@Faith: The outward manifestation of internal ignorance.

The Intruder

FAITH

Let's get one thing out of the way... Faith is tested and trusted.

Rubbish, and since you're too lazy or dishonest to do it, here's the dictionary definition of faith.

Faith
noun

1. complete trust or confidence in someone or something.

2. strong belief in the doctrines of a religion, based on spiritual conviction rather than proof.

So you're using a personal, and entirely subjective definition, that directly contradicts the commonly understood definition in the dictionary. So explain why anyone should care?

@The Intruder: If mommy really loved you, she would not have fed you bullshit for so many years or sent you so school ill prepared for a learning environment. How does a loving mother allow a child to waste away in ignorance? I don't get it?

@ the Intruder

"philosophy is a twin sister of religion, it has always been"

This is just personal interpretation that lacks credence. If they were sisters then christianity is guilty of wilfully attempted fratricide. They are no more sisters than Tinman is my mother.

Philosophy as distinct from christian theology had its roots in ancient Greek civilization. After the conquests of Alexander it was introduced to Judaism which had transformative and lasting effects on both.

In the first century, the early gentile christian church was dismissive of pagan Greek philosophy, particularly because of its association with Judaism. Philo of Alexandria, for example, was a Hellenised non-christian Jew well-versed in Greek knowledge and is best known for a treatise on the afterlife. He was a contemporary of Jesus and in his history of Palestine and of the governorship of Pontius Pilate he made no mention of him. This did not make him popular among christians.

The emerging Petros/Pauline christianity demanded faith only in the resurrection of Yeshua and his imminent return. They conducted a bitter rivalry with early christian gnostics, who with their love of secret knowledge, adopted pagan Greek philosophies out of the need for critical review of life in what they believed was an imperfectly created reality.

Grudgingly, by the early second century, the mainstream christian church began to adopt some of the amalgamated Greek philosophy and amended Jewish theology. Writers like Justin Martyr, despite their anti-semitism, found them useful, without too much revision, to promote and defend their faith against the many reasoned arguments of heretics and pagans critics.

After the Edict of Milan, 325AD, the christian church, bolstered by its new political power embarked on a successful two hundred year long selective persecution and eradication of all opposing belief systems and knowledge, upending the several millennia of general religious tolerance of the ancient world. St. Augustine defended and encouraged the ensuing empire-wide vandalism, torture, and murders as "merciful savagery" required to save souls, forget humanity. Temples and academies and libraries were destroyed, pagan priests, disciples, academics and philosophers were massacred, and unforgivably, millions of scrolls and books deemed sacrilegious were burned and lost to history. The transformative powers of the Holy Spirit were by-passed with that of the sword, club, and torch.

Ultimately to complete the dominance of total christian ideology, under the rule of Justinian, on advice from his christian advisors, it was decided that under pain of punishment or death "the teaching of any doctrine by those who labour under the insanity of paganism" was declared illegal. This was 'thought crime' and ended the free practice and study of philosophy in the west. It is considered by most historians to mark the beginning of the 'intellectual' Dark Ages.

In the next several centuries, the hopes for Jesus' imminent return were fading, and the christian apocalyptic outlook of personal sacrifice, not giving a thought to tomorrow, or promoting familial relations, nor taking responsibilities for one's own welfare, were recognised as being no longer sustainable. And so the Church Fathers fell back onto the few tolerated surviving pagan Greek writings, rediscovered and adapted old philosophies to create a 'new look' christianity to instruct the faithful on how life should be lived in patient piety while awaiting the long-overdue Lord. Philo of Alexandria the Jew was rediscovered and his view on the afterlife was conveniently adapted. And when the Muslims generously reintroduced Aristotle to chrisitianity this provoked a further shakeup led by Aquinus's attempted synthesis of the spirituality of Platonism and the materialism of Aristotle to redefine the religion.

This sister image you have concocted that gives equal power and endurance to both the Christian religion in particular and to Greek philosophy is simply incorrect. Religion dictates how we should live life according to the commands, proffered rewards and threatened punishments of a supernatural deity. Philosophy provides tools to examine how life should be lived in the light of free investigation and reason.

Greek philosophy existed and flourished long before Christianity. On its own, it still remains relevant today. History has shown Christianity has been forced to constantly change and adapt which has led to violent schisms and the proliferation of many diverse opposing sects. It has also shamelessly had to depend on accommodating the critical self-evaluation of real philosophy that it still demonises, to remain relevant.

Faith is best described by American Ambrose Bierce who stated:

Faith is belief without evidence told by those without knowledge about events without
parallel.

Practically every religion ever invented relies on faith. How do we know when a religion is FALSE? We know that a religion is false when it says that you have to believe based on faith!

Any TRUE religion will present plenty of evidence, yet none do. Faith can lead you to believe in anything, so it is impossible to choose a true religion based on faith. This makes faith completely useless as a belief system.

@All - Each and every time I see the depths of stupidity to which theists are willing to reach in defense of their idiocy, I think I have actually reached the bottom. And then another one comes along with the most moronic shit I have ever heard.. How in the hell do these people manage to feed and clothe themselves?