> Cynthia wrote:
> > Well there are churches selling that flavor. But half of the new
testament
> > is an inditement against organized religion, and full of exhortations to
> > have faith instead of blindly believing what people tell you.
>
> Cynthia,
>
> Having faith is blindly believing what people tell you. They say, just
> have faith, so you just have faith.
I am talking about the new testament definition of faith, and perhaps I have a different interpretation of these things. But I think the concept of 'faith' would better be translated today as 'self-confidence'. From what I remember from my reading is:
Don't doubt that the sun will come up tomorrow, have faith. Don't fear that you can't make it through the travails of life, have faith.
Don't fear death, have faith.
God gave you the ability to perceive and reason, have faith in them, not
in what religious figures tell you.
JC goes on and on, warning people about those who claim to speak on behalf of God.
You know how I found this out? My mother died when I was 15, and the priest from our church refused to give the funeral oration because my mother did not attend regularly. A matter that was settled when my Grandfather donated 10K to the church (and 10K was a lot of money in the early 70's). Anyway, I passionately hated the church people. And I found in the bible plenty of justification for my hatred.