Faith - A Conceptual Analysis. Part II

In my previous essay, I basically stated that faith is not a neccessary condition(NC) for X's happening, but it most definately is a sufficient condition(SC). So if X happened, there could be a multitude of reasons as to why X happened, faith quite possibly being on of them. Here I want to say something else...something that I will just simply type up for now, but will explore later. Suppose you meet Joe at church one fine morning. Joe confides to you that He has been going through some really rough times, since he has been recently been diagnosed with terminal cancer. However Joe seems awful cheery this morning, and He tells you the reason why. He says that He is cheery and full of life because He has faith that God will remove his cancer, and heal him. The conditional of interest: Let X = Any particular desired situation. C1: If it is the case that Joe truly has faith that X will happen, then X MUST happen. In otherwords, while the presence of faith is not a neccesary condition for X's happening,the presence of faith neccessitates X's happening.(Tough sentence. The 1st neccessary is concerned with faith, and the 2nd with X's happening). Repeat: Since Faith is sufficient for X's happening, it is not neccessary for X's happening. X might happen anyways. If however faith is indeed present, then X's happening is neccessary. So what then of the situation where X does not happen ? If X does not take place, then, Joe never really had faith to begin with. He fooled himself. Perhaps He was just doing some positive thinking, or was deluded, or perhaps He was just playing some psychological wish fufillment game. A philosopher would say that Joe had a nonveridical experience. A thought to take away from this is that we must allways test ourselves to see if we are in the faith. And we find ourselves lacking, we can find comfort in the fact that our desires still will be fufilled by God, since faith is not the only determining factor. Indeed there is allways hope. Getting back to the above. So if faith is not neccessary for X to occur, then it must be possible to lack faith, and still see X happen, right ? Yes . Why ? Because there are other factors that also involved, that help bring about X. For example, while Joe may be filled to the brim with doubt, Joe may still be praying consistently, and God rewards his steadfastness here. I can see how this situation might be possible, if Joe is clinically depressed, or is perhaps schizophrenic. God understands. If the above is true, a question naturally arises. So what then is the point in having faith, if good things will happen, even if we lack faith ? i.e. the outcome is the same with or without faith. The difference is two fold. On the more spiritual plane, when you lack faith, you are slamming God. You are basically meeting the most honest person in the universe, Jesus Christ, and telling him, that He is not trustworthy. An insult if you think about it really. Thank God, He understands our weaknesses. On the human side, the difference is misery, plain and simple. You will be a miserable person. A person held in the prison of doubt. Thought on the Side: Suppose Patty the Pessimist, and Odie the Optimist are about to take a 1 question multiple choice test. Prior to the test Patty, is miserable, and Odie is feeling quite good. As they wait outside the classroom for the door to be opened, Jones walks up to them and just by coincidence tells them some crucial information regarding the subject that they are to be tested on. He in effect tells them, that the soil on Mars is red. Now, a 1/2 hour later, Odie and Patty sit down to take the exam. Patty is sweating furiously and feeling nauseous. Odie is calm and collected. They are handed the exam. The first and only question is the following: What is the color of the soil on Mars ? A) Red, B) Blue, and C) Green. My point ? Whether Patty likes it or not, She will get the answer right. She simply cannot get it wrong. So too Odie. And what is the difference between these two ? Misery - One is miserable and negative, the other is optimistic and expectant.