Come, All Ye Faithless

I took ENGL101 a year and a half ago, and today I found the journal where, at the beginning of each class, we wrote on a topic assigned to us. I read through it and was caught by what I wrote for this particular assignment. That particular day, the instructor read to us a rather dismal, slightly depressing poem, and we were told to pick a line that stood out to us and record our individual contemplations on that line. I picked this line "Come, all ye faithless" both because of its mockery of the Christmas hymn and because of its hopelessness. I ran out of time before I said everything I wanted to say, but this is what I wrote:

"Come all ye faithless." What is it to be faithless, to be without faith? What is faith? It is the belief in something, or someone, without proof, only trust. It is hope - but more than hope. Hope dreams, faith knows. Those who are without faith are of all people most to be pitied. Without faith, one cannot believe anything unless one has the evidence. What is a life that is based solely on fact? It is a life that has lost the joy of youth. The innocence of childhood has passed away from that life leaving it like the brown, wrinkled petals of a rose long dead. The one who lives without faith is doomed to live not at all. 

 "...faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen..." Hebrews 11:1

FYI

This is very true. And it reminds me of one of my pet peeves - when people say you need to prove something as true.

Actually,  scientifically,  one cannot prove that something is,  only that something is not.  A famous example is that of spontaneous generation. The theory was thought to be "proven" correct, but in 1859 or so, Louis Pasteur proved that spontaneous generation cannot and does not occur. Because of our ever-expanding knowledge, no matter how much supporting evidence one may show for a theory, one cannot know if our understanding is complete and accurate unless the theory is absolutely proven as false. Thus, the burden of proof lies with those who argue the nonexistence or inaccuracy of an object or theory.

(Of course, we Christians know infallibly that God does exist. I am speaking in general terms.)

This is similar to the idea of "innocent until proven guilty." An individual who is on trial must be viewed as innocent (positive/true) unless proven beyond a doubt as guilty (negative/false).

Anyway, let it be known that it frustrates me when people say they have "proven" something. Um, no, you have found supporting evidence.

Kind of similar to when people say that something causes something else, like eating beets makes you turn pink. But that's a story for another day...