Certainly without knowing god you can’t have faith in God, so knowledge of God is required in order to have faith in God. Read
this article. I’ll copy some parts.
In John 6:69, Peter said to the Lord: “And we have
believed and
know that thou art the Holy One of God.” Writing in 2 Timothy 1:12, Paul said “I know him whom I have believed.” The Samaritans told the woman who brought Christ to them, “Now we
believe, not because of thy speaking; for we have heard for ourselves, and
know that this is indeed the Savior of the world” (John 4:42).
In his book on the relationship between faith and knowledge, *The Concept of Rational Belief, * Dick Sztanyo remarked: Biblical faith is
built upon a prior understanding (knowledge) of
what is to be believed…
Any conception of faith that severs it from its objective, epistemological base (foundation of knowledge)
is at variance with biblical teaching! Biblically speaking, one does not
believe that God is (or any other items to be accepted “by faith”): (1) against the evidence; (2) without evidence; and/or (3) beyond the evidence. Rather, one believes on the basis of evidence sufficient to establish the conclusion (1989, p. 3, emp. in orig.).Faith is directly linked to knowledge. Without knowledge (i.e., evidence), it is impossible to produce faith. Further, knowledge is critical in making faith
active. Sztanyo has observed in regard to what he terms “rational” belief: This evidence enlightens the intellect which then makes a volitional commitment not only
possible (since I now know
what to believe) but also
rational (i.e., I
know what to believe)! Thus, faith is a volitional commitment of an informed intellect!
Knowledge without commitment is disbelief (John 8:30-46; 12:42,43; James 2:19);
commitment without knowledge is irrationality! Neither is a genuine option for a Christian (1989, pp. 18-19, emp. in orig.).
Remember that faith is a hope of/in the unseen, and not a belief without proof.
Third, surely people in the world who are not yet Christians, yet whom we hope to see become Christians, are smart enough to see through a ruse that asks them to “act like” they know God exists, to “act like” they know Jesus is His Son, or to “act like” the Bible is His inspired Word when, in fact, they
do not know those things at all. Further, if Christians simply “act like” they know, when in reality they do not, why are they not hypocrites? And why is the Christian—who eventually will have to admit that he does not really
know these things—any different from the agnostic who readily admits that he cannot know these things?
Fourth, any idea which suggests that faith is based on mere “probability” is at the same time tacitly admitting that there is some probability, however minute, that Christianity might just be false. In addressing this point, Dick Sztanyo has observed: To admit that Christianity is only probable is to admit the possibility that, in fact, it might be a hoax! Could you in your most irrational moment imagine even the slightest possibility of an apostle preaching the “God of probability” or the “God who may be”? …I want to insist that there is not a single item in Christianity, upon which our souls’ salvation depends, which is only
probably true. In each case, the evidence supplied is sufficient to establish conclusive proof regarding the truth of the Christian faith (1989, pp. 8-9,11, emp. in orig.).
Now read yourself the rest of the article, because it is very interesting.
You do know my past, right? LOL…
