Define faith?

I am a new user and I am not sure if I am posting this right, but here it goes.How does a Christian define faith? How can a Christian,(Christianity includes only one third of the population on planet Earth), say that their faith in Christianity is the right faith? Who is to say that the other two thirds of the population are wrong? Not to say that the majority is always right, but there is no hard evidence for any religion as far I am aware. Yet, the smallest minority stands by a religion that, at least from my understanding, states if you do not have faith you will be condemned to hell?[This message has been edited by erik6string, 01-13-2003]{Content fine, but I'm going to move it from "The Bible..." forum, to the "Faith and Belief" forum. - Adminnemooseus}[This message has been edited by Adminnemooseus, 01-13-2003]

Faith is a response to God as revealed to us daily through human messengers.The scope of the Bible vastly out-does that of any other religious book. Creation, the flood, languages, races, the revelation of God, salvation and the future are all accounted for. Thematic consistency and of historical events across 2000 years is wihtout comparison. Archeoogical eveidence is staggering: The families we are all born to reveal the Christian God. The Christian God is one of fatherhood, brotherhood and even marriage of a kind (Christ and his bride the church).Other gods are distant and mystical. The Christian God is near to every heart and practical. The classic fire and brimestone message, while containing truth is actually a dsitortion of Christianity. Throughout the ages we are saved through our responses to Christ as we know him: Jesus is the way but in the absence of the direct revelation of the last 2000 years we still meet Him through our parents, families, communities, bosses and authorities:1 Peter 2:13 Submit yourselves for the Lord's sake to every authority instituted among men: whether to the king, as the supreme authority,
Ephesians 5:22 Wives, submit to your husbands as to the Lord.
Colossians 3:20 Children, obey your parents in all things: for this is well pleasing unto the Lord.
2 Cor 4:6 He has shone in our hearts to give the light of the knowledge of God's glory in the face of Jesus Christ.
I Cor 11:3 But I want you to know that Christ is the head of every man, and the man is the head of the woman, and God is the head of Christ.It says: Christ is the head of every man.Our responses, at all levels, throughout the ages, to the marred headship we have as children and adults is part of our meeting with the Christian God. We learn to reposnd with a right attitude to marred headship becasue we ourselves are marred, our parents and authorities are marred and Christ himself submitted himself to marring and weakness.Christianity works becasue the cross turns apparent weakness into strength. The cross was not a plan B but it is the way the Godhead lives and interacts: [This message has been edited by Tranquility Base, 01-13-2003]

Tranquility Base,How are you sure of your faith? What makes you absolute certain that you are following the right path. Please avoid citation of scripture in your own words. I don't mean to be intrusive, if I am just let me know.Thanks
Erik

[QUOTE]Originally posted by Tranquility Base:
[B]Faith is a response to God as revealed to us daily through human messengers. [Quote] this is impossible to prove or disprove and therefore neither supports nor refutes your belief. [Quote] [b]
The scope of the Bible vastly out-does that of any other religious book. [Quote] is the best religion necessarily that which has the biggest/most elaborate book? How can you judge religion seeing as it is dogma? [Quote] Creation, the flood, languages, races, the revelation of God, salvation and the future are all accounted for. [Quote] 'accounted for', i.e. you have a severely distorted, pseudo-scientific and yet irrefutable interpretation of empirical evidence that just happens to fit in with your religion. [Quote] Thematic consistency and of historical events across 2000 years is wihtout comparison. Archeoogical eveidence is staggering:
[qoute]Does this prove that the prophets were divinely inspired? no, it just means that they read a couple of history books/scrolls or maybe they were lucky. Again, you can prove nothing [Quote] [Quote] So, what makes it any better than a history book, what's so 'divine' about that?So, basically, instead of punishing us directly, he creates lucifer to do it for him, Adam messes up and after that God just leaves us in the lurch right? Oh, but wait, he leaves us one escape route that is 'folly to the wise' hidden amongst a plethary of other similar but 'incorrect' escape routes (although we have no way of telling which is right) and in order to reach it, we have to blind ourselves to reason and hope that we 'leap' in the right direction! [Quote] Christianity works becasue the cross turns apparent weakness into strength. The cross was not a plan B but it is the way the Godhead lives and interacts: [Quote] All of your arguments presuppose the validity of the bible which without God is just another collection of atoms arranged in a rather ordinary fashion. If you cannot prove that the God of your religion is 'true' i.e. irrefutable by any skeptical argument imaginable, then you have no grounds for claiming that your religion is more 'true' than others and there is therefore no grounds for damnation.The fact is, you can disagree about religion but dispute is unjustified. Basically, you can believe anything you want just as long as you don't argue about it!

Just wanted to clear up one small point:

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The scope of the Bible vastly out-does that of any other religious book. Creation, the flood, languages, races, the revelation of God, salvation and the future are all accounted for

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This is a pretty baseless thing to assert, given that the Koran features all of the above + a complete code to living one's life. The best analogue to how the Koran is revered in Islamic tradion to Christianity isn't the Bible, rather its Christ himself. If its scope you're after, you should change religion.

quote:

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Originally posted by Primordial Egg:
This is a pretty baseless thing to assert, given that the Koran features all of the above + a complete code to living one's life. The best analogue to how the Koran is revered in Islamic tradion to Christianity isn't the Bible, rather its Christ himself. If its scope you're after, you should change religion.

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No kidding. The Vedas, for one, are older than the Bible and vastely more inclusive. You've got all of the above plus some very sophisticed astronomy and mathematics-- stuff the west didn't discover until the Renaissance.------------------
No webpage found at provided URL: www.hells-handmaiden.com

Indeed. I'd venture to suggest that if TB was born in Saudi Arabia or China (I was going to use India as an example, but thats too multicultural), his faith might have run along different lines. It seems that faith is a function of geography.PE

Forgive me for only responding to one part of your post, I'm trying not to get all wrapped up in this site like I was. However I would like to respond to this statement. In a way you are correct here, in that it is impossible to "prove" to others that Christianity is the true faith.However as a believer the validity of my faith is proven to me personally, every day by the Holy Spirit, and his impact on my life. Every day the Lord reveals his love and power to me in a personal way.------------------
Saved by an incredible Grace.

erik6Firstly let me just let me say even more plainly than I did earlier that the most important thing for all of us to do is listen to our consciences and those around us who our conscience tells us have been given to speak into our lives. I believe that the Bible does say this (I wont quote the verse again as requsted by you!) and it makes sense for this to be the most imporant thing to God.So I am almost happy to say nothing other than that. However, in following my conscience and those around me I have become convinced that God is specifically the Christian God and so I recommend this God to you. So your question is then why I am convinced. It is partly due to the Bible (see my previous post) and partly due to my daily interactions with God in prayer and situations and partly due to the miraculous and near miraculous. All together I am utterly convinced of the Christian God.I have experienced the events that Scripture associates with conversion. A conscience pang of guilt of sin, a conscience comfort of the Holy Spirit of forgiveness and love, the experience of being 'filled with the Spirit', including the outward signs described in Acts 2 and since then the love, direction and disciplining of the Father, Son and HS.I found that although I don't know what is around the corner, when I look back on my life so far it is not random and I can see the guiding hand of God. In addition, since I came to beleive I have, on a handful of occasions, experienced undeniable miracles that unfortunately I can't prove to anyone but myself.[This message has been edited by Tranquility Base, 01-14-2003]

Tranquility Base,Thanks for the reply. I just wanted some new reference on an old topic. I can understand your point of view, but I tend not to agree. Your devotion and faith is obvious, yet I can't help but think that a lot of the world we live in can be explained by science. I mean that, your devotion and faith seems adequetely explained when spoken in terms of neuroscience. Granted, to many, biblical means of reasoning is sufficient, but when looking back on history there are many, many, times when humankind has shown weakness(my forefront thought being Nazi Germany). I can not think that I should give all faith to religion, when science can clearly explain cause and effect of such horrors. And how many wars thoughout history are rooted back to religion? Rather not religion, but more so ignorance. Science is driven by understanding,open-mindedness, and the will to change.
Yet, Christianity thrives on oppression of women, children, and basically anyone man judges to be of lesser status. Anyways, thanks for the discussion.
Erik

Tranquility Base,Thanks for the reply. I just wanted some new reference on an old topic. I can understand your point of view, but I tend not to agree. Your devotion and faith is obvious, yet I can't help but think that a lot of the world we live in can be explained by science. I mean that, your devotion and faith seems adequetely explained when spoken in terms of neuroscience. Granted, to many, biblical means of reasoning is sufficient, but when looking back on history there are many, many, times when humankind has shown weakness(my forefront thought being Nazi Germany). I can not think that I should give all faith to religion, when science can clearly explain cause and effect of such horrors. And how many wars thoughout history are rooted back to religion? Rather not religion, but more so ignorance. Science is driven by understanding,open-mindedness, and the will to change.
Yet, Christianity thrives on oppression of women, children, and basically anyone man judges to be of lesser status. Anyways, thanks for the discussion.
Erik

My inability to find the new delete function is beyond belief.[This message has been edited by Brad McFall, 01-16-2003]

My problem in this vein is actually MUCH more academic than the "horror" you site. I can see how SJ GOULD sides with the literati in the conclusion book to his life's work for I did the same towards my grandmother who taught Music over my Gradfather who taught Evolution but it was beyond existentialism to find my self about to be given electoshock involutarily for disagreeing with the ACADEMIC position that GOULD presents. Sartre said one had to feel this to understand it but THAT was too much being only ACADEMIC.IN FACT SCIENCE CAN NOT EXPLAIN THIS CAUSE AND EFFECT which OCCURS on it's OWN "campus" and yet you claim it can be for athourity for all else in Hume's "journey' where a 'river' is. NO WONDER Gladyshev thinks that the contradiction can be cleared up. IN TRUTH this is not happening any time soon, rapture notwithstanding.

sorry the system was too fast[This message has been edited by Brad McFall, 01-16-2003]

Erik This may seem plausible to you - consciousness bia emergence, conviction by psycology etc. Although I appreciate that our brains operate by neurosceince I also believe we are a triune being as God is (body, soul, spirit). As I mentioned I have personally seen the miraculous since I believed so I know you are wrong. But I believe you are just as wrong in looking at creation and thinking it could arrive in this state by chance and adaptation. It is Biblical reasoning + conscience + life events/responses + the miraculous. If God is God that is how it works. Scripture does not support this. I do not support 99% of what has gone on in Christianity! There is a Biblical 'order' to living, but not one of oppression. I submit to both Christ and worldly authorities analagously but differently to the way a child submits to their parents. This is how God created it to be. Families are a picture of the Godhead. Even the submission of a wife to a husband is pictured in the churches submission to Christ but look what glory the 'Bride of Christ' is revealed in in Rev 12/13. The husband lays down his life for his wife as Christ laid down his. This is how Christian family living should also be. It is not oppression but God's way. When corrupted by man it is very evil, I agree.[This message has been edited by Tranquility Base, 01-20-2003]