I haven't read all of this but i thought i would throw my input on
the faith issue.
Faith can only be told from the inside; cause you can't, i believe,
see the full effect of one persons faith from the outside, my-self for
example, go to church, sing on the chour, and all the stuff, but i listen to
goth rock, punk rock, hard rock, all the music and i wear the
"rock/punk/freak " attire and at school get called "satan" "devil worshiper"
all the names that come along with it, And that's sad because the people
that yell the comments are the people that go to other churches and don't
even talk to me they just feel that they should throw in their two-cents.
I don't even know if the relate to what Nightstorm wrote or not i
just wanted to share it.
Later
TIM
In a message dated 5/8/01 4:59:46 PM Central Daylight Time,
NightStorm_Draco@GMX.NET writes:
Faith - Faith is in general the persuasion
of the mind that a certain statement is true (Phil. 1:27; 2 Thess. 2:13).
Its primary idea is trust. A thing is true, and therefore worthy of trust.
It admits of many degrees up to full assurance of faith, in accordance with
the evidence on which it rests.
Faith is the result of teaching (Rom. 10:14-17). Knowledge is an
essential element in all faith, and is sometimes spoken of as an equivalent
to faith (John 10:38; 1 John 2:3). Yet the two are distinguished in this
respect, that faith includes in it assent, which is an act of the will in
addition to the act of the understanding. Assent to the truth is of the
essence of faith, and the ultimate ground on which our assent to any
revealed truth rests is the veracity of God.
Historical faith is the apprehension of and assent to certain
statements which are regarded as mere facts of history. Temporary faith is
that state of mind which is awakened in men (e.g., Felix) by the exhibition
of the truth and by the influence of religious sympathy, or by what is
sometimes styled the common operation of the Holy Spirit.
Saving faith is so called because it has eternal life inseparably
connected with it. It cannot be better defined than in the words of the
Assembly's Shorter Catechism: "Faith in Jesus Christ is a saving grace,
whereby we receive and rest upon him alone for salvation, as he is offered
to us in the gospel."
The object of saving faith is the whole revealed Word of God. Faith
accepts and believes it as the very truth most sure. But the special act of
faith which unites to Christ has as its object the person and the work of
the Lord Jesus Christ (John 7:38; Acts 16:31). This is the specific act of
faith by which a sinner is justified before God (Rom. 3:22, 25; Gal. 2:16;
Phil. 3:9; John 3:16-36; Acts 10:43; 16:31). In this act of faith the
believer appropriates and rests on Christ alone as Mediator in all his
offices.
This assent to or belief in the truth received upon the divine
testimony has always associated with it a deep sense of sin, a distinct
view of Christ, a consenting will, and a loving heart, together with a
reliance on, a trusting in, or resting in Christ. It is that state of mind
in which a poor sinner, conscious of his sin, flees from his guilty self to
Christ his Saviour, and rolls over the burden of all his sins on him. It
consists chiefly, not in the assent given to the testimony of God in his
Word, but in embracing with fiducial reliance and trust the one and only
Saviour whom God reveals. This trust and reliance is of the essence of
faith. By faith the believer directly and immediately appropriates Christ
as his own. Faith in its direct act makes Christ ours. It is not a work
which God graciously accepts instead of perfect obedience, but is only the
hand by which we take hold of the person and work of our Redeemer as the
only ground of our salvation.
Saving faith is a moral act, as it proceeds from a renewed will, and a
renewed will is necessary to believing assent to the truth of God (1 Cor.
2:14; 2 Cor. 4:4). Faith, therefore, has its seat in the moral part of our
nature fully as much as in the intellectual. The mind must first be
enlightened by divine teaching (John 6:44; Acts 13:48; 2 Cor. 4:6; Eph.
1:17, 18) before it can discern the things of the Spirit.
Faith is necessary to our salvation (Mark 16:16), not because there is
any merit in it, but simply because it is the sinner's taking the place
assigned him by God, his falling in with what God is doing. The warrant or
ground of faith is the divine testimony, not the reasonableness of what God
says, but the simple fact that he says it. Faith rests immediately on,
"Thus saith the Lord." But in order to this faith the veracity, sincerity,
and truth of God must be owned and appreciated, together with his
unchangeableness. God's word encourages and emboldens the sinner personally
to transact with Christ as God's gift, to close with him, embrace him, give
himself to Christ, and take Christ as his. That word comes with power, for
it is the word of God who has revealed himself in his works, and especially
in the cross. God is to be believed for his word's sake, but also for his
name's sake.
Faith in Christ secures for the believer freedom from condemnation, or
justification before God; a participation in the life that is in Christ,
the divine life (John 14:19; Rom. 6:4-10; Eph. 4:15,16, etc.);
THE DEVIL'S DICTIONARY ((C)1911 Released April 15 1993) : FAITH, n. Belief
without evidence in what is told by one who speaks without knowledge, of
things without parallel.