"do we really choose to have faith in God's existence", you wonder. One could choose to believe God exists, just as one could choose to believe the earth is round. Speaking for myself, I do not know the earth is round, because I have not taken the time to conduct the necessary experiments. I have no doubt it is round because I trust that the scientists have done their work. But for myself it is not properly called "knowledge" that the earth is round. Rather, I have chosen to trust the scientists on this point.
Now one could do the same thing with God: believe God is, on the trust in others. And that is good enough for children, for it is really only the faith of parents and teachers alive in the children. But eventually one grows up, works through the proofs of God, and that knowledge is perfected. That God exists exists is /not/ an article of faith for those who can follow the proofs, just as "the earth is round" is /not/ an article of faith for those who have conducted the relevant experiments. At any point one can invest the time to convert an article of faith into knowledge proper. But this is all a preamble to what we term "faith". For there is a world of difference between "I believe X exists" and "I believe in X". Even the man who knows with certainty God exists (because he followed the theistic proofs), will confess on Sunday in the creed "I believe in God". But the man who knows the earth is round (because he personally collected the experimental data) will not say "I believe in Earth".
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