What is Faith?

According to the Oxford Dictionary it is,

1. a complete trust or confidence,
2. a strong belief in a religion,
3. a system of religious belief

The word faith began its use in the English language during the 13th Century, and originates from the Old French word feid, and in Latin fide.  It basically means putting your trust into something.  Its historical attachment to the definition,"believing without questioning" is not entirely known and my quest is to find out, so stay tuned as I begin this new adventure.  

Trusting is a term I can identify with.  Many people will say to "trust your gut instinct," and I find that if I adhere to that rule, then I can understand the meaning of faith the way it is applied in modern language.  

I recently sent an e-mail from one of my Muslim friends about the importance of Allah.  I related in my e-mail that I believed that the Christian/Jewish God and Allah are one in the same, but just worshiped differently.  I also maintained that the message that my friend forwarded to me was Universal.  It talked of our relationships with each other and that throughout the world we are all connected to this Supreme Being.  The e-mail spoke of the importance of loving one another and being One with God.  I thought it was a great message and one that we can all relate to regardless of our beliefs. Even, atheists I think can see the importance of being a human race ultimately looking to love one another and live within a world of peace. Those who don't see the importance of the words...are crazy!

I received an e-mail reply from a cousin of mine who disputed the words in the e-mail because he doesn't believe that Allah and God are the same.  I've had the conversation with him before about the Trinity and that you must believe in Jesus as the Messiah in order to be in communion with God.  He says that Jesus is the same as God.  I've often had trouble understanding the Trinity because in the Bible, Jesus himself says that he is the Son of God.  I haven't read the Bible extensively, so I don't know where it says that Jesus says He is God.  I can understand God in the flesh, but that could mean many different things.  I believe that Jesus' soul was His own, but he inherited the ability to be in communion on a higher level with the Great Almighty because he was the Son of God.  And the other thing that makes me question the Trinity is the fact that it was at the Council of Nicaea in 325 CE, convened by Mr. Emperor Constantine himself, where it was decided upon.  Not only was the Trinity decided upon there, but so were the creeds and doctrines of Christianity.  I argued this point, and I was told, "sometimes it's just about having faith."  SAY WHAT?  

So, that's when I decided to investigate the word faith a little bit.  But the word faith changes in definition as do many words throughout time, so believing without questioning is not an option for me.  I am a firm believer that God gave us brains to USE.  When I question the mysteries of the religion I choose to follow, then I find I am doing a service to God.  He gave me the ability to reason and to think, and what's so wrong about that?  Many will say that reasoning will, the majority of the time lead to falsehoods, but here's what I think, if I get it wrong, then shit, at least I tried to understand.  I'd say that's going a little bit further than just believing to gain acceptance into heaven.

I find it SO easy to say, I believe in God because I have faith.  I find it SO easy to say, I don't believe in God because it just doesn't make sense. What that says to me is you really didn't think about it. You just accepted it because it was easy.  I believe in God because I have researched. If you want to know about my belief, check out the blog in which I wrote about it back in February.  It's long, complicated, and more philosophical and scientific than I care to write about right now.  I hate to say this, but I believe the majority of atheists have a better reason for not believing than most Christians who believe do.  I admit, I spent about four years of my life as an atheist, but I never gave up searching for what I consider truth.  Through my reading, my studying, I eventually found a reason to believe in God. Through my studying, I have gained a greater understanding than I could have ever fathomed, and my believe grows stronger with each day.  Occasionally my belief wanes, but these moments ultimately motivate me to continue my search

When it comes to "faith," I guess mine is a little lax. To me though, believing in the Good News brought to us by Jesus is the most important aspect of Christianity that I can accept.  I believe we are here to love one another.  I think, that even though we are still a warring world, I believe there is an underlying theme to humanity, to live in Communion with EACH OTHER and ultimately with God.