Faith

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violakat

violakat

Senior Member
#1
Apr 23, 2014
1,236
21
38
#1
So, a few weeks ago I was in a meeting (not Christian, but secular, however they encourage God in their business.) Anyway, the person was talking about Faith, that it's we see something we want to do, do it, and it's done. Correct me if I'm wrong, but isn't faith, following God, even when you don't understand why?

Please forgive me for not putting this in the Bible Study room, but I'm sure you understand why I won't.
 
Consumed

Consumed

Senior Member
#2
Jun 4, 2015
112
1
0
#2
violakat said:
So, a few weeks ago I was in a meeting (not Christian, but secular, however they encourage God in their business.) Anyway, the person was talking about Faith, that it's we see something we want to do, do it, and it's done. Correct me if I'm wrong, but isn't faith, following God, even when you don't understand why?

Please forgive me for not putting this in the Bible Study room, but I'm sure you understand why I won't.
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You actually described two very similar situations with one major difference. What you are referring to is Faith in God. God wants you to do something, and you do it expecting His ultimate good from it. What the person you referred to was talking about was Faith in oneself. You want to do something, you do it, expecting to benefit from it.

Faith is not a strictly christian term, and can be put in several different things
 
violakat

violakat

Senior Member
#3
Apr 23, 2014
1,236
21
38
#3
I didn't think of that. I think it through me off, because it was almost like he was saying that that's what the Bible was saying, as he was holding a Bible and bringing God in a lot.
Consumed said:
You actually described two very similar situations with one major difference. What you are referring to is Faith in God. God wants you to do something, and you do it expecting His ultimate good from it. What the person you referred to was talking about was Faith in oneself. You want to do something, you do it, expecting to benefit from it.

Faith is not a strictly christian term, and can be put in several different things
Click to expand...
 
Consumed

Consumed

Senior Member
#4
Jun 4, 2015
112
1
0
#4
violakat said:
I didn't think of that. I think it through me off, because it was almost like he was saying that that's what the Bible was saying, as he was holding a Bible and bringing God in a lot.
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Ok, that makes more sense. Maybe he was trying to make it palatable for non-believers? In that situation it's definitely misleading. Keep in mind too that there are quite a few definitions of faith. The one you brought up being the most likely
 
B

Bristecom

Banned
#5
Jul 29, 2015
39
0
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#5
I've always considered faith as more like trust. If you tell someone, "I have faith in you," then you are saying that you believe or trust that they are able to do something. So it's not necessarily simply believing with no basis. The more reasons you have for believing in someone, the more "faith" you will have in them.
 
Consumed

Consumed

Senior Member
#6
Jun 4, 2015
112
1
0
#6
Bristecom said:
I've always considered faith as more like trust. If you tell someone, "I have faith in you," then you are saying that you believe or trust that they are able to do something. So it's not necessarily simply believing with no basis. The more reasons you have for believing in someone, the more "faith" you will have in them.
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Faith and trust are not synonymous, and are never used as such in the bible
 
S

Shouryu

Guest
#7
#7
From a purely Biblical standpoint, faith is summarily defined in Hebrews 11:1 -

"Faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things unseen." It literally means to believe in that which you cannot see. So, yes, in this instance, assuming your coworker was trying to speak from a Biblical stance, didn't quite get this right.

Even when we apply it to phrases like, "I have faith in you," or "I have faith in this person," it still applies, because we are not privy to the future. We cannot see how someone we put our faith in will repay that faith, as if to say, "I cannot see into the future, that you will get things done, but I believe that you will, without having seen the evidence first," just as we say the same things of our God.
 
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shotgunner

Guest
#8
#8
Shouryu said:
From a purely Biblical standpoint, faith is summarily defined in Hebrews 11:1 -

"Faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things unseen." It literally means to believe in that which you cannot see. So, yes, in this instance, assuming your coworker was trying to speak from a Biblical stance, didn't quite get this right.

Even when we apply it to phrases like, "I have faith in you," or "I have faith in this person," it still applies, because we are not privy to the future. We cannot see how someone we put our faith in will repay that faith, as if to say, "I cannot see into the future, that you will get things done, but I believe that you will, without having seen the evidence first," just as we say the same things of our God.
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I agree with that. I would also like to point to the words "substance" and "evidence" in Hebrews 11:1. I think bible faith is a belief that's strong enough to cause corresponding actions. James speaks of faith without works as dead faith, or I would say faith that wasn't strong enough to have any evidence or substance of corresponding actions attached to it.

Where a lot of folks mess up is that they think actions bring faith or prove faith. That's backwards, actions spring forth from faith.
 
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