Faith versus Belief

We recently finished reading Life of Pi in my junior/senior English class. Pi is a story about a story, if that makes sense. Pi Patel grows up the son of a very rational zookeeper, but quickly sees, via the animals, that there is more to life than reason. Eventually, Pi embraces Christianity, Hinduism and Islam, a seemingly sensible way of life to him, but one that amasses confusion for those who know him. Pi's faith is put to the test when his father decides to sell the zoo and move the family to Canada. ON the way, the cargo ship transporting the family and the last remaining animals sinks, leaving Pi on a lifeboat with an adult Bengal tiger. The tale expands as Pi is tested and torn for 227 days at sea. It is a good read if you have the time.

The students had to choose an essay topic from a list I provided. One of the topics was whether or not religion is just a mask for "story telling" ( in other words, is there any substance to religion or are all relevant details left to the imagination). A sub-topic within this question would be whether or not a story having believable aspects challenges the reader to have faith that it is in fact true. One of my students asked me if there is a difference between believing in something and having faith in something. At first, I blocked his question by playing devil's advocate and trying to provoke him towards an answer on his own. But then I thought about it.

Is there a difference?

The more I thought about it, the more clearly I saw what God wants us all to know. Belief in something is about capability, while faith in something is about probability. In other words, I believe that my students are capable of making A's in my class, but I have faith that the probability of that happening is somewhere around 25%.

The same goes with "religion" or worldview, or enter some philosophically charged word here ______________.

James 2:19-20 tells us that the demons believe...and shudder. A lot of people-- a lot of Christians--believe in God. But do they have saving faith? Do they genuinely trust that God is going to do what He says He's going to do? Do they only see him as "existing" and not in His function of Creator of the Universe, Master, Messiah and Lord? I hope that probability is much higher than 25%.