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Religion vs. Faith
- Thread starter Tumah
- Start date
Religion is the commandments, rituals, practices, duties, and works one performs or has taboos about based on the obligations of one's covenant.
Faith is the beliefs, hopes, aspirations and inspirations based on one's relationship and one's walk with the Holy.
Faith is the beliefs, hopes, aspirations and inspirations based on one's relationship and one's walk with the Holy.
This question having spent years studying this very aspect, it would depend on whom you asked....
The reason being is due to the nature of the religious beliefs, being defined as being the faith.
So Christians based on Paul's teachings, would say that 'the faith' is believing the religious doctrine he puts forth....A lot of the other religions have then continued this misaligned train of thought.
If we separate the misconceptions about the word faith meaning a religion, or a religious belief, and apply it in its original context, then your question answers its self.
Faith originally means to trust, it doesn't originally have any religious contexts applied to it.
So a mountain climber can have faith in his own abilities; if he climbs with another climber, then he has faith in their abilities.
So religion doesn't need to have anything to do with faith; faith is a feeling/energy from the heart that everyone has, some more than others.
A religion is a set of fundamental beliefs, that a group of people believe in.
Religions generally tell people to put their trust/faith into their religious belief, as that will then give them a sense of security....
Yet that often leads them to more instability if challenged over their religious beliefs, as they see that as being their heart/faith that is being attacked.
One's religion is a set of fundamental beliefs and practises.
One's faith is the trust and energy from the heart, that allows them to overcome fear.
A faith is a belief or system of beliefs. A religion is a community of shared belief (and often ritual based on that belief).
IMO, you can have a one-person faith, but not a one-person religion.
Unveiled Artist
Veteran Member
Faith is the core of religion and religious practice. It connects you to the foundation (values) and puts meaning in religious practice/your religion.
For example:
You have Beliefs/values/source which is gas in a car
Religion: Pressing the gas petal (with training, a license, and experience first)
Faith: Trust that you have enough gas and experience to get from A to B.
If you have no beliefs (religious or not) Why get to point B?
If you have no religion, How will you get to point B?
If you have no faith, are you just walking blindlessly? What motivates you to get to point B?
Religion is pointless without faith
Faith doesnt make sense without religion.
They go hand in hand.
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SpeaksForTheTrees
Well-Known Member
Your religion is the book, the story ,the words
Faith is how much trust you put into those words
For clarity instead of Faith and Religion, 'Belief' and 'Religious exercise'.
Belief is secret, and you never know when your belief will change. Belief can change on a moment to moment basis. Belief has no personal cost and ends when you die, when you sleep, when you doubt. An observer cannot tell what motivates a person, whether it is belief or something else like greed.
Tumah
Veteran Member
So what about a Christian who believes one attains salvation with faith alone. What's his religion?
Tumah
Veteran Member
I think you are (perhaps correctly, I'm not sure) equating faith with belief. I am under the impression that faith can also be synonymous with religion.
Tumah
Veteran Member
That's actually an interesting differentiation. So you're saying a religion is a community of people who share a faith?
Tumah
Veteran Member
Do you see a difference between belonging to the Christian faith and being a part of the Christian religion? What about someone who believes in the [Christian] doctrine of Sola Fide? What religion does that person belong to?
His religion is Christianity.
Even if a person thinks that faith is all that's needed to attain salvation, this doesn't mean that they do nothing at all once they have faith.
Tumah
Veteran Member
I'm not so familiar with Christianity. Can you give me an example of a religious exercise someone who believes in sola fide would perform?
Thanks.
Yes, but more than that: IMO, it's a community of people who express their shared faith communally (e.g. through communal worship or ritual).
If, for instance, there was a community of people who all happened to share the same beliefs but only practiced them individually and not as part of a shared tradition, I wouldn't consider that community to be a "religion". What makes it a religion, IMO, is when the shared faith is the focus of the community.
Tumah
Veteran Member
So you are differentiation between "religions" like Islam and Hinduism and "pagans" like those who worship various elements of a pantheon.
lostwanderingsoul
Well-Known Member
The Bible says you are saved by grace, through faith, and that not of yourself, it is a gift from God. So God gives some people faith so that they can believe and be saved.
Prayer, Sunday worship services, all the normal trappings of Christianity.
It's important to remember a few things about sola fide Christians:
- most (though IIRC not all) sola fide denominations preach that even though good works won't save you, once you are saved, you will receive the Holy Spirit and this will be expressed by doing good works.
- they don't necessarily think that good works will have zero effect on their eternal fate. Many believe that certain acts will gain them "reward in Heaven" even if they aren't a factor in the decision to send them to Heaven or Hell. So for some sola fide Christians, everyone who has faith goes to Heaven, but those who have faith AND do good works will get better treatment in Heaven.
- all that aside, there's nothing stopping a sola fide Christian from doing something if they just think that it's the right thing to do for its own sake.
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Not necessarily along those specific lines, because there are plenty of Pagans who are part of congregations or who participate in virtual communities online.
But yes: I do think that the majority of people who have developed their own unique beliefs don't have a religion. Same goes for beliefs that don't tend to form communities (deism, for instance).
Edit: I guess I differentiate between people who would choose to participate in a religious community but can't do so for practical reasons and people who don't feel drawn to a religious community at all. For instance, if a guy was the only Jew in a town and worshipped on his own simply because there was no synagogue or other Jews to worship with, I would still consider him to be a member of the Jewish religion. I think there's a similar situation for many (but not all) isolated Pagans.
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