xjwsforChrist

GLADIATOR SAID

Faith is trust placed in something or someone. Faith can be placed in a person, a concept, an invisible being, a piece of rope, or the brakes on your car. The mind doesn't distinguish between real people and things and imaginary people and things. This is both the most wonderful thing about the human mind and also the most dangerous. Doubt a person’s faith and you are questioning their judgement, intelligence and sanity. Best tread carefully on matters of faith!

Would you like to share with us what you have placed your faith in?

Or, if you don’t think you have faith of any kind, what is your philosophy for living?

TEC SAID

Posted: Fri Nov 09, 2012 5:30 pm Post subject:
Good questions, Glad.




I thought the above was poignant as well. As well as, the questioning (depending upon how it is done) sometimes dismisses just how much one has questioned their own faith, reasoned through it, searched for answers, etc. Most everyone who has ever changed, left, or returned to the one to whom they give their faith... has questioned themselves and their own judgment.

My faith is in Christ and all that He teaches about His Father, about life, about love, about how we should live and treat one another, and about the spirit/spiritual. I also have faith in Him that He will lead me gently along, perhaps unless i ask Him to do otherwise, but then, that would not be trusting Him so completely. He has always led me right, never lied, and he has always answered the faith I have in Him... and then some. Way more than i could even think possible.


On another note, I have found that i do not have the same faith in others of authority,that i once had. Like dentists - sometimes i think there 'you must get this done' is a money grab, because too many times what they said could not heal on its own, has healed on its own. Doctors are way smarter than me in their field, so i do trust them, but not without realizing that they are human and make mistakes when something outside their expertise is presented to them. They do know more than me, but now i will question more, and not just accept. Teachers... perhaps the biggest one for me. I used to think that the teachers must know more about what my son needed than me, and because I gave them that faith, I let my son down, over and over again. Teachers are far too overworked, with far too many students, to be able to truly see one child who needs something different, much less give them that. That goes for principals as well.

Since I have stopped giving such blind belief to others, and since I have more looked to my Lord for guidance, and His teachings, and trusted what i know within me about my children, that speaks from love and not from rules and conformity... I have been able to do so much better for my family and for myself. Lots of hurt to undo, and some damage from that, but at least i can look to that now.

Peace to you,

tammy

JUSTMOM SAID

Great thread!

I too have faith that my heavenly Father and His son love me truly! They always have!
Even when I was on my own path in the WTBS and thought I was pleasing Him, he never gave up on me. It was when I know he knew for "ME" personally that it was Now or Never, per se... to "call me", to open my heart so I would receive him, hear him and see what he was doing to do for me.
That time in my life was something to this day I will NEVER forget. And as the years pass by his LOVE, MERCY, COMPASSION and FOREGIVENESS for me never ceases to amaze me.

He always rememinds me "Child, how much do you love YOUR sons? And what would you do for them? How often do you continually foregive them? It is NOTHING in comparison to my love for you.
I sometimes cannot believe it, but it is TRUE!

So as the pattern has been shown and set by our Lord and master, I only hope that I can show a fraction of a mustard seed of that to others.

With love to you
justmom

PSACRAMENTO SAID

One can't function without faith.
Of course the really issue isn't faith, it is what is called "blind faith".
That is simply placing your faith in something with no reason reason/evidence to do so.
Pretty much everyone agrees this is NOT a good kind of faith.
I think that skeptics fail to understand that for many believers, their faith is NOT blind but based on "evidence".
What evidence? that depends on the believer of course.
For some it is direct evidence while for others it is indirect ( an example would be a person placing their faith in Christ and then following His teachings and seeing a noticeable difference for the better in their lives).

For my self, there is every day faith:
Faith in my car, co-workers, and friends, flying, the weatherman ( sometimes, LOL) and things like that. Faith based on day-to-day evidence.
There is faith in family and loved one, which is a combination of "experience evidence" and "good faith").
Then there is the faith I place in Christ and Our Father.
That faith is based on direct evidence AND on a "feeling" that transcends that "evidence".

AGUEST SAID

You dear ones know me (peace to you all!) and so you lnow my response: my faith is in the Holy One of Israel and Holy Spirit, JAHESHUA, the Chosen One of JAH (MischaJah)... and ALL that That One has told me, tells me yet, has shown me and will show me yet... about himself, his Father (and mine) the MOST Holy One of JAH of Armies... as well as about myself, creation, the spirit and physical realms, man in general, and Israel in particular.

Peace to you all and to your households!

YOUR servant and a slave of Christ,

SA

JAMES THOMAS SAID

Yes, interesting question, Glad.

"Spiritually" speaking, which is the basic purpose of this forum, I have no faith in some "thing" or some "one". Faith is, as you mentioned, a noun referring to or directed towards person, place, or thing. So for faith to work, there must TWO-NESS.

Let me try to explain. First, this "me" that sees all the rest of the universe as "out-there", is a fallacy, created by the mind. No matter how very real it seems, it just does not exist. Second, there is a sense, a seeing, that what the word GOD points to, is not a thing, not an "other". But rather a totality...of which there is no outside, no place for another anything. So ultimately, foundationally, there is only ONENESS.

Sounds strange, I know.

As far as non-spiritual type stuff. I currently have faith in, and am helping to support a small group of people who are working on Low Energy Nuclear Reactions (LENR). A clean power source which could change the world.

If you are interested, their web-site is here: http://www.quantumheat.org/

GLADIATOR SAID

Some interesting posts that illustrate how faith is a part of your life. I would like to share my faith with you but it would be dishonest of me claim I have a faith. Perhaps it is more of an awareness of being part of something that cannot be explained with words. An awareness that grows stronger in silence and solitude. I can relate to James Thomas’ understanding in a direct way. The Christian viewpoint is an indirect connection to me. Of course Christians will see what I have said in the other way round.

Last weekend I found myself in the English West Country in a village called Cricket St Thomas. I went into a small 13th century church to look around; read some comments and historical notes. I was touched by the people striving for a connection with something beyond themselves. At the same time I realized that what they were seeking is already within themselves.

This may not make that much sense but words are a clumsy tool when trying to explain faith.

PSACRAMENTO SAID

Posted: Fri Nov 09, 2012 9:11 pm Post subject:
Since our understanding of anything is base don how we perceive it, we must be careful in putting ourselves in "too high" a place since all we know of our selves is based on how WE perceive ourselves and since we can't be as "detached" as we should be, our perception of ourselves is always "fuzzy" at best.
There is no US with I but how we relate to I is based on US.
We are relational creatures and we get as much understanding about ourselves from others as we get from ourselves.
Many things that we seek are in ourselves but it is funny that we need something "outside" to find that out isn't it?

CHARIKLO SAID

My faith is in God, and of course in Jesus too.

It's an absolute trust. It was there upholding me all the time, deep down in those WT times.

That is a very short post for me, but it says it all and I can't think of anything else to add.

GLADIATOR SAID


paulSacramento

This is true. Perhaps in reality there is no inside and outside of ourselves. Though there appears to be from our perspective because we individually look out through our eyes. Once we close our eyes the feeling of separation diminishes. Perhaps this is why prayer works best with closed eyes.

GLADIATOR SAID

Chariklo


Such certainty is to be envied.

GLADIATOR SAID

Tec


If faith helps to make life better for you and your family then it has value and is to be treasured.

GLADIATOR SAID

AGuest



No surprises there Shelby.

GLADIATOR SAID

justmom



Very biblical indeed. As I said to Tec, if your faith helps you in your life and causes you to treat others better then it has value.

GLADIATOR SAID

From my own limited perspective I can do no better than quote JamesThomas and keep an open mind.