Is faith, by definition, blind?

[TonyChanYT]

John 20:

29 Then Jesus told him, "Because you have seen me, you have believed; blessed are those who have not seen and yet have believed."

Hebrews 11:

1 Faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen.

2 Corinthians 5:

7 For we live by faith, not by sight.

All 3 verses indicate that faith is not-seen. Is faith by definition not-seen?

If God says it, that is sufficient reason for me to believe it. God does not lie. I don't need any more evidence to believe. I don't mind having blind faith in God's word.

Genesis 2:

16 And the Lord God commanded the man, “You are free to eat from any tree in the garden; 17but you must not eat from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, for when you eat from it you will certainly die.”

What reason did Adam have to believe this warning?

 

[Randy Kluth]

John 20:


Hebrews 11:


2 Corinthians 5:


All 3 verses indicate that faith is not-seen. Is faith by definition not-seen?

If God says it, that is sufficient reason for me to believe it. God does not lie. I don't need any more evidence to believe. I don't mind having blind faith in God's word.

Genesis 2:


What reason did Adam have to believe this warning?

There are, I think, not one but two issues here. One, it is not faith that is blind, but faith recognizes, by direct revelation and by intellectual processing, something that is invisible. So faith is not seeing something physically, but it is seeing something intellectually.

And two, what brings one to certainty about invisible truth is a kind of revelation that must come from God. God has the means to input truth to our minds of a kind that is certain. It is verifiable experientially, because we recognize it as an experience and as a cognitive design. That is, it is both reasonable and recognizable as from God.

It is not merely recognizable as reasonable, nor recognizable as supernatural. Much more, it fills all of the boxes our mind needs to recognize the rationale as being divine and an experience from God.

So it is clearly different than truth that we discover strictly within the natural realm. But despite resistance to accept that this is even possible, those with faith find that it is not just possible but verifiable by our own experience and reason.

So when Jesus tells you that something is wrong, you can know it is wrong. Sure, due to our flawed nature, our mind makes errors and our heart resists truths that we receive. But God will judge us by what we know from His word speaking to our conscience. And this goes on in our lives and minds every day, every hour--in fact, every minute.

Due to the blindness of sin, people in the unbelieving world have trouble perceiving truth as well as Christians do. When we open the door to God telling us what is right and wrong, we tend to hear God more clearly. Those who are resistant to God telling them what to do are inclined to not hear God on many occasions.

The Gospel informs people about what they need to do to obey God and so, hear Him more easily so as to hear and obey Him on a regular basis. Hearing His word to embrace Him permanently in the heart is something that people respond to and get "Saved."

Others only wish to hear God when it serves their purpose on a temporary basis. This will help them to do good, but it will not help them to get "Saved."

 

[Taken]

Is faith, by definition, blind?

Faith is not in and of itself a tangible thing, for human eyes to see.

Faith is a spiritual blessing to whit the reflection of that blessing can be seen by human eyes.

 

[Nancy]

John 20:


Hebrews 11:


2 Corinthians 5:


All 3 verses indicate that faith is not-seen. Is faith by definition not-seen?

If God says it, that is sufficient reason for me to believe it. God does not lie. I don't need any more evidence to believe. I don't mind having blind faith in God's word.

Genesis 2:


What reason did Adam have to believe this warning?

I've thought for a long time and didn't "get it", but now I think I
have a handle on it. "...the substance of things not seen..." What I see is experiential, without faith, we know we cannot please Him. He says "Taste, and see that The Lord is good..." = trust fully, when we know our petitions are surely His will, we can just believe and THEN receive and, that is how I explain to those who say things like "you have to leave your brain at the door before entering a church"
And the other prayers that we are not sure are His will, we should pray accordingly and always speaking "Your will be done"...meaning you will (should) gladly accept the "no" answers, and not always expecting a yes, or wait.

 

[The Learner]

John 20:


Hebrews 11:


2 Corinthians 5:


All 3 verses indicate that faith is not-seen. Is faith by definition not-seen?

If God says it, that is sufficient reason for me to believe it. God does not lie. I don't need any more evidence to believe. I don't mind having blind faith in God's word.

Genesis 2:


What reason did Adam have to believe this warning?

NO,
Matthew 22:37
Jesus answered, “‘Love the Lord your God with all your heart, all your soul, and all your mind.’
James 2:18
But someone might argue, “Some people have faith, and others have good works.” My answer would be that you can’t show me your faith if you don’t do anything. But I will show you my faith by the good I do.

 

[The Learner]

Doesn’t the Bible Say True Faith is Blind? | Cold Case Christianity

God has given us visible assurance He exists, and the writer of Hebrews asks us to trust this when God and his mercies seem like they are “things not seen”.

coldcasechristianity.com

Does God expect us to have blind faith? | GotQuestions.org

Does God expect us to have blind faith? Does faith have to be blind in order for it to be true faith?

www.gotquestions.org

 

[Augustin56]

True faith is never infra-rational (below reason). That would be credulity. True faith is always supra-rational (above or beyond reason). In other words, once reason has done all it can, then faith steps in. We must have reasons why we believe.

 

[Randy Kluth]

I've thought for a long time and didn't "get it", but now I think I
have a handle on it. "...the substance of things not seen..." What I see is experiential, without faith, we know we cannot please Him. He says "Taste, and see that The Lord is good..." = trust fully, when we know our petitions are surely His will, we can just believe and THEN receive and, that is how I explain to those who say things like "you have to leave your brain at the door before entering a church"
And the other prayers that we are not sure are His will, we should pray accordingly and always speaking "Your will be done"...meaning you will (should) gladly accept the "no" answers, and not always expecting a yes, or wait.

Yes, I agree. I found, over time, that the "No" answers were the things that challenged my "faith." I apparently didn't want to believe God when He didn't grant me my wishes! But then again, that would make Him a little less "God" if He did my beckoning, right?

But Faith accepts God as an existing Being, which by definition cannot be subject to the rules of the universe He created. So we are stuck with having to "hear" Him on a different level, within the conscience. Is this even possible? Of course.

When we hear right and wrong from God, we tend to know it. We in fact hang our eternal future on the fact that we know what we should be doing.

 

[Nancy]

Yes, I agree. I found, over time, that the "No" answers were the things that challenged my "faith." I apparently didn't want to believe God when He didn't grant me my wishes! But then again, that would make Him a little less "God" if He did my beckoning, right?

But Faith accepts God as an existing Being, which by definition cannot be subject to the rules of the universe He created. So we are stuck with having to "hear" Him on a different level, within the conscience. Is this even possible? Of course.

When we hear right and wrong from God, we tend to know it. We in fact hang our eternal future on the fact that we know what we should be doing.

 

[Deborah_]

Christian faith is not blind faith. We believe on the basis of evidence. We believe God's word because He has proved to be trustworthy. We believe that Jesus rose from the dead because of eyewitness testimony.

 

[Peterlag]

John 20:


Hebrews 11:


2 Corinthians 5:


All 3 verses indicate that faith is not-seen. Is faith by definition not-seen?

If God says it, that is sufficient reason for me to believe it. God does not lie. I don't need any more evidence to believe. I don't mind having blind faith in God's word.

Genesis 2:


What reason did Adam have to believe this warning?

We read in Hebrews 11:1 “Now faith [pistis] is confidence in what we hope for and assurance about what we do not see” (NIV). The NASB uses slightly different vocabulary but gives the same message which is “Now faith is the assurance of things hoped for, the conviction of things not seen.” So the Bible itself defines pistis as assurance or confidence in something and a good way to express that in English is by the word “trust.” Faith has been defined and explained so many different ways that it's a difficult concept to grasp, but “trust” is simple to understand. The lexical sources listed above defined it when they defined pistis as a confidence, a firm persuasion, a conviction based on the reliability, or trustworthiness... of the person or thing that is trusted. Trust also has to have an object and by that I mean something that is trusted. The human mind cannot “just trust” because we have to trust something. It can be God, our spouse, our friend, or even that the sun will come up tomorrow, but trust requires an object because we have to trust some trustworthy thing.

 

[Bob Estey]

John 20:


Hebrews 11:


2 Corinthians 5:


All 3 verses indicate that faith is not-seen. Is faith by definition not-seen?

If God says it, that is sufficient reason for me to believe it. God does not lie. I don't need any more evidence to believe. I don't mind having blind faith in God's word.

Genesis 2:


What reason did Adam have to believe this warning?

Does faith need to be blind? Yes and no. We need to trust the Lord, but it makes it a whole lot easier when we are obedient to his will.

 

[Peterlag]

Does faith need to be blind? Yes and no. We need to trust the Lord, but it makes it a whole lot easier when we are obedient to his will.

We read in Hebrews 11:1 “Now faith [pistis] is confidence in what we hope for and assurance about what we do not see” (NIV). The NASB uses slightly different vocabulary but gives the same message which is “Now faith is the assurance of things hoped for, the conviction of things not seen.” So the Bible itself defines pistis as assurance or confidence in something and a good way to express that in English is by the word “trust.” Faith has been defined and explained so many different ways that it's a difficult concept to grasp, but “trust” is simple to understand. Trust also has to have an object and by that I mean something that is trusted. The human mind cannot “just trust” because we have to trust something. It can be God, our spouse, our friend, or even that the sun will come up tomorrow, but trust requires an object because we have to trust some trustworthy thing.