You've made my point. Faith is what you have absent proof. There is no proof so one has to have faith.
Faith is the essence of Christianity. We know He exists because of what the Bible tells us and because of what God has done inside of us, the many changes He’s made in me and in my family. You can see God in the creation, in the eyes of a child, especially at birth when this child is born with everything needed to sustain life. Yes, it IS a faith based religion. But people HAD seen Jesus so we know historically that He was real and that He is who He says He is.