

Faith vs. Facts - jsweojtj
http://www.nytimes.com/2015/04/19/opinion/sunday/t-m-luhrmann-faith-vs-facts.html

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jorangreef
The Christian faith, by definition, is rooted in the historical factual events
of Good Friday and Easter Sunday. These events are open to investigation. One
can refer to the earliest New Testament document sources in this regard, i.e.
1 Corinthians 15, if one has a scholarly interest in the early Christian
understanding of Jesus.

The author on the other hand, seems to confuse "faith" with "blind faith".
"Faith" is simply the behaviour today in the light of facts which have been
established in the past. For instance, the author herself has faith in how the
world will continue to operate today, based on our understanding of how it
operated yesterday. "Blind faith" on the other hand has nothing to do with
facts as it is not concerned for them in the first place, this is not the
"faith" of Christianity which is concerned for truth.

Coming back to objective faith, belief in the historical Jesus of Nazareth
falls apart if he was not in fact historical, since faith in him depends upon
historical facts. As Paul of Tarsus said:

"And if Christ has not been raised, our preaching is useless and so is your
faith. More than that, we are then found to be false witnesses about God, for
we have testified about God that he raised Christ from the dead." \- 1
Corinthians 15:14-15

It is all the more surprising that this same Paul of Tarsus, also known as
Saul, had previously persecuted the church, according to Luke's account in
Acts 8:

"On that day a great persecution broke out against the church in Jerusalem,
and all except the apostles were scattered throughout Judea and Samaria. Godly
men buried Stephen and mourned deeply for him. But Saul began to destroy the
church. Going from house to house, he dragged off both men and women and put
them in prison."

See Paul Barnett's "Jesus And The Logic Of History" for the historical method
as applied to Jesus: [http://www.amazon.com/Jesus-History-Studies-Biblical-
Theolog...](http://www.amazon.com/Jesus-History-Studies-Biblical-Theolog..).

~~~
jsweojtj
Would you say that the Christian belief that Jesus was born of a virgin is one
of those "fact-beliefs" or "faith-beliefs"?

~~~
dubya
This is likely heresy, but the virgin birth is not really central to
Christianity. It ties the events of the NT with certain readings of the OT as
prophecy. It's part of the Nicene creed, although not the original version.
OTOH, short of a Pastwatch type invention, there's absolutely no way to
resolve it to anyone's satisfaction.

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orionblastar
I really don't like it when religion is attacked. Not all religions believe
the same thing. Sure you got some forms of Christianity that believe in
creationism and others in evolution. Some that don't want vaccination and
others that do. You'll find it is the radical religions that you have to watch
out for, not the moderate ones. Not every religion is the same.

~~~
ChrisLomont
What if every (or even most) religion also has radicals following it? Can you
think of a religion without a radical flavor?

Maybe it's some people that are radical, and are attracted to local religions,
and then religion gives them an outlet for belief that doesn't require the
feedback with reality cycle that shapes many other actions, letting them
become more unhinged over time.

