Faith.

I am fascinated by the comments sections of articles. Even more than the article itself. Based on the nature of the article, you can pretty much predict what sort of argument will ensue between the various readers willing to comment on it. Every once in a while, after poring over an article of some sort, I'll delve into the comments and two things never cease to amaze me about such comments:

1. The extreme opinions of many who seem to find the time to express theirs in such a venue.
2. The lack of kindness people seem to have when it comes to criticizing the other side, likely because they are just nameless, faceless people on the internet.

Mostly, I find a bit of humor in it. Sometimes it makes me ponder a bit.

A few months ago, I read a scientific article, one that didn't leave much of an impression, to be honest, but the comments did. Predictably, the readers comments evolved into a religion vs. science debate, and I read a few of them before recognizing what a complete and utter waste of time it was to do so.

Anyway, this debate has and will inevitably go on forever but, just for fun, I'd like to throw in my two cents. First of all, I'm sure that there are plenty of atheists out there who aren't condescending, but if I were to base my opinion of them on the comments from online articles, I would say they are largely prideful, disdainful, unhappy egoists. Likewise, many who argue for religion do themselves a disservice by coming across as narrow-minded fanatics who haven't opened a book since junior high school. Fortunately, I don't form my opinions so arbitrarily.

So, since we all know I subscribe to the religion argument, let me tell you why:

I have faith. Seeing is NOT believing. A theory is just that: a theory. It cannot be proven right. Many who argue for science suggest that people who believe in God have their heads stuck in the sand or mock them, saying that they must still believe antiquated ideas such as the earth is still flat. To which, my response is, if mankind used to believe that, and we now know differently, obviously, our understanding is limited to the resources we have at our disposal. So who's to say our current understanding will not be replaced hastily by a new discovery. There are no limits on the knowledge that is available, only in our ability to acquire it. Therefore, to call it narrow-minded to believe that what is true is limited to what man knows is confining, at best.

Yesterday's science might teach that proximity to power lines results in a higher incidence of leukemia among residents. Five years later, that will be proven wrong. So to say definitively that current theories based on scientific discoveries are the be all and end all is more narrow-minded (in my view) than to recognize the possibility of a higher being than we humans.

I marvel at the ability of man to explore and learn. But I recognize that there are treasures of knowledge yet to be discovered and I'm continuously stunned at the audacity of self-important people who believe that truth is limited to what humans can comprehend and that the rest of us are bigots. I believe in God. It's not a novel idea. I've never seen Him, nor heard His voice. But my faith in Him bridges the gap between what I understand perfectly and what I do not.

I could say more. Instead I'll end with this scripture from the Book of Mormon:
"Faith is not to have a perfect knowledge of things. Therefore, if ye have faith, ye hope for things which are not seen, which are true."