It takes faith to sit in a chair?

Question

What is the definition of "faith" when someone claims that it takes faith to sit in a chair or to believe the Sun will shine tomorrow?

Answer 1

Faith is the suspension of disbelief.

Faith and logic are antithetical. If religious adherents would admit that they believe for PERSONAL, rather than logical, reasons, THEN they would be honest about their "faith". But claiming faith on a logical, rational, basis is dishonest -- faith is a personal position . . . not a logical conclusion or rational choice.

Faith and doubt always go hand in hand. Faith without doubt is BLIND faith. It takes a closed mind to sublimate doubt to the point of blind faith. Normal people leaven their faith with a little common sense. Doubt always nibbles at the edges of faith. After all, without doubt, faith would have no context, no purpose, no meaning, no point. Would it?

Because there is no evidence for anything supernatural (including God), NOBODY can claim ANY knowledge of it. Anybody who does is a liar or delusional. It takes suspension of disbelief to believe in the supernatural: one must convince oneself that the impossible is possible. This is the opposite of curiosity. You have one life, one quest . . . and you choose to surrender it.

When people talk about faith, they're usually talking about the supernatural: God, angels, miracles, etc. There is, of course, lots of doubt involved because the supernatural is entirely outside the human (natural) realm. It's not so much that God, or angels can't exist . . . the real point is that NOBODY has access to the supernatural and thus NOBODY knows ANYTHING about it. Anybody who claims to have faith in something he knows absolutely nothing about is actually confessing to placing his imagination before, and above, his intellect.

Imagination has its place . . . but not where life decisions are involved. Placing imagination above intellect is surrendering your quest for meaning. You are surrendering the meaning of your life to your religion . . . to your version of God.

And that's fine. Just be honest about it. You gave up and made a leap of faith. Your faith is a personal position . . . not a valid logical conclusion.

Answer 2

It's a cop-out. It doesn't take faith to sit in a chair or to believe the sun will come up tomorrow.

Everyone has observed that chairs will support themselves or that the sun has come up every day since they were born. You can take this evidence and use it to predict that chairs will continue to support themselves and the sun will continue to come up in the morning. While there is always the chance that they will not continue to do as they have in the past, the probability is so slight that it is more than reasonable to ignore that possibility.

It sounds like you've been talking to someone claiming that everything in the world takes faith. That is not true. Only things which are not observable or testable take faith, i.e. religion.

Answer 3

You can ON sit on the chair, if you believe that it's there, that faith. You know its there, therefore , you sit in it with full Faith.

You sleep at night with the knowledge that you will wake up next day. I mean, when u are sleeping, your body is motionless, helpless, you don't have a clue as to what is happening while you sleep, yet your heart beats. For all purpose, you are dead for those few hours you Sleep with full faith that god will keep you safe when you wake up to the sun rise. What more proof could one want to have faith in him.

Answer 4

Great question.
We all need faith to do anything. We definitely need faith even to sit in a chair and when we take the rising of the sun for granted we are relying on a greater source of faith...God himself.

Answer 5

My definition of faith is the extrapolation of a graph based on empirical data.

So, Wall Street runs on faith. And yes, when you flip on a light switch, there is no guarantee that the light will work THIS time. Based on past experience, you expect it to work. But it may not, for one of several reasons. Same thing goes for your computer. Or your car. Or that you will wake up tomorrow morning. Or that your wife/husband will still love you next month.

Most people think that faith does not require evidence. Faith is not to be confused with the evidence itself. I teach high school physics. Quite often, students are required to plot a graph of the experimental data, and interpret it. Sometimes, they also have to use extrapolation to arrive at an answer for which they have NO data.

Least anyone think this is not Biblical, recall the story of the Centurion who came to Jesus requesting Him to heal his sick servant. Jesus told him that He will come to his house to heal the servant. The Centurion replied that there was no need for that; all Jesus had to do was to give the command that the servant be healed as he himself was a man of authority and when he gave a command, it was obeyed. Jesus commended him saying that in all of Israel, He had never encountered such faith. The Centurion's faith in Jesus was BASED ON HIS PAST EXPERIENCES.

Answer 6

Faith is NOT believing.
Faith is ACTING on your beliefs.
For example, an Atheist believes there is no God. He shows his faith in this belief by acting in a certain way, not following any rule but his own.
You believe that a chair is sturdy. You show your faith in that belief by sitting down.
You believe that God exists. You show your faith in this belief by living by God's laws and such.
The opposite of faith is not disbelief.
The opposite of faith is hypocrisy and disobedience.

"The demons believe, and shudder....."

Answer 7

It just means that you have to trust that the chair won't collapse under you, or you wouldn't plop down on it. You don't know if that chair is defective, or if termites have gotten into it, but you still sit down, don't you? So why do you try to sit in it?

Answer 8

Hebrews 11, the faith chapter.

Answer 9

Any and all actions take some level of faith,no matter if they've been done before.I've praised God before,but that doesnt void the fact that I still have faith each time I do it.

Answer 10

their definition is not one that i subscribe to.

There is EVIDENCE that sitting in a chair will work and that the sun will not disappear tomorrow. Faith requires no evidence.