What is the difference between faith and trust in God?

[Nelka]

Is it possible for one person to have faith and not trust or another to trust but not have faith?

Is it easier to increase fiath or trust?

Thanks.

 

[1neophyte]

I’ve always thought trust is far more reflective of one’s relationship. It seems like it’s the difference between believing and knowing. It takes faith to get in a car with someone else driving; it takes trust to fall asleep during the trip.

I’ve known people who seemingly have “faith”, a belief that God exists and a vague sense that their prayers will produce a desired result, but at the same time they seem to have a complete lack of trust, and worry incessantly about anything not totally in their own control.

 

[reggieM]

Is it possible for one person to have faith and not trust or another to trust but not have faith?

Is it easier to increase fiath or trust?

Thanks.

It’s a great question and difficult to fully separate the two, in my opinion.

Faith. There’s one idea that faith is “believing in what God has revealed”. So, we have faith in the doctrines that Jesus taught through the Church. We believe they are the true teachings of God, from heaven. The classic “Act of Faith” shows that.

Trust. This is similar to hope. We trust in the promises that Jesus gave us. We trust in God’s presence and His Will.

Now, where it gets tricky is to wonder “don’t we have faith in God’s promises? Why is that different than hope or trust”? I think trust is the active part of prayer. Faith is the starting point. We take a leap of faith. Then trust sustains us. There are overlaps though.

On your questions, yes.

Faith without trust. “I believe every teaching of God. But I don’t think He will support me”.
Trust without faith. “I trust that God will bring me to heaven, but I don’t believe what the Church teaches about sin and redemption”.

Which is harder? Not sure!

I think Faith has to come first. A person without trust, but who truly believes the truth that Jesus gave us, will at least have a good starting point. Trust will be built up over time, as prayers are answered.

Trust is like “confidence in God”. We start with just faith, maybe like chilldren: “Ok, I believe Jesus rose from the dead”. But in our daily lives? Maybe we don’t want to pray because it doesn’t seem worth it - so we have to build trust.

Just some personal opinions and thoughts on a very good topic!

 

[Karen107]

Is it possible for one person to have faith and not trust or another to trust but not have faith?

Faith builds on trust and so if a person doesn’t trust their ‘faith’ or belief, they can never build up trust so faith (belief) causes people to trust. Unless one trusts their faith, it can dwindle…

Is it easier to increase fiath or trust?

Good question… in my opinion it’s easier to increase faith quite especially if one trusts it. Trust being an extension of ‘faith’. Trust being the action… We can believe all day, and pray, but that doesn’t mean we believe so much that we can rely on it or live that faith out. I believe that people often have faith, but don’t really know what that means in their daily life… You probably heard about the people who go to Mass yet outside of Mass act a different way because of falling into the powers of the world. It’s up to us to trust our faith enough to let it be a visible presence in our life and allow it to build…

Thanks.

You’re welcome!

 

[thistle]

Is it possible for one person to have faith and not trust or another to trust but not have faith?

Is it easier to increase fiath or trust?

Thanks.

Modern Catholic Dictionary:

FAITH. The acceptance of the word of another, trusting that one knows what the other is saying and is honest in telling the truth. The basic motive of all faith is the authority (or right to be believed) of someone who is speaking. This authority is an adequate knowledge of what he or she is talking about, and integrity in not wanting to deceive. It is called divine faith when the one believed is God, and human faith when the persons believed are human beings. (Etym. Latin fides, belief; habit of faith; object of faith.)

TRUST. Reliance on someone. One has confidence in people as persons, trusts them to be faithful to their commitments, and hopes to obtain from them what they promise. Applied to God, trust is a form of hope, but with the special nuance that God will not deny his grace to one who does what one can. This means that, provided a person co-operates with divine grace according to his or her ability, that person will merit further grace from God.