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Faith?


danydandan

Faith, a question!  

40 members have voted

  1. 1. When you hear, see or read the word faith. What is your first interpretation that pops into your head?

    • Complete trust or confidence in someone or something.
    • Strong belief in the doctrines of a religion, based on spiritual conviction rather than proof.
    • A particular religion.
    • A strongly held belief.
    • An amalgamation of either two or all of the above.


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14 minutes ago, danydandan said:

I think they are, I just think people don't explain what the mean correctly.

Just look at @Will Due last post, he should have said 'What my Faith means to me' rather than 'What Faith means to me'. 

The term is already defined, words are defined at a specific point in time. 

The agreement on definitions is a precursor to a friendly and fair discussion. It's an old tradition to trip up your discussion partner by those who are bent on winning the argument at all cost.

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1 minute ago, Pettytalk said:

The agreement on definitions is a precursor to a friendly and fair discussion. It's an old tradition to trip up your discussion partner by those who are bent on winning the argument at all cost.

That's my point, it almost never happens here when a word has multiple meanings. Hence why I started the thread.

People make up their own definitions sometimes. 

Our mutual agreement is we speak/ type English thus everyone is under the understanding that we use the terms defined by that language. 

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24 minutes ago, danydandan said:

based on your posts I assume you think option two first and foremost.

 

I voted for option 5. But I don't confuse Faith with faith. They're two vastly different things.

 

 

Edited by Will Due
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Maybe we should leave this aside and give Hope a nice float... 

~

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13 minutes ago, Will Due said:

 

I voted for option 5. But I don't confuse Faith with faith. They're two vastly different things.

 

 

Option two and three for you?

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3 hours ago, danydandan said:

I usually write faith or Faith. The latter to indicate the religious definitions and the aforementioned to indicate the trust definition.

Dan,  a question, why wouldn’t you just use the word trust to represent trust.

To me the aforementioned faith is the “hope” or wish that something or someone will pan out as verified when there is no evidence.

And trust for me, there is support with some kind of factual basis. 

For ex: I don’t have faith in myself hoping whatever I think or endeavor will pan out, I have trust in myself to know that I will win some and I will lose some, in other words  self efficacy. I wouldn’t even bother to audition to be a opera singer,, or try to get a football scholarship etc. etc.

Edited by Sherapy
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16 minutes ago, Sherapy said:

Dan,  a question, why wouldn’t you just use the word trust to represent trust.

To me the aforementioned faith is the “hope” or wish that something or someone will pan out as verified when there is no evidence.

And trust for me, there is support with some kind of factual basis. 

 

I usually do, use the term trust to....ye know represent trust, but the reason I started the thread is because I've often seen others here use the term faith with it's multiple different meanings interchangeably. 

As for the second part of your post. I don't think most people who have faith in their Faith require hope. Their Faith is certain. Because you believe something means you don't need hope. Actually I think believe is the wrong word, know might better describe it better for some people????

I understand where you are coming from, but we are talking about the term faith specifically here. Perhaps I'm mistaken but the word complete is probably being over looked too. Trust is not a complete certainty, where as faith is and to some Faith is too.

Edited by danydandan
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4 minutes ago, danydandan said:

I usually do, use the term trust to....ye know represent trust, but the reason I started the thread is because I've often seen others here use the term faith with it's multiple different meanings interchangeably. 

As for the second part of your post. I don't think most people who have faith in their Faith require hope. Their Faith is certain. Because you believe something means you don't need hope. Actually I think believe is the wrong word, know might better describe it better for some people????

I understand where you are coming from, but we talking about the term faith specifically here.

Hmmm, the word “certain” that is the caveat, for me. 

Can you expand on certain in the context of faith?

I am not challenging you just asking for your POV as it is fair and sound, 

Good thread.

Edited by Sherapy
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1 minute ago, Sherapy said:

Hmmm, the word “certain” that is the caveat, for me. 

Can you expand on certain in the context of faith?

I am not challenging you just asking for your POV as it is fair and sound, 

Good thread.

I added a bit more to my last post. But if we take a holistic approach to looking at the terms defined by OED, option one and two. Put them together we have complete certainty.

Prime example of this is @Will Due I believe he is completely certain of his Faith.

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3 minutes ago, XenoFish said:

I have faith that this thread will descend into madness shortly. 

3.

2.

1.

Oh ye of little faith.

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On the subject of faith I can see it as representing a kind of optimistic trust. In regards to people of course. 

Spiritual faith might be a form of optimistic hope.

I guess it depends on the person and how they use the word.

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8 minutes ago, danydandan said:

I added a bit more to my last post. But if we take a holistic approach to looking at the terms defined by OED, option one and two. Put them together we have complete certainty.

Prime example of this is @Will Due I believe he is completely certain of his Faith.

I understand your example, and your point,  but my next question would be expand on “complete certainty”

For me, there is no such thing as complete certainty. 

Basically Will just believes heart and soul in the UB, for him it is the only explanation possible, which he labels as truth.

This is confirmation bias, right? 

 

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5 minutes ago, Sherapy said:

I understand your example, and your point,  but my next question would be expand on “complete certainty”

For me, there is no such thing as complete certainty. 

Basically Will just believes heart and soul in the UB, for him it is the only explanation possible, which he labels as truth.

This is confirmation bias, right? 

 

Yeap 100% confirmation bias and/or delusional thinking in my opinion. 

But I'm not certain about the confirmation bias.

Edited by danydandan
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3 hours ago, danydandan said:

I bloody contaminated my own poll. I meant to pick option one.

When it comes to your everyday experiences do you get odd coincidences?

Like the things that pop into your mind then appear elsewhere in reality? Which, if you were paranoid would convince you the universe knows your thoughts or you had magical powers? I had one. I walked past a hunchback woman and said `the bells, the bells` and thought to myself `haha you just crashed and burned`. Then I thought where did `the bells, the bells` come from? I realised it was the Hunchback of Notredame.

Anyway, I put the news on the day after to find it on fire with its roof caving in. Do you get odd coincidences?

Edited by RabidMongoose
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7 minutes ago, danydandan said:

Yeap 100% confirmation bias and/or delusional thinking in my opinion. 

But I'm not certain about the confirmation bias.

Probably belief perseverance. Where anything outside of the accepted belief is denied. 

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Just now, danydandan said:

Yeap 100% confirmation bias or delusional thinking in my opinion. 

 Confirmation bias is definitely supported by the mechanics of the brain, in other words it can explain faith. 

In this context, I too would say there are  things I have defaulted  to “faith” myself, then I think through it.

For ex: In my head, I choose to have a grandiose hope that I will be a grandmother, I am not going to accept anything else, dam mit.  And, when I boldly hint to my sons they remind me  I am delusional. Ha ha ha ha ha . 

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When you hear, see or read the word faith. What is your first interpretation that pops into your head?

While I selected option 2, that was based on the context in which I read your question above, and by context I simply mean that I read it as a topic header on this site. That was enough, based on my rummaging through this site over the years, to veer to the religious / god option.

In truth what would pop into my mind would be totally dependent on the context in which I read the word. For example if I read it in a story about a football teams chance of winning its next game,  my first interpretation would be in line with option 1.

Therefore one cannot separate interpretation from context?

Edited by RAyMO
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9 minutes ago, XenoFish said:

Probably belief perseverance. Where anything outside of the accepted belief is denied. 

Once we understand our biases, we can with some effort reduce or eliminate them, especially if we take the time to learn to critically think. 

http://johnljerz.com/superduper/tlxdownloadsiteWEBSITEII/id370.html

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19 minutes ago, RAyMO said:

When you hear, see or read the word faith. What is your first interpretation that pops into your head?

While I selected option 2, that was based on the context in which I read your question above, and by context I simply mean that I read it as a topic header on this site. That was enough, based on my rummaging through this site over the years, to veer to the religious / god option.

In truth what would pop into my mind would be totally dependent on the context in which I read the word. For example if I read it in a story about a football teams chance of winning its next game,  my first interpretation would be in line with option 1.

Therefore one cannot separate interpretation from context?

That's a very good point.

I suppose the location of the post might help with context.

Edited by danydandan
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30 minutes ago, danydandan said:

Yeap 100% confirmation bias and/or delusional thinking in my opinion. 

But I'm not certain about the confirmation bias.

Delusion. He's parroting someone else and talking in circles without saying anything. Just a word salad. 

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41 minutes ago, Sherapy said:

Basically Will just believes heart and soul in the UB

 

I believe God. 

 

 

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With all my heart and soul, I believe God. 

 

 

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3 hours ago, danydandan said:
3 hours ago, Pettytalk said:

So would the poll, if we are wanting to know what faith is, truly. Was it not an offspring of the other thread on the sacrifice made by Jesus, and also other discussions raging on for the definition of religious faith and trust?

And are not comments also being posted along with the selection of the choices offered?

Anyway life is complex and so is the choice of faith, especially if it's a product of evolution to help our specie cope with survival.

A poll is just a poll without the essence. It's like asking if you will or will not vote for a political candidate, without asking the reasons for or not voting for the candidate.

 

If I had asked, what people's definition of faith is this would/will turn into a thread like every other. It needed/needs parameters, the most appropriate way to get to some consensus is to use these parameters. In this case the definition of the word faith as outlined by the Oxford English Dictionary.

Edit: Like as of right now we can say the majority of voters have selected option one. If I had asked for everyone's opinion or their own special definition we'd have gotten nowhere. I think.

I thought you presented it pretty well and simple. I agree, I think that is all it needed. 

To add a little funny, maybe add another category of thinking of a relative who has that name. Like me. :D 

Which, pretty much goes with my pick of all of the above. 

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