3 ms·

I think there's a big big stretch between "faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen." and "faith is belief absent evidence",

• rhelz 3y ago
  I think one of the reasons there are so many opinions is because people give different meanings to the words “faith” and “evidence.” Here is the difference for me: A teacher has two students, and she firmly believes they both can succeed in her class, and in life. 1. The first student has a history of getting good grades, has engaged parents, secure home, etc. The teacher takes this as EVIDENCE that the student will succeed. 2. The second student has always gotten very bad grades. He gets in trouble a lot. His parents are disengaged and have trouble keeping food on the table. Nevertheless, the teacher has an unshakable belief that this student can succeed. In complete contradiction to every piece of objective evidence. Because she has FAITH in the kid. There is a huge difference between those two ways of coming to a belief. This difference should not just be glossed over. Both kinds of ways of coming to believe are essential to human existence. Sometimes, the apropos thing to do is throw out all the evidence. Sometimes the most rational thing to do is have the courage to keep going by faith.