Q&A: Definition of Faith
Definition of Faith
Question
I've heard you argue more than once that a person who feels that God exists is an atheist with feelings, since he is not making a factual claim about reality. But can it be said that a person who really does feel (and does not understand intellectually / by intuition) that God exists, yet thinks that his feeling does reflect the ontological truth, is defined as a believer? Seemingly, this is exactly like someone who reaches the conclusion that God exists through arguments, but there is a logical bug in the argument or one of his premises is unreasonable. He is mistaken in his judgment, but given that this is his conclusion, he can still be defined as a believer.
Answer
Absolutely. I've written and said this more than once.
By the way, it often happens that people do not give this intuition intellectual weight, and that creates a contradiction between the intuition and the rational conclusions. In my humble opinion, that is how Rabbi Shagar lived.