Quote Originally Posted by Byzantine Prince
If you believe that God exists that is a certainty for you.
Why does faith necessarily have to imply absolute certainty? Why can't it simply imply being convinced of something enough to act on it - that is, to trust it, or to "bet" on it?

No intellectual discipline that I know of can possibly promise absolute certainty - neither science, nor philosophy, nor history, nor any other. Yet that doesn't stop us from acting on our discoveries in those areas. Why? Because we have established certain principles with a degree of certainty (less than absolute) that we feel more or less comfortable with.

Suppose I say that I believe in God (which I do) to the point that I act on it (seek Him, trust Him, try to follow His will). Is my faith made false when I admit that I sometimes have doubts about anything and everything, and that I know nothing at all with absolute certainty? I prefer to think that makes me honest; even the strongest believers have doubts, sometimes frequently. Many thoughtful atheists will admit they sometimes doubt their own worldview - some have said as much in this very thread.

Certainty is something I don't think we as humans have been given, though some of us claim it for some reason. We have to take risks, acting on information that's less than perfect or complete. It's a little frightening, but it's also exciting and adventurous.