Jack, while being very careful not to return to the previous topic that was locked, and respecting all the rules of the board, I want to ask you about one thing, SPECIFICALLY, which you said in reply to this question I asked you:

Jack, how come Jesus didn't understand that "faith is binary"?

"O ye of little faith.” (Matthew 6:30; 8:26; 14:31; 16:8; Luke 12:28)

If his disciples either had no faith whatsoever or had total faith, why would Jesus refer to them as having "little faith"?


You replied:
"Little faith" does not mean that their faith was not "deep," but just what it says: it is "little." It does not believe enough things. The disciples had a "small" faith about Jesus. They believed a few things about Him. But they did not believe enough things about Him. They had not yet come to believe, for instance, that He was God in the flesh, that He was absolutely sovereign, and so on.


So, Jack, you are saying that the disciples had total faith in Jesus without any doubt whatsoever in regard to a few things, but they had absolutely no faith that He was the Son of God. Just to be quite clear, is that what you are saying?

If that's your belief, what are the few things about Jesus which you think the disciples totally believed without any doubt whatsoever, which inspired them to follow Jesus, while at the same time having absolutely no faith that "He was God in the flesh, that He was absolutely sovereign, and so on"?

I'm responding here only to say I won't be responding, and this because I'm not interested in giving the impression that I don't have an answer to your question. I do. But I've even less interest in being banned. The administrator made it very clear that doctrines that are opposed to the Catholic faith may not be explained. This is a Catholic board, and you all have the right to the kind of board you want.

If you are curious about my own faith, then you can take it up with me privately via PM. If that isn't good enough, then you can find me at another discussion board where we may discuss matters more openly. If you google jac3510 (my old SN here) you shoould have no problem locating me elsewhere.

Okay, fair enough. I'll find you on another board. I'm not a fan of PMs, I prefer discussions to be in the open.

I'm not a mod (nor do I want to be), but may I make a distinction between explaining non-Catholic doctrines and urging others to accept them?

Again, not answering so as not to be banned. If you want to know my thoughts, feel free to pm me. I'm not going anywhere near this subject.

Now that I have started this thread, does anyone else want to offer an opinion about whether or not there are degrees of faith and belief? Can you believe and have faith to some extent but with a (small) degree of doubt? Or are faith and belief "binary", if you have even the slightest insignificant doubt, you don't have faith, you are not a believer?

To use a metaphor, are faith and belief like a light that may start off as dim or be dim at times but can become brighter?

Or are faith and belief like a light with just an on/off switch (no dimmer switch), the light is either fully on or fully off, those are the only two states that exist?

Faith does grow.

But Jack is absolutely right about one thing. You must cease attempts to justify yourself and your beliefs, and you must abandon yourself to the care of Jesus, who wants to show you His mercy. You're getting in His way. Go read Pope Francis's book The Name of God is Mercy.

For the record, TheJack broke a rule. I did not threaten to ban him. It is not the practice of this board to ban people for breaking a rule. They get a warning. If they repeatedly ignore our warnings, repeatedly break rules on purpose , then they will be suspended for a length of time or banned permanently.