What We Mean By Faith

To have faith means to know, without a doubt, that the Bible is the Word of God, that Christ is the Son of God, that you are a child of God, and that all things come about by the will of God.  To the extent that you doubt these things, you lack faith.

Or

Faith is something you have in the midst of uncertainty.  If God were visible to us, we would have no need for faith.  But because God values faith, he does not give us certainty.  God wants us to choose faith, not doubt.  All of us doubt sometimes, but God will give us the strength to overcome our doubts.

Or

To have faith means to trust implicitly in God's provision, in the knowledge that he rules the universe absolutely, that he knows each of us intimately, and that he loves us more than we can know.  God will do what we ask of him, if it is in accordance with his will.  We must have confidence that he will answer our prayers, lest through unbelief we lose the good gifts he desires to give us.

Or

Through faith we accept the essential teachings of Christianity - the narrative that grounds and directs our action.  The danger is in overemphasizing these doctrines and making faith the goal, rather than the inspiration to do good works.  Faith without works is dead.

Or

Faith is the precondition of God's miraculous intervention in our lives.  We are told that faith the size of a mustard seed can move mountains; the fact that we do not see God powerfully and visibly at work in our lives is evidence that we are a generation and a people that lacks faith.

Or

Faith is the word that ignorant and deluded people give to the beliefs they cling to in spite of all evidence to the contrary.  Faith is irrational and dangerous.  Anything that must be accepted on faith should not be accepted at all.

Or

Faith is a choice.  It's not about what seems likely to us - although it's important for us to be honest about the world as we see it.  When we are faithful to the teachings of Christ and the practices of Christianity and the hope of redemption in the midst of our doubts, we demonstrate great faith.  The opposite of faith is not doubt but unfaithfulness.