"Faith is the assured expectation of things hoped for, the evident demonstration of realities though not beheld." Heb. 11:1

“To one who has faith, no explanation is necessary. To one without faith, no explanation is possible”. St. Thomas Aquinas

This is excellent! Thank you Father Brent! And thanks to everyone at the Thomistic Institute.

Impecable! Crystal clear, as always. Thank you, Father.

Clear, concise. Less than 10 minutes. Excellent presentation. Thank you.

You explain this very well. You help me consider my own faith.

This is beautiful. I've developed grrat skepticism about media outlets since I cannot verify their testimonies with my own eyes, but I never conceived of how that realization speaks to the very nature of faith. Wonderful, practical teaching.

The bible describes faith in Hebrews 11:1, as "Now faith is confidence in what we hope for and assurance about what we do not see." The original Greek work for " do not see" is βλεπομένων (blepomenōn) which is used in bible both as physical sight and as a synonym for discern. It's hard to say what it means exactly, but most likely it's talking about discerning not physical sight

Please we need this videos to better vertebrate our faith and spread the Gospel.

Faith is a genuine ascent of the intellect to truth which we received through hearing from an outside source.

Thanks Fr James , it was a profound explanation of what Faith is. Faith is a lens in which we see everything around us. With eyes of faith, we see the world as God sees us with love, compassion and mercy.

This is the type of material I will pay for 🙏🏽🙏🏽 thank you Thomistic Institute for this investment that is good of our souls and minds!

Great video!!! Thanks to the Thomistic Institute because it ignited my interest to learn more about Saint Thomas Aquinas writings/ teachings.

Awesome! Thank you.

That was brilliant. Also great production values. Thanks for sharing.

The level of clarity and precision in your videos (and in Aquinas, of course) is so exciting, comforting, and beautiful.

Oh this was so clear and simple 🔅... Thank you so much, now i have got a new perspective about what faith is! My belief in the word of God is not because of how it is judged by any human principle, 🐾 but simply, i believe because God guarantees its truth 🍇 😍😍😍😍

Beautifully explained n succinct,thanks for you sharing Fr,

so faith is believing

Thank you father!

Thank you Father Brent for this informative and meaningful video🙏🙏

Thank you Fr Brent. May God bless you and TI more.

This is the best explanation I’ve ever heard of faith, and it’s importance. And how it is comparable to ones reason.

I just discovered this channel and I’m loving it! I’m devouring all the knowledge now, thank you!! Peace be with you all. 🙏🏻🕊️

This is something that no doubt gets overlooked by many non believers. The story of Paul for example, many people don't even know it.

Thanks Father, this is very clear and important video

So good! The necessity of faith.

Very helpful, thank you father

Great video. So happy I found this channel. Appeals to my analytical, logical makeup. Sharing with my son in the hope that he will come back to the faith. Thank you.

A very insightful explanation of the term faith with helpful distinctions; thank you!

Great series!

I really love these videos, though some are over my head getting the courage to speak out.

These videos are excellent. Thank you!

Thank you

Very good. God bless you brother and us all

I need faith. Please pray for me my brothers and sisters. I was born Catholic and became agnostic but going back to a journey to a Catholic faith.This is why I still don't know what I should do in my life and yeah it is really dysfunctional to me . I don't have confidence within myself coz I question everything even the information written by people (books) and God (Bible) . There is a part of myself that believes and there is a part of me that question its existence. God please strengthen my faith.

Awesome video, I am a Thomist myself and I love Aquinas. THANKS!!

The Dr can only tell you that he's done something before and how successful he's been in the past....he CAN'T tell you nothing will go wrong this time

Absolute great work.

Huge thanks! Such clarity brings so much consolation.

This is great!

(REHAB TIME!) FAITH IS LIKE LOVE IT DOES NOT LET ITSELF BEE FORCE! FACTS OVA FEELINGS!

Thank you.

Superb! Thank you

Thanks Father

How are we supposed to have faith in something we have not seen or sensed or touched, something that points to the future, and yet discredit and not believe our own experiences, here and now? Also, what you are referring to in your examples, which are very informative, is Trust not Faith. Ex. I trust my friend ( an idea) but i don't follow his teachings (a concept). Finally, I love your videos, they are very challenging. Thank you.

Thank you for helping me understand.

Excellent video.

He made an otherwise difficult question thru a case argument that’s so logical and convincing. Will copy that, Reverend. Thanks

very well said...with clarity

Very informative, although I think it would be worth considering the difference between which beliefs from faith are and are not falsifiable.

Fantastic. So clear.

what a wonderful video!!! Thanks a lot

I believe your two definitions are one and the same. Faith is believing in something without evidence but also believing in something which goes beyond the 5 senses, touch, taste, sound, hear, and feel. Everyone uses natural faith which is designed for growth and development in this life. Growth and development does not work without exercising faith. Supernatural faith goes beyond 5 senses and is growth and development which doesnt just change natural senses but changes us from deep within and creates potential to do anything and be anything.

asombroso. Gracias

This is clearly just defining Faith as "Trust in a person's word" and saying therefore everyone has faith. Sure, I have "faith" in my parents but that trust is not built on nothing. Trust in people and the things that they say is almost always built on material evidence and reason. Trusting in people's word is great, especially if that trust is built on evidence. Trusting someone's word without evidence at all WOULD BE an example of using Faith and there is absolutely nothing wrong with trusting people's words. However, its important to recognize that the lack of evidence IS what distinguishes Faith from Trust.

And what if another person told you something different? Who would you believe then? And we are back to square one.

Faith is to believe in something which might or might not have an objective independent reality?

I think there is an unfortunate weakness of language at work. Faith and belief are not the same things yet explained too often as if they are. Beliefs are acts of the will based on reasoned conclusions of sensible data. You believe something to be true or not true based on sensible experience, trust in another or by deductive reasoning as far as it can go. Beliefs change all the time as we experience, learn, mature, and reason more accurately and of course the world changes constantly. Our beliefs must change. Faith on the other hand, being a gift can be cherished in its use or squandered in its misuse or abandonment. Beliefs are like clothes. We change them and desire that they should proper, good, and becoming. We act to be clothed per our tastes, needs and opportunities. Faith is like your body. We may cherish it, protect it, seek what is good for it and avoid what is dangerous for it. We always have it even if we let it become weak and unreliable. Clothes and the body are closely related, dependent on each other in ways, but they are not the same.

So is it true that one should not have high confidence using faith because it's always hearsay?

🙌🏻👏🏻🙌🏻👏🏻🙌🏻🙏🏻🙏🏻excellent! Great examples!

my question is if all i know about god is through human testimonies (specifically the preserved testimonies of the disciples who knew christ personally), can i get arguments for why those testimonies are trustworthy? the writers mustve done one of 3 things: - preaching that which they were sincerely mistaken about - insincerely lying to people - telling the truth the martyrdom argument is fair enough to deny the 2nd possibility, but i dont know, i want a little more to disprove the 1st possibility im a catholic, and its really easy to imagine myself going deep in faith, but its hard for me

"Beliving something on the word or the testimony of another person is called Faith". This statement is found at the 2:00/ 9:11 time stamp. Faith, according to this message is "to believe because someone else told you to believe. This means you must rely on the authority, word, or testimony of someone else. This is false. This is NOT what faith is. To believe because someone else says to believe is NOT what faith is. To accept things under the authority of another without any ability to verify the results for one's self is to trust others to guide you and not Christ within you. How can I say this? Actually, the scriptures you can read for yourself. Matthew 23:10 says "call no man teacher. You have one teacher, Christ". If Christ is the teacher to honor, then to listen to another man's testimony and accept it as true without the ability to confirm for oneself, is to have faith in that man and not Christ within you, "your hope of glory". Sorry, but this answer is not scriptural, nor does it clearly articulate what faith is. "Faith is believing something on the word of a witness". Timestamp 2:19 / 9:11. Again, to believe something in someone else's word is to accept things because others tell you to. Do you, therefore, have faith in God, or faith in a witness? This again is false. To have faith in the doctor's prognosis as true is to abandon one's own hope for health and place one's faith in a man's opinion. To remain hopeful that God can deliver us from all things, THAT is faith. Faith, therefore, is NOT rational or reasonable, because it requires us to rely on an unseen God. How? By having hope for something that we have no supporting evidence for, from our senses. Hope is the beginning of all things desired. This hope you have for something every day. Hope that God will bring the unseen hope into reality, and fulfill the desires of one's heart. This is why scripture tells us, "The just shall walk by FAITH, NOT BY SIGHT". Faith is a reliance on "HE that is in you", and not another man that is your brethren. Jeremiah 17:5 "5 This is what the LORD says: “Cursed is the man who trusts in mankind, who makes the flesh his strength and turns his heart from the LORD."

the core of christianity is the concept of faith. no religion before asked you to _believe_ in God; at most some type of sacrifice was required. but now the sacrifice was the crucifixion itself. now, all that God asks is your faith. for you to _consider_ his Word even though you have no apparent reason to. He still loves you even if you curse Him, because at least that means you care enough to have Him in mind.

Faith sounds a lot like trust. Could we substitute trust for faith? Perhaps not, as faith only is operable and possible by the word of God and faith has promised attached in the word, unless i misunderstand.

What happens if the person's faith is to believe in lies? What would be my faith, then?

Are we saved because we believe in the death burial and ressurection or when we stand or believe we are saved. The knowledge of the truth that through Jesus we have eternal life

❤

There is life without faith.

I agree that God would be the best witness, and we should have faith on what God says, but I've never talked with God, and the same is true for most people. We are told the Bible is the word of God, but people told that to us. They are witnesses that this is the word of the best witness, however as you yourself point out, people are flawed and we should not believe everything they say

I think there’s a huge difference between believing someone who said the sun rose this morning and believing someone who said a person rose from the dead. One is a mundane claim the other needs more veracity to be proven.

How does God give faith? Through the sacraments and private devotion?

Is there a claim one can’t believe based on faith?

1:59 "Believing something on a word or testimony of another person is called faith." What?? NO, and I find very hard to believe that you don't know the difference between trust and faith. Believing something on a word or testimony of another person is called trust. Faith is more than that. Faith is complete trust without evidence. Look it up in dictionary my good man. If you're still confused, consider this: "No faith ever allows evidence to overturn a doctrinal belief and if you don't allow THAT than you can't pretend that your faith is based on evidence."

While testimonial evidence is certainly an aspect of faith, I think reducing the meaning of faith to testimonial evidence is just that- reductive. Consider Corinthians 13:12. Faith is a kind of "knowing darkly" that involves the whole of the person (reason, feelings, aesthetics, perceptions, etc.) in symphony, and not just in summation. I would go so far as to say that our very existence, in terms of its existential wholeness, is *faithing*, so to speak; a knowledge through participation in the Truly Existent One. Contemplation is the highest form of faith: a letting go into the unknowing knowing of our bare beingness and thereby coming to a deeper and wider embodied realization of God within the illumined stillness of the soul.

In the gospels, Jesus stated: if you have faith the size of a mustard seed, you will be able to move mountains. This statement is a misinterpretation of what Jesus truly said and it reveals how the disciples and gospelers misunderstood the teachings of Jesus. If a person are to have "faith" the size of a mustard seed - what does that mean? How can you measure faith in such a way? Faith is faith. It is the "power of total conviction" in the mind, possessing the mind, and it cannot be restricted in "size." Faith, arising out of your need to believe in something, because such a belief will serve your purposes in some way, can be powerful and strong, but never can it be estimated in "size!" Belief is even stronger. Belief is the offspring of hearsay and logic. Because you have heard something and you have been convinced that what you have heard or read is true, you develop a deep belief in what you have heard. You believe it to be true. You believe in a total, complete way which defies contradiction. Jesus was constantly telling people: "Believe you will receive - and you will receive." However, Jesus knew at the time, that it would be almost impossible for people to ever have the faith which would cause miracles to happen, since no matter how much Jesus might explain Truth to people, they would still never have the intense knowing given Jesus in the desert. Up to this time, some people have had faith in "Jesus Christ" but they have been like precocious children. Their faith has been partially blind and accepting, yet interwoven with much doubt. Therefore, whatever they needed to be done for them, they depended on "Jesus" for the work to be accomplished. Whereas, in fact, much of what they believe they have derived directly from "Jesus" has been their own "faith in Jesus" made visible in the form of things asked for. While this child-like "faith" is very important to our well-being, those who are capable of moving onward on the spiritual path to perfection, must now reach a deeper level of true knowledge of the relation between mind and "matter." Without this foundation, people will continue to flounder in myths and will be locked into the misery of the human condition.

so another name for faith could be "trust"?

I've had a problem with an atheist once about this topic. He said that he "trusts" instead of have faith. How can you differentiate between them?

Is this a reupload? Why do I have this on my downloads but only 3d ago uploaded???

1:14 - wrong! Whole is not always greater than a part of it, for example: -1 < - 0.5

I have a question that is unrelated. What does it mean when aquinas says the Hypostatic Union is created? It is in this question the 3rd part of the Summa Question 2 Article 7 ( aquinas.cc/la/en/~ST.III.Q2.A7 ). aquinas sounds very arian is some of his language ie: " And since this union has its being nowhere save in a created nature, as was said above, it follows that it has a created being." How is this question to be understood since it seems arian?

What is the difference between faith and trust?

There is so much info hear it may actually hurt faith, dunno.

The "Holy Spirit" not the "Spirit" which can have many meanings!

Dear Master, Although you have given a full explanation of words such as faith and trust in speech, it is possible for you to say what the God of Abraham, Moses, Jesus and Muhammad looks like according to the knowledge that you have of faith and trust.

😢

Is it an act of faith? Or is it a belief?. I do not have faith in a Spanish person asserting a spanish word interpretation in English. I would say I have a belief.

Thanks a lot for your videos, they are well-made and accessible to average non-catholics like myself. However, I don't think that believing your friend when he tells you he saw the sunset is merely an act of faith. You believe him because you've seen sunsets before and you've heard other people talk about them. Had you heard your friend tell you that he saw the sunset at noon while the sky was green and the sun was a purple square, you wouldn't believe him as easily.

then why you teach "your faithful" to kiss, kneel and bow down to statues or things made by human hands?

Or text in the comment part same thing?

Its all nice and sweet, only if you had posted these videos before WWI and WWII.

Scientists have faith that the universe is knowable

7:06 With all due respect Father, I believe you misuse this quote of John if the intent is to provide an argument for the faith one has in the Bible. There is no doubt, in the case where we already know a source to be of divine origin, we thus know the source to be reliable, as, implicit in the knowledge of divinity is the knowledge of the infallibility of the divine. To know God is to know God to be infallible. However, it is inapplicable when asking whether a source is of divine origin in the first place. To establish this, we must first have faith in those claiming it is to be so. Thus, to have faith in Biblical infallibility cannot, I would argue, be reduced to faith in divinity itself. Rather than afforded the foundationalist epistemic rigor of the divine, faith must be grounded upon a coherentism based on a myriad of fallible parts. This is why, for faith to succeed, no man can truly be an island.

The arguments are based on the scientific understanding of Aquinas. Newsflash guys! The collective scientific understanding has improved at bit since Aquinas. At lest try to adjust the word salads accordingly.

and the doctor HAS A repocussions for lying to you. IF HE botches your surgery. this will have a significant impact on his life. So you dont trust him or her you trust that there are consoquinces for his actions. lie lie lie desort truth lie and distort and lie and distort and lie. GOod job my friend

This is the hardest concept to explain to young people over the age of 10 who have limited experience of life. Their world is one of the five senses.

Why would you be here if not for doubt of something you can not prove..I have never investigated whether the sun rises

There NO such a thing as "the senses AND The Mind", BOTH ARE The Mind! Usually when Creatures OF God try to become "smart", instead they beging to mix things up, not as a mistake but as PROOF for Faith to the Sons of The Most High!

Correction ...there is no life without faith

I think there is an error in logic here. From both a traditional and everyday standpoint, faith is the belief in the word or testimony of another when the subject of testimony cannot be verified independently. For example, Moses went up and came down from the Mount (twice I think) with the Commandments alone, and nobody could directly ask God “hey are these really YOUR commandments?". In an everyday matter, like a private dispute between friends with no other witnesses, you may be said to believe one friend over another as an act of good faith. But the examples of diagnoses and planes flying are verifiable, if not from another expert, than the person themselves could acquire the education and knowledge to verify the mechanics of flight and biology of disease. The Wright Brothers were it the only ones to fly, nor Jonas Salk the only man to develop a new cure. This video is conflating faith with trust.