Faith

Y'know what I hate?  I hate that atheists, particularly those of a scientific bent (scientific fundamentalists, if you will, closed in their minds and hearts to any world views and stories to explain the origin of the species that don't satisfy them on a psychological level, dogmatic and on an obvious crusade to eliminate the possibility of dissenting voices being heard, seeking to get the whole world to recant its failing suspicion that perhaps not only the left brain should be allowed to speak on the subject of truth) expect me to sit idly by and let them tell me what faith is. 

     Ask two thousand atheists for a definition of faith, and there are two words that I guarantee you they will never include in their definition: "evidence," and "substantiation."  They tell me that a faith is a religion.  They tell me that faith is a blind leap.  They tell me that faith is people making stuff up and pretending it is true.  They tell me that faith is the antithesis to logic. 

     Well, using the definition of Paul the apostle, none of those things are worthy of the name, none qualifies as faith.  Faith is, according to Paul, the evidence of things not seen, the substantiation of things hoped for.  It isn't making up stuff.  It is discerning, seeking after, and one day laying eyes upon something we can't as yet see though it is actual and imminent. Everyone lives this way.  We can't see (or prove) that we're in love, when an injustice has occurred, that it is time to do something, or not the time to do it.  We can't see or prove the significance of things.  

     Our decisions are not merely what we give afterward as their justification.  We decide things with our spirits.   You see, faith is an action of the spirit.  And you know what?  Atheists, who claim to have neither a spirit nor a soul, are quite confident that I'm going to let them define what those terms mean too.  They expect me to accept as they do, that spirituality is an airy, emotional, impractical seeking after intangible experiences.  

     The thing is, according to any biblical definition, the spirit of a man is nothing more or less than that part which is the seat of will, decision-making, and judgment.  In essence, the spirit of a man is closely tied with wisdom and intellect.  Spirituality is willing to move forward into paths one judges to be good, on one's own personal agenda.  Will is the power of one's spirit manifest in action or restraint.  

    The whole thing is seen in wise or foolish judgments.  The spirit provides timing and direction. The people who invented English were well aware of the actual meanings of these words, giving us expressions like "dispirited," and "low spirits" to describe when people's wills flag, and "high spirits" to describe when people are full of mental energy and optimism.  Naturally the emotions ride along too, responding to whether a day, in fact, a life is headed somewhere the person feels to be good, or if it is headed nowhere at all.  

     When a person engages in something which is good for his spirit, he becomes clear-eyed, filled with resolve, and he feel like he is thinking more clearly than before, like the fog has lifted from his brain. 

     So, tell me that I am mistaken as to what I feel I discern to be real (an on-purpose universe in which entropy is held at bay by carefully balanced systems, and interrupted and mocked by something we do not begin to understand the origin and nature of: animating life).  Insist that I not believe anything but what I'm told.  Insist that only things that can be dissected in labs are real.  Behave as if only I have to justify my views, while yours are widely accepted and self-evident.  Tell me that this discernment which I feel to be faithful is actually nothing more than wishful thinking and childish stories and nonsense, and feel free to cling to whatever origin myths you find most comforting and fulfilling, but do NOT tell me what faith is, and what spirituality is, especially when you claim to have no truck with either, which therefore hardly makes you an expert on the subject.  

     Faith is seeing with your whole brain, even when a thing isn't an "atoms" thing, or it hasn't passed in front of your eyes yet, to reflect light (something wholly immaterial which we really have no idea about either) back to them.