Not Necessarily Faith In God

I would always remember the interesting pictures Dr. J drew on the board in class which illustrated the essence of faith and works. I can’t agree more with the way she explained Luther’s point that deep inside everyone’s heart, there is a part that was evil by nature and by no means could we fix it by ourselves. The only way to deal with it is leave it to God. Once people believe in God, God will come to fix that evil part for them through their faith in Him. While Luther held his point that faith is the only way that leads to righteousness and salvation, he also pointed out that few people actually had faith. Most people would prefer good works to faith, for that seems more essential for the well being of the community they are living in. And the reason was also illustrated by the other half of the picture which said people do good works in order to make up for their bad deeds before.

Personally I am more prone to a more practical way of benefiting society because the life we are living today is different. I would rather become virtuous by doing good works and this is probably the case for the majority of people in today’s society. When fewer and fewer people are willing to be selfless to serve other people heart and soul, it is more necessary that we behave accordingly, just like the example of Virginia’s car accident and community service. When something takes place out of our control, we just need to do something else to compensate for it.

Although everyone wants to be practical, we still can’t ignore the importance of faith. While faith is very important in terms of making us better people, it doesn’t necessarily need to be faith in God. People from unreligious countries can also be virtuous with their faiths in something else. For example, I’m from China where most people are atheist and don’t have a belief in God. However, as China has an extensive and profound culture with a long history behind it, there have always been a number of philosophical reflections and moral standards that guide our people in all ages. For instance, Confucianism, one of the most popular and most widely acknowledged philosophies in China, provides people with many ethical rules to follow in order to make it a better community. It is not a religion, for it does not promote the belief in God. It teaches people to take responsibilities for all kinds of relationships they are involved in, such as the relationship between sovereign and subject, parent and child, elder and younger, husband and wife, and friend and friend. Within these relationships, almost all moralities are included such as filial piety, loyalty, honesty, etc. For example, people have to take responsibilities to take care of their parents when they are old because it is their parents who brought them up and it is like a debt that they should pay back. It is the love and the sense of responsibility in their minds that drive them to do so, and by doing so they naturally benefit the community as a whole. Although these people don’t have faith in God, they have faith in something else. It is their faiths in the love and gratitude for their parents that direct them to do good works. In this case, they still fit in Luther’s definition of good people.

Other examples such as helping a disable person doesn’t really mean you were born to help this kind of people. Rather it’s because you would find it unacceptable if that person were you or they were your family members. Not wanting that person’s family to feel sad and fearing that you might one day be in that situation, you decide to help him so as to also make you feel better. This kind of “selfishness” is actually a human nature that belongs to us. We can’t call it evil because we were born with it and can’t get rid of it in whatever ways. But the good thing is that we have faith in being moral and responsible at least to people who are related to us, and thus, we would be willing to help those who might one day be ourselves.

I always believe that faith is a crucial part of a human being in that it not only guides people in their behaviors but also constrains and moderates people. Everyone should have a faith in order to enlighten their spiritualities. The faith doesn’t necessarily need to be faith in God because faith in whatever suitable objects will have some effect on them. I also believe that most people already have faith within their minds. It simply isn’t the faith in God. Their faiths are those which are more practical and useful in today’s society and if they carry on with them, our society will continue to be better.