Christianity, Religion, Faith and Prayers

What exactly is faith?

Faith is a strong conviction or belief in something with out any proof, tangible or otherwise.

Here's a classic example that I always use to describe faith. As far as I can remember, I read it from a book by Carl Sagan. I think that was Cosmos. It is a conversation between an atheist and a "christian".

My apologies, I do not have time to search for the book and look for the exact lines. But it goes something like this.

A: "I do not believe in God"

B: "But he believes in you."

A: "Can you prove that God exists"

B: "Do you love your mother?"

A: "Of course I do."

B: "Prove it."

That's about all I can remember. I think it embodies what I believe faith is

Take for example Hubpages. It doesn't take a college degree to see that we are being used as an automated money generating resource for the owners of this site. We write articles and they earn from the adds our mini-sites generate.

We are assured that the revenue is split fairly amongst its members. Do they really? Where is the evidence? Yes... a lot of members do get income. But are they getting the fair share?

I started writing hubs because I have faith that they would. So do most of you. I guess that's faith. 

One of the threads in the forum that I really enjoyed reading was "Religion Is..." It showed a mosaic of what some Hubbers believe faith to be. Had the Hubbers involved in that thread be separate countries... well... World War Three comes to mind.

Anyway, I posted a story in that thread that could give faith a meaning from several angles. I got it from a Victory Liner bus driver on my trip to Baguio Cty. I was in the front seat and we kind of just talked to kill the time.

We talked about religion, education, faith and about just anything under the sun. He said told me that he respected faith... even blind faith... but in the end it is doubt that gets you an education.

That's one pretty smart man, if I may say so.

A storm struck a village somewhere in Surigao, Philippines. It was one hell of a storm that the water level rose quickly and flooded the town forcing the villagers to the roofs of their homes. Damn that storm.

One by one the villagers were swept by the waves without mercy until only a handful of people were left on the roof of the church. The village priest was with them.

"Oh high and mighty Priest. Please call upon the Lord Our God to save us from certain death." cried the wet, cold and miserable villagers.

So the priest prayed hard. He knelt and clasped his hand to his chest and cried to the Lord, "Oh Holy and Mighty One please bring forth the power of your Kingdom and save us from this goddamn storm." A few minutes later, a military raft came putputputing... towards them. At once the soldiers in the boat assisted the remaining villagers into the raft.

The priest remained. One of the villagers implored, "Father come now we are saved." "I will wait for the Lord to save me my son. It is written in the bible that he who waits shall reap the rewards." replied the priest. And so the boat left .

The water started rising... slowly but rising still. The priest continued to pray for deliverance.

"Oh Son of God... come down from the heavens and save me from the rising waters so that all may know the power of your salvation etc.. etc..."

A military rescue helicopter scanning the area for survivors saw the priest kneeling on top of the church roof with the water up to his knees. The captain veered the copter and hovered on top of the priest.

An army frogman jumped down to get the priest. "Father grab my hands so I can carry you to safety" shouted the frogman.

To which the priest replied. "No my Son... the Lord will rescue me from this storm." "Father grab my hand the storm is picking up again." cried the frogman "Shut up you Idiot. The Lord will be here any moment now." shouted the priest.

The winds were getting stronger but still the priest won't budge. Having no choice the frogman was hoisted up and the helicopter left. The one-hell-of-a-storm became a f***ing storm that covered the entire village with water thereby drowning the priest.

The priest woke up among the clouds. He saw the heads with wings flying about playing the harps with their teeth. He was so outraged because he knew he was dead. He stood up and saw the door marked "GODFATHER OFFICE".

He marched inside and confronted God. "What kind of God are YOU. I prayed and prayed and you didn't come to rescue me." shouted the priest.

"But my son I tried to rescue you. Didn't you see the military boat I sent?" God mildly said.

"What boat!!!1??? I went through the rosary like what a hundred times... and still you didn't come!!!" roared the priest.

"Bloody hell... I heard you. That's why I went there myself on the helicopter jumped down to grab you. But you wouldn't come. You even called me an Idiot. WHAT THE HELL WERE YOU EXPECTING A GOLDEN CHARIOT PULLED BY THOSE BLASTED FLYING HEADS OUTSIDE???" retorted God.