What is Faith?

Welcome back from summer folks. Hope to hear from you sometime soon. We'll leave this topic running for at least September to give a chance for people to ease there way back in here.

We certainly are not going to take it easy on the topic though. I want to talk about the nature of faith. What is it?

This can be addressed from one or two angles. First one might come from outside the Church. Is faith incompatible with reason, i.e. a shot in the dark? What?

Second one might come from inside the Chruch and ask what the human side of salvation entails. It might go like this: When were you saved? What did you do right in that moment to be saved? Anything? How do you know that is the moment? Is there a moment? If not, what?

Even with the second angle we come back to the question: What is faith? Is it an emotional gravitation? A choice of the will? A covenant with a club? A line in the sand crossed with sincerity or with words? Is it just another word for worldview, or theory?

Central to Christianity is the verse: "By grace you have been saved through faith." So what is faith?

I'd love to hear it get personal, philosophical, biblical, theological, and/or more. Remember how close this hits to home and respect one another while we talk. But remember also how important this issue is and respect it enough to talk about it!

Again, welcome back! Let's give it another go!