What is the Christian definition of faith?
Now faith is being sure of what we hope for and certain of what we do not see.
Hebrews 11:1
so to explain wad xalkyrie quoted from bible in layman terms, faith is defined as believing in sth tat cannot be 100% proven. the case of believing in marriage without needing proof whether u wil be divorced is an example. a simpler example would be crossing the road when the green man is out n all vehicles stationary, believing tat there wun be one vehicle tat suddenly move n knock u down. last example is going to slp at nite, believing u wil still be alive the next morning. all these r considered as faith according to christianity...being certain of the things unseen...
believe.
Hebrews 11:1 is a DESCRIPTION of faith. Faith [its definition] is actually TRUST.
When Paul says in Acts 16:31: "BELIEVE in the Lord Jesus Christ and you will be saved...." He means TRUST in the Lord Jesus Christ.
Many intellectually believe in the Lord Jesus Christ but their trust is in their good words for salvation.
Many do not question the fact that the Lord Jesus Christ is the Savior but their trust and reliance is not in Him. Their trust and reliance is in the prayer they made to the Savior instead of trusting and relying in the Savior through that prayer.
Illustration:
You are in the sea of life on a little boat of yours called good works, religion and morality. The sea is unfriendly, the winds are harsh, dark clouds are hovering over the sky.
Suddenly…..suddenly a flash of lightning and then a blast of thunder cracked the sky wide open. Heavy rains are now starting to fall from the sky. And you are sinking….sinking real fast. You are desperate and helpless. You look around and you see all other boats are sinking…….all other boats except one…..the Life Boat called Jesus Christ.
You’ve heard about this boat before. You’ve heard it preached before. Like the Devil amongst his fallen angels, you do not question the fact that this is indeed the Life Boat. But it is only now that you see the absolute value, the preciousness and the necessity of this boat…now that you see and realize that you’re boat is sinking and you can’t do anything about it.
And as you stepped off from your sinking craft, as you are in mid-air going down, one of the two will happen. There’s no turning back now: either the Life Boat will sink or the Life Boat will float, carry you and take you safely home. But there is no fear in your heart. Because you know that the Life Boat is God-ordained. It will never sink. It will take you safely home.
And as expected, as you land in the boat, Lo and Behold, the Life Boat does not sink and is taking you safely home. My friend that jump that you took into the boat is what is meant by the word “believes” in the New Testament. It means to trust or rely.
Take another illustration:
Take an illustration of Faith
One time in the city of Rock, torrents of fire poured out from heaven. People here and there were burned to ashes. In the midst of that city there stood a huge Rock standing strong and mighty like Gibraltar. You knew that the Rock would keep you safe.....you believe that it could withstand the onslaught and the downpour of fire from heaven. But here you are with your umbrella on, just standing there doing nothing. Within seconds you were turned into a heap of ashes. You knew about the Rock. You acknowledged and assented to the truth that the Rock could keep you safe.
But you did not trust in it. If you did….you would have had thrown away your umbrella and hid safe under the mighty Rock. Many people intellectually believe that Christ alone is the Savior but have not trusted in Him for salvation.
I hope that helps
Faith is "accept what is preached even if you think it is rubbish and not question it".
this question will provoke the response of giving grandfather, grandmother's story, ha ha ha
Originally posted by AndrewPKYap:
Faith is "accept what is preached even if you think it is rubbish and not question it".
of course we do question what is preached. and i can tell you it isn't rubbish unless you are a fool.
Originally posted by AndrewPKYap:
Faith is "accept what is preached even if you think it is rubbish and not question it".
Not so... I think what you're talking about is blind faith, talking about people who follows blindly regarding things like "Being a Christian makes you rich, being a Chirstian can lead a happy life, etc"
Faith is knowing there is a God and believe strongly in His existance and what was written in the Bible (its totally different from accepting mindlessly what was being preached)...
Originally posted by xalkyrie:of course we do question what is preached. and i can tell you it isn't rubbish unless you are a fool.
For there are always false prophets, so do you always accept what is being preached?
Originally posted by Herzog_Zwei:
For there are always false prophets, so do you always accept what is being preached?
"Now the Bereans were of more noble character than the Thessalonians, for they received the message with great eagerness and examined the Scriptures every day to see if what Paul said was true." (Acts 17:11)
Scripture above tells us that even when Paul, the awesome preacher who tells the Bereans about the Word of God, they don't just take it at face value... They EXAMINED the scripture to see if what he said was true... They did not just go through the scriptures or scanned through, but examined...
So God credited to them as being "NOBLE"
It shows how important it is to build your own convictions instead of through other people...
Therefore, when a sermon is being preached, one should look at the contents and make your own judgement... Humans make mistakes you know?
Originally posted by kager82:
"Now the Bereans were of more noble character than the Thessalonians, for they received the message with great eagerness and examined the Scriptures every day to see if what Paul said was true." (Acts 17:11)
Scripture above tells us that even when Paul, the awesome preacher who tells the Bereans about the Word of God, they don't just take it at face value... They EXAMINED the scripture to see if what he said was true... They did not just go through the scriptures or scanned through, but examined...
So God credited to them as being "NOBLE"
It shows how important it is to build your own convictions instead of through other people...Therefore, when a sermon is being preached, one should look at the contents and make your own judgement... Humans make mistakes you know?
SImi scripture? Since Paul who was Saul from Thasselonia also wrote some letters which was part of the Bible, how does one know what is true? Self-righteousness is not righteousness.
Originally posted by Herzog_Zwei:
SImi scripture? Since Paul who was Saul from Thasselonia also wrote some letters which was part of the Bible, how does one know what is true? Self-righteousness is not righteousness.
So... Am I right to say that you actually doubted the New Testament's authencity? =)
faith is certainty. certainty in the light of God.
it's knowing that anything and everything that occurs in our life is only there to help us grow and transform and reveal more light in our lives and in the world.
Originally posted by andreap:faith is certainty. certainty in the light of God.
it's knowing that anything and everything that occurs in our life is only there to help us grow and transform and reveal more light in our lives and in the world.
Amen to that~ God has shaped our paths... No doubts about that... =)
Matthew 8:5-10 (New International Version)
The Faith of the Centurion
5When Jesus had entered Capernaum, a centurion came to him, asking for help. 6"Lord," he said, "my servant lies at home paralyzed and in terrible suffering."7Jesus said to him, "I will go and heal him."
8The centurion replied, "Lord, I do not deserve to have you come under my roof. But just say the word, and my servant will be healed. 9For I myself am a man under authority, with soldiers under me. I tell this one, 'Go,' and he goes; and that one, 'Come,' and he comes. I say to my servant, 'Do this,' and he does it."
10When Jesus heard this, he was astonished and said to those following him, "I tell you the truth, I have not found anyone in Israel with such great faith.
Matthew 15:21-28 (New International Version)
21Leaving that place, Jesus withdrew to the region of Tyre and Sidon. 22A Canaanite woman from that vicinity came to him, crying out, "Lord, Son of David, have mercy on me! My daughter is suffering terribly from demon-possession."
23Jesus did not answer a word. So his disciples came to him and urged him, "Send her away, for she keeps crying out after us."
24He answered, "I was sent only to the lost sheep of Israel."
25The woman came and knelt before him. "Lord, help me!" she said.
26He replied, "It is not right to take the children's bread and toss it to their dogs."
27"Yes, Lord," she said, "but even the dogs eat the crumbs that fall from their masters' table."
28Then Jesus answered, "Woman, you have great faith! Your request is granted." And her daughter was healed from that very hour.
faith isn't something which you credit to yourself, "oh, i have great faith.", or "that pastor has great faith.". faith is what God says you have, when you start seeing God for who He is.
faith is knowing that you have a big God, in good or bad times, and that's when God turns and says "You have great faith"
in the bible, Jesus only said that to a few ppl, notably to the centurion and a woman whose daughter was demon possessed.
These ppl were gentiles, non-jews, who didn't know much about God. But the centurion recognised the authority Jesus holds, that if Jesus pronounced healing, it will be done.
The woman recognised the goodness Jesus has, that even if it is true that Jesus came down for the jews, He is so good that even "crumbs" are enough for her, and put aside the insecurity of her social status to claim that healing.
now compare this with the jews who knew God, and claimed that they had faith,notably the people whom Jesus grew up with. They saw Jesus as the carpenter's son, a normal human of no speciality. and Jesus didn't work many miracles among them.
so ya.. that's what i think faith is..
if someone ask me, if God appeared to me, what would I ask for, I said i would ask for faith. but i was enlightened.. faith isn't credited like someone bank in money in my account. but rather, faith is how you see God.
Originally posted by kager82:
So... Am I right to say that you actually doubted the New Testament's authencity? =)
I am an irreligionist. I was asking about your circular logic.
Originally posted by Herzog_Zwei:
I am an irreligionist. I was asking about your circular logic.
Oh.... whatever the case... its really nice knowing you... =)
Whats circular logic ar?
Originally posted by Herzog_Zwei:
SImi scripture?
the old testament
Originally posted by laoda99:the old testament
Erm... Scripture can easily mean NT too.
when paul say "scripture", he was referring to the OT
his letters were not in the bible canon yet
Originally posted by Ironside:
You are in the sea of life on a little boat of yours called good works, religion and morality. The sea is unfriendly, the winds are harsh, dark clouds are hovering over the sky.
Suddenly…..suddenly a flash of lightning and then a blast of thunder cracked the sky wide open. Heavy rains are now starting to fall from the sky. And you are sinking….sinking real fast. You are desperate and helpless. You look around and you see all other boats are sinking…….all other boats except one…..the Life Boat called Jesus Christ.
If the Life Boat turns out to be the Death Boat, then How?
Originally posted by laoda99:when paul say "scripture", he was referring to the OT
his letters were not in the bible canon yet
Hence my utter confusion in the first place.
I had an epiphany. I realized that the words "Believe" and "Doubt" has their own stereotypes. How so.? Well...
For example, when you ask your really good friend to do something for you. Like run an errand.? Have you ever heard that "cynical" side in your head whisper to you.? Making you doubt the very friends you trusted.?
Then later, you brush it aside because you are "supposed" to believe your friends because doubting them is "bad". And you force that "cynical" voice inside your head to shut up and stop putting "bad" thoughts and contemplation in your mind.?
Familiar.? Well that is the stereotype. It is a large misconception that doubting is bad, cause
we've always been reassured by our loved ones that we should trust them.
However, it is having faith that is "bad" . Cause faith is "Believe" without "Logic". You're essentially believing in something blindly.
When you have faith in the ones you love, You're actually not bothering to understand them. You're willing to believe them without understanding why you believe them, and why they earned your trust.
And it is when you doubt them, you'll get to truly understand them. And it is only after understanding where you'll get to believe.
And personally, i would LOVE to have a reason and explanation for the "cynical" voice in my head about why i trust YOU.
I wrote this post in my blog awhile back ^^"