re: #352 Obdicut

No, sorry. There is no comparison in the faith in a real thing— the interaction between two people, with its attendant emotions, history, etc.— and the faith in something that cannot be discerned or in any way measured.

What I’m saying is one step backwards; I’m saying that the faith that I have that love is more than just a series of chemical reactions in my brain, that there is meaning beyond base physics, that consciousness is more than a observer phenomenon— that is faith.

Yeah, that’s what I meant about God representing, to you, the desire to be ethical, moral, and fulfilled. Some of the best people I’ve known have been heavily religious, and they all had one thing in common: They were inspired by their religious belief but they in no way thought that they knew what “God” wanted other people to do.

I think faith in God is no different than faith in anything else.

I have faith my husband won’t cheat on me. I don’t know that to be a fact, and in fact, one day I may be wrong. What’s so different than faith in God? I may find out one day I have it wrong, but today it is my truth.

Judaism, because it’s based on law, is very literal to me. It strives to make the determination between right and wrong. Emotions, not so much. Not that emotions aren’t part of the spiritual experience, they are, but they aren’t so much “right” or “wrong”. The law will always be the law. I.e., it’s wrong to murder and will always be wrong to murder.