People of faith is not that who is credulous but rather the one who is faithful. Firmness is at the heart of faith, but human firmness of this kind comes from a relationship with the ever constant God. His steadfast love is the ground of our steadfast faith and action.

Most people nowadays distinguish between belief - [by which they mean ideas they hold to be true,] trust - [by which they mean the confidence they feel in someone else,] cynic - [by which they mean one who believes all human action has selfish motives.] But faith is not only belief in the truth, it is a religious conviction as well, that is, perhaps some may say, "believing where we cannot prove."

The Sacred Scripture/Holy Bible, however, knows nothing of these distinctions. Both the Old and the New Testament have one word to convey what we meant by "belief," by "trust," and by "faith" - except that the scriptural/biblical word never really means "believing where we cannot prove" if this means that faith disregards known fact.

Scriptural/Biblical faith includes believing things to be true; it includes an attitude of trust toward another person; and it includes a way of seeing things visible in a context of things invisible. This last, however, is not at all the same thing as giving intellectual assent to propositions for which there is no supporting evidence. This faith is hypothesis, and its strength is proportionate to the extent to which it rings true when all known facts are looked at in its light.

Abraham is the pioneer of faith, not just because he accepted the truth of God's promises, but because he resolute acted on them. Jehoshaphat exhorted his army both to believe in and to believe. His story also dramatizes what is involved in faith: God's love evoking a resolute response in both action and worship.

In the New Testament, the mission of Jesus opens with a challenge to believe the Good News that He brings. Since He was Himself at the heart of this Good News, a personal relationship was involved. Epilepsy was always described at that time as 'being in the grip of an evil spirit' and it was the father of an epileptic boy who demonstrated the many sides of this personal relationship. He trusted, he believed, he also trusted Jesus with his unbelief. That is faith putting the whole self, doubts included, into the hands of another.

Saint Paul sees faith as the very core of a right relationship with God. He finds evidence for this in the Old Testament - especially in the texts that treat faith as an entry into righteousness - but for apostle Paul, it is the coming of Jesus that has made it possible to put aside any thought of getting right with God by fulfilling His Law, and to substitute a trusting relationship with God's representative. It is this union through faith that justifies - that is, puts right.

The comprehensive significance of the term "faith" as the Sacred Scripture/Holy Bible uses it is hardly recoverable. We would probably be wise to accept the variety of terms in our current vocabulary and to use a number of them to cover different aspects of the subject. For instance, when people speak of identifying with some person or cause, they may be expressing something of what the Sacred Scripture/Holy Bible would call faith. And it is indeed true that to some degree people are what they identify with. To identify with righteousness is to place yourself in a position where you can be treated as righteous - at any rate by a judge who looks at your intentions rather than your achievements.

Inevitably, the various shades of faith do run into one another. The trusting, loving, admiring attitude of "identification with" leads to a personal relationship, to commitment, and to action. All of these involve the formulating of ideas about what is true: believing in leads to believing that this, that, or the other is in fact true.  But the believing in is always larger than the believing that, and there is room within it for change to the better and variety in the matter of ideas. Believing can include much uncertainty and agnosticism. It can even embrace much unbelief.

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Sunday, May 24, 2009

I have through years of reading, pondering, reflecting and contemplating, the 3 things that last; FAITH . HOPE . LOVE and I would like to made available my sharing from the many thinkers, authors, scholars and theologians whose ideas and thoughts I have borrowed. God be with them always. Amen!

I STILL HAVE MANY THINGS TO SAY TO YOU BUT THEY WOULD BE TOO MUCH FOR YOU NOW. BUT WHEN THE SPIRIT OF TRUTH COMES, HE WILL LEAD YOU TO THE COMPLETE TRUTH, SINCE HE WILL NOT BE SPEAKING AS FROM HIMSELF, BUT WILL SAY ONLY WHAT HE HAS LEARNT; AND HE WILL TELL YOU OF THE THINGS TO COME.

HE WILL GLORIFY ME, SINCE ALL HE TELLS YOU WILL BE TAKEN FROM WHAT IS MINE. EVERYTHING THE FATHER HAS IS MINE; THAT IS WHY I SAID: ALL HE TELLS YOU WILL BE TAKEN FROM WHAT IS MINE. - JOHN 16:12-15 -