It is. But thoughts and feelings, whether our own or those of someone else, are not exactly reliable with regard to absolute truth. Hence, it's merely faith (which for me is synonymous with believing and trusting). Sure, faith is essential when one embarks on the journey. But one needs only as much faith as a budding chemist has to have when someone more experienced tells them that HCl + NaOH -> NaCl + H2O. Similarly, faith in Jesus, believing and trusting that what he said is indeed true and his Way works, is only the beginning -- the ultimate goal, after all, is unequivocal knowledge of God. And of course, faith and trust are easy to abuse (or hijack by arbitrary thoughts and feelings), because a person relying merely on faith and trust still does not know.