Jeff, this is an excellent illustration!
I'm not sure that 'faith' in any of that has any foundation at all. If someone told you to keep investing in a fund for 6 thousand years that would bear some sort of miraculous result - a fund that you could never see, never confirm was real, never prove actually ever existed except for a 'document' of questionable validity that made the claim - how long would you pay into that account? In so doing are you showing trust in something or in nothing?
Some are never able to realize this is exactly what they are doing. I think this faith is just a defense mechanism because they cannot deal with the harsh reality.