I often hear religious followers like Christians refer to faith as something good. I will ask them a question that they can't answer and their response will often be something like," You've got to have faith, if you had faith, you would understand and last but not least if you had faith, you would know the truth."

I thought about this, long and hard and thought that it would be best, if I actually looked the word up in a dictionary, to see what it means. Here are a couple of definitions that I got from an online dictionary.

1. Belief in, devotion to, trust in somebody or something, especially without logical proof.

2. A system of religious belief, or the group of people who adhere to it.

3. A belief and trust in and loyalty to God. Believe in the traditional doctrines of a religion. Firm belief in something for which there is no proof.

Now that we understand a word faith, is this a term that religious followers should even use anymore. Let's try replacing a couple of words with the most common response that I hear from Christians who don't take the time to do any open minded research about their own religion.

You've got to have faith, could be rewritten like this, "You've got to have a belief in, devotion to, trust in somebody or something, especially without logical proof." Or it could be rewritten like this," you've got to have a belief and trust in and loyalty to God. Believe in the traditional doctrines of a religion. Firm belief in something for which there is no proof.

The key phrase that I keep getting stuck on, is something without logical proof. Faith is a belief in something that isn't supported by evidence or proof.

The next time that you used the word faith, you might want to replace it with loyalty, belief or commitment. If it works better for you than the word faith does, of course.