Why a Skeptic can have Religious Faith
Why A Skeptic Can Have Religious Faith
Ockham’s Razor, the God of the Gaps, and Yearning and Learning, as used by Raymo, show us that a Skeptic can be a person of religious faith. What exactly is religious faith? Must a person be a True Believer to have religious faith? Ask ten different people these questions and you will receive ten different answers. Some answers may be similar, yet at the same time, some can be the complete opposite of the others.
Having faith in something is having some belief in whatever it is. However, complete belief is not necessary to have faith in something. A person could have faith that he is going to receive an A on his calculus test, but he could also have a small amount of doubt in his mind that he could make mistakes causing a lower grade. A person of religious faith believes in God or higher spiritual beings, but the person could also have his own questions as to if that higher being truly was the cause of something, which then makes him a Skeptic.
If a Skeptic is defined as a person who habitually doubts accepted beliefs, we should then consider Jesus a Skeptic. “My God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me?” With that question, Jesus is doubting the beliefs of the religion. If Jesus, the son of God, can be considered a Skeptic, any Skeptic could be a person of religious faith if so desired.
Take, for example, a young woman, whom has never smoked anything, with lung cancer; a person can tell you why this young woman has cancer. Her genes have a problem which caused this disease to occur. However, no person can tell us why she was burden with the disease instead of the man down the street whom smokes four packs of cigarettes a day. This could be where a person’s religious faith answers questions. “God is the reason she got cancer instead of him.” This is called the “God of the Gaps.”
Also, if you look at the case of the Shroud of Turin, you will see that a Skeptic does not believe the cloth is the winding sheet of Jesus. There is evidence to show that the cloth is only a few...