Is positive thinking and faith the same?

Answer 1

Although faith will lead to positive thinking it is more than that and different. Positive thinking is really something that comes from within oneself and is a decision to think in a certain way about life or certain events in life. For some it is a whole way of life and in that case it may even become like a 'faith' or 'religion' in itself.

Faith on the other hand is based on something outside of oneself. In the case of the Christian, faith is placed in the Lord Jesus Christ. It requires knowledge so that one knows what to believe. So, even though the results may in some ways similar, faith requires an object in which to believe whereas positive thinking is generated from within without the necessity of a particular object on which to focus.

There are some similarities as faith in the Christian sense will definitely result in positive thinking, but this is not necessarily the Norman Vincent Peale sort. Positive thinking sort of becomes an end in itself whereas the end object of the Christian faith is towards Jesus Christ and loving and following Him.

--------------- Also, positive thinking is more of a worldly concept while faith is more of a spiritual one. Positive thinking doesn't always work because it depends on the severity of the circumstances you are in, although it can be a good thing to use. Faith is something God gives you a measure of then you keep developing it as you live your life. I see positive thinking as more of a temporary fix although it can help you. Faith, when developed has more permanency. Positive thinking as the word implies needs thinking. Faith on the other hand, only requires beliefs without questioning. If you think, then faith is just an illusion. answer to your question; No, they are not the same. It is possible that some confusion has crept in here. The question is asking about the difference between faith and positive thinking not faith and thinking. This is quite a different matter. Faith requires thinking or else one does not know in whom one is believing. It does not exclude it, but in fact encourages it, although the thinking process, like anything else in the Christian sense is to be under the captivity of Christ.

Positive thinking on the other hand, is a narrower concept and relates more to having a positive attitude to life or to certain events. Faith can exist even in the direst of circumstances whereas positive thinking may tend to deny them.

---------------- One needs to be careful when people are going through trials in life or grieving that we don't push looking positively at the person. There is a time in these areas when we need to walk through the negative side to get to the positive otherwise healing can be delayed as well as closure. I have had people so upset that I would not look positively at a situation they would literally break out in tears. Whew. If you look at the ministry of Jesus, he didn't tell people they were not sick but took them from where they were in the faith realm to where they needed to be. In this sense, faith is a stepping stone effect because we start at the bottom and end up higher usually.