Chapter 5: Faith
Faith means several different things. Faith means a system of belief shared by several people. Faith means adherence to a set of rules. Faith means a quality that relates to how well a person deals with a challenge. When talking about faith, clarifying how a person uses the word helps the conversation be productive.
Faith as a shared system of belief has many layers. The largest layer includes systems of beliefs shared by millions of people: Christian faith; Jewish faith; Islam; Bahai; Hindu; and so on. One or more core beliefs are shared by most people in that grouping.
Within each major faith, there are a few to many layers with groups, subgroups, and so on. Within Christianity we have Orthodox, Roman Catholic, Episcopal, Reform, Methodist, Pentacostal, Baptist, Lutheran, and so on.
When a person keeps to a code of conduct promoted by a faith in facing challenges, they are keeping the faith. This kind of faith does not need spirituality or religion. Sports teams, clubs, families, and many other groups have expectations for their members including special kinds of trust. Keeping the faith relates to trust and expectations.
Having faith in the ability to achieve a goal or face a challenge or experience a particular outcome or cope with an unpredictable outcome provides an active application of faith. This faith can be short term or long term.
For example, I have faith that a world of shalom, a world where everyone experiences life in the reign of heaven will eventually happen, through probably not in my lifetime, and likely not for hundreds of years. My confidence in that eventual outcome compels me to strive to live in a way that advances that outcome, working for bits of shalom for others in my life each day.
Many people have faith in living their faith lives that God or the Holy Mystery or Allah will either reward them or use their sacrifices in achieving a greater good. Some have faith that their doing what they believe they are supposed to do will lead to a desired outcome, be it healing of some kind for themselves or another person or receiving wealth or some other reward. If this does not happen, they often either blame themselves for failing in some way or lose their faith, feeling betrayed.
For example, many Americans believed they were God’s chosen nation. When the planes hit the twin towers, that belief was shaken. Many were angry at God for letting that happen to their country, even though their country had done far worse things to people in other countries. Some became atheists: if God was not going to protect the US, then they had no interest in God.
These stories are stories of people who chose to believe a myth or fantasy about themselves or their group or a supreme being that served their self-interest.
Most religious traditions invite their followers to fit in with their divine reality, to respectfully take a place in the unfolding of history from holding special beliefs through religious practices to how they live their faith. Some take a commercial viewpoint where gifts and actions are traded for divine responses.
The beliefs offered by Jesus and by some Jews were that we and the divine have complete freedom to choose our actions, that we cannot buy God’s favours with gifts or actions.
What matters is the spirit of how we live, be it with love or fear or greed or sloth or busy-ness, etc..
I am writing this book with the hope of helping readers refine their beliefs/faith, find faith within themselves to face challenges, and choose an honourable set of expectations and trust in keeping their faith.
Faith means several different things. Faith means a system of belief shared by several people. Faith means adherence to a set of rules. Faith means a quality that relates to how well a person deals with a challenge. When talking about faith, clarifying how a person uses the word helps the conversation be productive.
Faith as a shared system of belief has many layers. The largest layer includes systems of beliefs shared by millions of people: Christian faith; Jewish faith; Islam; Bahai; Hindu; and so on. One or more core beliefs are shared by most people in that grouping.
Within each major faith, there are a few to many layers with groups, subgroups, and so on. Within Christianity we have Orthodox, Roman Catholic, Episcopal, Reform, Methodist, Pentacostal, Baptist, Lutheran, and so on.
When a person keeps to a code of conduct promoted by a faith in facing challenges, they are keeping the faith. This kind of faith does not need spirituality or religion. Sports teams, clubs, families, and many other groups have expectations for their members including special kinds of trust. Keeping the faith relates to trust and expectations.
Having faith in the ability to achieve a goal or face a challenge or experience a particular outcome or cope with an unpredictable outcome provides an active application of faith. This faith can be short term or long term.
For example, I have faith that a world of shalom, a world where everyone experiences life in the reign of heaven will eventually happen, through probably not in my lifetime, and likely not for hundreds of years. My confidence in that eventual outcome compels me to strive to live in a way that advances that outcome, working for bits of shalom for others in my life each day.
Many people have faith in living their faith lives that God or the Holy Mystery or Allah will either reward them or use their sacrifices in achieving a greater good. Some have faith that their doing what they believe they are supposed to do will lead to a desired outcome, be it healing of some kind for themselves or another person or receiving wealth or some other reward. If this does not happen, they often either blame themselves for failing in some way or lose their faith, feeling betrayed.
For example, many Americans believed they were God’s chosen nation. When the planes hit the twin towers, that belief was shaken. Many were angry at God for letting that happen to their country, even though their country had done far worse things to people in other countries. Some became atheists: if God was not going to protect the US, then they had no interest in God.
These stories are stories of people who chose to believe a myth or fantasy about themselves or their group or a supreme being that served their self-interest.
Most religious traditions invite their followers to fit in with their divine reality, to respectfully take a place in the unfolding of history from holding special beliefs through religious practices to how they live their faith. Some take a commercial viewpoint where gifts and actions are traded for divine responses.
The beliefs offered by Jesus and by some Jews were that we and the divine have complete freedom to choose our actions, that we cannot buy God’s favours with gifts or actions.
What matters is the spirit of how we live, be it with love or fear or greed or sloth or busy-ness, etc..
I am writing this book with the hope of helping readers refine their beliefs/faith, find faith within themselves to face challenges, and choose an honourable set of expectations and trust in keeping their faith.
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