How does Faith relate to the world in which we live?

Faith is deeply related to our world and our lives. Every moment of our lives is driven through faith; we can become confident with faith, and find peace with faith. When faith is part of every moment of our lives, it can be part of small events such as being driven to school, to huge events such as moving into a new culture. When we are driven to school by our parents we have faith in them that we will make it to school on time. We have trust in the fact that we won't get into a car accident. When we move to a different country at times with a different culture, we trust our parents that this will be the best for our future. We only become confident when we have trust or faith within ourselves. Also, we can find inner peace with ourselves and others with faith. This is clearly illustrated in the novel Peace Child, by Don Richardson. When the Sawi Culture can put their faith in the “peace child”, peace is brought between two tribes and the war comes to a stop. Faith is obviously deeply connected with our world in which we live in. 

However, people relate and apply faith differently throughout their life. For example, Christians relate to faith through what propels them forward in life. They have their faith in a higher being, God. They try to live their life for his glory. This means that every action and thought is in obedience to him. Another example would be Atheists. Atheists do not believe in a religion but they can still relate to faith. As faith means trust, Atheists still have faith with their family, and friends. They still show faith through their everyday life. Even though some Atheists may not admit to it, the fact is that they have trust in others, and when there is trust, there is faith. Another group of people are the Sawi people found in the Peace Child book, by Don Richardson. Even though their culture is based around a treachery and evil, they still had to trust their tribe and believe that their tribe will not commit treachery on them. This is their faith.

Everyone is related to faith. This means that the concept of faith seems to be universal in all cultures and in all people. That is the reason why faith is deeply related to the world in which we live in.

What is Faith?

Faith is a very ambiguous concept. It can represent multiple ideas and it can be shown through multiple actions. For example, people have can have faith in their newly picked president. As this form of faith is merely confidence in a small anxiety of life, they can also have faith for a religious macrocosm, such as God in Christianity. Even faith can be found in all aspects of life, there is one key concept about all forms of faith; trust. Faith can be most accurately defined as the trust and acceptance of a person, concept or thing. Even when citizens of a country votes on a Prime Minister or President, they are putting their faith in him or her to lead the country to a brighter future. This is the citizen's trust within their leader. Likewise, within the religion of Christianity, Christians put their absolute faith in God. They put their trust and acceptance in God. Through these two examples one can find, what I call, the “microcosm” and macrocosm of faith. 
 
The “microcosm” of faith is the trust that we have in smaller aspects of life. Other than voting for a Prime Minister or President, another example would be crossing the road. We cross the road when the traffic lights are red and the walk light is on. Within this everyday example, faith can be found. We subconsciously trust the drivers that they will not run over us when we are cross the road. Even in the minor aspects of life, like merely walking across the street, faith is shown. When faith is shown in smaller and less significant events of life, this is the “microcosm” of faith.

However, “macrocosm” or faith is our trust in much bigger aspects of life; something that is much more significant. The prime example of this type of faith is found within religions. Most religions have a higher being that is much more powerful and significant than we are, for example, Buddha in Buddhism, or God in Christianity. As humans, we put our trust, or faith, in a macrocosm image and lead our life through their image. We entrust more significant aspects of life, such as our purpose of our lives, unlike what we entrust in Prime Ministers or Presidents. This is the reason why I find the faith found in religions the “macrocosm” of faith. 

As faith can be found from small daily events of our lives to religion, faith is an ambiguous concept. However, without faith, it is impossible to live a life of purpose, peace, or happiness. Humans are dependent of faith due to the fact that faith is trust and acceptance. Without the trust in others peace or happiness cannot be found due to the fact that we would have to live a life filled with anxiety. Without faith in a religion, it is very difficult to find our spiritual life or the purpose of our life as well. This ambiguous concept of faith is one of the backbones of peace, harmony and happiness.

My Religious World View

It is hard for me to say where my native culture lies due to the fact that I have spent most of my years in Canada but still remained to have family and historical ties with South Korea. However, for me, Canadian culture has ultimately affected me more as most of my developmental years as a mature young adult was spent in Canada. I think like a Canadian, I eat like a Canadian, I talk like a Canadian and most importantly, I have my pride in Canada. As Canada is a very multicultural country with several, if not all religions practiced within the country, this has affected my religious world views. Due to the fact that Canada has been inherited with several religions, I have been exposed to several religions such as, Muslin, Roman Catholic, Christianity, and Buddhism. Through my experience in Canada I have learned that each religion has their advantages and disadvantages. That is why I have personally decided to try to apply each good aspect of each religion to my life.

Through the exposure of several religions, I find that I would be limiting myself if I only apply my life with one ideology. Even if the ideology clashes with every religion, I have decided to find the key lessons that each religions shows to people and develop into an adult that can be open-minded and culturally sensitive to all religions.
Through my experiences, my religious world view has been concluded with the thought that there is no right answer to big questions such as where do i go when i die. As people decide to believe what they feel like is the right answer and the best ideology, I believe in the fact that each religion has a bit of truth, and I have concluded to not shun myself from other truths but to be open to all truths, thoughts and lessons.