“Never question the truth of what you fail to understand… for the world is filled with wonders!” Frederick Beuchner wrote these words, and as a person who has learned that the greatest things in life can’t be measured, earned, or proved, I agree with him. It’s not that I have any issues with reason or science. I'm actually fascinated with both of them. When I was earning a graduate degree in Organizational Psychology, I conducted more than one double-blind study myself, and concerning reason, I’ve never asked anyone to embrace Scripture without knowing its “setting in life.” Science has improved and saved billons of lives, and reason tells us to stop on red, go on green, and things like that.
I'm glad that there are smart people dissecting and analyzing things... because we need to understand and explain our world. I'm glad that there are people who seek to "prove" things because many things need to be proven. However, for people of faith, it is more appropriate to say that "believing is seeing," than it is to say, "seeing is believing" ... because faith embraces that which cannot be seen or proven, at least not in a way that will convince unbelievers. Faith and science are both necessary, but they seek different truths and ask different questions. They're both necessary and they walk together for awhile... but in the end, everyone must take a leap of faith.
Gibran noted that faith is “beyond the reach of proof,” and this is what makes it so powerful. Without faith, we could never really trust or love because all intimate relationships are based on faith. You tell me that you will love me forever, and I make plans, and decisions, and live my life based on your promise. I live as if it is true. I put my faith in your promise, and it is my faith that frees me to be myself and to live each day with quiet joy. In short, life and love both demand faith… so it ought not be a surprise that our relationship with God does too. Faith gives us confidence, confidence gives us vision, vision gives us Spirit-filled energy, and Spirit-filled energy gives us faithful action. Friends, faith is the stuff of greatness! Believing that God walks with us when we walk through the valleys of life, that God has a plan for us, that we can't do anything that will cause God to love us less, that we- and our neighbors- carry the Image of God within us...makes all the difference in the world! Living by faith is essential to Christian life and it is ours for the choosing! Yes, believing is every bit as much a choice as not believing… so you can choose to live as if every Biblical truth and promise is absolutely true, and you can make that choice today!
Choose to believe... and make that choice even though you may have doubts from time to time. Remember that doubting is NOT the opposite of believing... and that doubt often leads to greater faith. It is counterproductive, of course, to give into your doubts and simply become a "doubting person"- but doubts alone should not keep us from choosing to believe! As a seminary professor noted, “Faith itself is the only evidence. When we come upon the unanswered question, the unknown and the unknowable, the love we cannot explain, or live without, the relentless hope that keeps us dreaming impossible dreams and working... against all odds, to patch a broken world... it is faith that keeps us going." As people of faith, we live as if God's promises are true, and "proof" never crosses are minds, anymore that it crossed our minds when our loved one said, “You can trust in me and I will love you forever.” Amen.
I'm glad that there are smart people dissecting and analyzing things... because we need to understand and explain our world. I'm glad that there are people who seek to "prove" things because many things need to be proven. However, for people of faith, it is more appropriate to say that "believing is seeing," than it is to say, "seeing is believing" ... because faith embraces that which cannot be seen or proven, at least not in a way that will convince unbelievers. Faith and science are both necessary, but they seek different truths and ask different questions. They're both necessary and they walk together for awhile... but in the end, everyone must take a leap of faith.
Gibran noted that faith is “beyond the reach of proof,” and this is what makes it so powerful. Without faith, we could never really trust or love because all intimate relationships are based on faith. You tell me that you will love me forever, and I make plans, and decisions, and live my life based on your promise. I live as if it is true. I put my faith in your promise, and it is my faith that frees me to be myself and to live each day with quiet joy. In short, life and love both demand faith… so it ought not be a surprise that our relationship with God does too. Faith gives us confidence, confidence gives us vision, vision gives us Spirit-filled energy, and Spirit-filled energy gives us faithful action. Friends, faith is the stuff of greatness! Believing that God walks with us when we walk through the valleys of life, that God has a plan for us, that we can't do anything that will cause God to love us less, that we- and our neighbors- carry the Image of God within us...makes all the difference in the world! Living by faith is essential to Christian life and it is ours for the choosing! Yes, believing is every bit as much a choice as not believing… so you can choose to live as if every Biblical truth and promise is absolutely true, and you can make that choice today!
Choose to believe... and make that choice even though you may have doubts from time to time. Remember that doubting is NOT the opposite of believing... and that doubt often leads to greater faith. It is counterproductive, of course, to give into your doubts and simply become a "doubting person"- but doubts alone should not keep us from choosing to believe! As a seminary professor noted, “Faith itself is the only evidence. When we come upon the unanswered question, the unknown and the unknowable, the love we cannot explain, or live without, the relentless hope that keeps us dreaming impossible dreams and working... against all odds, to patch a broken world... it is faith that keeps us going." As people of faith, we live as if God's promises are true, and "proof" never crosses are minds, anymore that it crossed our minds when our loved one said, “You can trust in me and I will love you forever.” Amen.
Wow. Thank you. I love reading your post. They are such a blessing to me.
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