Why Faith? A Question for Mormonism

Faith is a concept that has pervaded human culture, religion, and government since practically the beginning of written history. My question is:

“Why is faith a component of virtually every religion?”

At first the question seems silly. Any religious person could give simple textbook answers like:

“And Jesus said unto them, Because of your unbelief: for verily I say unto you, If ye have faith as a grain of mustard seed, ye shall say unto this mountain” Matthew 17:20

“God requires faith as a test of our devotion to him”

“The Bible and other religious texts demonstrate faith's necessity”

While these sorts of answers are abundant, and sometimes explain why we personally should have faith (miracles, being saved, etc), they don't explain why god requires faith in first place.

I'm going to approach this subject from the perspective of faith in the Mormon church. Even on the LDS website, the description of faith offers no explanation as to the reason for faith as a necessity for salvation. (https://www.lds.org/scriptures/bd/faith)

Mormons preach that we need to do the following things to be saved and progress to heaven:

Have Faith in Jesus Repent (made available by Jesus' atonement) Be baptized and receive the holy ghost Receive the endowment covenant Be sealed to a spouse in God's temple Continue believing and repenting until death

(https://www.lds.org/study/manual/preach-my-gospel-a-guide-to-missionary-service/lesson-3-the-gospel-of-jesus-christ?lang=eng)

I assert that from God's perspective, as he was creating this plan that it would work just fine without the faith component.

The central thesis of the Plan of Salvation is that in order to become like God we need to come to earth to be tested by suffering, sinning and repenting of those sins. We need to do those things because we need to gain absolute knowledge in order to become like God. If we never learn what suffering is, or how to overcome adversity and sin we can never hope to become all-knowing and understanding like God. We must have a knowledge of good an evil.

An addition of faith to this plan is a non-sequitur. We as God's children can still come to a mortal earth, suffer, sin and repent even if we have a sure knowledge that Jesus and God exist and that the atonement really took place. God and Jesus could appear to each person at the beginning of our “tests” and explain the rules. When tested in school, students don't have to guess as to whether or not the test will go on their final grade for the test to be an assessment of competency. Once looking at this from an outside perspective, it seems obvious that faith as an addition to this plan is not only unnecessary but also immoral.

Lets take the position I'm in as an example. I don't believe in breaking any of the commandments. I believe in being kind and loving towards others. I believe stealing, murder, and adultery are evil. However, due to my wavering belief in an organization I may be disqualified from receiving celestial glory. Even though I have read and studied the scriptures, prayed to know the truth of them, and attending church meetings I'm not sure that the Mormon church has the truth. Should my honesty with myself be the damning evidence against me come judgement day? I hope not.

I find it much more likely that most religions of the world have used faith as a weapon to browbeat their members into strict adherence to a set of rules. Faith is now so ingrained in religious teachings that it is accepted as an obvious truth. Faith is a convenient way to demand obedience without proof. Even better, once people get attached to the ideas purported by the church they keep each other in line because belief is a virtue and skepticism is a weakness.

Skepticism is what keeps the world moving in a healthy direction. Skepticism is what made Joseph Smith start the Mormon church in the first place. I can't believe that the difference between those who will be saved and those who won't will depend less on intentions and merit and more on blind faith to what happens to be the religion they were raised in or sold on. After all, many people around the world believe their religion to be the correct one based on prayer and study.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UJMSU8Qj6Go

“The meme for blind faith secures its own perpetuation by the simple unconscious expedient of discouraging rational inquiry.” -Richard Dawkins