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According to John 20:8,29 We see that faith and belief are different in that faith is belief without evidence to support it. After Thomas sees the resurrected Jesus and declares, “My Lord and my God!” Jesus answers, “Because you have seen me, you have believed; blessed are those who have not seen and yet have believed.” Those who have not seen and yet believe have faith.
Belief is not faith.
What I mean is that faith and belief are different. The Greek word Πίστις (Pistis) is usually translated as “faith”, but the verb πιστεύω (Pisteuo) is usually translated as “I believe.” “Belief” and “faith” are not synonyms in contemporary English
The terms “belief” and “faith” do not have the same meaning. To believe something is not the same as to have faith in something.
Belief
The word “belief” comes from the root “lief,” which means “desire.” Belief means to fervently believe in something as true even though you don’t know for sure. When you truly know, the question of believing disappears.
Beliefs determine whether you are a Hindu, Muslim, Christian, or Buddhist. Fights and arguments are sparked by beliefs.
Faith
The word “faith” derives from the Latin word fides. It is related to bona fides, which means good faith and is a well-known contract law principle. The essence of faith is direct experience, not speculation or rationalization. Belief is not faith. In other words, you wouldn’t need to have belief in something that can be seen by the naked eye.
You have faith in the sun, not belief in the sun. However, a blind man has believed in the sun. You can see that faith and belief are different.
You have faith in yourself, not belief. You can’t even deny yourself. Even if you say you don’t exist, you talking already proves you do.
Most people believe in God, but a Self-realized being has faith in God.
When it comes to faith and belief, belief makes use of the physical senses: seeing, hearing, or touching. You believe in something because you read books, see presentations, listen to the radio, touch the object or etc.
Faith uses spiritual senses, a supernatural intuition, where you are able to say or do things without the need to read, hear, see or touch first.
Faith is not about having strong confidence/will/persistence.
Faith is not about obeying verbal instruction, but spiritual instruction.
Faith is not a set of theology, Belief is.
Faith is initiated by God, Belief is initiated by men
Faith has different sizes, Belief has one size.
Faith builds your relationship with God, Belief builds your knowledge about God.
In Faith: You believe God exists!
In Belief: You have been told that God exists.
Let me illustrate this with a story.
A STORY TO ILLUSTRATE THE DIFFERENCE BETWEEN FAITH AND BELIEF.
A man called Blondin walked on a tightrope across a street. The crowd cheered. He asked the crowd if they “believed” he could do it again. YES, they all said. He then asked, “do you believe I can push a wheelbarrow across?” YES, they all applauded.
Great, he replied. Who will ride in the wheelbarrow? Belief thinks it’s possible, while Faith rides in the wheelbarrow.
Here is an example of the difference between Faith and Belief:
In the morning as you are about to leave: Belief states: today will be warm and sunny. Faith states: you don’t even consider taking a jacket with you.
Faith is a complete confidence in something. Faith may not require proof. We may have faith in God or our religion. There is a classic tale of a village suffering from drought and famine. Everyone put their faith in prayer and decided to pray to God for rain. An example of faith was a small boy who came to the prayer with an umbrella. He had total faith that his prayers would be answered, and he would need the umbrella for the rains that would come as a result of their prayers.
Here is another example of the difference between Faith and Belief :
Belief is me constructing a chair that I am confident will support my weight. Faith is me walking over and sitting on that chair.
Faith is the act of testing whatever it is you believe in. If you believe someone to be trustworthy, then you would be demonstrating your faith in this belief by trusting this person with your money.
An irrational person can not believe any of the following: Anything proven to be false for example: I cannot believe that 1+1=3; Anything that contradicts empirical evidence for example I cannot believe the sun rises from the west. In conclusion, we see that faith and belief are quite different.
Pastor Nathaniel.
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