The John Wick

I just had a very heated discussion with savageplanet about a whole bunch of things, but one of them was faith.

“You just don’t get faith,” he told me.

In fact, I think I get it more than most people.

Faith, according to M-W:

1 a : allegiance to duty or a person : LOYALTY b (1) : fidelity to one’s promises (2) : sincerity of intentions
2 a (1) : belief and trust in and loyalty to God (2) : belief in the traditional doctrines of a religion b (1) : firm belief in something for which there is no proof (2) : complete trust
3 : something that is believed especially with strong conviction; especially : a system of religious beliefs

1a I do not have allegiance to any duty or person other than the notion that it is my duty to help other people when I can. I cannot explain or defend this position; it’s just something I believe is right to do.

1b I try my best to remain faithful to my promises and sincere in my intentions. I fail, of course, because I am human. And I feel like shit when I do. At least I feel like shit when I have to back out on a promise… unlike some people I’ve ceased to associate with.

2a I do not have belief or trust in God. At least, not the God most people believe in. I don’t believe there is an invisible man who lives in the sky who is omniscient, omnipotent and ethical. One look at the world around us completely destroys that belief. But, do I believe there are powers we cannot perceive? Yes. I believe there are forces that are unknown to us… but that doesn’t mean we will not be able to perceive them later. Thus, in a sense, I have faith that powers we cannot perceive exist. I do not, however, have complete trust in anything. Not even gravity.

3 Do I have a strong belief in a religion? No. I do not. I do not… well, actually… Yes. I do. I believe in them all. I’ve said it before: I’m an omnitheist. I think there is something valid to be found in all the world’s religions. Even if it’s something as simple as “Be excellent to each other.”

I do get faith. I understand it implicitly. Unfortunately, what I see faith brewing is anger, hatred, bigotry, and unreasonable expectations of the world.

“If I do good, God will look out for me.” No. That’s not true. If you do good, you make the world a better place, even if it’s just for a moment, and even if it’s just for one person. And that alone is worth it, regardless of what God thinks.

“If I do good, God will let me into Heaven.” No. That’s not true. We have no idea what God’s standards for Heaven are. For all we know, some obscure American cult in the 1800’s could have gotten it right and the rest of us are all wrong. All you can do is try to make this world as good as possible. Jesus said, “The Kingdom of Heaven is all around; men just don’t see it.” This may be the only Heaven we get. We should try to make it as good a Heaven as possible.

“If I don’t believe in God, I go to Hell.” If that’s true, you can look forward to meeting some of the most amazing, generous, and intelligent people who ever lived. Ghandhi, Einstein, and Isaac Asimov, just to name three. And, frankly, I’d risk an eternity in Hell just to hang out with those three.

No, I do get faith. I do.

What I don’t get is dogma. And that little subject is something we can talk about some other day.