What is Faith?

[arunangelo]

What is faith (In God)?
Since God is love, to have faith in God, is to have complete trust in the unconditional love Jesus expressed for us on the cross. It is also to believe that through love, we can conquer every evil in the world. Since, love is a force; it is always expressed through actions. Therefore, when we have faith in God, we will forgo our own interest, in order to serve those who have hurt and betrayed us. If we claim to have faith, but do not put it into action. our faith is not alive (James 2:17). On the other hand, if we put our faith into action, it will set our heart on fire; and make our faith grow. It will then propel us to go out of our way and spend every moment of our life to serve God by serving others, including our enemies. In this effort we will count no cost, expect no reward and accept any discomfort or peril that comes our way. Then, even if we have faith as small as a mustard seed, it will grow mighty enough to move mountains (Luke 17:6).
To have faith in God, is also to know, that His love is the only solution to the problems in our life. We will, therefore, not resort to lawsuits or violence to solve our problem. Instead, we will use pure love to solve our problems. We will, therefore, help those who hurt us, give them more than what they are ask for, pray for them and not retaliate against them.

[onewithhim]

[Replying to post 1 by arunangelo]

What is faith?

Believing in something without having any supporting evidence to show the belief is valid and will happen.
Believing the sun will rise tomorrow isn't faith after the first time you see the sun rise.
Believing the sun will rise and monkeys will fly out of it is faith (until if happens the first time)

What is faith in God?

Believing in god without any supporting evidence to make you believe in god.

I disagree.

Faith is the assured expectation of things hoped for, the evident demonstration of realities though not beheld. (Hebrews 11:1)

We have seen evidence of God in His creations, as was pointed out in Romans 1:19,20:

"What may be known about God is manifest among [us], for God made it manifest to [us]. For his invisible qualities are clearly seen from the world's creation onward, because they are perceived by the things made, even his eternal power and Godship, so that [we] are inexcusable."


And because we can see that there is an Intelligent Designer behind Creation, we can have faith that He will take care of us, as He has said in the book that He inspired.



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[Divine Insight]

What is faith (In God)?
Since God is love, to have faith in God, is to have complete trust in the unconditional love Jesus expressed for us on the cross.

Unconditional love?

Sorry, but the last thing that Christian theology can lay claim to is a God who offers unconditional love. There are more conditions placed on the Christian God's love than just about any other God ever invented by mankind.

[onewithhim]

[Replying to post 1 by arunangelo]

Since God is love,...

This is an oft quoted phrase but it is quite meaningless. It is not even grammatically correct. One could say "God is loving" or "God loves", but what on earth does "God is love" even mean and how do we know that it is true?

... to have faith in God, is to have complete trust in the unconditional love Jesus expressed for us on the cross.

But it was not unconditional. You only get a promise and that promise is only fulfilled on the condition that you believe. If your brain is unable to believe then the act of Jesus was a meaningless gesture.

To have faith in God, is also to know, that His love is the only solution to the problems in our life.

Not to know but to believe. So far there is no sign that God's love has solved any problems in the lives of anyone. In fact, God's love is quite conspicuous by its absence in this world .

Faith allows you to believe anything at all, both what is true and what is false and it always helps if you throw in a good dose of confirmation bias

Two points that I disagree with: "God is love" is not grammatically incorrect, because He IS the embodiment of love. He cannot do a single thing that is hateful to His human creation or anything else. Even His destruction of the wicked is based on love, because if the incorrigible wicked people are not obliterated, the people who are righteous God-loving people would not be able to live in true peace and security.

Secondly, if you were familiar with the reasons that the world is in such a mess, you would understand that God has let Satan try to prove that he, Satan, is a better ruler, and that dragon has a limited time to do his best to show up God. The Bible gives us an approximate time-frame to expect the end of this crazy system of things and the beginning of everlasting peace and security (which the nations cannot give us).


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[Divine Insight]

Two points that I disagree with: "God is love" is not grammatically incorrect, because He IS the embodiment of love. He cannot do a single thing that is hateful to His human creation or anything else. Even His destruction of the wicked is based on love, because if the incorrigible wicked people are not obliterated, the people who are righteous God-loving people would not be able to live in true peace and security.

But this makes no sense in Christianity because in Christianity there can be no such thing as righteous God-loving people.

All people are wicked and only the wicked can be "saved" though Jesus Christ via the gift of undeserved grace.

So there can be no righteous God-loving people in Christianity. If such people existed they wouldn't need Jesus to be their savior.

[onewithhim]

Two points that I disagree with: "God is love" is not grammatically incorrect, because He IS the embodiment of love. He cannot do a single thing that is hateful to His human creation or anything else. Even His destruction of the wicked is based on love, because if the incorrigible wicked people are not obliterated, the people who are righteous God-loving people would not be able to live in true peace and security.

But this makes no sense in Christianity because in Christianity there can be no such thing as righteous God-loving people.

All people are wicked and only the wicked can be "saved" though Jesus Christ via the gift of undeserved grace.

So there can be no righteous God-loving people in Christianity. If such people existed they wouldn't need Jesus to be their savior.

They are considered "righteous" when they accept Jesus' gift and start doing their best to follow his instructions.

"The Son of man came...to minister and to give his soul a ransom in exchange for many." (Matthew 20:28)

"Not everyone [calling me 'Lord'] will enter into the kingdom of the heavens, but the one DOING the will of my Father who is in the heavens." (Matthew 7:21)

"Trust in Jehovah and do good; reside in the earth, and deal with faithfulness. Take exquisite delight in Jehovah, and he will give you the requests of your heart.. Roll upon Jehovah your way, and rely on him, and he will act. He will certainly bring forth your righteousness as the light itself, and your justice as the midday." (Psalm 37:3-6)


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[Yahwehismywitness]

[Replying to post 9 by 2timothy316]

I see you have that Pauline mark. Hebrews 11 Now faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen.

Whatever doesn’t kill you makes you stronger

There’s a powerful story in the bible called the Book of Job. The story is about a man named Job who was as astute as any man could be. He believed strongly in God and held high is faith. But the story goes that one day the devil paid God a visit. The topic of discussion? Job’s faith

[2timothy316]

[Replying to post 9 by 2timothy316]

I see you have that Pauline mark.

This is not debatable reply. Nor can it be used as informational reference to defend your side of the debate.

The list of things that are acceptable to use as a reference from the Bible can be found here.
viewtopic.php?t=11496

[2timothy316]

Whatever doesn’t kill you makes you stronger

There’s a powerful story in the bible called the Book of Job. The story is about a man named Job who was as astute as any man could be. He believed strongly in God and held high is faith. But the story goes that one day the devil paid God a visit. The topic of discussion? Job’s faith

It wasn't his faith that was to be tested.

"And Jehovah said to Satan: “Have you taken note of my servant Job? There is no one like him on the earth. He is an upright man of integrity, fearing God and shunning what is bad." Job 1:8

It was his integrity, his fear of the one True God, his uprightness and his shunning of bad that were to be tested. Sure faith was going to be needed but how did Job get that faith? Satan gives the answer, "Is it for nothing that Job has feared God? Have you not put up a protective hedge around him and his house and everything he has? You have blessed the work of his hands, and his livestock has spread out in the land." -Job 1:9, 10. It was what God had proven to Job so far that is the reason for Job's faith and trust in Jehovah. Still, note that it's not Job's faith that Satan is going to attack. It's Job's deep respect for Jehovah.

[Yahwehismywitness]

It wasn't his faith that was to be tested.

Throughout the book of Job, you wonder whether Job will stand firm in his faith or abandon it. In the end, Job remains faithful to God, and God remains faithful to Job.

[arunangelo]

[Replying to post 3 by brunumb]

Love is a Spirit; and the name of this Spirit is God. Love is not emotion or feeling. It is the spirit that propels us to sacrifice our own interest and unconditional seek the good of others.