3 ms·

A nitpick, perhaps-- but isn't that the same faith? You don't know a hypothesis will be correct but you believe it will, so you test it. That IS faith as define

A nitpick, perhaps-- but isn't that the same faith? You don't know a hypothesis will be correct but you believe it will, so you test it. That IS faith as defined by (at least Christian) scripture [1,2] [1] - https://www.lds.org/scriptures/nt/heb/11.lang=eng https://www.lds.org/scriptures/nt/heb/11.lang=eng [2] - https://www.lds.org/scriptures/bofm/alma/32.18,21,26-27,29-30,34,36,40-43?lang=eng&clang=eng#p17 https://www.lds.org/scriptures/bofm/alma/32.18,21,26-27,29-3... edit: add source

jkingsbery 8y ago
I agree, but I think it's worth clarifying: I think Christians have done ourselves no favors with the imprecision of the use of the word "Faith." One finds in the Bible or Augustine or Aquinas, or more recently CS Lewis, they all use a particular, consistent meaning of the word that is different from the common meaning. I think what you mention (i.e., faith is the continuing affirmation in something that has been tested) is consistent with that. Unfortunately, many people have used it to mean something like credulity, superstition or blindness (see, for example, the expression "You have to take it on faith"). I think it's important to communicate that Faith is not a thing we do for good luck like some superstition, and it's not a thing that we prefer like one flavor of ice cream to another, nor is it something that simply works for us like some kind of work out routine - that is, something that is useful but ultimately arbitrary.
dctoedt 8y ago
I've long liked what the Rev. Barbara Brown Taylor, an Episcopal priest, said nearly 20 years ago: "Having been brought up with a definition of faith as adherence to a set of beliefs, I have more and more begun to turn instead toward a definition of faith as openness to truth, whatever truth may turn out to be."[0] (emphasis added). I added somewhat later that "openness to truth goes hand in hand with trust in God. When we recite the Apostles' Creed or Nicene Creed, the very first thing we declare is our trust in God: 'We believe in one God ....' If we trust in God, we won't shrink from truth, whatever it may turn out to be." [1] [0] https://www.pbs.org/wnet/religionandethics/2000/05/12/december-1-2000-barbara-brown-taylor-profile/2562/ https://www.pbs.org/wnet/religionandethics/2000/05/12/decemb... [1] https://www.questioningchristian.com/2003/12/faith_openness_.html https://www.questioningchristian.com/2003/12/faith_openness_...

jkingsbery 8y ago

I agree, but I think it's worth clarifying: I think Christians have done ourselves no favors with the imprecision of the use of the word "Faith." One finds in the Bible or Augustine or Aquinas, or more recently CS Lewis, they all use a particular, consistent meaning of the word that is different from the common meaning. I think what you mention (i.e., faith is the continuing affirmation in something that has been tested) is consistent with that. Unfortunately, many people have used it to mean something like credulity, superstition or blindness (see, for example, the expression "You have to take it on faith"). I think it's important to communicate that Faith is not a thing we do for good luck like some superstition, and it's not a thing that we prefer like one flavor of ice cream to another, nor is it something that simply works for us like some kind of work out routine - that is, something that is useful but ultimately arbitrary.

dctoedt 8y ago

I've long liked what the Rev. Barbara Brown Taylor, an Episcopal priest, said nearly 20 years ago: "Having been brought up with a definition of faith as adherence to a set of beliefs, I have more and more begun to turn instead toward a definition of faith as openness to truth, whatever truth may turn out to be."[0] (emphasis added). I added somewhat later that "openness to truth goes hand in hand with trust in God. When we recite the Apostles' Creed or Nicene Creed, the very first thing we declare is our trust in God: 'We believe in one God ....' If we trust in God, we won't shrink from truth, whatever it may turn out to be." [1] [0] https://www.pbs.org/wnet/religionandethics/2000/05/12/december-1-2000-barbara-brown-taylor-profile/2562/ https://www.pbs.org/wnet/religionandethics/2000/05/12/decemb... [1] https://www.questioningchristian.com/2003/12/faith_openness_.html https://www.questioningchristian.com/2003/12/faith_openness_...