“Allegiance to duty or person, belief and trust in and loyalty to God, belief in the traditional doctrines of a religion, firm belief in something for which there is no proof…” – Merriam-Webster Dictionary

 “Faith is taking the first step even when you don’t see the whole staircase.” – Martin Luther King, Jr.

“Doubt is a pain too lonely to know that faith is his twin brother.” – Kahlil Gibran

“Every tomorrow has two handles. We can take hold of it with the handle of anxiety or the handle of faith.” – Henry Ward Beecher

“A man of courage is also full of faith.” – Marcus Tillius Cicero

“I know God will not give me anything I can’t handle. I just wish He didn’t trust me so much.” – Mother Teresa

Faith. A strong concept, it seems, given the wisdom coming from others about its power and necessity. In these cases, faith comes across as a strong belief in God and that by putting trust in Him, then He will guide or help. Cicero equated faith with courage, as did Dr. King, since it would take great courage to begin climbing a staircase without knowing where it leads. Mother Teresa was, of course, courageous to take on whatever God gave her. One conclusion can be that having a strong faith (and trust) in God will result in courage. Does it? Many people have strong faith but are otherwise sheep, completely lacking in courage. I don’t know whether a conclusion can be drawn from that or whether it is more the nature of those people rather than something that faith is doing to them – or not doing as the case may be. I have both faith in myself and also doubts about some of my abilities, which I think is a relatively normal condition. Regardless of what I am capable of doing, there will be some things where I lack skills and need to learn more, thus lessening any self-doubts while reinforcing my own faith. Does this “self-faith” also need an outward faith in God to have courage (or whatever else God brings to a person)?

“A casual stroll through the lunatic asylum shows that faith does not prove anything.” And “Faith: not wanting to know what is true.” - Friedrich Nietzsche

It appears that Nietzsche didn’t think that faith in God was particularly helpful. Despite a strong faith in God, people can remain “blind” to the truths of the world, thinking they can change lives and conditions through good intentions when it usually takes pure force rather than religious idealism to change much. For example, many of those who choose to follow Christian or Jewish beliefs absolutely ignore the fact that Muslims think Christians and Jews are “infidels” and intend to kill them. Faith in God does not stop what is the truth. This clash of religious principles will only be fixed with fight, not faith.

Others can ask for help from God and He places their minds in terrible pits where their remaining existence is spent screaming at demons that only they can see. Faith doesn’t seem to be very helpful in these cases, and there are a lot more mentally ill people out in the world than just those in asylums, hospitals, sanitariums or whatever the politically correct word for the building happens to be at the moment. Those with faith, I’m sure, would argue that the mentally ill didn’t have enough faith, not the right kind of faith, or were lacking in some other religious quality. Perhaps. That does point out the power of faith, though. Those who have it will defend it and if anything seems out of place or otherwise coming apart, the problem can be blamed on a lack of faith instead of questioning the faith itself. It would be unnerving, though, to use one’s strong faith to truly believe that the mentally ill really were asking for help from God. There was no lack of faith. What if God didn’t answer them? Does it give them even more courage to ask for God when He does not answer? I have no idea, but the next time I see God, I will ask Him.