Originally posted by whodeyHope is about what you want to happen. Faith is about what you think will happen. They are different.
When you say that you hope the post arrives before you go to work, you have some measure of faith that it possibly could come, no? You may not be 100% certain, but you have hope nonetheless. Do you place your faith in people? You must to a certain degree. This is a prerequisite for life. Who do you place faith in 100%. Do you not rather place a certain o live with, but in the end you will be disappointed once you realize the rock is powerless.
At least, that's my impression from how people use the word "faith".
Originally posted by AThousandYoungYou are correct in that faith and hope are not the exact same things, otherwise we would not need two different words to describe each. However, faith and hope go hand in hand. Faith excercies the vital component of hope that is needed for life.
Hope is about what you want to happen. Faith is about what you think will happen. They are different.
At least, that's my impression from how people use the word "faith".
Originally posted by trevor33Faith, to me, is knowing that no matter what happens, God's got my back. I trust that everything I experience will ultimately work for my good, even if I don't understand how. Faith, to me, is the concept upon which I build my life. God is real. God loves me. God cares for me. I can have faith that God will show me what He needs me to do today.
too you?
It has been said that religion is the opiate of the masses, that it takes away our ability to think for ourselves. I don't see it that way. God requires a great deal from me. He has given me a mind as well as gifts and talents to put to work for His Kingdom. While I have faith in His leading, I must still be the one to follow. Jesus came to wash our sins, not our brains.
Faith, to me, IS the evidence of things not seen. Once one has a personal relationship with the most powerful force in the universe, it changes your perspective on faith. I cannot prove "faith" to you but I can practice it. We have a saying in my family - "I'll always be there to let you down." People constantly fail us. It's an unescapable fact of life. God is the only one in whom I have faith enough to believe He will never let me down.
Originally posted by trevor33Interesting question. I tend to reject the conventional depiction of God, but I do believe in God. I suspect the laws of logic are finite and cannot explain what is infinite. I then rely on faith, a gut instinct or an unfailing intuition to reveal to me what is true.
too you?
A skeptic would scoff at this idea. Sometimes I believe that the skeptic is just obstinately ignoring the significance of faith, so it really is difficult to argue faith.
Originally posted by StarrmanI should think, having read many of whodey's posts, that he would say that before he had faith, he had not true life.
What utter rubbish. You're using your interpretation of one word to cover a myriad of different specifics. 'I hope the post arrives before I go to work' and 'I have faith in the post arriving before I go to work' are not the same thing. One suggests the possibility, the other fully demands that it should happen.
Losing hope is not akin to losing one ...[text shortened]... ery expereince of life.
What did you do before you had faith? Did you cease to live?
correct me if i'm wrong, whodey. but isn't that what it means to be "dead in your trespasses?"
Originally posted by Big MacYes, this is a good point. To be "reborn" is to live for the first time in a spriritual sense. This requires faith. It is very difficult explaining this to some one who has not experienced it. I suppose the best way to explain it is the feeling of being in love with a woman for the first time. You can't imagine how you lived before you loved for the first time. This relationship also required faith in the person you fell in love with.
I should think, having read many of whodey's posts, that he would say that before he had faith, he had not true life.
correct me if i'm wrong, whodey. but isn't that what it means to be "dead in your trespasses?"
To me faith is:
Assent to the truth of a proposition based on the knowledge/testimony of someone/something other than yourself.
The ancient Christian principle is that "faith seeks understanding." In other words, it is better to know, but since it is impossible for any one man to know everything during his life and since human reason cannot comprehend every object (without help, at least), until we achieve heaven some things must be taken on faith. [1Cor13"We see now through a glass in a dark manner; but then face to face."]
Children start out knowing very little and in order to acquire even the rudiments of knowledge possessed by the average person, they must have some measure of faith in parents, teachers, etc.
However, the Christian has a particular kind of faith in Divine Revelation. If you can be convinced through reason and history that there is an omniscient and omnipotent God possessing all goodness and that he taught man through the writings of Sacred Scripture and the teachings of His Church, you can have a CERTAIN faith in the truths contained therein, for they come from He who can neither deceive nor be deceived.
For what it's worth, I think that hope (in the strictest sense) is recognizing the dignity and worth of your END (heaven) and believing that you can achieve it with God's help and your own efforts.
Hoping is the same as wishing. Having faith (in the religious context) means believing without proof. If something can be proven, there is no need of faith. For example, Christians believe Jesus is the son of god, was born of a virgin and was resurected. There is no way to prove these assertions.
Frankly, it disorders my mind to contemplate how many people have faith in this Christian rubbish.