Hello Silvertusk
Why do you need this "concept of blind faith" that you so envy?
What has it to do with Christianity?
The Greek word behind "faith" in the New Testament is
pistis.
As a noun,
pistis is a word that was used as a technical rhetorical term for forensic proof.
I understand that examples of this usage are found in the works of Aristotle and Quintiallian, and over 240 times in the New Testament.
Here is just one of those many examples, this one found in the passage Acts 2:22-36 for you to consider.
Peter's primary appeal in that particular passage was threefold:
He appealed to...
(1) the evidence of the wonders and signs performed by Jesus
(2) the empty tomb
(3) fulfillment of OT prophecy.
In short, his appeals were
evidentiary.
Of course you might wish to dispute the validity of the evidence, but in context this is beside the point.
The point is
that Peter grounded belief in Christianity on evidence -- or, as the definition of
pistis in Acts 17:31 would put it, proofs.
I have quoted or paraphrased the above from a paper by James Patrick Holding entitled
Fallacious Faith - Correcting an All-too-Common Misconception which you may read in full
here.
He also gives other examples of the way the word "faith" is misused due to a lack of knowledge of it's meaning in Scriptural context.
Having said this here, I think it might be more appropriate to continue such a discussion on another thread more closely related to this subject, or to start a new thread in the relevant forum if you wish.
)
