What is faith?

Question

It seems a lot of you are associating "faith" with "religon." Come on now, I thought you were suppose to be "logical." I got this from dictionary.com

faith
1. confidence or trust in a person or thing: faith in another's ability.
2. belief that is not based on proof: He had faith that the hypothesis would be substantiated by fact.

So now that you all have been enlightened about what "faith" really is. Is is safe to say that atheists have very strong "faith." I mean gez, they even use a science example for the 2nd definition, come on now.

I'm telling you. I should be a lawyer.

Do you not believe in the unexplainable? Do you not believe that science hold the answers without any proof?

Can I also add the following;


BURN!!!!!!!!!!

^^^

Add Kelso's voice to the BURN!

Answer 1

Faith is being sure of what we hope for and certain of what we do not see
Hebrews 11:1

Answer 2

Faith is the substance of all things hoped for.

Faith is not a religious concept, although the religious community uses the word more than others. For Christians, faith is the belief that there is a greater being, and something wonderful beyond the grave.

People need faith. Regardless of the definition. Atheists included. Employees have faith that their paychecks will be delivered every payday, and not bounce. Cooks have faith that their dishes will turn out delicious. Children have faith in the tooth fairy, Santa and the Easter bunny. Scientists have faith that they can disprove much of the biblical claims. Google Evidences for Creation to see how a scientist bent of this very task became a Christian. The more he tried to disprove, the more he was convinced that the Bible was true in how the earth was formed and other biblical claims regarding the creation of the world.

Answer 3

I would say that faith is any belief that is not predicated upon sound evidence, reasoning/logic, or proof.

Based on that definition, yes, everyone - even atheists - can exhibit faith. Faith does not necessarily have to be spiritual in nature. For example, if I'm married, when I leave my wife to go on a trip, the belief that she will not be disloyal to me while I'm gone is a non-religious - yet very real - expression of faith.

The thing about religious/spiritual faith is that it's of the strongest sort, since it requires a bigger stretch than most other expressions of faith. That's probably why people generally tend to associate faith with spirituality.

Answer 4

Faith has many definitions. Here's Merriam-Webster's dictionary definition:

1 a: allegiance to duty or a person : loyalty b (1): fidelity to one's promises (2): sincerity of intentions2 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 trust3: something that is believed especially with strong conviction; especially : a system of religious beliefs

Depending on the definition used, an atheist might have faith (conviction) but not faith (belief in a god).

Answer 5

Faith is a gift of freedom for the humble.

Now faith is the substance of things hoped for the evidence of things not seen. Hebrews 1:1

Oh and i agree with Scotty. You can only be an agnostic because to be an atheist you would have to be omniscient which is impossible. To make any absolute statement you would have to Know everything. For insistence if i were to say there is no gold in china i would have to Know the substance of every rock and every piece of jewelry and every person's mouth.

So really what you are is an agnostic.

Answer 6

You are confused. A lot of religious folks have faith in science, in their doctors, in their loved ones, in their friends as do many atheists. Of course, every human is capable of holding faith in a given object. This has nothing to do with atheism, which implies a lack of faith in the supernatural only.

Answer 7

"Faith" to me is believing in something that is bigger than yourself.

Faith is believing that there is something all encompassing that protects us and watches over us.

Believing in something and not seeing it as Thomas did is what faith is.

Atheists do have "faith" so to speak. They may not believe in God...but they do have faith in other things.

Atheists know that the sun will rise and set. That we go from day to night. But guess what?? GOD created the stars and the heavens and the sun and the moon. They believe in the ideals of what God created without even realizing it.

Answer 8

Trust

Answer 9

I would agree that it takes more faith to believe that there is definitively no God that created everything just as He said that He did in His revelation to us than it would take to accept Him at His word.

After all, we can not begin to understand what He did. We postulate flawed theories that require faith to overlook the obvious problems.

Hope that helps.

Answer 10

Well, I like the way your were trying to prove something but I have no faith in your reasoning because there are no such things as atheists. Here is why.

A so-called atheists has to presuppose he/she is wiser than all in the universe and has all knowledge. Barring that, he/she has to reason that there may be one or more smarter than them ergo, a God.