thehomer:

This is a redefinition of the word faith which actually means something else. Also, if one were to simply go by the teachings of Jesus, such a person would still be making wrong conclusions.

I think the word faith refers to a committed trusting attitude towards something, someone, an idea, concept, etc. How the object of the faith is understood IMO depends on the individual. What do u mean when you use the word "faith"? If you want to limit the use of the word to describe a specific brand of Christian belief please state what that is so I understand what you mean. But from my understanding of religion, different groups and even sub-groups have different declarations of faith, so putting them all under one umbrella may just be a distortion of reality.

thehomer:

It can be about inspiration but inspiration is not faith. Faith already means something else.

Faith can be inspiring, and is a lot of the time. In fact I think it's safe to say that a lot of Christian people are inspired, to live lives of compassion and sacrifice, by their Christian faith - trying to be like Jesus. Mother Theresa, and MLK come to mind. Please don't ask me for more examples cause I'll have to google it But I hope u get the point I'm trying to make and I think it's a valid one.

thehomer:

What I'm getting at is that when people point at the Bible as their source of morality, they are simply picking and choosing based on some other factors and not the Bible.

If someone points at the Bible and says that is his/her source of morality, it IMO should not necessarily mean that they do only things the bible endorses. Some people do that, and others don't. Some people read and apply the bible with historical and contextual sensitivity, others don't. Some will post a thread and ask if something is biblical before they do it, other's don't. People read and work things out in their own heads, and do what they feel works for them, often based on their own understanding of the requirements of their belief system. Like i have maintained it boils down to the individuals and how their religious sentiment compels them to behave.

thehomer:

If it's not about beliefs and claims especially incredible ones, then he is not speaking about faith. He might as well have said he gets inspiration from the teachings rather than redefine faith to be something else.

The word faith is not limited to belief in incredible claims. Like I said someone can read the bible, or Koran or other religious texts, with historical and contextual sensitivity, and have faith in whatever moral or spiritual message that resonates with him/her, without believing every claim about every event in the texts is historically accurate. I have met many such people.

thehomer:

People's motivations are wide and varied and I think dogma plays a large part in sustaining it.

Possibly . . . for some people.