9 What is the precarious relationship between the reality of everyday living and the issue of faith?

Question

cristian

Answer 1

Faith is nothing if it is not practical.

Faith must issue in works. If no works result then faith is dead.

But what really is faith?

Faith cometh by hearing, and hearing by the word of God. Unless you hear God's word you do not have faith.

Therefore faith must also be obedience to God. Whatsoever is not of faith is sin.

My sheep hear my voice, and I know them, and they follow me:
And I give unto them eternal life; and they shall never perish, neither shall any man pluck them out of my hand.

Seeing ye have purified your souls in obeying the truth through the Spirit unto unfeigned love of the brethren, see that ye love one another with a pure heart fervently:
Being born again, not of corruptible seed, but of incorruptible, by the word of God, which liveth and abideth for ever.


There is no precarious relationship. Either it is life or there is death.

The thief cometh not, but for to steal, and to kill, and to destroy: I am come that they might have life, and that they might have it more abundantly.

Answer 2

There is no such precarious relationship between my faith and my everyday living. I live my faith; sometimes better than others,but my faith is my life. It involves helping others, meditation and worship. As my life and my faith are one and the same, there is no tension or struggle between the two. The moment you separate the two, that is when tension creeps in and living one's faith becomes a struggle; precarious, as you put it.

Then again, I'm not a Christian.

Also, with the '9' preceeding the question, this seems to be a bit of homework, and if it is, one might wonder if what you are doing by asking it here might belie your struggle. Are you expecting others to do your work for you?

Answer 3

It starts with getting up in the morning from that point on we are under the influence of temptation.

In Gnostic Christian belief and in Hermetic thought, the world of matter/flesh is seen as evil. There are 2 suns, a dark sun and a light sun. The light sun guides the spirit and the dark guides the body. Our everyday experiences constantly tempt us in to evil. The temptation is the temptation solely of the flesh.

Many Christians these days will disagree but you only have to look in the book of James in the King James Version of the Bible to find the words:

Make the world your enemy. Friendship with the world is enmity with God and enmity with the world is friendship with God.

Living as a soul in a body, it is easy to forget the most important fact that we are immortal souls first and foremost. Over years we are taught by adults to respect and care for our bodies and taught to do the wrong thing for a good reason. Lying to be polite is one of the big things. eg. Saying somebody looks nice when they don't.

Then there is the instinct to survive. Survival in this world depends on negativity. Something has to die for your food, be it a plant or an animal. What evil would you commit to punish somebody who harmed or molested your children? You can argue that the evil doer did what they did first but the fact remains: revenge doesn't justify our actions.

The world is a cruel place and we all sin in it. The pursuit of doing good and not commiting evil is a day by day and moment by moment struggle. For many of us we get to the point where perhaps the only way we can irradicate evil from our lives to the extent we feel the need to is to walk away from the world almost totally. I'm talking about monastic escape.

In every faith the highest spiritual phase is to step away from the world. It doesn't matter if you are Muslim, Buddhist, Christian, Jewish, Taoist or Hindu - the way to find ultimate salvation is to walk away. There is no miracle salvation from becoming a suicide bomber, saying you believe Jesus is our saviour etc. It's our daily actions that count. You can declare whatever you like about yourself but saying "Jesus is my saviour" means nothing if you are cruel, hateful, selfish, spiteful, nasty etc.

Actions speak louder than words.

The real danger is to take your own goodness for granted.

You have to monitor your actions every moment of every day more so when working and living with non religious people.

Answer 4

not sure about the 9 part, but I would say that whether you believe in a God or not - the reality of everyday living requires faith in something/someone regardless just to make it through.

Answer 5

There is nothing precarious about Christian faith. It is the safest, most down-to-earth, practical faith in the world. 'If a man will not work, let him not eat.' Make it your ambition to mind your own business and work with your hands.' 'What, O man, does the Lord require of you? To love mercy, to act justly, and to walk humbly with your God?' 'Forgive one another, because God in Christ forgave you.' 'You will know them by their fruits.' 'Test everything.'
.

Answer 6

faith is just a euphonism to hide behind.im atheist,but a catholic mate of mine used to do whatever he liked all week.he used to tell me,oh ,thats ok,i go to confession on sunday then i can start again next week.and you wonder why im atheist.faith has nothing to do with every day life.ive just proved it.

Answer 7

think you pushing your luck here you doing homework or summit ....faith is a reality of everyday living ...if we waken in the morning thanks be to god if we don't then we in arms of god ....god willing