Rethinking Faith and Belief Posted in: Faith

The questions ‘Do you believe in God?’ and ‘Do you have faith?’ are both often taken as ‘Do you believe God exists?’

I propose a more personalised way of understanding.

‘Do you believe in God?’… not so much about ‘Do you believe God exists?’ but more along the lines of one person saying to another ‘I believe in you’. Others may doubt you, defame you, misunderstand you, but I still believe in you.

Likewise ‘Do you have faith?’ … not so much about ‘Do you believe God exists?’ but more along the lines of one person saying to another ‘I have faith in you’. I may not understand you, I’ve heard rumours you’ve abandoned friends, or let bad things happen to innocent people (even though you have the power to intervene) etc., but I have faith that you are a good person to the core and must have had good reason for whatever you did or did not do.