Faith is being more functional, not less functional. Corrupters promote a false faith, which is nothing but their dominance, and it requires less functionality. To not see through it results in a reduction in functionality. Christ and the true prophets promoted functionality.

Christ taught that solving problems is a human responsibility. For example, when questioned about healing on the sabbath, he said, "Suppose one of you has a sheep and it falls into a pit on the sabbath. Will he not take hold of it and pull it out? Well, think how much more precious a human being is than a sheep. Clearly, good deeds may be performed on the sabbath."

And of course, Christ said we are supposed to do as he does, which he called a path to life (Mat 7:14). We can't heal with supernatural powers, but we can use antibiotics. We can't multiply loaves in an instant, but we can use agriculture.

The purpose of material life is to overcome sin. Sin is overcome by learning to solve problems. Solving problems creates a constructive relationship to other persons through a medium of objective realities. Objective, unified reality is the essence of life. A constructive relationship to unified reality is necessary for a constructive relationship to other persons.

Unified reality is complex, and it must be understood by acquiring knowledge. Throughout the Bible, all true prophets including Christ emphasized the importance of acquiring knowledge to develop understanding. Understanding is unified reality in the mind. Understanding allows problems to be solved.

Faith is going down this path of constructivity knowing that good will come out of it. Refusing to go down the path of constructivity is a defiance of the purpose of human life in learning to acquire a constructive relationship to other persons.

So clearly, faith is not doing nothing. If faith were relying upon God without human responsibilities, there would be no purpose in human existence and no path to salvation.

There is no difference between faith in God and faith in oneself. Faith is a relationship to life. It is an interaction with unified reality. It is knowing that constructivity is beneficial to self and others. Knowing is a large part of faith.

What is good for one person is good for all. Faith is universalizing existence, so people can interact properly. Unified reality, truth, reason and justice do this, while sin destroys faith.

The key to understanding the difference between corrupt faith and constructive faith is that power is the central concern of corrupt faith, and rationality is the central concern of constructive faith.

Power mongering is the basis of corruption, because it takes power to overwhelm other persons and perpetrate injustices against them. It does not take power to do something constructive. Corrupt persons don't know this, which is one of the most basic errors in their minds. They assume that nothing can be done without power, and therefore, acquiring power is the only challenge in doing anything. They assume that with more power they could do anything, and their only problem is not enough power.

With these assumptions about power, false faith says, trust us and give us more power through allegiance. Constructive faith says get involved in the process of rationality, because it solves problems.

Faith looking to power sources means someone controlling someone. There is no constructive way for someone to control someone. The desire to do so is the basis of all sin, which is domination.

But isn't control necessary? Would not lack of control be irresponsible? No. Control freaks assume they are solving someone's problems, but they are dead to sin. The concept of responsibility needs to be understood.

Responsibility is not control. Not only would control corrupt, but it would be grossly incomplete. What happens where control leaves off? Everything fails.

Instead, responsibility is preparing and preventing. Preparing includes knowledge; and preventing includes restrictions, like the speed limit. Responsible driving isn't controlling the driver. It obviously wouldn't work. It is knowledge, discipline and laws. The laws restrict, but they obviously cannot control.

Faith cannot defy these principles. Instead, it is working with them. It is depending upon knowledge and preparedness rather than control.

This means that if faith is associated with God, it doesn't mean God controlling people. When Christ mentioned faith in God (Mark 11:22), was he talking about controlling people? He did no controlling. He taught. Faith in Christ means believing and studying what he taught. He taught; he did no controlling.

Management is not a control process, because control doesn't work. For this reasons, workers need a lot of training and experience to function without being controlled. Managers tell workers what to do, and they do it on their own.

God's relationship to humans is even farther removed than managers in the workplace. God makes things possible, but people have to make the right choices through their moral awareness.

View believers as a workforce. They need to be educated, trained and experienced to be constructive and moral. Educated, trained and experienced is a relationship to the unified reality which makes up life.

Faith is this relationship to the universe. What then does it have to do with God? God creates life and sustains it through a standard called morality. Getting constructive and moral is joining God's project for life, which is what faith in God means.

There can be some looking upward in faith, but it is not the control mechanism that predominates in satan's world. Faith is only looking upward for knowledge and direction; and most of this is found everywhere in the universe, as God uses the objective medium to define and sustain life.

The Application of Faith in Life.

Sin destroys faith, because it destroys a person's relationship to other people and the universe. Faith is relying upon other people and the universe.

Corrupt persons have to pull everything toward themselves, which is selfishness, because sin puts them in conflict with the universe, and the assumption is that the universe can be changed to justify the sin. But other persons do not pull everything toward someone else, so other persons cannot be relied upon to justify one's own sin.

Because of these forces, corrupt persons have to push their way into everything and prevent other persons from having anything to say about anything. That pushiness is the absence of faith.

Frauds have brainwashed society on faith to such an extent that I cannot just describe what faith is. I must first address the frauds.

Nowhere in the Bible besides Paul's theology does it say people are saved by faith without works. Here's what Isaiah said: "Bring no more worthless offerings...your hands are full of blood...learn to do good. Make justice your aim: redress the wronged, hear the orphan's plea, defend the widow." (Isaiah 1:13-17).

Everything Christ taught was the human responsibilities (works) required for getting saved.

Paul's contradiction of the rest of the Bible shows that Paul was a fraud, not that the rest of the Bible is wrong.

The purpose of this web page is to describe the complex characteristics of faith.

Since faith is so mysterious and arguable, Christ should be the one who defines what it is. He taught human responsiblities and said only the do-gooders get saved (Mat 25:31-46). But sin and the corrupt theology of Paul cause people to assume faith is the opposite—that it is to do nothing and expect God to take care of everything. Notice this contradiction: they don't let God do everything when they are imposing their sin onto others.

Faith is extending constructivity outward. It contains all of the complex elements of morality. Being the most advanced element of morality, it is the most easily destroyed. Sin destroys faith.

Often, faith is assumed to be irrational. Atheists deride faith for being irrational, and fundamentalists put faith above rationality claiming their assumptions can be illogical and still correct, because faith is superior to rationality. It can't be constructive if it conflicts with rationality.

This occurs because faith has no discernible meaning to most persons. Therefore, it is the perfect tool for rationalizing the irrational. Why not use it to promote whatever needs promoting.

What needs to be promoted in religion is a fix for sin. There's no better fix for anything than snakeroot oil. In religion, the snakeroot oil is faith. It cures whatever ails you.

Just like snakeroot oil, the propaganda faith is a cure in name only. Being in conflict with evidence and rationality, it puts supposed believers in conflict with the world around them.

Notice that the more corrupt that type of faith gets, the purer it gets. Gambling is an example. Expecting to win in Las Vegas is that type of faith.

Paul said (in a muddled way) people do not need anything more than faith to get saved (Gal 2:16)—that is, faith in a pagan ritual causing God to forgive sin. To Paul, faith was just a fix-all slogan replacing the need for overcoming sin. But in fact, faith is the culmination of all other moral characteristics and cannot exist without morality.

Christ applied faith to many diverse situations demonstrating that it is an inherent element of all that people do. Examples include healing the sick (Mark 5:34), casting out demons (Mat 17:20), walking on water (Mat 14:31), moving mountains (Mat 21:22), and providence (Luke 12:28).

When adding up all of the concepts which go into faith, it demonstrates that faith is a product of morality. Morality has to exist before faith can exist.

The document of the pope's titled Faith and Reason (1998) is interpreted to mean faith and reason are interdependent. external link (9kb)

Faith and Reason
Social Darwinism