Can faith correctly be called 'evidence'?

[cho_pilo]

Or is faith more properly a psychological stance similar to trust?

 

[sharptiger999]

Or is faith more properly a psychological stance similar to trust?

Why do you need faith if you have proper evidence? Faith has a few meanings, one of which is belief without proper evidence. Faith is also used as meaning trust, such as if I fall back and have faith that my friends will catch me, or having faith (trust) that my girlfriend does not cheat on me. These last two instances however still rely on evidence. In the first example, I have evidence that friends usually act beneficial toward their own friends, helping each other. I can trust my girlfriend with the evidence that she has acted nicely and beneficial to me, shown me affection, looked at me in a certain way, etc. My trust in her would begin to diminish for instance if there were signs (evidence) of less physical communication, contact, etc.

Simply put, name one thing in life that you believe that you don’t have evidence for? Usually, the only answer one thinks of is religion.

 

[Hokomai]

Faith exists, so it can be used as evidence of things such as patterns of human thought. but faith in something is not evidence of anything except that the particular thing has formed as a thought in the mind of the person with faith. If there is evidence - something that can be observed and replicated - you don’t need faith. I recall the story of the father and his boy watching the sun go down. The father said ‘going, going, gone!’ as it disappeared below the horizon, whereupon the excited child cried: “do it again Daddy”! The child had faith, but his call for evidence disproved his faith.

 

[jochoa]

Or is faith more properly a psychological stance similar to trust?

I really like your questions cho pilo! They have helped generate great thought and growth in me.

Can faith correctly be called ‘evidence’ or is faith more properly a psychological stance similar to trust?
According to Merriam-Webster
Definition of FAITH
1 a : allegiance to duty or a person : loyalty
b (1) : fidelity to one’s promises (2) : sincerity of intentions
2 a (1) : belief and trust in and loyalty to God (2) : belief in the traditional doctrines of a religion
b (1) : firm belief in something for which there is no proof (2) : complete trust
3: something that is believed especially with strong conviction; especially : a system of religious beliefs

Definition of EVIDENCE
1 a : an outward sign : indication
b : something that furnishes proof : testimony; specifically : something legally submitted to a tribunal to ascertain the truth of a matter
2: one who bears witness; especially : one who voluntarily confesses a crime and testifies for the prosecution against his accomplices

There are several understandings of faith and evidence. Most lend themselves to faith being a psychological stance similar to trust.

However, if one analyzed deep enough, I could see justification for faith also being evidence.

 

[DPMartin]

Or is faith more properly a psychological stance similar to trust?

cho pilo

look at it this way. There is knowledge some thing you know of, or hear. Then there is the belief or trust in that knowledge that you come to know of, or hear. Then there is the result of the belief or trust in the knowledge. You need not trust or have faith in a result, if the result already is complete. But to trust a knowledge has a result. Hence the belief, trust or faith in the knowledge of God.

 

[cho_pilo]

However, if one analyzed deep enough, I could see justification for faith also being evidence.

You mean, if one plays with words and distorts meanings enough.

 

[shoe]

*Yourdictionary.com *defines faith as, “unquestioning belief that does not require proof or evidence.”

Followers of Christ may not necessarily be “required” to come up with any material evidence to have faith in God, but if they wish, they certainly can easily come up with evidence for having faith in God; for instance, the survival of the Jewish nation, the indestructibility of the Bible, changed lives, and the eyewitness accounts of the life, death, and resurrection of Jesus. “Now faith is the substance of things to be hoped for, the evidence of things that appear not” (Hebrews 11:1).

 

[jochoa]

You mean, if one plays with words and distorts meanings enough.

No playing nor distorting of word meaning. As it turns out, it is not even deep analysis. I apologize for not recognizing the simplicity of the concept earlier.

Faith is Evidence of Free Will.

Therefore, faith can correctly be called ‘evidence,’ just as faith can be similar to trust.

I thank you once again for an excellent thought-provoking question. You helped provide the desire, which helped me grow in understanding and Faith!

 

[yablabo]

Or is faith more properly a psychological stance similar to trust?

Faith, in the subjective sense, is a supernatural virtue as defined in the First Vatican Council:

This faith, which is the beginning of human salvation, the Catholic Church professes to be a supernatural virtue, by means of which, with the grace of God inspiring and assisting us, we believe to be true what He has revealed, not because we perceive its intrinsic truth by the natural light of reason, but because of the authority of God himself, who makes the revelation and can neither deceive nor be deceived.

That being said, first and foremost, there is also an objective sense of faith as seen when one speaks of “the faith,” meaning, the truths which we must believe by the supernatural virtue of faith.

On top of that, St. Paul speaks of faith as “the substance of things to be hoped for, the evidence of things that appear not.” Caveat lector, my personal interpretation: In this sense, which seems to equate faith to evidence, faith is only evidence in an analogous sense. We hold articles by the supernatural virtue of faith not because we perceive their intrinsic truth by our natural light of reason, but because of the authority of God himself, which Godhead is not apparent to us. Faith is the “evidence” of the Godhead in the sense that it is God’s grace inspiring and assisting us which allows us to believe as we ought.

Faith is not really similar to trust. Trust is the belief that a person will do his duty and not hurt one unjustly or harm one intentionally. Faith is a supernatural virtue. A belief is an article or form of the intellect applied in different ways depending upon how the person assents to that belief. Faith is a good habit which we only have by grace of God which inclines us to believe what he tells us easily, pleasantly and quickly. Faith would moderate how the intellect behaves with its articles.

– Nicole