This illustrative video about the many “acts of faith” we make every day was created by getoutthebox.org. The video asks the question, “If we believe so many times in people and their products, why do we struggle to believe in God?”

The video is simple, but the message is an important one. The concept of “faith” and the feelings that are associated with it, have in many ways been hijacked. Someone who “believes” is often portrayed as a fanatic, irrational, pathetic, ignorant, fearful etc… To believe in something that can’t be proven is a “mortal sin” for many of our age.

But can we really live without “believing”?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nMnhtnNKAV0&hd=1

Looking at the video, and taking a moment to really reflect on the issue, I think it’s valid to conclude: faith is indispensable for our lives. Try for a moment to imagine passing a day without “believing” and acting only when absolute proof is presented. It would be horrible! People could legitimately consider you crazy:

“Here’s your coffee sir.”

“But show me chemical proof that it is coffee!”

“Sir, get a life.”

Or, think of a person who lives his or her life with the eyes closed saying, “No, I have to touch it.” What an absurdity! Why oppose the two?

The examples are exaggerated in order to explain the insanity of those who are more determined to live according to a personal method, or to be exact, an ideology than to live and experience reality in its fullness.

For me, there is something particularly human and sublime in the act of belief. When I trust in someone, I do so using my reason: I get to know a person, know what type of character he or she is, I make sure that they know what they are talking about. Yet, something more than a simple intellectual acceptance is required. There’s an act of heart and will. I have the evidence before me yet it is still up to me. “The act of faith is an act that engages the entire person. There is no doubt that the capacity to entrust oneself and one’s life to another person, and the decision to do so are among the most significant and expressive human acts. (John Paul II, Fides et Ratio, 33)”

The video offers a good moment to ask ourselves, “What does it mean to believe?” How does society tend to understand and portray the act of “faith”? How do the Protestant churches understand ‘faith?'” What is the Catholic vision of ‘faith?'”