Faith

 

Faith

Before this river becomes an ocean
Before you throw my heart back on the floor (I just gotta have faith)
Oh, oh, baby, I reconsider my foolish notion
Well, I need someone to hold me but I'll wait for somethin' more.

In whom do you have faith?

St. Paul, in First Corinthians 13:13 ( or One Corinthians, if you are a certain Orange Menace) said the three remaining virtues are Faith, Hope and Love and the greatest of these is Love. But we could not receive Love if we did not have Faith in the person giving us Love. We have faith that even if we do not understand something, that some person we trust is telling us the truth, is not lying. That person may be a person of authority or a celebrity that we trust. That is why endorsement deals are so lucrative. A company is using that endorser as someone, say a sports figure, or some agency, say the American Dental Association, who is trusted.

One of the agencies that we trust is the state. In most states, there are licensing authorities.  To be a teacher, land surveyor, doctor, lawyer, cosmetologist, nurse, building contractor, counselor, therapist, electrician, etc. you may have to obtain a state license to be able to practice. This license says that the state has served as a gatekeeper and will back your trustworthiness. To be married by the state you have to obtain a marriage license. To drive you have to obtain a driver’s license. In each of these cases you are examined by the state and found to be trustworthy for this particular activity.

Another agency we trust is religion. We believe in God. We are not God and do not know everything God knows. But there are leaders of that religion who we will trust not to be lying, knowingly or unknowingly.

Still another group whom we trust is a political party. When we vote for a candidate endorsed by that Party, we have faith that the candidate has the beliefs consistent with that party. That means for example we can vote for upper case R Republicans who are candidates because we think they believe in a lower case r republic.

But gatekeepers can deny trust to those who should be trusted, a false negative. And agencies whom we trust can be lying, a false positive. Faith means we expect there only to be  true positives.