If faith were the result of logic, wouldn’t most people be converted to one ideology or the other!?

Question

I am approached with the most opposite opinions and advice,
and by men who are equally certain that they represent the Divine
will. I am sure that either the one or the other is mistaken in the
belief, and perhaps in some respects, both.
I hope it will not be irreverent of me to say that if it is probable
that God would reveal his will to others on a point so connected with
my duty, it might be supposed he would reveal it directly to me.
--Abraham Lincoln

Answer 1

Faith is a very misused word today. Some place it in a category that renders it a posture that is chosen by the mind in resignation after the avenue of reason is exhausted, and call it blind faith.
Others place it in the realm of the metaphysical and make it a force which can be controlled by the professions of the mouth. They then tell you to be careful what you confess because you might bring some sickness or ill will upon yourself.
Still others use it to intimate which denomination they belong..."what faith do you belong?"
In the first instance which is really not so bad I suppose, a belief is chosen not because reason has failed so much but that they generally follow belief out of historical and cultural dictates because it just seems alright to do for the consequence of nonbelief is a pretty scary thing, right?
As far as the second group is concerned I have just one thing to say....may the force be with you. If you are sick the bible exhorts us to pray for each other. This would be pretty hard to do if admitting illness means I am bringing it upon myself by confessing it. MY bible says to speak the truth in love and if I'm sick, I'm gonna say it.
Now lets look at faith shall we? If I am going to canoe across a lake and meet you on the other side with the jeep and trailer as per a prearranged agreement between us an act is required on my part based on cognitive evidence. The Bible describes faith as the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things unseen. Knowing you as I do I perform the act of rowing across the lake. I hope you are there. I trust you at your word. All the evidence at my disposal tells me that my hope will be realized and it is by faith I proceed towards that which for the moment is unseen. What then is faith? Nothing less and nothing more than simple trust. Reason and logic are tools of the intellect that God bestowed upon us to order our lives and hopefully find our way to Him. That is where the evidence must lead us. So faith then is that place behaviorally or otherwise where the evidence of reason and logic leads me. You might claim to accept by faith that which reason denies but that simply is not the case. You must admit that circumstances have brought you to the point of decision and although all the dynamics of that cognitive choice may not be communicated in terms that you can understand it is still the reasonabilty of the choice that caused you to choose or it would not have been chosen. This is trust in the degree of light to which the mind has comprehended. So I have faith that you will be at the other side of the lake. So I put that faith in action. Trust, faith, trust faith, trust, faith. You cannot seperate the two. If I tell you that I have faith I am telling you nothing less than this...that my reason and logic and common sense have lead me by the evidence presented to my mind that trust is the place that I must go. This is FAITH. God gave us a brain and expects us to use it and no one can convince me that it was not intended to lead me to faith (trust) in God.

Answer 2

people are committed to one ideology or another. if faith isn't 'in God', then their faith is 'there is no God'. if you fall into the former, then you must choose which God you have faith in. at some point, we live with things that we cannot logically prove. that faith is placed towards what makes the most logical sense to that individual. it doesn't prove anything, or make anything true. faith is placed in some belief after logic has exhausted itself.

Answer 3

Faith is not logical at all. God defies reason. That what makes him so hard to believe in. You have to choose to ignore all the logical reasons you have to believe that God is a figment of humanity's collective imagination.

I find faith very difficult.

Answer 4

Matthew 7
24"Therefore everyone who hears these words of mine and puts them into practice is like a wise man who built his house on the rock. 25The rain came down, the streams rose, and the winds blew and beat against that house; yet it did not fall, because it had its foundation on the rock. 26But everyone who hears these words of mine and does not put them into practice is like a foolish man who built his house on sand. 27The rain came down, the streams rose, and the winds blew and beat against that house, and it fell with a great crash."

Matthew 11:15
He who has ears, let him hear.

Matthew 13
18"Listen then to what the parable of the sower means: 19When anyone hears the message about the kingdom and does not understand it, the evil one comes and snatches away what was sown in his heart. This is the seed sown along the path. 20The one who received the seed that fell on rocky places is the man who hears the word and at once receives it with joy. 21But since he has no root, he lasts only a short time. When trouble or persecution comes because of the word, he quickly falls away. 22The one who received the seed that fell among the thorns is the man who hears the word, but the worries of this life and the deceitfulness of wealth choke it, making it unfruitful. 23But the one who received the seed that fell on good soil is the man who hears the word and understands it. He produces a crop, yielding a hundred, sixty or thirty times what was sown."

Answer 5

I guess faith isn't logical then is it, and it doesn't have to be either. That's why it's called faith. Your faith is entirely driven by your own continued volition to sustain it. Whereas logic will be true or false independent of your ability to derive it.