Faith, Hope and Doubt

Louis Pojman

 Metaphysical proposition- “God exists”

 Traditionally, in Judaism, Christianity, and Islam- right belief is necessary for salvation

 Claims of Orthodox Christianity:

1. That faith in God and Christ entails belief that God exists and that Christ is God
incarnate
2. That without faith we are damned to eternal hell

So, Doubt is an unacceptable propositional attitude.

 Is Belief a necessary condition for saving Faith?

 According to traditional Christianity, belief is a necessary condition for
salvation.
 St. Paul says in Roman 10:10, “If you confess with your lips that Jesus is Lord
and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be
saved.”
 The Athanasian Creed, an official doctrine of Orthodox Christianity, states
that salvation requires that one believe not only that God exists but also that
God is triune and that Christ is perfect God and perfect man.
 The basic Argument:
1. Faith in God through Christ is a necessary and sufficient condition for eternal
salvation.
2. Belief that God exists is a necessary condition for faith.
3. Therefore, belief is a necessary condition for salvation.
4. Therefore, doubt, the absence of belief, is an unacceptable attitude for
salvation. No doubter will be saved.

Definition of Terms:

1. Belief- an involuntary assenting of the mind to a proposition (a “yessing” to a

proposition), a feeling of conviction about a proposition.
2. Acceptance- deciding to include p in the set of propositions that you are willing to
act on in certain contexts, a volitional act.
3. Faith- a commitment to something (e.g. a person, hypothesis, religion or worldview).
Faith is a deep kind of acceptance. It involves commitment to its object.
Summary:

 Belief is not necessary for religious faith (because faith – which is necessary for being
religious-does not require belief)
 One may not be able to believe in God because evidence is not sufficient, but one
may still live in hope, committed to a theistic worldview.

Faith as hope

 Belief in God’s existence is not necessary for faith

 Doubt is not incompatible with religious faith
- One can doubt God’s existence (in the sense not believe it) and still have faith as
hope (e.g., want to believe with all your heart)

Analysis of hope

 Hope requires possibility

- To hope one must believe in the possibility of what one hopes for; can’t hope for
what one believe impossible
- Need not expect it
 Hope precludes certainty
 Hope entails desire
 Hope involves a desire that is motivational
- Hope is more than mere wishing
- Can wish to live forever, but if I don’t think it sufficiently possible,
it will not motivate me to act
- Hope involves a willingness to runs some risk
 Hoping (unlike believing) is typically under our direct control
- I can decide to hope that my son’s team will win, but I can’t decide to
believe it will win.

Belief are not Chosen

 Beliefs are not chosen but occur involuntarily, as responses to states of affairs in the
world.
 Serve as effective guides to action, they are not actions.

Hope as the Proper Religious Propositional Attitude for Doubters

Hope may be a sufficient substitute for belief. I can hope that God exists without believing
that He does. Let us first analyse the concept of hope in order to determine whether this is a
viable option. Consider some examples of hope:

1. Ryan hopes that he will get an A in his philosophy course.

2. Mary hopes that Tom will marry her.

Hope involves belief in the possibility of a state of affairs obtaining. If Ryan hopes to get an A
in philosophy, he must believe that it is possible to do so, though he need not believe it will
happen.

Oxford English Dictionary defines hope as “an expectation of something desired”.