What is the meaning of faith?

[Starman]

Sometimes faith is based on what we know to be true from past experience, or evidence, and sometimes it is based purely on what we believe to be true without any evidence; faith carries an element of expectation and trust. It is a "knowing" which is largely based on our own values.

In Christianity, in its simplest terms, faith is defined as belief in the existence of God. In atheism faith could be defined as belief in the non-existence of God. The key point for both faiths is that our lives proceed in a direction that employs reason. It is agnostics that remain in conflict with themselves having faith in neither position and making it more difficult for themselves to proceed with direction.

[Starman]

Originally Posted by Molearner

In Christianity, in its simplest terms, faith is defined as belief in the existence of God. In atheism faith could be defined as belief in the non-existence of God. The key point for both faiths is that our lives proceed in a direction that employs reason. It is agnostics that remain in conflict with themselves having faith in neither position and making it more difficult for themselves to proceed with direction.

It is true that agnostics neither believe nor disbelieve, although many agnostics are open to having it proven to them that God exists. They believe that the existence of God is unknown or unknowable, unlike an atheist who says there is no such thing as God. You had it correct I just thought I would elaborate on it, although I would say that an agnostic has chosen the direction of, or belief in, mystery.

[AlexDF]

the meaning of faith is that hope and charity will soon follow :-)
faith never seems to hang out alone much :-) even mum is close on her tail
Fides, Spes et Caritas

Further elaboration......:) The Declaration of Independence begins with...."We hold these truths to be self-evident that.....". Just as easily and logically it could have began with......"We have the faith that......". Everything that follows in the Declaration proceeds from and is shaped by those few opening words. A logic and a reason is developed from that premise.

If we consider one that is lost......either at sea or in the wilderness.....a decision must be made to address the situation. All actions will flow from that original decision. The subsequent reasoning could be as such: "Do we wish to survive or die?" Next: "What will be our course of action?" If it is to survive: "Should we remain stationary(and hope for help) or should we proceed in a specific direction?"

The trouble arises if we are without faith which provides its following logic and reason. In other words, if we initially decide to remain stationary and then change our minds to proceeding west and then change our minds again to proceeding south, etc. we expend valuable energy and become as a house divided against itself. Perhaps this appears too simplistic but I attempting to point to the effect of faith.......It gives us direction(right or wrong) but allows us to live with ourselves.

[Starman]

Originally Posted by Molearner

Further elaboration......:) The Declaration of Independence begins with...."We hold these truths to be self-evident that.....". Just as easily and logically it could have began with......"We have the faith that......". Everything that follows in the Declaration proceeds from and is shaped by those few opening words. A logic and a reason is developed from that premise.

If we consider one that is lost......either at sea or in the wilderness.....a decision must be made to address the situation. All actions will flow from that original decision. The subsequent reasoning could be as such: "Do we wish to survive or die?" Next: "What will be our course of action?" If it is to survive: "Should we remain stationary(and hope for help) or should we proceed in a specific direction?"

The trouble arises if we are without faith which provides its following logic and reason. In other words, if we initially decide to remain stationary and then change our minds to proceeding west and then change our minds again to proceeding south, etc. we expend valuable energy and become as a house divided against itself. Perhaps this appears too simplistic but I attempting to point to the effect of faith.......It gives us direction(right or wrong) but allows us to live with ourselves.

“We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness…..” begins in the second paragraph of the U.S. Declaration of Independence, but when this was declared slavery was sanctioned by the newly formed U.S. Government, and practiced for some centuries to follow, so this declaration may have been a direction which the founders wanted some to head in but it was not something that they actually believed in as it was not all inclusive as stated (all men are created equal).

I am of the belief that everyone has faith in something or someone regardless whether they believe in God or not, or are not sure if God exists. Some people have faith in nature or science to guide their life, while others put complete faith in money. We all believe in something because everyone has a philosophy, and belief in God usually embodies a theology or theosophy, which is a branch of philosophy. Our philosophy is formed by our beliefs and everyone has a philosophy whether they are aware of what that philosophy is or not. It is just about everyone’s philosophy that their parents are suppose to love them, this is what most people believe regardless whether their parents actually loves them or not. A persons' philosophy is usually what guides their life and gives them direction.

[firstandlast]

Faith is any time you put one foot in front of the other and do not hesitate that the ground should be there--

Faith is the outlook we act from, faith is deep into the very nature of our being; but not every outlook generates the same faith in every person, or the same expression of said faith-- Until a universal faith is revealed, the order of our being will never be of a lasting harmonic order, but that universal faith would have to be potent enough to support everyone, as if it doesn't it will only go the way of the quality of faith available to us at the moment and go the way of every other faith only being able to support so much of the existence or being--

[Lucy.heart]

The best I can say is there is a man that I have much faith in, yet I still trust no one.

Originally Posted by Lucy.heart

The best I can say is there is a man that I have much faith in, yet I still trust no one.

Lucy.heart,

This really helps and adds to the discussion because it forces us to think about the difference between faith and trust. The simplest and most elemental way that I can understand it this:

We can only have faith that we are going to heaven. We cannot have trust because we do not know for a fact that there is a heaven. We do not know or have personal experience of anyone that has gone to heaven, etc. Trust is built more on the things that we have known or experienced to be true and are likely to occur again given the right circumstances. We delude ourselves if we believe that faith and trust are synonymous.