Dead Certain Faith

Is yours a certain faith?

15%- Yes, absolutely unchangeable

85%- No, open to development

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“Certainty about the next life is simply incompatible with tolerance in this one."
- Sam Harris, author "The End of Faith"


It is slightly scary to think about but if you want to be completely certain about something that you believe in (like who goes to heaven when they die) then you must necessarily be intolerant of anyone else views.

This is in fact what leads to the violence that we see between different religions and ideologies.

The desire to be certain.

I would propose and I have said this before in a Blairism, “In order to know everything you must be willing to be wrong.”

Faith does not and cannot equal certainty. Faith is alive and growing. Faith develops.

In order for faith to be allowed to develop it will change when you encounter new people and new ideas.

In my estimation that is what Christian witnessing should be, one person testifying about how God has encountered them in their life and listening to someone else testifying to how God has encountered them in their life. Thus each person’s faith changes, develops and grows deeper by listening to the other’s story.

There is no certainty in faith.

Therefore there is no need for violence.

Violence comes from a desire for certainty, which excludes faith.

A certain faith is dead…
But more then that it is deadly…