Tag Archives: Faith

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The One Thing Everyone Needs To Know About Faith

Faith…

It’s one of those words that means anything and everything to everyone. Now don’t get me wrong, just because people have different opinions about the word faith doesn’t mean that there is no fact of the matter or accurate definition.

Christian faith is not a blind leap in the dark in spite of the evidence. Rather, in general terms, faith is active trust in what you have good reason to believe is true.

The Act of Faith vs. The Object of Faith

In order to define this view of faith more precisely, it will be helpful to distinguish between the act of faith and the object of faith.

Faith derives its value not from the intensity of the believer but from the genuineness of the one she believes in. True faith is faith in the right object; faith in an unfaithful person is worthless or worse.–David Clark

Having faith that a hammock made of toilet paper will support my weight won’t do me any good no matter how sincerely I believe it! Thankfully, the object of Christian faith—the God of the Bible—is infinitely more trustworthy (cf. Deut. 7:9).

Know therefore that the Lord your God is God; he is the faithful God, keeping his covenant of love to a thousand generations of those who love him and keep his commandments. –Deut. 7:9

The object of a person’s faith is a critical part of the equation. However, sincere faith on the part of the believer is not enough.

The One Thing Everyone Needs To Know About Faith

It all boils down to this: Faith is only as good as the object in which it’s placed.

parachute1Trusting an improperly packed parachute is not going to end well–no matter how sincere someone might be or how this choice makes them feel.

Emotions alone are not a suitable foundation for faith because they are always changing. A culture in which feelings reign supreme is one at risk of leading people to trust objects never intended to bear that kind of weight.

The moral of the story? Investigate the objects of your faith carefully.

After all, questions of eternal life, if Jesus was really raised from the dead, and if God really has spoken are at least as significant as properly packed parachute.

If you found this post helpful, you would enjoy How to Respond to the “That’s Just Your Interpretation” Objection

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Is It Ok To Admit That Christianity Could Be False?

It surprises people when I admit that Christianity could be false. Doesn’t this admission show a monumental lack of faith? Actually, just the opposite. Stay with me for a minute.

If Christianity does not rise to the level of being true or false, then it has been completely removed from the cognitive realm. To put it bluntly, if something can’t be false, then it can’t be true either. We are no longer talking about something real and rational investigation becomes impossible.

Please don’t mishear me, I think there are very good reasons to believe Christianity is actually true and best explains reality. But Christianity is the kind of thing that could be false. It’s at this point in my talk when people tend to get nervous (along with those who invited me in to speak!).

Let the Best Ideas Win

My point is simply this: In a culture that relativizes (everybody has their own truth) and then privatizes (my spiritual truth is personal and therefore off-limits) religious belief, we must reintroduce Christianity to our culture with its very public truth claims and let the best ideas win.

To use a football analogy, we have to take the red practice jersey off of Christianity so it can take some hits. But don’t just take my word for it, listen to the Apostle Paul:

“But if there is no resurrection of the dead, not even Christ has been raised; and if Christ has not been raised, then our preaching is vain, your faith also is vain. Moreover we are even found to be false witnesses of God, because we testified against God that He raised Christ, whom He did not raise, if in fact the dead are not raised. For if the dead are not raised, not even Christ has been raised; and if Christ has not been raised, your faith is worthless; you are still in your sins.” – 1 Cor. 15:13-17

Christianity is unique among all the world’s religions because it is testable.

Even If Christianity Doesn’t Make You Feel Better…

Nancy Pearcey puts her finger on the problem: “When Christians are willing to reduce religion to non-cognitive categories, unconnected to questions of truth or evidence, then we have already lost the battle.” When it comes to Christianity, the most important question we need to help people ask is not will it work for them or help them feel better, but rather is it true?

If you found this post helpful, you would enjoy “Why Does Truth Matter?”

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There Are Two Kinds Of People Who Question The Bible

At the end of the day there are two kinds of people who question the Bible…which one are you?

As I have already noted previously, everyone questions the Bible at some point. Doubt is a natural part of the journey of faith. But we shouldn’t doubt just to doubt. Young people especially need safe space to express their honest questions and sincere doubts. But the goal is not (or at least shouldn’t be) a radical skepticism that questions everything and never lands anywhere.

What Do You Ultimately Want?

Path #1: When I interact with students who are asking the tough questions because they want the truth I am deeply encouraged because I know their faith muscles are being strengthened. They want to know what is real. They don’t want to live a lie and they don’t want to follow a path that is a spiritual or moral dead end. The first pathway is seeking the truth.

A text book (and biblical!) example of this mindset would be one of the earliest biographers of Jesus:

“Inasmuch as many have undertaken to compile an account of the things accomplished among us, just as they were handed down to us by those who from the beginning were eyewitnesses and servants of the word, it seemed fitting for me as well, having investigated everything carefully from the beginning, to write it out for you in consecutive order, most excellent Theophilus; so that you may know the exact truth about the things you have been taught.” –Luke 1:1-4

Path #2: I also have the experience of interacting with students, adults, or people on social media who are not after the truth with their questions. Not really. The best illustration of this kind of mindset and posture I have come across is prominent NYU professor, Thomas Nagel:

“I want atheism to be true and am made uneasy by the fact that some of the most intelligent and well-informed people I know are religious believers. It just isn’t that I don’t believe in God and, naturally, hope that I am right in my belief. It’s that I hope there is no God! I don’t want the universe to be like that.”–Thomas Nagel (The Last Word)

This is refreshing and instructive honesty because it shows the power of the human will to bend our reason and make it submit when truth is not our goal. The second pathway is space.

The Bottom Line

If you want truth, you will find it in the end because Christians have nothing to fear from the truth. However if you are using your questions to create space between you and the God of the Bible so that you can do whatever you want because you don’t want submit to an authority…that is a different path altogether. People are certainly free to take this path, but if space is what you ultimately want, then you will get it because you can always create space by asking another question.

However, please keep this in mind. Just because you can ask another question doesn’t mean that there isn’t a reasonable answer to your question. Why? Because if in your heart of hearts you just want space, then your will can accomplish this with enough effort.

As counterintuitive as it may sound, I actually want people to question the Bible. I want this because I want them to find the truth and the confident faith that flows from the knowledge of the truth. But we also need to be honest and recognize that if truth is not your goal, then you will not find it.

If you are honest with yourself in this moment, what are you ultimately after? Truth or Space?

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Tim Keller on Doubt

“A faith without some doubts is like a human body without any antibodies in it. People who blithely go through life too busy or indifferent to ask hard questions about why they believe as they do will find themselves defenseless against either the experience of tragedy or the probing questions of a smart skeptic. A person’s faith can collapse almost overnight if she has failed over the years to listen patiently to her own doubts, which should only be discarded after long reflection.” – Tim Keller

Need an accessible place to start exploring your doubts? Check out Is God Just a Human Invention? I wrote this book with Sean McDowell to honestly engage the tough questions we all have about God. Also check out this article “Should Christians Have Doubts?”

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Everyone Has To Answer The God Question Eventually

“There is no way to God that bypasses the call to let go {i.e., to choose to trust Him}. You may have many intellectual doubts, and it is really important to be honest about those, to talk about them and study. However, thinking and studying alone never remove the need to choose. The question of faith is never just  an intellectual decision”—John Ortberg