Why so friggin' confident?

This is a faith topic, for you moderators out there...When we read, let's say, a self help book by so and so well known author who so happens to be a specialist in the field you're curious about, you can safely trust most of what is said, and perhaps even improve your personality or your habits or whatever...The author is a leading expert, he may be recommended by others, is critiqued, yaddy yaddya...; the subjet may be widely talked about, discussed, studied, bla bla, etc. etc.What I mean to say is that, you can trust things that come from acknowlegded sources. When you say that a certain percentage of fruits are citrus and you can support that claim by referring to a government study report, then it is a valid source and point in any or most discussions.Okay so here comes the typical Atheist question: Why are believers so sure that what they are tought in sunday school, what they read in the bible, is, no questions asked, True, with a capital 'T'!?I just don't get why someone can have a strong belief in something that in my personal opinion has so little substance. It's just: God created the Earth, created man in his own image *Period* now offer the church your loyalty and money, or else you go to Hell you bastard!Who said that? What qualifies him/her to write a book about the way we should live, what we should believe in, and and how badly you'll suffer if we don't do it. Sounds like a power trip to me...So please, someone explain to me what Rational belivers justify all that epic story material to be fact. I need substance people, and please don't say that God wrote the Bible, or that God placed the ideas into some dude's head. Did God tell me to write an essay about Shakespeare's understanding of madness, 'cause I only got a modest 78% on it, and I worked hard on it I'm bored and lonely, so don't judge me!Peace, Prosperity, and ummm.... Edited by Reality Man, : or you know, the usual...Edited by Reality Man, : No reason given.Edited by Reality Man, : No reason given.

It won't happen, happy? I admit, I never read the Bible, but I listen to a lot of discussions and stuff, enough to the point that I can think in terms of "Black Boxes" a programmers' term for a functional object that receives input and ejects output, and of which the precise workings of that "black box" is not important to the users.Any way, all that to say that, I understand the generics of The Bible, and the basics of religion and all of that pretty stuff.But I guess to be perfectly fair, one can say I am only half ignorant, no wait, three-quarters ignorant. So my case ain't the worst.The root of intelligence is to be able to define one's position in the world, humility if you will, so Ha!Edited by Reality Man, : No reason given.Edited by Reality Man, : No reason given.

I guess if I were to rephrase my question, it would be...What is Faith? or what it is about faith that makes people so determined that what they believe in is as real as the keyboard I'm typing on.This has nothing to do with enslaved hebrews magically crossing a sea, and wandering the desert for 40 years.As a guy with no faith whatsoever, I want someone to baby spoon feed me the rational (the key word here is 'rational') reasoning behind the strong belief people have for things that as of yet have no substance, physical or theoretical, or have such an abstract application to reality.This is a question of curiosity, I simply want to discuss the science behind faith, and one's absolute certainty that something incredible, such as God or a virgin giving birth or miracles, exists.Edited by Reality Man, : No reason given.

Wow!
This topic has gone far, eh?This is just a little note on the side:I wanted to say that this site is great, you guys stay, relatively, on topic, and keep a serious tone.I know I'm fairly naive, but, you know, even noobs can take part of the fun! That said, I "don't have time" to read a holy script. I'm always "doing other stuff".Anyways, carry on guys and girls, this is great stuff; I'm starting to have a more profound understanding and respect for faith; my goal is to, while an agnostic or an atheist (I dunno what I am), I want to understand both sides of the argument, respect the entire spectrum of human beliefs and culture... That's my formula for peace.Yeah!