(Latin: sacrificium, sacrifice)
In a less rigorous or a figurative sense, a sacrifice is any offering made to God with a view to honoring Him, such as acts of virtue, almsgiving, and prayer. In true or rigorous sense is the offering to God of a sense-perceptible substance, which is either really or symbolically destroyed, or at least transformed and withdrawn from profane use; and this offering must be made by a duly authorized person in recognition of God's Infinite Majesty and man's absolute dependence on Him. This definition contains generic and specific elements. By its generic element, sacrifice is an external act of the virtue of religion (by which God is honored on account of His transcendent excellence) and belongs to the cult of latria. It is clear that the external act derives all its moral value from a corresponding act of the human will. By its specific elements, sacrifice is marked off from other acts of the virtue of religion.
Sunday, August 30, 2009
Definition: PRAYER II: EFFECTS
In hearing our prayer God does not change His will or action in our regard, but simply puts into effect what He had eternally decreed in view of our prayer. This He may do directly without the intervention of any secondary cause as when He imparts to us some supernatural gift, such as actual grace, or indirectly, when He bestows some natural gift. In this latter case He directs by His Providence the natural causes which contribute to the effect desired, whether they be moral or free agents, such as men; or some moral and others not, but physical and not free; or, again, when none of them is free. Finally, by miraculous intervention, and without employing any of these causes, He can produce the effect prayed for.
The use or habit of prayer redounds to our advantage in many ways. Besides obtaining the gifts and graces we need, the very process elevates our mind and heart to a knowledge and love of Divine things, greater confidence in God, and other precious sentiments. Indeed, so numerous and so helpful are these effects of prayer that they compensate us, even when the special object of our prayer is not granted. Often they are of far greater benefit than what we ask for. Nothing that we might obtain in answer to our prayer could exceed in value the familiar converse with God in which prayer consists.
In addition to these effects of prayer, we may (de congruo) merit by it restoration to grace, if we are in sin; new inspirations of grace, increase of sanctifying grace, and satisfy for the temporal punishment due to sin. Signal as all these benefits are, they are only incidental to the proper effect of prayer due to its impetratory power based on the infallible promise of God, "Ask, and it shall be given you; seek, and you shall find: knock, and it shall be opened to you" (Matthew 7:7); "Therefore I say unto you, all things whatsoever you ask when ye pray, believe that you shall receive" (Mark 11:24 — see also Luke 11:11; John 16:24, as well as innumerable assurances to this effect in the Old Testament).
New Catholic Dictionary
The use or habit of prayer redounds to our advantage in many ways. Besides obtaining the gifts and graces we need, the very process elevates our mind and heart to a knowledge and love of Divine things, greater confidence in God, and other precious sentiments. Indeed, so numerous and so helpful are these effects of prayer that they compensate us, even when the special object of our prayer is not granted. Often they are of far greater benefit than what we ask for. Nothing that we might obtain in answer to our prayer could exceed in value the familiar converse with God in which prayer consists.
In addition to these effects of prayer, we may (de congruo) merit by it restoration to grace, if we are in sin; new inspirations of grace, increase of sanctifying grace, and satisfy for the temporal punishment due to sin. Signal as all these benefits are, they are only incidental to the proper effect of prayer due to its impetratory power based on the infallible promise of God, "Ask, and it shall be given you; seek, and you shall find: knock, and it shall be opened to you" (Matthew 7:7); "Therefore I say unto you, all things whatsoever you ask when ye pray, believe that you shall receive" (Mark 11:24 — see also Luke 11:11; John 16:24, as well as innumerable assurances to this effect in the Old Testament).
New Catholic Dictionary
Definition: PRAYER
Prayer
(Greek euchesthai, Latin precari, French prier, to plead, to beg, to ask earnestly).
An act of the virtue of religion which consists in asking proper gifts or graces from God. In a more general sense it is the application of the mind to Divine things, not merely to acquire a knowledge of them but to make use of such knowledge as a means of union with God. This may be done by acts of praise and thanksgiving, but petition is the principal act of prayer.
The words used to express it in Scripture are: to call up (Genesis 4:26); to intercede (Job 22:10); to mediate (Isaiah 53:10); to consult (1 Samuel 28:6); to beseech (Exodus 32:11); and, very commonly, to cry out to. The Fathers speak of it as the elevation of the mind to God with a view to asking proper things from Him (St. John Damascene, On the Orthodox Faith III.24); communing and conversing with God (St. Gregory of Nyssa, "De oratione dom.", in P.G., XLIV, 1125); talking with God (St. John Chrysostom, "Hom. xxx in Gen.", n. 5, in P.G., LIII, 280). It is therefore the expression of our desires to God whether for ourselves or others.
This expression is not intended to instruct or direct God what to do, but to appeal to His goodness for the things we need; and the appeal is necessary, not because He is ignorant of our needs or sentiments, but to give definite form to our desires, to concentrate our whole attention on what we have to recommend to Him, to help us appreciate our close personal relation with Him. The expression need not be external or vocal; internal or mental is sufficient.
By prayer we acknowledge God's power and goodness, our own neediness and dependence. It is therefore an act of the virtue of religion implying the deepest reverence for God and habituating us to look to Him for everything, not merely because the thing asked be good in itself, or advantageous to us, but chiefly because we wish it as a gift of God, and not otherwise, no matter how good or desirable it may seem to us. Prayer presupposes faith in God and hope in His goodness. By both, God, to whom we pray, moves us to prayer.
Our knowledge of God by the light of natural reason also inspires us to look to Him for help, but such prayer lacks supernatural inspiration, and though it may avail to keep us from losing our natural knowledge of God and trust in Him, or, to some extent, from offending Him, it cannot positively dispose us to receive His graces.
New Advent Catholic Encylopedia
(Greek euchesthai, Latin precari, French prier, to plead, to beg, to ask earnestly).
An act of the virtue of religion which consists in asking proper gifts or graces from God. In a more general sense it is the application of the mind to Divine things, not merely to acquire a knowledge of them but to make use of such knowledge as a means of union with God. This may be done by acts of praise and thanksgiving, but petition is the principal act of prayer.
The words used to express it in Scripture are: to call up (Genesis 4:26); to intercede (Job 22:10); to mediate (Isaiah 53:10); to consult (1 Samuel 28:6); to beseech (Exodus 32:11); and, very commonly, to cry out to. The Fathers speak of it as the elevation of the mind to God with a view to asking proper things from Him (St. John Damascene, On the Orthodox Faith III.24); communing and conversing with God (St. Gregory of Nyssa, "De oratione dom.", in P.G., XLIV, 1125); talking with God (St. John Chrysostom, "Hom. xxx in Gen.", n. 5, in P.G., LIII, 280). It is therefore the expression of our desires to God whether for ourselves or others.
This expression is not intended to instruct or direct God what to do, but to appeal to His goodness for the things we need; and the appeal is necessary, not because He is ignorant of our needs or sentiments, but to give definite form to our desires, to concentrate our whole attention on what we have to recommend to Him, to help us appreciate our close personal relation with Him. The expression need not be external or vocal; internal or mental is sufficient.
By prayer we acknowledge God's power and goodness, our own neediness and dependence. It is therefore an act of the virtue of religion implying the deepest reverence for God and habituating us to look to Him for everything, not merely because the thing asked be good in itself, or advantageous to us, but chiefly because we wish it as a gift of God, and not otherwise, no matter how good or desirable it may seem to us. Prayer presupposes faith in God and hope in His goodness. By both, God, to whom we pray, moves us to prayer.
Our knowledge of God by the light of natural reason also inspires us to look to Him for help, but such prayer lacks supernatural inspiration, and though it may avail to keep us from losing our natural knowledge of God and trust in Him, or, to some extent, from offending Him, it cannot positively dispose us to receive His graces.
New Advent Catholic Encylopedia
Definition: ADORATION
(Latin: ad, to; orare, to pray; or os, oris, mouth: from the pagan custom of expressing preference for a god by wafting a kiss to the statue)
An act of religion offered to God alone in recognition of His infinite perfection and supreme dominion, and of the creature's dependence on Him. It is an act of mind and will expressing itself exteriorly by postures of reverence and prayers of praise. It is loosely used to express admiration and affection for creatures.
New Catholic Dictionary
An act of religion offered to God alone in recognition of His infinite perfection and supreme dominion, and of the creature's dependence on Him. It is an act of mind and will expressing itself exteriorly by postures of reverence and prayers of praise. It is loosely used to express admiration and affection for creatures.
New Catholic Dictionary
Saturday, August 29, 2009
Definition: HOPE
One of the three theological virtues infused into the soul together with sanctifying grace and having God as its primary object. It makes us desire eternal life or the possession of God and gives us the confidence of receiving the grace necessary to arrive at this possession. The grounds of our hope are: the omnipotence of God, or the fact that He can give us eternal life and the means to attain it; His goodness, or the fact that He wills to give us eternal life and the means to attain it; and His fidelity to His promises, or the fact that He has pledged Himself to give us eternal life and the means thereto.
Since the virtue of hope is based on God's power, goodness, and fidelity to His promises, it must be sure and unshakable in the sense that God will certainly offer us the means necessary for the attainment of eternal life and that if we employ our free-will to cooperate with the grace of God we shall certainly be saved. Hence, we alone can make hope void by our wilful refusal to work with the proffered grace of God. Hope is necessary to salvation. The virtue of hope infused into the soul at Baptism is sufficient for those who have not attained the use of reason; in all others an act of hope is required, such at least as is included in living a Christian life. The sins against hope are: despair or wilful diffidence about obtaining heaven and the means necessary thereto, since this implies mistrust of God's power or goodness or fidelity to His promises; and presumption or the unreasonable confidence of obtaining eternal salvation without taking the necessary
means.
New Catholic Dictionary
Since the virtue of hope is based on God's power, goodness, and fidelity to His promises, it must be sure and unshakable in the sense that God will certainly offer us the means necessary for the attainment of eternal life and that if we employ our free-will to cooperate with the grace of God we shall certainly be saved. Hence, we alone can make hope void by our wilful refusal to work with the proffered grace of God. Hope is necessary to salvation. The virtue of hope infused into the soul at Baptism is sufficient for those who have not attained the use of reason; in all others an act of hope is required, such at least as is included in living a Christian life. The sins against hope are: despair or wilful diffidence about obtaining heaven and the means necessary thereto, since this implies mistrust of God's power or goodness or fidelity to His promises; and presumption or the unreasonable confidence of obtaining eternal salvation without taking the necessary
means.
New Catholic Dictionary
Definition: FAITH
In general, is an assent of the mind to the truth of some proposition on the word of another, God or man. It differs from assent in matters of science in that the latter is based on evidence of fact, whereas the former is based solely on the word of another. Divine faith is therefore the holding of some truth as absolutely certain because God, Who can neither deceive nor be deceived, has spoken it. It is not merely a feeling or a suspicion or an opinion, but a firm, unshakeable adherence of the mind to a truth revealed by God. The motive of Divine faith, or the reason why we believe, is God's authority, His unfailing knowledge and truthfulness. We believe the truths of faith not because our minds understand them, can see them, but because the Infinitely Wise and Truthful God has revealed them.
This motive of faith must not be confused with motives of credibility. These latter are the signs, and among them the surest are miracles and prophecies, by which we can conclude with full certitude that God has revealed and that therefore there is a strict obligation to accept the truths He has made known. It is these motives of credibility which precede the act of faith and which make it essentially reasonable to assent to the truths of faith, for once it is certain that God has spoken, it is unreasonable to withhold assent to His truths. All that God has revealed and nothing else is the object of Divine faith, for it is that and that alone which can be accepted on the word of God. Though a man may be able by his own resources to learn the main truths revealed by God, the normal and usual way is through the Church which has been commissioned by Christ to teach in His name and with His authority. Divine faith is a supernatural act and therefore requires the grace of God. This grace is given to all adults who do not place any obstacle in its way. Without faith no man can be saved. For infants the virtue of faith received at the time of Baptism suffices, but for adults an act of supernatural faith that God exists and rewards the good and punishes the evil is necessary for salvation.
New Catholic Dictionary
This motive of faith must not be confused with motives of credibility. These latter are the signs, and among them the surest are miracles and prophecies, by which we can conclude with full certitude that God has revealed and that therefore there is a strict obligation to accept the truths He has made known. It is these motives of credibility which precede the act of faith and which make it essentially reasonable to assent to the truths of faith, for once it is certain that God has spoken, it is unreasonable to withhold assent to His truths. All that God has revealed and nothing else is the object of Divine faith, for it is that and that alone which can be accepted on the word of God. Though a man may be able by his own resources to learn the main truths revealed by God, the normal and usual way is through the Church which has been commissioned by Christ to teach in His name and with His authority. Divine faith is a supernatural act and therefore requires the grace of God. This grace is given to all adults who do not place any obstacle in its way. Without faith no man can be saved. For infants the virtue of faith received at the time of Baptism suffices, but for adults an act of supernatural faith that God exists and rewards the good and punishes the evil is necessary for salvation.
New Catholic Dictionary
Thursday, August 27, 2009
St. Paul's Hymn to Charity
"If I speak in human and angelic tongues but do not have charity, I am a resounding gong or a clashing cymbal. And if I have the gift of prophecy and comprehend all mysteries and all knowledge; if I have all faith so as to move mountains but do not have charity, I am nothing. If I give away everything I own, and if I hand my body over so that I may boast but do not have charity, I gain nothing.
Charity is patient, charity is kind. It is not jealous, is not pompous, it is not inflated, it is not rude, it does not seek its own interests, it is not quick-tempered, it does not brood over injury, it does not rejoice over wrongdoing but rejoices with the truth. It bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things.
Charity never fails. If there are prophecies, they will be brought to nothing; if tongues, they will cease; if knowledge, it will be brought to nothing. For we know partially and we prophesy partially, but when the perfect comes, the partial will pass away. When I was a child, I used to talk as a child, think as a child, reason as a child; when I became a man, I put aside childish things. At present we see indistinctly, as in a mirror, but then face to face. At present I know partially; then I shall know fully, as I am fully known. So faith, hope charity remain, these three; but the greatest of these is charity."
1 Corinthians 13
Charity is patient, charity is kind. It is not jealous, is not pompous, it is not inflated, it is not rude, it does not seek its own interests, it is not quick-tempered, it does not brood over injury, it does not rejoice over wrongdoing but rejoices with the truth. It bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things.
Charity never fails. If there are prophecies, they will be brought to nothing; if tongues, they will cease; if knowledge, it will be brought to nothing. For we know partially and we prophesy partially, but when the perfect comes, the partial will pass away. When I was a child, I used to talk as a child, think as a child, reason as a child; when I became a man, I put aside childish things. At present we see indistinctly, as in a mirror, but then face to face. At present I know partially; then I shall know fully, as I am fully known. So faith, hope charity remain, these three; but the greatest of these is charity."
1 Corinthians 13
What is Caritas?
To defend the truth, to articulate it with humility and conviction, and to bear witness to it in life are therefore exacting and indispensable forms of charity. Charity, in fact, “rejoices in the truth” (1 Cor 13:6). All people feel the interior impulse to love authentically: love and truth never abandon them completely, because these are the vocation planted by God in the heart and mind of every human person. The search for love and truth is purified and liberated by Jesus Christ from the impoverishment that our humanity brings to it, and he reveals to us in all its fullness the initiative of love and the plan for true life that God has prepared for us. In Christ, charity in truth becomes the Face of his Person, a vocation for us to love our brothers and sisters in the truth of his plan. Indeed, he himself is the Truth (cf. Jn 14:6).
from Benedict XVI's "Caritas in Veritate".
from Benedict XVI's "Caritas in Veritate".
Wednesday, August 26, 2009
Supernatural Faith--its nature, and merit
from the Catholic Encyclopedia:
Definition of faith
The foregoing analyses will enable us to define an act of Divine supernatural faith as "the act of the intellect assenting to a Divine truth owing to the movement of the will, which is itself moved by the grace of God" (St. Thomas, II-II, Q. iv, a. 2). And just as the light of faith is a gift supernaturally bestowed upon the understanding, so also this Divine grace moving the will is, as its name implies, an equally supernatural and an absolutely gratuitous gift. Neither gift is due to previous study neither of them can be acquired by human efforts, but "Ask and ye shall receive."
From all that has been said two most important corollaries follow:
That temptations against faith are natural and inevitable and are in no sense contrary to faith, "since", says St. Thomas, "the assent of the intellect in faith is due to the will, and since the object to which the intellect thus assents is not its own proper object — for that is actual vision of an intelligible object — it follows that the intellect's attitude towards that object is not one of tranquillity, on the contrary it thinks and inquires about those things it believes, all the while that it assents to them unhesitatingly; for as far as it itself is concerned the intellect is not satisfied" (De Ver., xiv, 1).
(b) It also follows from the above that an act of supernatural faith is meritorious, since it proceeds from the will moved by Divine grace or charity, and thus has all the essential constituents of a meritorious act (cf. II-II, Q. ii, a. 9). This enables us to understand St. James's words when he says, "The devils also believe and tremble" (ii, 19) . "It is not willingly that they assent", says St. Thomas, "but they are compelled thereto by the evidence of those signs which prove that what believers assent to is true, though even those proofs do not make the truths of faith so evident as to afford what is termed vision of them" (De Ver., xiv 9, ad 4); nor is their faith Divine, but merely philosophical and natural.
Some may fancy the foregoing analyses superfluous, and may think that they savour too much of Scholasticism. But if anyone will be at the pains to compare the teaching of the Fathers, of the Scholastics, and of the divines of the Anglican Church in the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries, with that of the non-Catholic theologians of today, he will find that the Scholastics merely put into shape what the Fathers taught, and that the great English divines owe their solidity and genuine worth to their vast patristic knowledge and their strictly logical training.
Let anyone who doubts this statement compare Bishop Butler's Analogy of Religion, chaps. v, vi, with the paper on "Faith" contributed to Lux Mundi. The writer of this latter paper tells us that "faith is an elemental energy of the soul", "a tentative probation", that "its primary note will be trust", and finally that "in response to the demand for definition, it can only reiterate: "Faith is faith. Believing is just believing'". Nowhere is there any analysis of terms, nowhere any distinction between the relative parts played by the intellect and the will; and we feel that those who read the paper must have risen from its perusal with the feeling that they had been wandering through — we use the writer's own expression — "a juggling maze of words."
Definition of faith
The foregoing analyses will enable us to define an act of Divine supernatural faith as "the act of the intellect assenting to a Divine truth owing to the movement of the will, which is itself moved by the grace of God" (St. Thomas, II-II, Q. iv, a. 2). And just as the light of faith is a gift supernaturally bestowed upon the understanding, so also this Divine grace moving the will is, as its name implies, an equally supernatural and an absolutely gratuitous gift. Neither gift is due to previous study neither of them can be acquired by human efforts, but "Ask and ye shall receive."
From all that has been said two most important corollaries follow:
That temptations against faith are natural and inevitable and are in no sense contrary to faith, "since", says St. Thomas, "the assent of the intellect in faith is due to the will, and since the object to which the intellect thus assents is not its own proper object — for that is actual vision of an intelligible object — it follows that the intellect's attitude towards that object is not one of tranquillity, on the contrary it thinks and inquires about those things it believes, all the while that it assents to them unhesitatingly; for as far as it itself is concerned the intellect is not satisfied" (De Ver., xiv, 1).
(b) It also follows from the above that an act of supernatural faith is meritorious, since it proceeds from the will moved by Divine grace or charity, and thus has all the essential constituents of a meritorious act (cf. II-II, Q. ii, a. 9). This enables us to understand St. James's words when he says, "The devils also believe and tremble" (ii, 19) . "It is not willingly that they assent", says St. Thomas, "but they are compelled thereto by the evidence of those signs which prove that what believers assent to is true, though even those proofs do not make the truths of faith so evident as to afford what is termed vision of them" (De Ver., xiv 9, ad 4); nor is their faith Divine, but merely philosophical and natural.
Some may fancy the foregoing analyses superfluous, and may think that they savour too much of Scholasticism. But if anyone will be at the pains to compare the teaching of the Fathers, of the Scholastics, and of the divines of the Anglican Church in the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries, with that of the non-Catholic theologians of today, he will find that the Scholastics merely put into shape what the Fathers taught, and that the great English divines owe their solidity and genuine worth to their vast patristic knowledge and their strictly logical training.
Let anyone who doubts this statement compare Bishop Butler's Analogy of Religion, chaps. v, vi, with the paper on "Faith" contributed to Lux Mundi. The writer of this latter paper tells us that "faith is an elemental energy of the soul", "a tentative probation", that "its primary note will be trust", and finally that "in response to the demand for definition, it can only reiterate: "Faith is faith. Believing is just believing'". Nowhere is there any analysis of terms, nowhere any distinction between the relative parts played by the intellect and the will; and we feel that those who read the paper must have risen from its perusal with the feeling that they had been wandering through — we use the writer's own expression — "a juggling maze of words."
Tuesday, August 25, 2009
NYTimes.com: What is Faith? Fasten your seat belts for a lot of foolishness!
Here it is: a sampling of reader's opinions re the question: What is Faith?
The suspension of reason and rationality for a dream.
— Darren Tidwell
2. June 26, 2009
11:42 am
Link
Faith is knowing something should be true, being certain it is, and having no insight into one’s collisions with reality.
Reality is wrong. Other people are wrong. Why can’t they
see what I see? It’s all about failures to re-interpret one’s
original misinterpretation of experience. Faith is blind,
and that’s a problem.
Faith is not calm, it is heated, sure of itself, and prone to be unrealistic.
— Mike Mooney
3. June 26, 2009
11:44 am
Link
There’s never been a better analysis of Faith than the following: http://thisibelieve.org/essay/21932/
Dude is a Franciscan who acknowledged that faith is not knowing what you can’t know… and being okay with it. Perhaps the opposite of so many that we consider to be Faithful today.
Seriously, please give it a listen.
— Juan
4. June 26, 2009
12:16 pm
Link
Faith: Security in numbers.
— Joshua Hecker
5. June 26, 2009
12:28 pm
Link
Faith is the remaining recourse when a person reaches the end of their knowledge before the end of their journey.
— alanyst
6. June 26, 2009
12:45 pm
Link
Faith is what other people have. I have doubt.
Unbeliever
— Unbeliever
7. June 26, 2009
12:46 pm
Link
Faith is the tenacity with which a belief or myth is adhered to, regardless of any proof for its veracity
— Abe Eckstein
8. June 26, 2009
12:52 pm
Link
Faith is a socially acceptable insanity in the same way that alcohol is a socially acceptable drug.
— Pete
9. June 26, 2009
1:03 pm
Link
[Religious and other] FAITH: Strong, at times, unquestioning and complete beleif(s) without strong empirical and tested evidence and proof lacking a viable hypothesis which has been tested and which is recognized by by dispassionate persons who are experts in the area who are independent.
— David Chowes, New York City
10. June 26, 2009
1:03 pm
Link
Faith is the word many use when they mean “hope”.
Faith is trust, both of which are broken so often.
Faith is belief that has no proof, otherwise it would not be needed.
Faith is what sustains the vast majority, the masses, who believe there is something better than their leaders provide.
Faith becomes the substitute for truth about the unknown.
Faith drives some, carries some, pulls some, fools many.
— tom brasher
11. June 26, 2009
1:03 pm
Link
Faith is the absence of fear.
— Cindy Wheatley
12. June 26, 2009
1:04 pm
Link
Faith is believing/hoping that what you wish is true is really true.
— Mary from CT
13. June 26, 2009
1:07 pm
Link
Unfounded belief.
— Nathalie Guyol
14. June 26, 2009
1:16 pm
Link
To Unbeliever - I think doubt is a part of faith. If there is no doubt why do you need faith?
— Stan
15. June 26, 2009
1:18 pm
Link
I think this is a quote of Clarence Jordan:
“Faith is the turning of dreams into deeds.”
— John Donaghy
16. June 26, 2009
1:30 pm
Link
Faith is taking action based on our trust in things that we expect to be true but have not independently verified.
As such, it is employed by every intelligent person, every day of their lives.
— alanyst
17. June 26, 2009
1:45 pm
Link
Faith is the ultimate act of creation.
— Franklin
18. June 26, 2009
1:53 pm
Link
As the schoolboy said when Father Feeney asked him to define faith: “Faith is when you know somethin’ ain’t true, but you believe it anyway.”
— James Dunn
19. June 26, 2009
1:55 pm
Link
All is well and will be well.
— dr james
20. June 26, 2009
1:55 pm
Link
As Mark Twain said,”Faith is believing what you know ain’t so.”
— Harvey Sande
21. June 26, 2009
2:08 pm
Link
Faith is a gift from the Triune God.
— helen
22. June 26, 2009
2:10 pm
Link
Faith is an antiquated insistence on belief in something that cannot be falsified.
Faith asks you to stop searching for truth.
Faith lays the groundwork for disappointment.
Faith is the opposite of critical thinking.
— Marnie
23. June 26, 2009
2:17 pm
Link
Faith: That on which much of the US’s charitable activities is based, freeing the government from many of its obligations.
— DigitalDan
24. June 26, 2009
2:25 pm
Link
A feeling that you, and by extension the world, is just awesome.
A sense of wholeness, of justice and purpose, underlying every event in one’s life.
Faith is trusting ones eyes and ones heart.
Faith is knowing, beyond hope and fear, that everything is beautiful.
Faith is saying yes to every moment.
— dr james
25. June 26, 2009
2:43 pm
Link
Faith is chosing to believe that which is (for now) unproven.
— Mark H
The suspension of reason and rationality for a dream.
— Darren Tidwell
2. June 26, 2009
11:42 am
Link
Faith is knowing something should be true, being certain it is, and having no insight into one’s collisions with reality.
Reality is wrong. Other people are wrong. Why can’t they
see what I see? It’s all about failures to re-interpret one’s
original misinterpretation of experience. Faith is blind,
and that’s a problem.
Faith is not calm, it is heated, sure of itself, and prone to be unrealistic.
— Mike Mooney
3. June 26, 2009
11:44 am
Link
There’s never been a better analysis of Faith than the following: http://thisibelieve.org/essay/21932/
Dude is a Franciscan who acknowledged that faith is not knowing what you can’t know… and being okay with it. Perhaps the opposite of so many that we consider to be Faithful today.
Seriously, please give it a listen.
— Juan
4. June 26, 2009
12:16 pm
Link
Faith: Security in numbers.
— Joshua Hecker
5. June 26, 2009
12:28 pm
Link
Faith is the remaining recourse when a person reaches the end of their knowledge before the end of their journey.
— alanyst
6. June 26, 2009
12:45 pm
Link
Faith is what other people have. I have doubt.
Unbeliever
— Unbeliever
7. June 26, 2009
12:46 pm
Link
Faith is the tenacity with which a belief or myth is adhered to, regardless of any proof for its veracity
— Abe Eckstein
8. June 26, 2009
12:52 pm
Link
Faith is a socially acceptable insanity in the same way that alcohol is a socially acceptable drug.
— Pete
9. June 26, 2009
1:03 pm
Link
[Religious and other] FAITH: Strong, at times, unquestioning and complete beleif(s) without strong empirical and tested evidence and proof lacking a viable hypothesis which has been tested and which is recognized by by dispassionate persons who are experts in the area who are independent.
— David Chowes, New York City
10. June 26, 2009
1:03 pm
Link
Faith is the word many use when they mean “hope”.
Faith is trust, both of which are broken so often.
Faith is belief that has no proof, otherwise it would not be needed.
Faith is what sustains the vast majority, the masses, who believe there is something better than their leaders provide.
Faith becomes the substitute for truth about the unknown.
Faith drives some, carries some, pulls some, fools many.
— tom brasher
11. June 26, 2009
1:03 pm
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Faith is the absence of fear.
— Cindy Wheatley
12. June 26, 2009
1:04 pm
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Faith is believing/hoping that what you wish is true is really true.
— Mary from CT
13. June 26, 2009
1:07 pm
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Unfounded belief.
— Nathalie Guyol
14. June 26, 2009
1:16 pm
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To Unbeliever - I think doubt is a part of faith. If there is no doubt why do you need faith?
— Stan
15. June 26, 2009
1:18 pm
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I think this is a quote of Clarence Jordan:
“Faith is the turning of dreams into deeds.”
— John Donaghy
16. June 26, 2009
1:30 pm
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Faith is taking action based on our trust in things that we expect to be true but have not independently verified.
As such, it is employed by every intelligent person, every day of their lives.
— alanyst
17. June 26, 2009
1:45 pm
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Faith is the ultimate act of creation.
— Franklin
18. June 26, 2009
1:53 pm
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As the schoolboy said when Father Feeney asked him to define faith: “Faith is when you know somethin’ ain’t true, but you believe it anyway.”
— James Dunn
19. June 26, 2009
1:55 pm
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All is well and will be well.
— dr james
20. June 26, 2009
1:55 pm
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As Mark Twain said,”Faith is believing what you know ain’t so.”
— Harvey Sande
21. June 26, 2009
2:08 pm
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Faith is a gift from the Triune God.
— helen
22. June 26, 2009
2:10 pm
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Faith is an antiquated insistence on belief in something that cannot be falsified.
Faith asks you to stop searching for truth.
Faith lays the groundwork for disappointment.
Faith is the opposite of critical thinking.
— Marnie
23. June 26, 2009
2:17 pm
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Faith: That on which much of the US’s charitable activities is based, freeing the government from many of its obligations.
— DigitalDan
24. June 26, 2009
2:25 pm
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A feeling that you, and by extension the world, is just awesome.
A sense of wholeness, of justice and purpose, underlying every event in one’s life.
Faith is trusting ones eyes and ones heart.
Faith is knowing, beyond hope and fear, that everything is beautiful.
Faith is saying yes to every moment.
— dr james
25. June 26, 2009
2:43 pm
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Faith is chosing to believe that which is (for now) unproven.
— Mark H
Tuesday, August 11, 2009
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