Christian "faith" vs. plain "faith"
March 25, 2015 at 8:17 pm
(This post was last modified: March 25, 2015 at 8:18 pm by watchamadoodle.)
Here is a post from Parkers Tan:
Probably most people share his sentiments, so I don't question the fact that "faith" is a poor word choice. I should have said "confidence" or "trust" maybe?
My question is: what do Christians mean by the attribute "faith" if they don't mean "confidence"? When I was a Christian, I always thought "faith" meant "confidence". My confidence in Christianity was not fundamentally different from my confidence in newspapers, text books, etc. Everybody I knew was either a Christian or kept their skepticism private, so I had confidence in Christianity.
IMO the only significant difference between Christian "faith" and plain "faith" is that Christianity is difficult or impossible to falsify. "Faith" in something that cannot be falsified is not the same as "faith" in something that can be falsified.
Any opinions? I'm especially curious if Christians agree that "faith" means "confidence" and that "confidence" must have a cause - whether the cause is seeing Moses split the Red Sea or simply being indoctrinated as a child.
(March 25, 2015 at 1:19 pm)Parkers Tan Wrote:(March 25, 2015 at 12:54 pm)watchamadoodle Wrote: Both atheists and theists have faith in science [...]
I don't have faith in science. Science demonstrates its utility with its discoveries and inventions. Faith is not an apt descriptor for my attitude, thanks.
Probably most people share his sentiments, so I don't question the fact that "faith" is a poor word choice. I should have said "confidence" or "trust" maybe?
My question is: what do Christians mean by the attribute "faith" if they don't mean "confidence"? When I was a Christian, I always thought "faith" meant "confidence". My confidence in Christianity was not fundamentally different from my confidence in newspapers, text books, etc. Everybody I knew was either a Christian or kept their skepticism private, so I had confidence in Christianity.
IMO the only significant difference between Christian "faith" and plain "faith" is that Christianity is difficult or impossible to falsify. "Faith" in something that cannot be falsified is not the same as "faith" in something that can be falsified.
Any opinions? I'm especially curious if Christians agree that "faith" means "confidence" and that "confidence" must have a cause - whether the cause is seeing Moses split the Red Sea or simply being indoctrinated as a child.
