What is Faith?

[Stanislaw]

I am searching for an answer to this and any help would be greatly apreciated! :-?

[Shea]

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

This whole chapter deals with faith. (But notice how faith is always acted upon.)

[Arteum]

Suppose you are in a dark and unfamiliar room; you stretch out your hands in front of you and walk slowly, listening to sounds and feeling the ground with your feet. When the darkness and suspense become no loger bearable, or when it requires too much work of your senses and you do not wish them to work hard, you shut off your visual, tactile, auditory, olfactory senses and take a giant leap into the darkest and the most unsavoury part of the room hoping that you will somehow land on a comfortable couch in a magnificent garden. This is Faith.

[Stanislaw]

These are both usefull responses, but what does faith mean for an individual. I know what I should be believing, but I am not sure If I believe in the exact words or the actual meaning. It is very difficult to try to have faith, when faith is not a clear idea. :-?

[Shea]

For me, faith is pretty much what's been stated here. But it's also the courage to do what is difficult even when it dosen't make any sense, especially to others. That why I like the 11 chapter of Hebrews. I think that the most amazing example of faith was Abraham, when he was commanded to sacrifice his son Issac. Here was the promised son who was to begin the promise of unumbered descendants, and yet Abraham was ready to sacrifice him for God.:o

But Job is my favorite Biblical character on faith. Despite all the persecutions that everyone put on him, he still hung in there. At this point in my life, he's the one that I can connect with. (primarily because I don't have any children yet.)

[Stanislaw]

Who is Job? :oops:

[Chardata]

Job is a man that was holy in God's eyes in the Old Test. God allowed Job to be tested and 'torchered' by Satan inorder to prove to Satan that Job truly blieved in God. Almost everything was taken away from Job...including most of his family. He didn't understand why God was allowing this to happen to him. Even Job's wife told him to curse God and die. He did not do that. He had faith/believed that God was in control...and he was.

[Shea]

Go ahead and read the book of Job in the Old Testament, Stanislaw, it's really inspiring!

We just had a great discussion in our Bible study class tonight. We were studying Romans 5, and we were talking about hope. Paul talks here about how we have hope in Christ for eternal salvation because of His sacrifice. We were likening it to the hopes that people have in this world, like a better job, a better car, house, etc.... But this hope we were discussing is one that can never diminish and will never be taken from us so long as we are in Christ. But I especially liked this passage:


3Not only so, but we also rejoice in our sufferings, because we know that suffering produces perseverance; 4perseverance, character; and character, hope.


Even though we suffer, it builds us up, so we rejoice!

I think that could be added to the definition of faith.

[Stanislaw]

Thank you for the advice, I have not read the Old Testament for a long time (actaully my Grandmother read it to me in polish when I was 4 or 5)
I relly should read the bible a bit more often... :oops:

[Shea]

I always had a hard time remembering to read the Bible too. But since I've been chatting here, this sort of makes me delve into it.

[Chardata]

I agree with Shea. Read Job...like mentioned before...Romans and James. Those are very accusing books but realistic. Especially James. Romans is more uplifting and encouraging...but both are very good.

[fayefaye]

i think faith is believing in something with all ur heart, even though there's a large chance ur wrong. to put ur *** on the line and not be scared. i read a quote somewhere, but i can't remember it.... faith is wanting to do something, knowing u probably won't make it, and then doing it anyway! )

[Isagel]

Faith can be seen as a belief that evrything is meaningful. Even in hard times and suffering. In that respect I see a parallell to Antonoskys theory about sence of coherence. Antonosky wanted to find out how people can keep their sanity and mental health during awful conditions like torture and concentration camps. (and it might be interesting to compare the theory to Jobs suffering or Jesus)

I have copied a short version of the theory here.

But, of course this is "one side of the coin". There is also a darker part of belief and faith, as with every aspect of human emotion. Firm belief and lack of tolerance have led people to commit horrible crimes, in the name of the greater good. The belief that the meaning will reveal itself in time and prove to be good can make people loose sight of what is happening now and what they really are doing. (Of course some might argue that that isn´t faith but fanatism)

But still, even considering that aspect - faith helps us to strive beyond the things we think we are capable of. It takes people through the dark times.

I wish I had it. But somehow I lost it along the way. Perhaps I can build myself a new one.

http://www.rcm.org.uk/data/info_centre/data/virtual_institute_salutogenesis.htm

"Sense of coherence: sense of wellbeing
Collectively, resources promote the development and maintenance of a strong 'sense of coherence', which is synonymous with health. The stronger the sense of coherence a person has, the better ability they have to employ cognitive, affective and instrumental strategies which are likely to improve coping2 and thus wellbeing. There is not one coping strategy but many, and a person who copes well, who has a strong sense of coherence, is able to select the best way of dealing with the particular stressor. Each person's sense of coherence, or sense of wellbeing, requires certain inherent prerequisites for coping successfully, as follows:

1) Meaningfulness: the deep feeling that life makes sense emotionally; that life's demands are worthy of commitment. It is essentially seeing coping as desirable.

2) Manageability: the extent to which people feel they have the resources to meet the demands, or feeling that they know where to go to get help.

3) Comprehensibility: the extent to which a person finds or structures their world to be understandable, meaningful, orderly and consistent instead of chaotic, random and unpredictable.3

The extent to which a person develops these prerequisites - the extent to which a person has pervasive, enduring and dynamic feelings of confidence that things will work out as well as can be reasonably expected - is determined by that person's sense of coherence. "

[Stanislaw]

Interesting. Faith means to take risks with no visible end in sight, even if the odds are against you, what I have learned from reading these.

Would defending your own religion be considered an act of faith, even if it meant murder. I am speaking about the labled "terrorists".

Or is faith strictly following all laws set forth by ones religion?

I am not sure...

[fayefaye]

Interesting. Faith means to take risks with no visible end in sight, even if the odds are against you, what I have learned from reading these.

Would defending your own religion be considered an act of faith, even if it meant murder. I am speaking about the labled "terrorists".

Or is faith strictly following all laws set forth by ones religion?

I am not sure...

Defending your religion to the point of murder would most certainly not be considered faith because most religions state that someone cannot kill, and hence it's still wrong; they're just trying to use religion to justify their behaviour.

I don't think faith would be following all laws to the letter, though I suppose u r supposed to try to do that. Faith is just believing, with all your heart.