by David Gasch

Created on: June 11, 2008

Faith is an entirely misunderstood concept that is of ten misgiven and abused. A religious person is stuffed full of reasons to praise god and jesus by a person who is no closer to "god" than any other person in the room. They are told of the astonishing accomplishments of jesus and apparently shown the path to righteousness. All they have to do, they are told, is to praise the lord and have faith. This is where these good intentions to make the world a better place veer off in the wrong direction. Jesus lived thousands of years ago, and whether or not you believe the stories, praising him does nothing. Having faith in someone that has not lived for centuries does not work. If anything, just learn from their actions and live the way they taught. When you simply have faith in this person, you are not making anyone's life better. You are believing in a myth is just that. You are being a fan of a story. Have faith in yourself. Have faith in those you care about. Faith becomes something real when directed towards people you interact with daily. With people who need or want your faith and trust. Don't ever praise and have faith in the way another lived their life, but live your own life the same way and spread the good throughout people that matter. Those who live today and control the future and overall well being of the world today. To the lives that need help. People go to church every week and listen to some schmuck tell them to thank someone for their contributions years ago. What the man in black at the front of the room should be preaching is to go out and be the change they want to see in the world, and then to leave it at that. The guy up at the front of the room that sits alone at night eating TV dinners and copying his next sermon from the internet should really just tell the hundreds of people looking back at him to have faith in others. Faith is a misguided concept. When their minds are filled with the fictional belief that if they just have faith in a man made God then everything will be wonderful, they don't take charge of their lives. The blanket of comfort surrounding them isn't truly there, and this is dangerous. To them, faith is almost a magical element that makes everything okay. People hide behind this word, holding it out in front of them like a weapon or shield. One day they will learn the hard way that what they think is protecting them is only going to make it harder to accept misery in the end.

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