Faith

Most people have a definition of faith that makes people think anyone who believes in God is simply delusional. You see it all over our culture and writings.

"Faith is an irrational belief in something that is logically impossible. Over time, I have seen what Booth can do. That's not faith." Bones.

"Faith is blind trust, in the absence of evidence, even in the teeth of evidence." Richard Dawkins, The Selfish Gene.

However, that's not how people of the Judeo-Christian persuasion define faith. Faith is not something that we believe in in spite of the evidence, but because of the evidence. Bones could have faith that Booth was going to save her from a certain situation because she has "seen what Both can do." She believed he would save her because of the evidence she has seen. The Biblical writers were the same.

"That which was from the beginning, which we have heard, which we have seen with our eyes, which we have looked at and our hands have touched - this we proclaim concerning the Word of life. The life appeared; we have seen it and testify to it, and we proclaim to you the eternal life, which was with the father and has appeared to us. We proclaim to you what we have seen and heard, so that you also may have fellowship with us." 1 John 1:1-3

"Which is right in God's eyes: to listen to you, or to him? You be the judges! As for us, we cannot help speaking about what we have seen and heard." Acts 4:19-20

"For we did not follow cleverly devised stories when we told you about the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ in power, but we are eyewitnesses of his majesty. He received honor and glory from God the Father when the voice came to him from the Majestic Glory, saying, 'This is my Son, whom I love; with him I am well pleased.' We ourselves heard this voice that came from heaven when we were with him on the sacred mountain." 2 Peter 1:16-18

Because of the evidence I see for Christ and the Bible, whether it be historical, archeological, philosophical, textual, or personal, it all gives me even stronger reasons for believing. I put my faith and trust in Jesus because of the evidence that He's put in front of me. I didn't just turn my brain off to believe in God, specifically that a Jewish rabbi crucified roughly 2,000 years ago is God. That's what would be required of me to believe in Santa Claus or the Tooth Fairy. Someone could say I'm wrong, and I may be, but one should not say it's from lack of any intellect.

"Faith affects the whole of man's nature. It commences with the conviction of the mind based on adequate evidence; it continues in the confidence of the heart or emotions based on conviction, and it is crowned in the consent of the will, by means of which the conviction and confidence are expressed in conduct." W.H. Griffith-Thomas

For a good book on what role reason can play in the Christian faith, I recommend reading Love Your God With All Your Mind by J.P. Moreland.