What is belief?

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Nancyer

Guest
#1
#1
Monday night my son (18) and I were watching Castle on ABC and the lead female (sorry, don't know her name) made the comment that she "believes in things she can see, touch, the tangible, can perceive with the senses". (I paraphrase but that's the gist of it). My son responded with "if you can see or touch it, it's not believing. You can't believe in grass".

I liked this because so many people want proof of God's existence, undeniable proof. But proof negates the need to believe. Belief accepts it as true. Without belief, free choice would be pointless. (although there still is a Flat Earth Society so I guess some facts are still subjective, lol).

I look forward to your take ...



 
Blain

Blain

The Word Weaver
#2
Aug 28, 2012
19,215
2,551
113
#2
Nancyer said:
Monday night my son (18) and I were watching Castle on ABC and the lead female (sorry, don't know her name) made the comment that she "believes in things she can see, touch, the tangible, can perceive with the senses". (I paraphrase but that's the gist of it). My son responded with "if you can see or touch it, it's not believing. You can't believe in grass".

I liked this because so many people want proof of God's existence, undeniable proof. But proof negates the need to believe. Belief accepts it as true. Without belief, free choice would be pointless. (although there still is a Flat Earth Society so I guess some facts are still subjective, lol).

I look forward to your take ...
Click to expand...
Perfect just absolutely perfect. You have a very wise son:]
 
K

K3LLY

Guest
#3
#3
You do have a very smart son. I'm impressed. I'm 25 and I never thought of it that way. Belief to me is almost like faith. You can't believe in something that you can see. But you can believe in things like Love. Love is a real thing but you can't see it. You can see the act of love but not the love itself.
 
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FAITHFULGILLIAN

Guest
#4
#4
Surely you do believe in the existence of things you can see and touch?
 
TheAristocat

TheAristocat

Senior Member
#5
Oct 4, 2011
2,150
26
0
#5
Nancyer said:
Monday night my son (18) and I were watching Castle on ABC and the lead female (sorry, don't know her name) made the comment that she "believes in things she can see, touch, the tangible, can perceive with the senses". (I paraphrase but that's the gist of it). My son responded with "if you can see or touch it, it's not believing. You can't believe in grass".

I liked this because so many people want proof of God's existence, undeniable proof. But proof negates the need to believe. Belief accepts it as true. Without belief, free choice would be pointless. (although there still is a Flat Earth Society so I guess some facts are still subjective, lol).

I look forward to your take ...
Click to expand...



I think Daniel believed in the visions he saw because he saw them. So belief and proof aren't mutually exclusive. I just think that belief is the first step toward action. We're told to have the kind of faith that produces fruit (i.e. actions). Because if we don't believe in something, then we're not going to act on it. And if someone doesn't act on something you can tell they don't believe in it.

To me belief is action without the action. How do we accept God's gift of salvation? We don't even have to stretch out our hand to accept it. All we have to do is believe it's worth stretching out our hand to accept it. That's my perspective in a nutshell.
 
AAAPlus

AAAPlus

Senior Member
#6
Aug 2, 2011
601
10
18
#6
Nancyer said:
But proof negates the need to believe. Belief accepts it as true. Without belief, free choice would be pointless.
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You're thinking of Faith, not Belief.

Hebrews 11:1 Now faith is confidence in what we hope for and assurance about what we do not see.

Just replace the words "confidence" and "assurance" with "belief".

To have faith, you must believe, but to believe you don't have to have faith. I am using a computer right now. I don't have to have faith about it; I can see and touch it, so I believe it. I do, however, have faith that the power won't shut off before I'm done typing this post. I can't see what's going on at the power plant, but I still have faith that they will continue to supply electricity.


 
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