“What Is Faith” Journal
By: Jason Nienhaus
1. Summarize a key idea from the section.
One key idea from the section is defining religious Faith by giving seven characteristics of it. These are:
- Faith is a grace; the free and undeserved help that God gives to us that allows us to enter into a relationship with him.
- Faith requires a free human response. While God initiates the relationship between us and Him, it is us that must respond and freely choose to believe in Him. As most of us very well know, a relationship is only possible if both parties both wish to keep it alive.
- Faith is a risk. Having faith in God requires us to change in certain aspect of our lives and make sacrifices so that the relationship can flourish. But there is no guarantee that God exists for sure, so one must take the risk of believing in Him and of living a life pleasing to Him.
- Faith is reasonable. We should all have reasons for which were attracted to faith in God because blind faith, or believing in God without support to your beliefs, is irresponsible. Without reasons for believing, one’s faith would be shallow if not nonexistent.
- Faith is certain. The RB describes this using the analogy of a man who is about to get married. The man doesn’t hope that his wife will be faithful to him, he is so convinced of her fidelity that he is willing to commit his life to her on it.
- Faith seeks understanding. As people with faith, we should naturally have the desire to learn more about God, the one they have put their faith in. In this way we look to deepen our relationship with God so that we can believe more firmly.
- Faith is a virtue. A virtue is a specific moral quality, regarded as good or meritorious, and faith is one of the theological virtues. Faith is a virtue because it does not come easily. For example, when a loved one dies the general tendency is to try and place blame on someone or something and more often than not this blame falls on God, blaming him for letting that loved one die. It is hard to accept an event like this but if we persevere with our faith we can find that God was still with us during this rough time.
2. One thing that I would like to remember is that “The Golden Way Is Faith.” This means that to live a happy life we must believe in something. Since nihilism and radicalism do not provide this, faith is the best choice.
Another thing I would like to remember from this section is the article of the “Mind of an Iraqi Suicide Bomber.” This article changed my perspective of the way that they are. At first I held the belief that one would have to be crazy to blow oneself up for their religion, but after reading that article I can see that Marwen was both smart and truly had great faith in his religion.
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4. This picture applies here and now because it reminds me of the ultimate example of Faith, Jesus Christ. Jesus so loved us and trusted and believed in God so completely that he was willing to endure an immense amount of pain and suffering so that we may reach heaven to be with God forever. Looking to him as an example of perfect faith gives me the challenge to try and achieve such a faith in my life today.