Tuesday, December 19, 2006
What Is Faith?
UK Godblogger Bluefish posts a great sermon on faith. He points out that faith is not simply belief in the absence of evidence, but rather it is a strength of conviction.
Let me take a stab at it this way. Faith is not being convinced, but rather assurance leading to certainty. What's the difference you ask? Well, the first is born of the self and the other is born of the source of the assurance. I am certain of nothing save God, and there are somethings about which He assures me and others that He leaves, I think purposefully, ambiguous.
Usually when we react in a ugly fashion it is because we lack certainty and have only our convictions. Bluefish discusses from Hebrews that genuince faith, real certainty, stands suffering
People that are willing to go to war over arminianism/calvinism or charismatic/cessasionist or whatever, must have their faith not in God but in their theology. How sad. Do we worship what we think of God more than we worship God?
Related Tags: faith, certainty, conviction, love
But what is faith? Seems to me that when we say "I wish I could have your faith" what we often mean is, I don't have the mental weakness to believe. Is faith just a commendable quirk of the weak willed? And then we say of others - "He has really strong faith." But what do we mean? Don't we often mean - he knows it's not true, but he has so much "faith" that he can still believe. But people who believe what isn't true aren't nice and quirky, they're deluded. And those who believe what they know isn't true aren't heroes they're insane!When I read that, the first thing that came to my mind was the sort of "I'm right, you're an idiot" debate that we see so often here in blogging about some realtively insignifcant point of theology. But the Bluefish quickly put my mind at ease.
What is faith? The part of the Bible we've just read, ends by saying - faith is being certain of what is unseen.
Faith makes a difference. This isn't something limp or fuzzy. This is an unswerving conviction. We're wary of strong convictions - We call it fundamentalism. But this isn't suicide bomber faith. This is faith that loves... even at great personal risk and loss.Faith as an expression of love, so deep, so profound that it entails personal risk - what an amazing comcept.
Let me take a stab at it this way. Faith is not being convinced, but rather assurance leading to certainty. What's the difference you ask? Well, the first is born of the self and the other is born of the source of the assurance. I am certain of nothing save God, and there are somethings about which He assures me and others that He leaves, I think purposefully, ambiguous.
Usually when we react in a ugly fashion it is because we lack certainty and have only our convictions. Bluefish discusses from Hebrews that genuince faith, real certainty, stands suffering
This is the way faith is described in chapter 11, sentences 1 to 3. Faith is not believing in what is untrue. It is not wishful thinking. Sentence 1 - being sure... certain... So gutsy and convinced that removes fear and sets Christians free to love lavishly and dangerously. Faith is a confidence in a better possession. In heaven.What are so many afraid of?
People that are willing to go to war over arminianism/calvinism or charismatic/cessasionist or whatever, must have their faith not in God but in their theology. How sad. Do we worship what we think of God more than we worship God?
Related Tags: faith, certainty, conviction, love
