Faith in Christianity

What are your expectations of having faith? Or I guess more specifically, what do you expect to occur as a result of having faith?

This is something I've been wondering about for a while and thought it might be interesting to hear various responses.

Originally posted by ThinkOfOne
What are your expectations of having faith? Or I guess more specifically, what do you expect to occur as a result of having faith?

This is something I've been wondering about for a while and thought it might be interesting to hear various responses.

It depends on what I am placing my faith in God for, for a particular result in regards to what I expect to occur. If I place my faith in God for salvation then I expect to have salvation or if I place my faith in God for more wisdom I expect to be granted more wisdom etc. The criterea for expectation, however, is aligning my will with God's. Therefore, one must determain what God's will is before initiating petitions for him to act. After all, God does not violate my free will why would I ask him to violate his?

Originally posted by ThinkOfOne
What are your expectations of having faith? Or I guess more specifically, what do you expect to occur as a result of having faith?

This is something I've been wondering about for a while and thought it might be interesting to hear various responses.

I expect to have reduced stress levels and an increased feeling of harmony with the universe as a result of having faith. Of course this is a result of me having faith in karma and universal energy rather than a man up in the sky, so I guess it's not really the response you were looking for. I just thought I'd share my experience anyway.

Originally posted by ThinkOfOne
What are your expectations of having faith? Or I guess more specifically, what do you expect to occur as a result of having faith?

This is something I've been wondering about for a while and thought it might be interesting to hear various responses.

Expectations? My fundamental understanding of faith comes from a verse in the bible that says " faith is the substance of things hoped for, and the evidence of things unseen". Look at it closely. From there I build on that thought and reference other verses about faith and before too long you'll have a pretty good idea of what to expect from "having" faith.

Faith (Greek: pistis) means an attitude (and/or a decision) of trust, confidence, assurance in the face of uncertainty (things hoped for but unseen). It does not mean “believing the right propositions.”

Consider an athlete faced with making an uncertain play under difficult conditions. Most athletes know that if they act with all the confidence/assurance they can muster—as if the outcome is actually certain—they have a better chance of making the play than if they just give it a half-hearted attempt.

Consider an athlete “in the zone.” She is playing with an unexamined sense of assurance and confidence, and a concomitant attitude of praos (translated in English as “meek,” but in French Bibles as “debonair” ). Most seem to report that being in the zone carries with it a profound sense of coherence, harmony and even joy.

Athletes practice disciplines (ascesis) to facilitate “getting into the zone.” Some religious folks (theist or not) practice various ascesis to live in an existential attitude of faith and praos. One might call that the spiritual “zone.” From a Christian point-of-view, that means, in part, opening oneself to grace—without insisting on a pre-conceived outcome, or attempting to limit the wide-ranging activities of the Spirit (pneuma that “blows where it wills” without anyone being able to see “whence it comes or where it goes.”

Such an existential faith, therefore, involves an openness to possibility—not the closure of possibility.

In one sense, that may be its own reward—even if you don’t make the play, it seems to be on the whole a richer way to live. Nevertheless, Paul’s definition appears not to be so inscrutable as I once thought. Even for a non-religious person—the next time you’re deep in the rough, with a thick stand of trees between you and the “fair way.”

EDIT: Despite preparation, athletes also report that sometimes "being in the zone" just seems to "happen." Extending the analogy to religious parlance, this would be akin to being "in a state of grace."

Originally posted by josephw
Expectations? My fundamental understanding of faith comes from a verse in the bible that says " faith is the substance of things hoped for, and the evidence of things unseen". Look at it closely. From there I build on that thought and reference other verses about faith and before too long you'll have a pretty good idea of what to expect from "having" faith.

Perhaps my inquiry wasn't clear. I'm thinking different individuals will have different expectations. I'm interested in hearing YOUR expectations. What is it that you "hope for"?

Originally posted by vistesd
Faith (Greek: pistis) means an attitude (and/or a decision) of trust, confidence, assurance in the face of uncertainty (things hoped for but unseen). It does not mean “believing the right propositions.”

Consider an athlete faced with making an uncertain play under difficult conditions. Most athletes know that if they act with all the ding the analogy to religious parlance, this would be akin to being "in a state of grace."

I didn't necessarily mean for this inquiry to be propositional in nature, though I suspect for most the reality is that it is. Perhaps I should have asked, "What do you seek in having faith?" or "What do you hope for in having faith?", but I suspected I wouldn't get anything tangible in response. Do you have a suggestion?

Originally posted by ThinkOfOne
What are your expectations of having faith? Or I guess more specifically, what do you expect to occur as a result of having faith?

This is something I've been wondering about for a while and thought it might be interesting to hear various responses.

To see clearly.

Originally posted by ThinkOfOne
What are your expectations of having faith? Or I guess more specifically, what do you expect to occur as a result of having faith?

This is something I've been wondering about for a while and thought it might be interesting to hear various responses.

A right relationship with God even though our human nature natural tendency to sin.
Kelly

Originally posted by ThinkOfOne
I didn't necessarily mean for this inquiry to be propositional in nature, though I suspect for most the reality is that it is. Perhaps I should have asked, "What do you seek in having faith?" or "What do you hope for in having faith?", but I suspected I wouldn't get anything tangible in response. Do you have a suggestion?

No, I think your question was a good one.

I was simply defining faith as it seems to me in my life, as best as I am able.

Originally posted by ThinkOfOne
What are your expectations of having faith? Or I guess more specifically, what do you expect to occur as a result of having faith?

This is something I've been wondering about for a while and thought it might be interesting to hear various responses.

What do you expect to occur as a result of having faith?

"When you came to Christ, you were “circumcised,” but not by a physical procedure. Christ performed a spiritual circumcision—the cutting away of your sinful nature. For you were buried with Christ when you were baptized. And with him you were raised to new life because you trusted the mighty power of God, who raised Christ from the dead. You were dead because of your sins and because your sinful nature was not yet cut away. Then God made you alive with Christ, for he forgave all our sins. He canceled the record of the charges against us and took it away by nailing it to the cross" (Colossians 2:11-14).