On Faith, God, and Faith in God.

This is what I mean, and I hope what other people mean, when I say that faith in God gets us through our problems:

• It is through our awesome family and friends and our own innate awesomeness that get us through life's adversities and struggles. This awesomeness is the immanent, pantheistic God.
• It is through faith in ourselves and faith in the people who love us that we have faith in God.

What I don't mean, and I hope what other people don't mean, is that:

• All help must come from a supposedly all-loving transcendental God who afflicts us with all sorts of maladies to "test" our faith. Cancer is there to test us if we can still have "faith" despite the unbearable pain, and tsunamis are there to remind us to return to God because we've all been so wicked. Either way, there's nothing we can do; it's all up to God.

Which do you think is closer to what you mean? More importantly: Which do you think is more rational and more applicable to the human condition?