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To: PROCON
There is no evidence for your belief.

There is no evidence for ANY belief ... Look up "belief" and take a good look at the synonyms surrounding "belief."

My dictionary has it as ... "belief, the term of broadest application in this application implies mental acceptance of something as true, even though absolutely certainty may be absent; faith implies complete, unquestioning acceptance of something even in the absence of proof and, esp., of something not suported by reason.

31 posted on 12/01/2014 10:49:00 AM PST by OldNavyVet
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To: OldNavyVet; PROCON
"My dictionary has it as ... "belief, the term of broadest application in this application implies mental acceptance of something as true, even though absolutely certainty may be absent; faith implies complete, unquestioning acceptance of something even in the absence of proof and, esp., of something not suported by reason."

I do not thisnk your dictionary definition is adequate. Belief, as we use the word in casual everyday speech, usually means a reasonale inference from evidence:

"I believeI can pass my Algebra test tomorrow."

In common parlance, it also means trust:

"I told my husband on our wedding day I really believed in him."

THeologically, Faith is not accepting something with little evidence, with dubious evidence, or against evidence: that is called the sin of credulity.

Philosophically, belief is accepting the knowledge of a knower, e.g. Person #1 knows from direct experience,strong evidence or dispositive proof; Person #2 believes Person #1 because he has evidence of another sort: evidence that Person #1 is honest and knowledgeable.

So your dictionary definiton only covers a small portion of the semantic field indicated by the words "faith" and "belief."

44 posted on 12/01/2014 11:30:41 AM PST by Mrs. Don-o (Sanity is the adequate response of the mind to the real thing: adaequatio mentis ad rem.)
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