What Is Your Faith To You...

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Singinbeauty

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I have a question for everyone that I hope EVERYONE will answer.

What does YOUR faith mean to YOU?

IOW… what role does your faith play in your life, whether catholic, protestant, jewish, muslim, etc…? What is it to you and how do you choose to represent that part of yourself in your day to day life?

I will answer in a bit as I still have to put this into words for myself…

The forum is open… 👍
 
My faith lets me know what Perfect is and how far I am from it.
(Reality lets me know I am not alone.)

My faith is a burden because I can no longer deny the Truth because I have spent years trying.

My faith gives me hope, not only for myself and those close to me, but for humanity.
 
Verisimilitude said:
My faith lets me know what Perfect is and how far I am from it.
(Reality lets me know I am not alone.)

My faith is a burden because I can no longer deny the Truth because I have spent years trying.

My faith gives me hope, not only for myself and those close to me, but for humanity.
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VERY beautiful…
 
My faith is the entire purpose of my life. I’m at a loss for a lengthier explanation. 🙂
 
Singinbeauty said:
What does YOUR faith mean to YOU?

IOW… what role does your faith play in your life, whether catholic, protestant, jewish, muslim, etc…? What is it to you and how do you choose to represent that part of yourself in your day to day life?
Click to expand...
It is the way in which I understand the world, how the world functions and my place within it. It is how I approach and interact with that which is beyond my full human comprehension. It forms the framework of the ways in which I relate to others, and how I view my own responsibilities and obligations to others and to myself as well as to the Gods. It brings me a sense of peace and rightness, of awe and gratitude and of being home and where I belong. It is the lens through which I view the world.

It is expressed in the libation I pour before a journey, the offering at the beginning of the meal, the way in which I conduct myself with others, the listening to the still small voice in answer to a prayer, the things that I teach my child. The group rituals and worship that I perform with friends, the solitary ones that I perform alone or with family, the study of the sacred stories and, yes, even the theological arguments here :), are all part of it. It is expressed in a hundred ways every day as I go about my life as it informs and affects every part of it.
 
water said:
I measure my faith by how much I trust in the Lord.
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That’s awesome water… but what does your Faith MEAN to you? Not so much how you would measure it but how does it affect your day to day living?
 
Singinbeauty said:
That’s awesome water… but what does your Faith MEAN to you? Not so much how you would measure it but how does it affect your day to day living?
Click to expand...
Well, for my daily life, the more I trust in Him, the younger I feel I am … 😃 well, it does make me less worry. In fact, when I got the news that my grandmother passed away(she was in Vietnam), I had a big smile instead of crying. My mom came back to Vietnam within a week and she passed away. My mom got back there was a plan by God (her passpost was expired and all, but everything was taken care of in a short time - that was a blessing)
 
Everything I do or think or say is done in the context of my faith in Jesus Christ. I have known Jesus as Friend and Savior since I was seven. Forty years later I came into the Catholic Church and I’m now getting to know Him in the Blessed Sacrament.

I have freedom in the Lord. I certainly don’t consult with Him about every detail: Shall I wear the green sweater or the blue sweater? Shall I eat lunch now? etc.

But He is in my thoughts all day, and I do what I do in Him, with Him, and through Him.

Practical example: I write.

I’ve written kids’ novels about ice skating. I never intended for these novels to be “religious.” They were supposed to be fun adventure/mysteries about skating. But there’s more to them. God is in my stories. I couldn’t help it. I received a message from a reader a week ago praising the message of forgiveness in the second novel. (It’s a mystery involving the Rosary, if anyone’s interested.)

I just finished writing a screenplay, a psychological thriller about sex offenders. I meant for it to be another “Silence of the Lambs,” which I haven’t seen and never will because it offends my faith. I wanted my screenplay to sell, so I tried to make it terrifying and disturbing. It is those things, but pervading the entire screenplay is a message of faith in God, righteous justice, and redemption. One of the many themes dealt with in the screenplay is “Will sex offenders go to hell?” I NEVER intended for my faith to show up in screenplay, but because I deal with the world through “faith,” it happened anyway. I think it’s a really good screenplay and hope that I can find a buyer. If I do, they’ll probably take out all the faith stuff and turn it into a meat and massacre mess. :mad:

Madeleine L’Engle, a Christian writer who wrote A Wrinkle In Time, says that it is impossible for a Christian artist to produce art without Christ in it.

There are times when I don’t act through my faith in Jesus. Those are the times I sin, because I am not acting in faith in Christ, but in doubt and defiance of Him.

But Thank God, He has provided the way for my faith to be made whole again, through Confession of my sins and forgiveness and penance, all done in faith.
 
I am a pantheist. My faith is the basis for my understanding of the universe and my place in it, and my relationship to everything. My faith is everything to me. Every conscious act, and a good deal of my unconscious acts stem from my faith and my understanding of What Is.

I live what I believe. If you want to know my theology…look at my life, nuff said.

cheddar
 
For me, my faith is not a set of doctrines or beliefs…those can change with time…greater understanding…they can be articulated better at 55 than at 23.

For me “faith” is the way I choose to live my life…“faith in God”…“faith in Christ”…“trust in the Light”… to me they are qualities I seek to cultivate in my life…I might get the “forms” and “expressions” wrong because I live in a world where words really are limited…but I have faith that there is One Who has things under control. There is One Who loves me as no one else does…who love me because of who I am…not in spite of who I am…I don’t understand many things about the Eternal…because I am finite…my words are finite…but my heart can speak for me “in words that cannot be uttered”…I see through a glass darkly right now…so all the answers are yet a far off…like Abraham…I long for that City that has a foundation…but here I must learn to live in a tent…but I trust the One who guides me…“Come to me all who are burdened and heavy laden…and I will give you rest…”…faith is resting in the Arms that will hold me up through lifes troubles and mystery…I can cease my striving and my reaching for those things that will always fail me…I don’t have to always believe the “right thing”, or do the “right thing”…I just know that when I fail…there is One who has done it right already…I can trust in that…faith makes gives my life meaning…because He is the End…He is my Destination and Guide…

Faith is simply trusting that He has everythiing under control…so now I can learn from my failures, be forgiven for them, and rely on His love, mercy and grace to sustain me.
 
My faith is the lens through which I see the world and everything I do.

Sometimes, I need a good lens cleaner, though. Especially when I post on on-line forums and my frustration gets the best of me.😃
 
The question strikes me as odd. It’s liking asking a fish, ‘what does water mean to you?’
 
What does my Faith mean to me…

It’s definitely a loaded question isn’t it? For the last couple of years I have really thought about this when it comes to talking to each other about ‘religion’ and faith. Whether you are christian talking to another christian of a different denomination or talking with someone of a completely different faith. Why did I ask this question? To get the result that I knew would be lurking there and to get people to put into words something that is so hard to express but is so deeply needed.

You see, as you read people’s expressions of what their Faith means to them you can relate even if they are from a completely different world than yours. Whether catholic, protestant, or ‘other’ we are ALL the same when it comes to what our Faith means to each of us. Do you agree?

My Faith… my Faith… hmmmm. Well, my Faith is my very core. It’s who I am. To try to take my Faith from me would kill my soul because I cannot live without my Faith. My Faith is my connection to God, my lifeline to the One who created me. I know that when my Faith weakens because of my selfishness and pride I feel the distance that I created between myself and God. Depression sets in and I let that little voice tell me that I am not worth the image that God created me in. I can’t see myself the way that God sees me. And I can’t focus on the plan that He has for me. My Faith affects every part of my life and when I let God into every part of it the sun shines brighter.

I really enjoy reading what everyone’s Faith means to them. It shows me that as important as my Faith is to me it’s just as important to them. This is what we should remember in talking to each other about our Faith because to criticize someone else’s Faith is to criticize THEM and who they are. I have been told that my beliefs are idiotic. Essentially they were calling me idiotic, at least that is how I felt because I am nothing without my Faith, it is WHO I AM… 👍
 
When I am all alone at night in my bed, staring out into the blackest darkness surrounding me, it is the knowledge I am not really alone there … but, in fact, my very best friend is near.

And when I feel overwhelmed and there are but tears, it is the fact that in my sorrow even, I can go to him, and we can weep and sob together …

My faith is the certainty that bad times are short-lived because there is an eternity out there, an eternity to walk across the cosmos with Yeshua … hand-in-hand.

It is the knowledge that I am not, nor can I ever be, good enough … but … that that’s okay because someone else was good enough for me …

And each night when I lay my head to rest, I can remember I need to be hanging on a cross with a crown of shame upon my brow right now, yet for whatever reason, I am not … It is the “Thank you” I am compelled to utter in light of this before I shut my eyes …
 
It means to me I am a child of God, and that is simply amazing.
 
My faith is the very foundation of who I am. I could not wake up tomorrow and live in a world that Jesus Christ was not God and the Catholic Church was not His Church.

“For to me to live is Christ” Phil 1: 21.

God bless
 
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