Board index ‹ Faith and Knowledge

[Newbie]

I am often told that, in spite of my evaluation of the evidence for Christianity (I have found it lacking), I need to have faith in order to believe. Could someone define what is meant by faith when Christians use it? It seems like belief or confidence without evidence, but when I argue against that form of belief, I am told that I am using a strawman. Help, please.

[jimwalton]

I define faith as an assumption of truth based on the evidence (and faith is always based on evidence) that makes it reasonable to make that assumption. When I go to sit in a chair, I can't be 100% that it will hold me (chairs occasionally do break). But I've sat in this chair 100 times, my eyes tell me it looks the same, and so I plant my rear in it, believing and assuming it will hold me. It's the same when I turn the key to start my car (I have faith it will start), going to the store (I have faith it's still there), or thousands of other things in daily life. It's what the author of Hebrews claims in Heb. 11.1: “Now faith is being sure of what we hope for and certain of what we do not see.” There is a certainty based on evidence, though because it is not seen it is subject to faith, just like the store in my previous example. A blind person cannot distinguish color, but color is a real thing, and its reality is unaffected by whether or not the blind person is able to appreciate them.

Christianity is based in evidences, not blind beliefs. That's why it's historical, and not philoso-theological like Hinduism, Buddhism, and even Islam. The earth is here as evidence of a creator. The existence of the Jews as a people group is evidence of God's work in history. The evidence of Jesus as a historical figure and in his death and resurrection is presented in affirmation of his deity. Faith in the Christian definition is distinctly evidentially based, and not just an "out there" kind of "well, you just hafta believe."

I'll add this: There are certainly different kinds of existence. The existence of the chair behind you is very different from the existence of memories, or the thoughts in your brain. Your car in the driveway exists in a different way than, say, time does. Physics cannot and does not cover the whole of reality; it's only a slice of it. I said faith is an assumption of truth based on evidence that makes it reasonable to make that assumption. If your friend tells you they bought you a ticket to a concert, you'd get in the car (by faith) and go with them, because you have all kinds of evidences (your relationship with them, their tone of voice, their body language, etc.) that make it reasonable for you to believe what they are telling you. I find the same dynamics and realities in my relationship with God.

[Dip 'n Grind]

Thank you. Just for further clarification, is the evidence that which is not seen?

[jimwalton]

No. Evidence, by definition, is available for study. The faith is the action based on the evidence: I see a chair (evidence), so I sit on it (assuming it will hold me). Almost all the actions pertaining to our present and future are acts of faith. We open a cupboard to get a can of soup out of it. The evidence we are acting on is that I know I put a can of soup in there last week when I came home from the story. The faith is assuming it is still there (a wild animal could have made off with it, as well as my roommate, someone could have chopped through the exterior of the house and it fell out—who knows what might have happened to it, but I open the cupboard assuming [faith] it's still there. Lo and behold, there it is.)