terms with their childish position with the multitude of lives they lead is interesting wouldn't you say.

Being part of the 5% makes you feel a little more vulnerable, as are all minorities. If you have ever truly had faith then you know how it feels now to be on either side of the Eternal Question. If not then you will always be at a distance from really understanding Faith.

I sympathise with you trying to use logic to destroy or unsettle the majority from their childish position of Faith. Faith is not based on logic. Merely Faith.

One definition of Faith is Strong Belief without Proof. I think that says it all.

IN REPLY

I never said Religion. I said God. There is a vast difference. People everywhere, particularly in Europe, are becoming dissatisfied with the rigorous 'Rules' of Deity Worship within a Regime that attempts to conform, or indoctrinate, to a given way to Heaven or What lies beyond. In our more liberal minded World the spiel churned out is less and less palatable. Blind faith is being questioned more and more. It will take multiple generations of us to reduce and eventually eradicate religious dogma provided the trend in Europe continues and affects the Majority of believers elsewhere to the same degree. As an ex-believer myself, one to whom Religious 'Indoctrination' was very much part of my upbringing, The God thing is harder to see off, as it were. Being so infused with everything and everywhere I went at one time. Kind of like being part of my genetic make up. Not literal of course. This is why it is the dogma that is the first to relieve oneself of and why people continue to believe in God for longer, perhaps for the remainder of their lives. When society is more diverse and your family and friends and neighbours of mixed feelings then it becomes still easier to escape. However, the reverse is also true.

Religion in its various forms dictate the actions of the majority of the worlds populations and their leaders. Their policies and whatever else is based on the premise of their beliefs. To confuse this with childishness to is risk much. The pen is mightier than the sword but the sword has and holds sway at times to the detriment of advancement.

Was I defending. Not at all. Just trying to use some words to describe some conditions that exist about us.

the bible was written by men. if it was really the word of god, you would think that he would have at least tattooed it into everybody's mind when they were born right?

Sure, it is. What's a child's favorite reason something - anything - happens? "Because." Just like a theist's reason.

faith is to trust even an atheists has faith.

In my opinion, yes.