"One ol' guy explained it to me like this: "You see a TV commercial about deodorant and it looks good, so you decide to buy it when you go to the store. This is belief; you concluded that what you were told in the ad was true. So, when you get home and try it out to find that it does work; well, then you now have faith in that product."
Well, amazing how many ways there are to view the world (internal and external, if there ireally is any difference). I see a TV commercial about deodorant and it looks good, so I decide to buy it when I go to the store. This is faith; I concluded that what I was told in the ad was true, with no evidence to support that. So, when I get home and try it out to find that it does work; well, then I now have belief in that product, because the evidence, in my experience, supports that."
Heh, heh, heh! :)
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From dying and surviving to living and thriving. LeeU
He-He-He!!! I need to apply that kind of faith to my life-Maybe it'll even lead me to get some prettier smelling deoderant!!! That's a great way to look at it.
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"...To weather the storms of tomorrow, you've got to have strength today."
LOL! Yes, I agree that we all have different views and what is so cool... it is all okay|
Belief and Faith are often used interchangeably nowadays. However, I think there was a reason they used the word "faith" in the slogan, "Faith without works is dead".
Because our English language is not a dead language, it continues to grow and evolve. When I read some old recovery books, I've found myself wondering what the hell they meant by the words they used. For me, it has been helpful to use my old Webster dictionary that was published back when some of the original recovery material was being conceived.
For instance, here are two definitions from an old Webster:
Belief: "Assent to a proposition or affirmation, or the acceptance of a fact, opinion, or assertion as real or true, without immediate personal knowledge; reliance upon word or testimony; partial or full assurance without positive knowledge or absolute certainty; persuasion; conviction; confidence; as, belief of a witness; the belief of our senses."
Faith: "The assent of the mind to the statement or proposition of another, on the ground of the manifest truth of what he utters; firm and earnest belief, on probable evidence of any kind, especially in regard to important moral truth."
These old-time definitions help me to understand what they were talking about when they used words like "belief" and "faith".
From my perspective, faith is something one acquires after an idea is tested. In other words, I not only have belief... I have faith that when I put coffee grounds and water into my coffee pot, that it will produce coffee when I turn it on.
I think that nowadays, belief and faith are words that are practically the same. I can say, "I have faith" or "I have belief" and I think that most would feel that it is the same. I think that others take their understanding of the word "faith" from modern use of the idiom, "take it on faith" - which lends a the older context of "belief" to the word "faith".
So, I think that it may be right to point out how those terms could be used nowadays. From todays perspective, I think that the way you rewrote the old time's story can be true for some of today's users of the English language.
when I think of the word faith, my first thought in my head is my higher power. I guess this may come from my devout catholic upbringing . Belief doesnt bring on a "spiritual" thought in my head. I believe in something because I saw it with my own eyes or I know it has been proven. If I have faith in something, I dont know it to be proven but have faith in the unknown factor.
