What is 'faith'?

Originally posted by avatar01

Faith is the opposite of logic. Faith is when you believe something to be true, despite a lack of reason. Faith is ultimately belief in a lie or fiction.

It is a mind trick like hypnosis. Preachers are great at using metaphors and clever analogies to make something seem true.

Faith in lies is much preferable to the truth. You can't handle the truth.

The truth is none of that is faith.

What THAT is, is what a typical atheist with an axe to grind displays when ever he has an opportunity to disparage words or beliefs having any religious symbolism. This is the "logical" thing to do they think

Originally posted by serbsta

Originally posted by etherical waterwave

Faith is belief which is been realised. It holds a form.

Faith cannot be blind.

How so?

I'm not an atheist strictly speaking, but no one has seen the mind of God, no one knows what God is. You cannot 'realise' something you do not know or understand, you can only hope what you believe is correct.

Not blind?

That's assuming what we believe isn't true. You only believe what you said is true but you can't possibly know what you say is true when you say "no one" has seen the mind of God. I don't think anyone has seen ALL there is to see of the mind of God but I think he reveals himself to those who don't make it a practice to actively dis-believe in one.

How do you know you aren't seeing the mind of God everytime you see a flower or experience love or are the recipient of someones generosity.

Faith makes you take a position in life. Out of faith all is born. Then you start creating a life. Faith must rule the heart. It is unquestionable.

Originally posted by System
Is faith and blind faith the same thing? From what I can tell they are exactly the same. They are both a belief in something there is no proof of. Is one just more offensive than the other?

If there is a difference, what is it?

Yes there is a difference, just like there is a differnce in "belief" in something and "faith" in someone. The distinction is made when add the word "blind" to the word faith, else you would be saying "blind blind" if they both mean the same thing.

There is no proof the sun will come up tommorow but I can base my faith in the many times it has come through for us in the past. EVERYONE has faith in something. The only people that seem to have a problem with the word are haters of religion and I would say even THEY have faith in something whether they deny it or not.

reply to post by serbsta


I think it's a word twisted beyond it's bounds to mean something it doesn't really. All for a battle of beliefs, neither of which can prove it's case.

Main Entry: 1faith
Pronunciation: \ˈfāth\
Function: noun
Inflected Form(s): plural faiths \ˈfāths, sometimes ˈfāthz\
Etymology: Middle English feith, from Anglo-French feid, fei, from Latin fides; akin to Latin fidere to trust — more at bide
Date: 13th century
1 a : allegiance to duty or a person : loyalty b (1) : fidelity to one's promises (2) : sincerity of intentions
2 a (1) : belief and trust in and loyalty to God (2) : belief in the traditional doctrines of a religion b (1) : firm belief in something for which there is no proof (2) : complete trust
3 : something that is believed especially with strong conviction; especially : a system of religious beliefs

synonyms see belief

— on faith : without question

SOURCE:www.merriam-webster.com...

Originally posted by Watcher-In-The-Shadows
reply to post by serbsta

 

I think it's a word twisted beyond it's bounds to mean something it doesn't really. All for a battle of beliefs, neither of which can prove it's case.

Main Entry: 1faith
Pronunciation: \ˈfāth\
Function: noun
Inflected Form(s): plural faiths \ˈfāths, sometimes ˈfāthz\
Etymology: Middle English feith, from Anglo-French feid, fei, from Latin fides; akin to Latin fidere to trust — more at bide
Date: 13th century
1 a : allegiance to duty or a person : loyalty b (1) : fidelity to one's promises (2) : sincerity of intentions
2 a (1) : belief and trust in and loyalty to God (2) : belief in the traditional doctrines of a religion b (1) : firm belief in something for which there is no proof (2) : complete trust
3 : something that is believed especially with strong conviction; especially : a system of religious beliefs

synonyms see belief

— on faith : without question

SOURCE:www.merriam-webster.com...

What is the modern day meaning of 'gay' in the merriam
We are talking about an ancient word.... bro


Faith of any kind itself must have an object-- whether it is the truth status of a proposition or (in more Biblical terms) a positive trust in the character, purposes, and love of the LORD God Almighty.... Though necessarily every person alive (including the atheist) decidedly lives by faith of some kind, the very concept that faith can be "blind" is nonsensical and even absurd. In fact, those who speak this way are often using a weak-minded rhetorical device rather than taking the effort to think clearly.

The term emunah (translated as "faith" in English translations) occurs for the first time in the Torah in connection with Abraham (Gen. 15:6). What was the nature of Abraham's faith that God reckoned it as tzedakah ("righteousness)"? It is evident from the context that it was not merely a matter of accepting a series of propositions as being true. Abraham did not encounter God as a Platonic Idea or an Aristotelian Unmoved Mover, the context (the promise to the old man that he would be father of a multitude of nations) makes it clear that Abraham was declared tzaddik (righteous) because he trusted in God to do what He said.

The word emunah itself comes from aman, which means to securely trust or rely upon (and from which we get the word "Amen"). Abraham believed in a future state of affairs (a future-tense proposition) as expressed in his present trust in the Person and Promise of God.

Emunah is more like faithfulness than a static state of mind. It is more "belief in" than "belief that." Pistis (the Greek word for belief)
Emunah represents active trust in the goodness of the LORD and expresses itself as loyalty to His will.

The intellectuals and skeptics, they have abandoned the idea of objective truth, they redefine as any number of "narratives" which people use to interpret their environment. Even though they disavow allegiance to "truth," they unapologetically offer up the pretense that their intellectual nihilism is true.


[edit on 13-8-2009 by 297GT]

reply to post by avatar01


Having reviewed the post - you tell me to 'babble on'.

That is abusive, and aren't you just babbling on?

Hey, why don't you babble on about something that means something? That would be a nice change.

Originally posted by spellbound
reply to post by avatar01

 

It is funny that you mention logic, because I have a university degree in logic.

Here is a fact - logic does not rule out belief.

But can belief ever proscribe to logic?if not,is your statement not a contradiction

Originally posted by nake13

Originally posted by spellbound
reply to post by avatar01

 

It is funny that you mention logic, because I have a university degree in logic.

Here is a fact - logic does not rule out belief.

But can belief ever proscribe to logic?if not,is your statement not a contradiction

It's my belief that if you rub 2 bits of wood together it produces heat, and if done in a certain mater it can produce a fire...That seems logical heat makes fire.
I only believe that rubbing wood together makes fire....because logistically heat can make fire, but it's only my belief because I havent never seen it done or done it myself.

Originally posted by etherical waterwave
Faith makes you take a position in life. Out of faith all is born. Then you start creating a life. Faith must rule the heart. It is unquestionable.

Ok well its obvious you don't know how to have a discussion and theres no hope at all for a debate, you're simply talking to yourself, you've been doing it for the whole thread.

Cheers for not participating.

Faith keeps you going. I know why some don't go.

Originally posted by etherical waterwave
Faith keeps you going. I know why some don't go.

May i ask if you're still talking to yourself or if you're directing that at anyone?

Because this really isnt 'going' anywhere.



[edit on 14/8/2009 by serbsta]

reply to post by serbsta

You asked : What is 'faith'?

Here's what Wikipedia has to say -

Faith

Faith is the confident belief or trust in the truth or trustworthiness of a person, idea, or thing. For example, the word "faith" can refer to a religion itself or to religion in general. As with "trust", faith involves a concept of future events or outcomes, and is used conversely for a belief "not resting on logical proof or material evidence." Informal usage of the word "faith" can be quite broad, and may be used in place of "trust" or "belief."

Faith is often used in a religious context, as in theology, where it almost universally refers to a trusting belief in a transcendent reality, or else in a Supreme Being and/or said being's role in the order of transcendent, spiritual things.

Faith is in general the persuasion of the mind that a certain statement is true.[5] It is the belief and the assent of the mind to the truth of what is declared by another, based on his or her authority and truthfulness.

The English word faith is dated from 1200–50, from the Latin fidem, or fidēs, meaning trust, akin to fīdere to trust.

Source : Wikipedia

So, is modern science a 'faith-based religion' ?

Taking Science on Faith

Over the years I have often asked my physicist colleagues why the laws of physics are what they are. The answers vary from “that’s not a scientific question” to “nobody knows.” The favorite reply is, “There is no reason they are what they are — they just are.” The idea that the laws exist reasonlessly is deeply anti-rational. After all, the very essence of a scientific explanation of some phenomenon is that the world is ordered logically and that there are reasons things are as they are. If one traces these reasons all the way down to the bedrock of reality — the laws of physics — only to find that reason then deserts us, it makes a mockery of science.

...

Clearly, then, both religion and science are founded on faith — namely, on belief in the existence of something outside the universe, like an unexplained God or an unexplained set of physical laws, maybe even a huge ensemble of unseen universes, too. For that reason, both monotheistic religion and orthodox science fail to provide a complete account of physical existence.

...

Isaac Newton first got the idea of absolute, universal, perfect, immutable laws from the Christian doctrine that God created the world and ordered it in a rational way. Christians envisage God as upholding the natural order from beyond the universe, while physicists think of their laws as inhabiting an abstract transcendent realm of perfect mathematical relationships.

Source : New York Times

Or, conversely, are some religions 'faith-based sciences' ?

Faith is Not Blind

In Buddhism, faith is only one part of five characteristics that a Noble disciple must possess. In other words, in Buddhism faith is qualified. Blind faith is especially not treated well. In Sutta 44(iv, 220), Buddha questions Sariputta to which Sariputta answers,

"Herein, O Lord, I do not follow the Exalted One out of faith. Those by whom this is unknown, unseen, uncognized, unrealized and unexperienced by wisdom, they will herein follow others out of faith."

In other words, in blind faith there is no knowledge or conviction, and one can have blind faith in anyone and such blind faith never leads to wisdom and true conviction. Only the actual experience of regular practice can lead to true faith and conviction born out of realization.

"But those by whom this is known, seen, cognized, realized and experienced by wisdom, they have no uncertainty, no doubt about it that these five faculties, if cultivated and regularly practiced, lead to the Deathless, are bound for the Deathless, end in the Deathless."

Source : Wikipedia

Very good topic to spend some time thinking about !

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[edit on 14-8-2009 by visible_villain]

[edit on 14-8-2009 by visible_villain]