I was unable to attend, but recent there was a lecture serious hosted and lecture by an esteemed faculty, smart people, smarter than I; people with lots of letters beside their names. Now given that I missed it, I cannot and will not comment on the presentation or the arguments, rather on one point which one of my peers took from it; viewed by this peer as the central theme; namely that the opposite of faith is not doubt but certainty.
To that I say, hog-wash. It is simply nonsensical to consider these two concepts opposites. Ask any linguist you can find the two terms cannot be set juxtaposed to one another, it simply does not work. These are two unrelated concepts that are being force into a relationship of opposition. To call certainty the opposite of faith is to call faith the opposite of certainty, well everyone knows that the opposite of certainty is uncertainty, or doubt if you will.
Now I by no means want to imply that the other presented view is correct, that is that doubt is the opposite of faith, for my very logic can be applied to this idea as well. You see both doubt and certainty can exist within faith. Faith neither opposes nor negates either one of these concepts, nor does it require one. Two separate independent concepts cannot be set as opposites.
How dare you limit faith like that.
Faith consists of several things - belief, commitment, action - to name a few and I'm sure there can be argued other aspects of faith but none of these oppose certainty or doubt. The opposite of faith can only be described as faithlessness. Linguistically, logically, theologically, philosophically, it's the only concept that fits.
Faith does not mean certainty that is correct to say, and hope that is the message that was meant to be conveyed; but that does not make them opposites. Fire is not a dog, that does not make them opposites.
Well said. Good post.
ReplyDeleteI have heard that Faith is opposite to Doubt view myself before, and I think sometimes one just wants to accept a stated view just for the novelty of the idea, rather then looking at it in a broader view. Like you said, there are so many components to faith; that is what makes it so big and so beautiful.