(November 12, 2013 at 2:36 am)Lemonvariable72 Wrote: Well the bible defines faith as this
Hebrews 11
1Now faith is the assurance of things hoped for, the conviction of things not seen.
That's a deepity, and it's an incoherent statement. When you ask someone how they know God exists, and they say "faith", they've just performed a bait and switch if the above defintion is what they mean.
Hope denotes a potential for something not being true.
Conviction denotes a really strong belief. Which one is it?
If there's an inherent likelihood that something is false, there's nothing one can claim to "know" that it is true. Therefore "faith" is something different entirely.
People "Hope" to win the lottery, but there's nothing reassuring that a hope can lend to somebody in order to form a belief around it.
A belief is a representation of reality. The reality is that it's very unlikely that you'd win the lottery. If a belief is formed that contradicts reality, that's a delusion.
Delusion:a persistent false psychotic belief regarding the self or persons or objects outside the self that is maintained despite indisputable evidence to the contrary; also : the abnormal state marked by such beliefs Webster Reference
The only accurate definition for faith that I've heard is this one:
FAITH - pretending to know things one doesn't know.
With this definition it ALL makes sense what somebody means when they say they know from "faith".
Here's some examples from Peter Bohossian:
"I have faith in God"
TRANSLATION: "I pretend to know things I don't know about God"
"Why should people stop having faith if it helps them get through their day?"
TRANSLATION: "Why should people stop pretending to know things they don't know if it helps them get through their day?"
"Teach your children to have faith"
TRANSLATION: "Teach your children to pretend to know things they don't know."
"My faith is true for me"
TRANSLATION: "Pretending to know things I don't know is true for me"
"She's having a crisis of faith"
TRANSLATION: "She's having a crisis of pretending to know things she doesn't know."
(Alternatively: "She is struck by the fact that she's been pretending to know things that she doesn't know.)
