Knowledge through Faith

Knowledge in itself doesn't appear to be intrinsically a bad thing. Knowledge is the innate human search for meaning in life - it is the accumulation of the numerous ways one can engage with the world, so we can understand things, apply it to our lives and live according to what we learn.

 Knowledge can prevent bad things happening - over the centuries the developments in medical practice and knowing how diseases work and what symptoms to look for has saved a lot of people who would have previously been helpless. Conversely, knowledge can cause bad things - the lack of knowledge indicates ignorance or victimisation which can easily be manipulated by those who have knowledge and therefore use their resource for power over others.

Children are fed with knowledge from a very early age, and usually due to the fact that the reasoning abilities have not yet been developed enough, they take such knowledge as definitive truths. Then when of course they grow up, as reason illuminates their minds, the "truths" they thought they once knew come crashing down. This can be devastating for the child, but as the mind continues to grow and absorb information, they realise that with the abandonment of the fanciful ways they once looked at the world, their ideas develop in a more sophisticated manner, warranted by arguments to support their beliefs.

The quest for knowledge continues into teenage years (though perhaps to the detriment of indecisiveness!) as one chooses their course in life, whether this may be learning a practical trade and acquiring knowledge in the form of skills applicable for the rest of your life, or whether you learn philosophical theories as an arts student at university or definitive facts in the sciences.

Philosophers and scientists throughout the ages have advocated and actively entrusted their lives in the search for knowledge. However when does the search for knowledge become detrimental? I would argue that it becomes negative when the knowledge you have gained leads to apathy or scepticism. Scepticism is important in the context of questioning something to try and downplay ignorance, but in and of itself, scepticism can be a dangerous thing for it causes arrogance of the mind: that is, a way of thinking it's your way or no way.

Regarding religion, there is a permanent and constant search within human nature to try and explain the world in the terms of a higher being. However you want to address the situation in terms of your own personal beliefs, I think it is undeniable that humans have always communicated their lives in terms of higher powers. 
How therefore is knowledge compatible with religion? One could argue that they seem to be polar opposites. Many people advocate that knowledge is the active pursuit of epistemological truths. As such, religion does not apparently seem to fit into this category. However, knowledge in religious terms seems to refer to enlightenment or a sense of revelation. Knowledge is not necessarily truth in the sense that it is a certainty that has logical and mathematical proof (though many believers would argue that religion is a Truth in the higher sense, but that aside, it is definitively not an epistemological truth.)
The search for knowledge (if one is looking for definitive proof) in religion therefore appears nonsensical. One must hope for revelation at best. Those looking to religion for an answer to all their questions will be devastatingly disappointed if they hope to have a glorious enlightenment, for even if one claims to experience this, it will be fleeting. It may impact significantly, but it will fade and retreat to the seclusions of the mind, where the rest of your knowledge hides away until you recall it (anyone who has revised for an exam will know exactly what I'm on about here!) 
 Our experience simply doesn't work that way. We have to work up to truths, we have to understand them in a logical way, we have to mull them over, play with them, try them out in order for them to appear workable within our lives. As such, religion too simply doesn't work in the context of epistemology, for it is a matter of faith. Whenever this argument comes up, there are retorts of "Ah, faith - the op-out argument!" In all honesty though, faith is a lot braver than epistemology, for it is putting your trust in an uncertainty. Faith is putting your belief in something you hope to be a truth. Faith is courageous and admirable, not foolish and ridiculous. 

I think many people approach religion with the wrong mindset. They approach it expecting their deepest questions to be solved immediately, and if not, they dismiss religion as unworkable. Faith is not a mathematical equation. It cannot be solved immediately with logic, but it can be solved with time and perseverance, as with many of life's issues. Often, when people realise religion cannot solve their problems at the push of a button, many people become sceptical for they argue that religion is a waste of their time, or it cannot be trusted because of the loopholes, or because it simply seems illogical. This scepticism is the refusal to believe that knowledge comes through faith. The knowledge that can come through faith is not the empiricism that these people are searching for - it is a profound sense of revelation and an opening of the mind to endure and ascertain beliefs that encourage the believer to search for a relationship with a higher being. It is true that one can become more knowledgeable because of faith - but it is knowledge in the sense of spiritual growth, knowing oneself, and seeing the world in a new light because of the transforming nature that revelation has brought.

There are of course many religious believers who claim to have knowledge, who clearly misinterpret, manipulate or mould such knowledge to their own views; but this is also applicable to those who search for empirical evidence. Some people use factual truths to highlight an argument to which it is not applicable. One can only take a look at government polls and see "factual" statistics, which have likely been moulded to fit the agenda of the publishers or authors. Empirical truths are universal truths, applicable to all humanity, at any point in time, but so perhaps can be be said of faith truths - they may be varied, but this does not devalue them. Religion is something applicable to all humanity, at any point in time; the religion may not be unified or even of the same belief system, but all humanity throughout the ages have been inclined to address the existence of higher beings, whether they believe in their existence or not. Even with non-believers, religion permeates their life by the very fact that their denial of it affects the nature of their identity.

Therefore, faith as a concept is not just an abstract idea. It is a concrete reality applicable to billions of people. It is not simply an idea floating about. It permeates one's life to the extent of affecting behaviour, affecting inter-personal relationships and affecting the individual's self-perception as well as their perception of others. Indeed, many religious believers incorporate their beliefs so concretely within their lives that it becomes a part of their identity.