One of my coworkers has a blog and she posted this and thought...hmmm...want to share with my Sabla members and get their responses regarding this topic:


Faith or Knowledge

Which would you rather have?


Faith in something so great that you never worry about what's going to come your way. You always know that youre going to be taken care of. You know at the end of the day that you will get up the next day alive and well. Knowing that even in the worst of times, youre going to be ok and you can lean on Him and run to Him knowing that He will just scoop you up and take care of you. Knowing that even though you might not be making the right decisions everytime, He's still going to love you unconditionally and forgive you for everything that you did.

Faith. Not faith in a husband or a child or anyone else on the earth. But faith in God. Wholehearted faith. Never questioning. Never asking why? Just faith.

or

Knowledge. Knowing inside and out. Digging into every little piece of information that you can. Reading every book about the book and knowing that book inside and out. Reading it, studying it, turning your entire life to learning more about it, making it a profession, using it to help people. That book would obviously be the bible. Knowledge in God. Knowing the theology, the background, the scriptures you can use at that very moment, knowing where the books of the bible are. Just being able to flip to a part of the bible and construct a message right there from it.

Knowledge.

So which would you rather have?

Faith?

or

Knowledge?


Source: http://brianthegirl.blogspot.com/2008/05/faith-or-knowledge.html

I'd rather be in the middle

My current faith is good enough to guide me & as for knowledge of whatever book of any faith; I would not like to dig really deep, because eventually I will go bananas because of knowing too much and religion can be complicated sometimes.

But having a bit of both serves me good.

I'd rather to have Knowledge.. cuz faith is weak without knowledge and knowledge leads u to unbreakable faith :)

I am like you spirit...in the middle lol...am that way in politics also. I weigh the issues before me and make my assumptions or concrete decisions based on history and facts and then faith. Hard to choose but wonder if there are people at both extremes. Guess there are i.e. atheists but to me atheism is a religion just they do not believe in a god.

Atheism is a belief itself, like I always say

id raither be in the middle.. becouse they r very much related, for eg in islam there r tons of scientific information in the Quran that supports the current science n issure.. so when u read Quran n c the link to the discoveries you'll have stronger faith.. and we're obliged to learn.. so by learning n gaining knowledge its like your serving what you believe..

^ So is the 'Diabolical Smurfs Theory', as I always say.

I agree with Sama. I choose knowledge.

Faith without knowledge will slowly decrease until there is not faith at all.

Knowledge all the way; even though I was raised a solid Protestant (and still treasure the tradition), I think faith is the cause of more problems than it solves...

knowledge for sure.
(somewhere in between would be ideal, but i choose knowledge, cos the between bit is not an option here)
although i admire those who have blind faith and tons of ignorance. their life is blissful.

I think faith is the cause of more problems than it solves...

I'd like to add the following: depending on the person, the relative definition of faith & the FAITH itself :flower:

The passionate being inside me calls for Faith .. I dont think I would be so strengthly attached to my religion if I only had knowledge .. knowledge is good, but it doesnt clear all your doubts if its not attached to faith.

I think both leads to each other. The more I search for knowledge, the more faith builds up. Vise versa, my faith encourages me to search for knowledge that is useful for me in this life and afterwords.

I prefer having faith rather than mere knowledge. There are many people have knowledge about Islam but they don't follow it and many others know much about christianity and they don't follow it as well cos they lack faith. They based themselves on theories and science which sometimes contradicts with faith. As spirit, I don't want to dig very deep on the religion cos I know I can't and am too simple to understand these complicated rules and laws. I prefer to have strong faith with little knowledge allowing me to practise my faith correctly.

Interesting how you put it el rey. My mom, she understands the basics of Catholicism but she has allot of faith. She is one of the most religious people I know. I on the other hand will look at my religion in a practical way and need to rediscover my faith.

my grandma was a woman who went to very little school. she could barely read and write. but she had tons of faith. every single trouble she had, she lit a candle to st. rita. and prayed every day. said the rosary, went to mass daily. she never owned a bible, and the only bible she knew was what she heard from mass. i think in desperate times, knowing a lot does not help you much (like death or a disease like cancer) but faith pulls you through.

Both. It's knowledge that leads to true faith, for me.

And our faith requires the pursuit of knowledge ;)

i prefer having faith in something rather than knowledge... becuase its what i believe not just a knowledge that might be right or wrong..

I'd rather have faith knowledge come eventually

I would rather knowledge, I need to know how things work and why it is the way it is.

Both.. But leaning a lil bit more towards Knoweledge ;p

I think both leads to each other. The more I search for knowledge, the more faith builds up. Vise versa, my faith encourages me to search for knowledge that is useful for me in this life and afterwords.

And our faith requires the pursuit of knowledge ;)

I'd rather have faith knowledge come eventually


i agree with those

Faith leads to more knowledge ;)

Which would you rather have, Faith or knowledge ? This is similar to asking- " Which is better- Oman or Muscat ? "


^ So is the 'Diabolical Smurfs Theory', as I always say.

I agree with Sama. I choose knowledge.

Faith without knowledge will slowly decrease until there is not faith at all.

You cannot compare between Faith and Knowledge.

Gaining knowledge is already a part of Islamic faith.

Islamically speaking, faith and knowledge are incomparable. Because knowledge is part of Islamic faith :)

This is same as asking- " Which is better- Oman or Muscat ? "

Yes, knowledge is part of islamic faith, faith (with it's general meaning, like having certain beliefs about the god of the universe) is stronger where it's based on strong knowledge.
A lot of scientists were atheists and they became believers because of the knowledge they've gained.

I think in regards to knowledge my coworker meant and my take on it is scientific knowledge, historical knowledge and faith is faith in the purest form.....just believing without proof. Everyone has their own personal views on these two matters. That is why I feel I am in the middle.....I need faith to get me through troubled times, faith to remind me why the world with all its troubles still has beauty to be found within it. I need knowledge to give me some semblance of normalcy why things are the way the "are".

Knowledge. If I am able to gather evidence that God exists, read His books including the Koran, I would know it is the true word of God and consequently become faithful due to my immense knowledge of His creation.

I think in regards to knowledge my coworker meant and my take on it is scientific knowledge, historical knowledge and faith is faith in the purest form.....just believing without proof. Everyone has their own personal views on these two matters. That is why I feel I am in the middle.....I need faith to get me through troubled times, faith to remind me why the world with all its troubles still has beauty to be found within it. I need knowledge to give me some semblance of normalcy why things are the way the "are".

If that's what you mean, then knowledge should come first , because it leads to faith.

I fear being too into my faith to avoid being a fanatic and restrain myself from what I am supposed to know…

I fear being too confident about what I know to avoid overshadowing the faith that gives me a stronger reason to live…

I want the knowledge that strengthens my faith and the faith that inspires me to know.

I do not think any is more important than the other.

The logical sequence would be something like this:

Knowledge---> Faith

Nice thread marianna :)

I think both of them are balancing the scale.

You can’t have faith alone with learning and reading and getting more knowledge to support it, and you can’t have knowledge alone with having the reason for it which the faith deep inside you.

The logical sequence would be something like this:

Knowledge---> Faith

Here is an example, which states that sceince leads to Islam.

Why did I Embrace Islam?
This is an extract from Dr. Gronier, a French MP, who embraced Islam. Revealing the reason of embracing Islam he said, I read all of the Ayat (Quranic verses), which have a relation to medical, health, and natural sciences that I studied before and have a wide knowledge of. I found that these verses are totally compatible with and give a picture of our modern sciences. Thus, I embraced Islam as it was obvious that Muhammad revealed the Absolute Truth more than a thousand years ago. Had every specialist, artist or scientist compared those Quranic verses to his own specialization, beyond the shadow of doubt he would embrace Islam, especially if he has a sound mentality and goodwill to search for the truth and not a mentally defective person with the intentions of malevolent aims.
http://www.science4islam.com/

Knowledge, because it leads to faith.

There is actually a very interesting Shia hadith in al-Kafi that tells the moral of this story.

Ali ibn Muhammad has narrated from Sahl ibn Ziyad, from 'Amr ibn ‘Uthman, from Mufaddal ibn Salih from Sa‘d ibn Tarif from Asbagh ibn Nabatah, from Ali (a.s) who has said the following:

"Once Jibril came to Adam (a.s) and said, ‘I am ordered to offer you three choices. You may chose one and leave the other two. Adam then asked, "What are those three things?"

Gibril replied, ‘They are Intelligence (3aql--reason), modesty, and faith.’

Adam then said, "I chose intelligence." Gibril then asked modesty and faith to return and leave intelligence with Adam. They (modesty and faith) said to Gibril, "O Gibril, we are commanded to be with intelligence wherever it may exist. Gibril then said, "It then is up to you." He then ascended to heavens.

http://www.al-shia.com/html/eng/books/hadith/al-kafi/part1/part1-ch1.htm

:)

Faith is for weaklings. Faith is an illusion.