[Traveler]

Originally Posted by DigitalShadow

First, let me explain that I am not religious, but am very curious about religion in general. My wife is LDS, I go to church with her most of the time (for just over a year), I've talked with our Bishop and also a couple missionaries but no one has been able to provide satisfying answers to my questions so I decided to come here.

I have always been fascinated with the concept of faith. All religious people I have talked to refer to faith as an inherently good trait, but what exactly is "faith" and why is it good? I've always understood it as a belief in something that there is no evidence for. But there are an abundance of concepts out there that have no strong evidence for them, blindly believing in all of them doesn't make any sense to me, but if you blindly believe one, why not more of them?

Having a strong scientific background, in general I accept whatever I've seen the most evidence for. I would like to be religious, but I can't find any strong evidence that any of them are true. But even if I did find evidence that one were true, I wouldn't be doing it correctly because it wouldn't be out of "faith", it would be because I've seen enough evidence for it. This presents somewhat of a paradox to me and I would like other people's opinions on the matter.

I've been told to pray about the matter, but I've not received any divine inspiration as of yet. I've been told that I don't really want answers and maybe that is why I'm not getting them, but if someone really wants answers badly enough, when they receive them, how do they know it's not just their brain filling in the gaps and giving them what they want? How else do you explain why there are so many religions out there and how people can receive "divine inspiration" with completely conflicting messages?

I'm sorry if this comes off as hostile, I really don't mean it to. I am just trying to fully present my viewpoint so that it can be properly discussed.

As a scientist (math and physics background) and a person deeply devout in the LDS faith – I find you question most interesting. I will define faith first from my scientific background. Faith is the engine to pursue an idea one believes but lacks empirical evidence. Let me give you an example. It should not take a great deal of study to realize that the model taught in most high school and college classes concerning electrons lacks both detail and accuracy.

Yet by faith most will turn on a light and expect it to operate. Even if the light does not come on few doubt that it is because the concept is wrong. Why then would someone with a scientific background expect that non empirical things (spiritual) are to only be measured by empirical methods?

Again let us consider an example. Do you love your wife? If you do how can you quantify (by scientific method) your love? In order to experience love and loving; one must take a leap of faith. Such faith causes one to be kind even though such kindness creates vulnerability – which is anything but logical. Such effort is faith. To know G-d one must have faith to become vulnerable and loving not just G-d but accepting his love towards us. Faith in G-d therefore becomes faith of what is possible.

Now I would like to take faith a different direction and ask the question – what is real? Most of us think we can look around us and see and touch that which is real. Such reality is really illusion because the dimension of such experience is temporal. 20 billion years ago what you think is real did not exist and if our understanding of temporal effects is any indication in several trillion years none of what is claimed to be real will still exist. Why then do you have faith and believe in that which is not real? What then is there that is worthy to believe? What can last? Only that which is eternal – but that reality cannot be measured with temporal means. Is love something that is not temporal?

If you cannot distinguish that which is light from that which is dark – no one will ever be able to help you understand what is day and what is night.

The Traveler