Can you HAVE FAITH in God's existence & KNOW that God exists at the same time?

Question

If you KNOW God exists, is there then any use for faith? Can you have faith in God AND know that God exists, or does it have to be one or the other?

By the way, based on the many answers I received to a previous question, the consensus view is that having faith is NOT the same as knowing the truth.

http://answers.yahoo.com/question/index?qid=20070412132111AALI6gT

(By the way, when I say "God", I refer to the Judeo-Christian deity, Yahweh.)

I'm only talking about God's EXISTENCE. I'm not talking about having faith in "the power of God". All I'm talking about is either having faith that God exists or claiming to KNOW that God exists. Is it possible to have faith in God's existence and claim to KNOW God exists at the same time? That's IT.

Answer 1

GREAT question! Too bad a lot of people didn't get what you were talking about.

If I tell you I have a twenty dollar bill in my pocket, you have FAITH that it is there.
If I take the twenty dollar bill out of my pocket and show it to you, your faith is destroyed and replaced by KNOWING.

So here's my answer: I KNOW God exists, and I have FAITH He will continue to work in my life. Hope that helps!

Answer 2

Having had experience of the real God, spiritual, transcendent experience etc yet not from a religious back ground, the faith stuff is difficult. There was tremendous love, an experience that went beyond the physical/sensory experience, but no voice no visual, no message in any comprehensible sense. It checked in once and a while for years after in far lesser experiences. But never demanded, expected or protested my lack of religion, my occasional profanity and absurdities. I don't recognize this God in the action or beliefs of Christians and I have desperately looked, yet I think those that know about certain truths have recognized the Christian God in these experiences. Bottom line my medical notes have gone out to different research institutes who are trying to discover how I was able to function with an advanced illness that should have rendered me senseless at the very least and beyond a certain point deader than dead. God didn't say what it was doing or explain why. I didn't know what was happening. But I prayed and something defiantly sustained me, which has yet to be explained. Faith had nothing to do with this, but an openness to accept did. Unfortunately I accepted my own demise and final death, fortunately God did not.

Answer 3

a real trust's score if that's what you wana call it really is %100. once you've faith in him than you realize He exist and does what's sturdy for you. Non-believers have many theories as for why all of us seeks a larger power yet real Christians can testify of GOD's Love and advantages. you ought to spend an entire life attempting to disprove him or you ought to spend an eternity believing in Him. for sure GOD's life should be researched! you ought to do an attempt to entice close GOD with an open heart. i'm hoping my answer has been of a few relieve or coaching. GOD bless you all

Answer 4

I'm just assuming since I'm an athiest but wouldn't the faith that you hold for a diety be the proof you need to know he/she exists?

I suppose it depends on how you define knowing and believing. What supports each?

Does knowledge support faith and does faith support knowledge?

All this goes far beyond religion. Knowledge is such a tricky issue.

Can we ever truly know anything? Tangible proof comes from our senses; sight, sound, taste, touch, smell. But all those can be easily tricked. Perception is not definition.

Intangible proof comes from sense itself; faith, experience, education, emotion. But all these can also be tricked by socialization, interpretation, our personal memory bank of emotions, experiences, upbrining. Individuality does not define a community.

Therefore my response to you is that there is no response.

Answer 5

I use the term belief instead of faith. In the Bible, faith is a term used for trust. The trust is that God will do what he says he will. Never is "trust"used as an epistemic leap in hopes that God exists. In fact, there is no argument for God's existence in the Bible; it is presupposed.

Belief and knowledge do go together. One cannot know a Jeep has four wheels while not believing it has four wheels. According to Wiki, belief is the psychological state in which an individual is convinced of the truth of a proposition. In this way, anything that we know is also something we "believe" in.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Belief

Answer 6

I know that my wife exist, but I still have to have faith that she loves me, wants the best for me, will have a relationship with me, tells the truth so that I can trust her words and promises, etc.
Just know that she exist does not exclude the need for faith in who and what she is.

Nor does knowing the God exist exclude the faith in who and what he is. Hebrews 11:6 puts in it the terms: "Those who comes to God must believe that he is, AND that he is a rewarder of those who seek him." So even after we know God exist, faith is still needed.

Answer 7

The first truly intelligent question I've seen in awhile. Thank you.
I consider myself to be an Agnostic, because nobody has proven, to me or anyone else, gods existence. I don't believe that this closes the door to faith, I think it opens the door to true Faith, trust without knowledge or belief.

Answer 8

Yes, sometimes more and sometimes less. I know that He exists and I have faith in Him and I trust that He is going to do what He promised. He has a very good tracking record what comes to keeping His promises.

So you can believe that God exists but you might not put you faith in Him even though you know He exists. Doubt comes handy when we want to do something that we know that God would not want us to do.

I believe that we all know the truth but we just place our faith differently. Remember, even Satan knows that God exists, but what is his choice...disappointing. : )

Answer 9

2 Corinthians 5:7...We live by Faith not by Sight.

Galatians 3:11-14.....Clearly no one is justified before God by the law, because, "The righteous will live by faith. The law is not based on faith; on the contrary, "The man who does these things will live by them. Christ redeemed us from the curse of the law by becoming a curse for us, for it is written: "Cursed is everyone who is hung on a tree. He redeemed Us in order that the blessing given to Abraham might come to the Gentiles through Christ Jesus, so that by Faith we may receive the promise of the Spirit of God.

Romans 3:22-24......The righteousness from God comes through Faith in Jesus Christ to all who believe. There is no difference , for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, and are justified freely by His Grace through the Redemption that came by Christ Jesus.

Hebrews 11: 1-3....Now Faith is being sure of what we hope for and certain of what we Do not See. This is what the ancients were commended for . By Faith we understand that the Universe was formed at God's Command, so that what is seen was not made out of what was Visable.

Hebrews 11:6.....And without Faith it is impossible to please God, because anyone who comes to Him must believe that He exists and that He rewards those who earnestly seek Him.

><> In Christ <><

Answer 10

It is written that we are saved (know God) by Grace, through Faith. Even that Faith and Grace is not ours. It is a gift of God.

I think that if God takes away His gift of Faith then we will no longer know that God exists. I think they exist together.