As human beings, we put a small part of ourselves in everything that we create, whether it’s intentional or not. In the television series Firefly, and the follow-up movie “Serenity”, Joss Whedon tells the story about his own battles with faith. The captain of Serenity, Malcolm Reynolds, is clearly the embodiment of Whedon’s struggle with losing his faith, only to later find it in a different place than he originally lost it, but the rest of the crew also have their own aim with their variations of faith. The married couple Zoe and Wash have faith in one another. Kaylee, Jayne and the rest of the crew as a whole have faith in their captain. But the show reaches beyond that and shows how faith can drive more than just an individual. Entire populations …show more content…
Additionally, the interaction between Book and other members of the crew leads to further discussion about the importance of faith. In a comical scene that turns very philosophical, Shepard Book stumbles across River Tam trying to “fix” the Shepard’s bible by forcefully tearing out pages and rearranging them because to her it doesn’t seem to make sense. In response to her actions, book states “It’s not about making sense. It’s about believing in something, and letting that belief be real enough to change your life. It’s about faith. You don’t fix faith, River. It fixes you.” [3] This exchange took place with no other members of the crew around, including Mal. It showed how the Shepard’s faith is his driving force for everything he does. His reply also did not contain the one thing that most people would expect in that situation; there was no mention of God. The Shepard’s faith is assumed to be in God (after all he is a Shepard who carries a bible) but his conversation with Mal in the movie “Serenity” calls that assumption in to question. When Book tells Mal that he needs to “believe” in order to get through his current predicament, Mal immediately argues that he is not looking for any divine intervention. Shepard Book responds, “When I talk about belief, why do you always assume I’m talking about God?” [4] While it can be assumed from this exchange that perhaps Shepard Book’s faith has been separate from his belief in God, it seems more likely that Book is simply trying to spark the idea in Mal that he can have faith and not believe in God at the same time, as faith and religion are not mutually exclusive. Even ancillary characters, such as the mudders in the episode
Faith was a major part in the movie, and ran parallel to the storyline for almost the entire duration. In many scenes faith was challenged. For example, when Ray and Annie are contemplating building the baseball field, when they have no funds and could lose their farm Ray’s faith was tested. Also when he was argues with his wife about whether to visit Terence Mann or not.
Clifford believes that it is a moral requirement that beliefs are justified in order to minimize the chance that an incorrect belief will affect other people. In the case of the ship-owner, who sent out his old emigrant ship based solely on the fact that he was able to suppress his doubts, killed every family looking for a better future. His unjustified belief had minimal effects on his business, but destroyed the lives of many families, due to his negligence in getting the ship repaired. Clifford argues that even if the ship had arrived safely, the ship owner is still guilty of not justifying his belief because once an action has occurred; it is “right or wrong forever” (Clifford). The only difference would be he would not have found out about his misdoings. His decision to convince himself that his ship would not fail him served two purposes: saving his enterprise money and easing his mind if anything were to happen to the people aboard his ship. In the second example, the unjustified accusations against, “individual citizens of the highest position and character” (Clifford), hurt their professional lives. The accusations...
Finding a way in life can be difficult. Following that way can be even more difficult, especially when it goes against someone's origin. In Acts of Faith, Eboo Patel tells his story of what it was like to struggle through finding himself. Patel asks the question of "How can I create a society of religious pluralism?" throughout the book, and raises implications about what our children are being taught in different societies throughout the world.
Rachel Held Evans in “Faith Unraveled” questions every part of her religion, and is not sure how she should be living her life. Evans struggles to fully believe in faith that Christians are supposed to. She has all these questions and doubts, and is looking for answers but struggles to find the answers. Other Christians think what she is doing is unfaithful and she is not a real Christian. She is curious how people who profess Gods’ holy name, but then do not act in a holy way will be judged. Skeptics exist in almost every aspect of life, but when it comes to religion there seems to be a lot more. She struggles to handle some of the questions the skeptics ask and makes her question her religion. Evans also struggles to understand how this
... reflects the original logos while also maintaining a separate identity, so too must faith be both reflective and inventive. It should strive toward perfection like Reverend Maclean devouring Norman?s papers with a red pen, with the intention of reflecting God?s already established likeness. Yet it must also be careful not to close off unexpected, new avenues, for as Paul demonstrates through his fishing, the most arbitrary human actions can accrue religious resonance. Essentially, human faith faces the ultimate balancing act: it must strive to understand and believe and love all of God and His creation, while at the same time realizing that such complete knowledge is impossible, and that humanity is called to ?love completely without complete understanding? (103).
A time comes in everybody's life where they need to be "saved." When this happens a spiritual bond is formed with in that individual. In Langston Hughes' essay, "Salvation," that bond is broken because Langston wasn't saved. It is because Langston turned to Jesus, and in his eyes Jesus wasn't there. This creating a conflict within himself and the members of the church, with the end result being Langston's faith being destroyed.
Faith is defined by acquiring substantial confidence in something that cannot be explained using definite material proof. Although faith is often mentioned when speaking of religion, one can have faith in anything. In Yann Martel’s Life of Pi and John Irving’s A Prayer for Owen Meany, both authors acknowledge the importance of faith in family, friends, and oneself; however, the main focus of faith in both novels is centered on religion. Both novels emphasize that a strong faith is fundamental in overcoming both emotional and physical obstacles. In the novels Life of Pi and A Prayer for Owen Meany, this is expressed through symbolism, characterization, and plot.
to show that faith is an idea that is so loosely thrown around that it has lost its meaning.
...izable religious leaders can be wrong, as witnessed with the “Whale Rider.” A Religion is the basic practice that gives meaningful purpose to life filled with insecurity. However, what we can notice through the film is that some roles are often miscued by the gender of the assumed chosen one. At the heart of any religion is the ability for an individual
Faith is belief in what you cannot see and is a common theme shown throughout this book. The Lands family go through many different personal trials throughout their lives. Reuben had much faith in his own father, while Jeremiah never wavered in his faith with God because he always trusted in Him. But, Davy, his son, only believed in himself because he continued to run away from his issues because he believed that he could deal with them on his own. In the book, Peace Like a River, Reuben, Jeremiah, and Davy apply their faith to different people.
Paul Tillich. “What Faith Is”. The Human Experience: Who Am I?. 8th ed. Winthrop University: Rock Hill SC, 2012. 269-273. Print.
The role of faith has been debated among many theologians, scientists, and philosophers. It has been greatly discussed and depicted throughout history as whether faith is logical when it comes to religion or whether faith is completely absurd. In this essay, I will focus on the role of faith through the lenses of Christian philosophers Sorean Kierkegaard and Paul Tillich. Faith plays an important role in Kierkegaard and Tillich theology; I will critically examine their depiction of faith and compare and contrast their passages. Kiergarrd view of faith is that it is completely absurd where as Ti
Pope John Paul II once said, “Faith and reason are like two wings on which the human spirit rises to the contemplation of truth; and God has placed in the human heart a desire to know the truth – in a word, to know himself – so that, by knowing and loving God, men and women may also come to the fullness of truth about themselves.” (Fallible Blogma) Based on this significant and powerful quote, one can infer that faith and reason are directly associated and related. It can also be implied that the combination of faith and reason allows one to seek information and knowledge about truth and God; based on various class discussions and past academic teachings, it is understood that both faith and reason are the instruments that diverse parties are supposed to use on this search for truth and God. There are many stances and viewpoints on the issues of faith and reason. Some believe that both of these ideas cannot and should not be combined; these parties deem that faith and reason must be taken as merely separate entities. However, this writer does not understand why both entities cannot be combined; both terms are so closely compatible that it would make sense to combine the two for a common task. Based on various class discussions and readings, there are many philosophers and theologians who have certain opinions regarding faith, reason and their compatibility; these philosophers include Hildegard of Bingen, Ibn Rushd, Moses Maimonides, and St. Thomas Aquinas. The following essay will examine each of the previously stated philosopher’s viewpoints on faith and reason, and will essentially try to determine whether or not faith and reason are ultimately one in the same.
In many aspects of our lives, the use of faith as a basis for knowledge can be found. Whether it is faith in the advice of your teacher, faith in a God or faith in a scientific theory, it is present. But what is faith? A definition of faith in a theory of knowledge context is the confident belief or trust in a knowledge claim by a knower, without the knower having conclusive evidence. This is because if a knowledge claim is backed up by evidence, then we would use reason rather than faith as a basis for knowledge . If we define knowledge as ‘justified true belief’, it can be seen that faith, being without justification, can never fulfill this definition, and so cannot be used as a reliable basis for knowledge. However, the question arises, what if a certain knowledge claim lies outside of the realm of reason? What if a knowledge claim cannot be justified by empirical evidence and reasoning alone, such as a religious knowledge claim? It is then that faith allows the knower to decide what is knowledge and what is not, when something cannot be definitively proved through the use of evidence. When assessing faith as a basis for knowledge in the natural sciences, the fact arises that without faith in the research done before us, it is impossible to develop further knowledge on top of it. Yet at the same time, if we have unwavering faith in existing theories, they would never be challenged, and so our progress of knowledge in the natural sciences would come to a standstill. Although I intend to approach this essay in a balanced manner, this essay may be subject to a small degree of bias, due to my own non-religious viewpoint.
Faith healing is predicated on the belief that certain places or individuals have the power to cure and heal. Meaning, something or someone can cure a disease or heal an injury by means of his / its connection to a Higher Power. Faith healing may involve prayer, a visit to a house of prayer or shrine, or just a strong belief in a Supreme Being.