Faith and Belief

A few days ago I made the following comment in Meanderings on Faith, Reason, and Loneliness, "And, I’m not so certain about this, but I’m not sure that faith and belief are really the same thing." I did think about this a little bit more and concluded that faith & belief really aren't the same thing. At least not for me.

For me, faith is belief in things unseen or unproven. There are many things that I can see and observe and recognize as reality. And I can believe in those things. I can believe in the building in which I am sitting and typing right now. And I can believe in the tree outside the window. (I'm sure there are those that may argue that in some philosophical sense none of this can be proven to be real, but for now, I'm going to assume that my senses - sight, touch, smell, hearing, etc. are giving me a true representation of reality.) So, I can believe in the building. It exists.

I can perhaps have faith that the building won't fall down any time soon, but that is based on the fact that the building has not fallen down and it still looks pretty strong. That is also based on observations and apparent facts. I would probably put this in the category of belief rather than faith.

However, the faith that I am considering is not based as strongly on observable reality. It is some mix of knowing and perhaps feeling and perhaps even an act of the will to choose to believe in something when the preponderance of observable facts don't necessarily support the belief. Also, I'm not thinking of a choice to believe the unbelievable either. If I see a building fall down, but choose to believe that it is still standing, then that may just be foolhardy wishful thinking. The faith of which I am thinking is stuff that falls in between strong proofs one way or another. There are many things that are not knowable with certainty. And a choice to believe in one of those "things" is what I am describing as faith.

So, given all those caveats, that is what I mean by faith and belief not being exactly the same thing.

Also, as long as I'm keeping score.... I did finish the Harris Book, Letter to a Christian Nation. I also managed to finish up The Greatest Story Ever Sold. Now I can give myself permission to start something else. It will probably be Jimmy Carter's new book, Palestine Peace Not Apartheid.