Is faith a gift?

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"For by grace are ye saved through faith; and that not of yourselves: it is the gift of God: not of works, lest any man should boast. " Ephesians 2:8-9

Is faith a gift?
 
Counterpoint said:
"For by grace are ye saved through faith; and that not of yourselves: it is the gift of God: not of works, lest any man should boast. " Ephesians 2:8-9

Is faith a gift?
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Faith is a gift. But it is not a gift denied to anyone, though some would refuse it.

After being received as a gift, it then is transformed into a virtue, for we must consciously work to hold onto it, and it becomes the first of the three theological virtues of faith, hope, and charity.
 
And as to the certainty of faith, there are those who doubt it. Many have doubted their faith so much they have lost it. But again I think Chesterton in his essay on Job offers the ultimate antidote to chronic doubt.

“It is the root and reason of the fact that men who have religious faith have also philosophic doubt. These are the small streams of the delta; the book of Job is the first great cataract that creates the river. In dealing with the arrogant asserter of doubt, it is not the right method to tell him to stop doubting. It is rather the right method to tell him to go on doubting , to doubt a little more, to doubt every day newer and wilder things in the universe, until at last, by some strange enlightenment, he may begin to doubt himself.”
 
Counterpoint said:
Is faith required to accept the gift of faith?
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I prefer to think it is “hope” that is required to accept the gift of faith.

After all, why would one accept the gift of faith if one did not hope (trust) that it is true?
 
Charlemagne_III said:
I prefer to think it is “hope” that is required to accept the gift of faith.

After all, why would one accept the gift of faith if one did not hope (trust) that it is true?
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It sounds like an infinite regress to me.
 
Counterpoint said:
"For by grace are ye saved through faith; and that not of yourselves: it is the gift of God: not of works, lest any man should boast. " Ephesians 2:8-9

Is faith a gift?
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Yes, faith is a gift.
CCC 162:
Faith is an entirely free gift that God makes to man.
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However, is much more than a gift.
CCC 150:
Faith is first of all a personal adherence of man to God.
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CCC 166:
Faith is a personal act - the free response of the human person to the initiative of God who reveals himself.
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CCC 1814:
Faith is the theological virtue by which we believe in God and believe all that he has …
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Counterpoint said:
"For by grace are ye saved through faith; and that not of yourselves: it is the gift of God: not of works, lest any man should boast. " Ephesians 2:8-9

Is faith a gift?
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It is. You can refuse it, though.

And, of course, you may never receive or understand it - in which case, He gives it to you on the house, post mortem. And you may still reject it.
 
Counterpoint said:
Does it take faith to accept this gift of faith?
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What are you talking about? :confused:

Faith is something received from God.

Faith is the assessment of all the information you have on hand and the arrival at a conclusion. It is confidence, trust. You have faith in your eyes although they fail you from time to time, no? You have faith in logic even though it can be bad, right? So I also have faith that God exists - because it is the logical conclusion of all the evidence presented to me thus far.

And as all the evidence comes from God - from the natural world and its properties, to logic, to the witness of the Apostles to the Resurrection, to all of the miracles, visions, and good done in the name of God - therefore faith comes from God, totally. You couldn’t manufacture it, anyway.

But you can always reject it. And some few people can feign it. But faith does not require anything except that we take it.
 
As others have said:
One must accept the gift.
Then, one must BECOME the gift. in other words…become a prayerful person, acknowledging the good in the world. Becoming a vessel of love.
Finally, one must SHARE the gift.
If you are a believer, then you encounter God in those whom you share the faith with. With people whom it is hard to love, yet you love them and show compassion for them. You are a person of faith.

God bless.
 
TarkanAttila said:
But you can always reject it. And some few people can feign it. But faith does not require anything except that we take it.
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Faith is the accepting. That’s the point. So, it sounds to me that you are saying that I can reject the gift of acceptance.
 
Counterpoint said:
Faith is the accepting. That’s the point. So, it sounds to me that you are saying that I can reject the gift of acceptance.
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Faith is to our earthly life what sight is to our heavenly life. Adam and Eve had ‘sight’ but chose to reject what the saw. For us, faith is a *spiritual *sense of God that we can likewise accept or reject.
 
LongingSoul said:
Faith is to our earthly life what sight is to our heavenly life. Adam and Eve had ‘sight’ but chose to reject what the saw. For us, faith is a *spiritual *sense of God that we can likewise accept or reject.
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Seeing is believing. If we don’t believe it is only because we don’t see.
 
Counterpoint said:
Faith is the accepting. That’s the point. So, it sounds to me that you are saying that I can reject the gift of acceptance.
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Faith is not the accepting. Faith is the understanding. Grace is the accepting.

CCC 2005 Since it belongs to the supernatural order, grace escapes our experience and cannot be known except by faith.
 
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