Chapter Summary: What is Faith?

Recently we discussed the definition of faith on both the secular and Catholic level. On the Secular level, faith is belief and trust in something, or a devotion/loyalty to God or a certain religious doctrine. Although this definition works the Catholic Church defines faith a little differently. The Catholic definition of faith is “an intellectual assent to a loving God and his revelation.” The church stresses the idea of the intellect taking part in faith. True faith, in the Catholic Churches eyes, is based on reason and intellect. Along with this aspect of faith we read about the seven characteristics of faith: faith is grace, faith is a human response, faith is a risk, faith is reasonable, faith is certain, faith seeks understanding, and faith is a virtue. Faith contains all these aspects as well as the human intellect.

Nihilism

There was a chapter in our books that discussed the philosophy of Nihilism. Nihilism, which comes from the Latin word for nihil meaning nothing, stresses the idea that there is no objective truth behind existence. Nihilist follow this philosophy and believe that there are many belief systems and in reality none are better then the rest, in fact they are all wrong. The book discusses how nihilism is a faulty philosophy and the contradictions inherit in it. Nihilist claim that reason, truth, and beliefs are all unfounded yet they believe that truth does not exist and defend it through reason.

Second Hand Lions

In the movie Second Hand Lions, two uncles take care of their nephew after he is dropped off by his troubled mother. Throughout the movie the uncles and nephew grow to love each other and become a family. One of the uncles, who served in the army, gives the boy a speech about how “sometimes the things that may or may not be true are the things that a man needs to believe in the most”. The uncle’s view is a very optimistic and idealistic one but I believe it is important to understanding faith. Although based on reason, Faith has an aspect of risk involved. The assumptions that the uncle makes in his speech: “people are basically good; that honor, courage and virtue mean everything…” put him in a huge risk of being taken advantage of by others. Despite this risk the uncle takes a leap of faith by believing in them. “Leaps of faith”, although dangerous, are essential to my definition of faith.

Mr. McBeevee

In the episode “Mr. McBeevee” of the Andy Griffith Show, Andy shows a great amount of faith in his boy Opie. Opie begins to tell stories about a man he met in the forest and his description seems very unbelievable. Throughout the episode no one believes Opie but in one of the final scenes Andy confronts Opie about Mr. McBeevee. Despite all of the evidence against Opie, Andy believes his story because of his faith in Opie. Andy’s faith in Opie is a great example of the seven characteristics of faith. His faith in Opie is very reasonable because Opie has never lied to him before and he appears to believe so much in what he is telling Andy. Along with the reasonable aspect his faith in Opie is very risky because there is no evidence that Mr. McBeevee exists and by believing in him Andy will look like a fool. The only characteristic of faith Andy doesn’t seem to fit is “faith is certain”. Andy is very uncertain about his decision. Despite the uncertainty Andy believes and trusts in Opie and for this reason I believe he is a great example of faith.