Faith

Faith

faith noun

: strong belief or trust in someone or something
: belief in the existence of God : strong religious feelings or beliefs

: a system of religious beliefs

 

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Full Definition of FAITH

1

a :  allegiance to duty or a person :  loyalty

b (1) :  fidelity to one's promises (2) :  sincerity of intentions

2

a (1) :  belief and trust in and loyalty to God (2) :  belief in the traditional doctrines of a religion

b (1) :  firm belief in something for which there is no proof (2) :  complete trust

3

:  something that is believed especially with strong conviction; especially :  a system of religious beliefs <the Protestant faith>

— on faith

:  without question <took everything he said on faith>

Examples of FAITH

1. His supporters have accepted his claims with blind faith.
2. Our faith in the government has been badly shaken by the recent scandals.
3. Lending him the money to start his own business was an act of faith.
4. It requires a giant leap of faith for us to believe that she is telling the truth.
5. Nothing is more important to her than her faith in God.
6. She says that her faith has given her the courage to deal with this tragedy.
7. Faith without doubt leads to moral arrogance, the eternal pratfall of the religiously convinced. —Joe Klein, Time, 17 May 2004
8. Nick wiped at the moustache of sweat droplets that was as much a part of his face as his eyes and nose and gave a shrug that indicated a certain lack of faith in our judgment. —Tom Perrotta, Joe College, 2000
9. But while no one with a grain of sense trusted Miss Stephanie, Jem and I had considerable faith in Miss Maudie. She had never told on us, had never played cat-and-mouse with us, she was not at all interested in our private lives. She was our friend. —Harper Lee, To Kill a Mockingbird, 1960

 

Origin of FAITH

Middle English feith, from Anglo-French feid, fei, from Latin fides; akin to Latin fidere to trust — more at bide

First Known Use: 13th century

Related to FAITH

Synonyms

devotion, piety, religion

Antonyms

atheism, godlessness

Related Words

devoutness, piousness, religiousness; adoration, reverence, veneration, worship; profession, protestation

Near Antonyms

disbelief, doubt, unbelief, unfaith; agnosticism, know-nothingism; apostasy, lapse, tergiversation

Wow, that's a lot of Faith. For those of you who religiously read my blogs, you know I'm not big on religion. This is especially true in the statements on Faith "a firm belief in something for which there is no proof" and "nothing is more important to her than her faith in God."


To give control of my life to something or anything that I have no proof exists is not my way of creating a happy life. To say there is nothing more important in my life than a Faith in God is disregarding my primary premise that positive energy and my happiness is just a little more important than anything else in my life including God (who I never heard, saw or touched).

 

 

 

However, just because I have problems with Faith in regard to religion doesn't mean I don't have Faith. I have Faith in my wife who I know will always be there for me. I have Faith that freedom will eventually win out around the world. I have Faith that even though our Government is all screwed up, they will always find a way to keep America strong both economically and socially. Most important, I have Faith in myself.

 

 

The statement "His supporters have accepted his claims with blind faith" is a bad way to live your life. It's OK to have Faith, but, blind faith means you don't have a contingency plan. As I stated above, I have faith in a lot of things, but even Faith in myself has a Plan B. 

 

 

Just because I have Faith in myself to reach a goal doesn't mean that if that goal is not reached I don't have a way to recover. Contingency planning should be part of your efforts throughout your life. Contingency planning will make you feel safe and secure. It's a lot easier to be a happy person when you feel safe and secure.

 

 

I believe unhappy people are lacking Faith in themselves. The more insecure you are the less Faith you have in yourself. The more angry and frustrated you are with yourself the less Faith you have in yourself. The less risks you take and the fewer decisions you make, the less Faith you have in yourself. The more you need the outside world to make you happy, the less Faith you have in yourself.

 

 

Here are my suggestions:

 

• Don't have blind Faith in anything (including religion) where you don't have a Plan B.
• The only Faith you can completely trust is Faith in yourself. If you believe you don't have that Faith, do the things I have talked about in my blogs and my book "Happiness The Forgotten Ingredient In Life." If that doesn't work, get a Mentor or Therapist, whom you have Faith in, to help you deal with your insecurities.
• List all the things, people, organizations and companies you believe you have Faith in. Stare at the list and be sure you should have Faith in every one of those you've listed. If there is any doubt, take them off the list.

You probably believe I'm being very cynical about Faith. Not true! Having Faith is a good thing, but there is a down side. The more Faith you have in something the less control you have of that something. I have always stated that you have more control of your happiness than you might think.

Don't let too much Faith erode the control you have over your life.