What is Faith?

Can You Trust Someone You Do Not Know?

Start with this question: "Can you trust someone you do not know?", or another way, "Can you trust someone when you know nothing about them?". 

Usually, if you have feelings for a stranger it's considered infatuation - or just creepy. Once you get to know someone you've had a 'crush' on, you find you are either deeply disappointed, or you discover new and wonderful things you like about that person that yield a deeper relationship.  The same is true of God. We are told to "have faith" in God, but often we know next to nothing about Him - His nature, His personality, His thoughts.  How can you have faith in something or Someone you know nothing about?  

Is there really anything more important to establish in your own mind than whether God exists or not?  Upon deciding God is real, then do you willfully ignore the opportunity to learn more about God and His nature, or do you invest time and effort to develop spiritual 'muscles'?  Some people struggle their entire lives with the tension of not having enough faith and not wanting to fix the problem.  Let's address that head-on.

Is Faith Blind?

Does having faith in God require you to abandon critical thinking?  Is it even logical to believe in God?  Yes, it is. If Vulcans really existed, they would believe in God.... because it is logical.  At the heart of faith is establishing firmly in your mind that God exists, and that you can trust Him.  

To those that deny that God exists, these are the truths they must grapple with:

• Life has no real meaning - in fact, it cannot have any meaning - ever.
• No objective standard of Good or Evil can exist – only preferences and opinions.
• Personal values overrule society's values - after all, if it is only your opinion and not based on facts or universal truths, why should anyone tell you what to do?
• Societies without shared universal values either self-destruct into anarchy or tyranny rules (the battle between individual and State never ends)

Atheists also presume a lot when they claim knowledge which they cannot empirically prove. Can an Atheist Disprove God?  No, they cannot. This is because:

• Atheism is a “universal negative”, it cannot be proven, only disproven
• Not believing in God does not disprove God's existence....
• Atheists have to "know everything" to be certain God is nowhere to be found -- but then that makes the Atheist "god".   

Atheists are proud of what they “know”.  But with all their self proclaimed wisdom and intellect, they cannot meet their own burden of proof.  Atheism has not represented the best “model” to explain the mysteries of the universe.  Let's test the validity of Atheism's claims by evaluating four logical arguments.

Arguments for the Existence of God

Leibniz' Contingency Argument - or, why is anything here?

1 - Everything that exists has an explanation for its existence

2 - If the universe has an explanation for its existence, that explanation is God

(or the inverse: if God does not exist, the universe does not have an explanation for its existence)

3 - The universe exists

Therefore from 1 & 3

4 - The universe has an explanation for its existence

Therefore from 2 & 4

5 - The explanation for the existence of the universe is God

Kalam Cosmological Argument - or, everything that begins had a cause

1 - Whatever begins to come into existence has a cause

(...it follows from the laws of nature that something cannot come from nothing)

2 - The universe began to exist (big bang cosmology)

3 - Therefore the universe has a Cause

Fine Tuning (Teleological) Argument - or, this looks suspiciously designed

1 - The universe is fine tuned for life due to physical necessity, chance or design

2 - The universe is not fine tuned for life due to physical necessity or chance

3 - Therefore, the fine tuning of the universe for life is due to design.

Moral (Axiological) Argument - or, why is that 'unfair'?

1 - If God does not exist, then no objective moral values or duties exist

(...it follows any atheistic approach to morals is arbitrary and based on preferences)

2 - Objective moral values and duties exist

3 - Therefore, God must exist

The Atheists' Rebuttal

Can an atheist explain where do objective moral beliefs come from?

• Who invented “guilt” and what purpose does it serve without morals?
• Why does “evil” exist in our minds if there is no moral good and evil?
• Why does “Justice” exist in our minds? Is there a universal standard of justice?
• Why sacrifice anything for others? What purpose is served by acting altruistically?

Let's recap what Atheists' model of reality cannot explain:

• Why does anything exist.
• How life came to exist.
• What the meaning of life is.
• Why everything looks designed.
• Why we have moral beliefs.

Atheists make a lot of claims from having "knowledge", but don't seem to have a lot of answers. It all comes down to their firm belief that they “know” God doesn't have anything to do with it.  But, is that really rational?  It seems to take a lot of "faith" to be an atheist.

The Christian's Redirect

The bible speaks to this claim of knowledge directly. 

2 Corinthians 2:4-5 The weapons we fight with are not the weapons of the world. On the contrary, they have divine power to demolish strongholds. We demolish arguments and every pretension that sets itself up against the knowledge of God, and we take captive every thought to make it obedient to Christ

As Christians, we are to combat

• Pretensions that set themselves against the knowledge of God
• False or unsupportable claims
• False accusations / Straw men
• All Lies”

To those dead set against God's truth, The gospel is foolishness. 

Romans 1:16-23 For I am not ashamed of the gospel, because it is the power of God that brings salvation to everyone who believes: first to the Jew, then to the Gentile. For in the gospel the righteousness of God is revealed—a righteousness that is by faith from first to last, just as it is written: “The righteous will live by faith.”

But, the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all the godlessness and wickedness of people, who suppress the truth by their wickedness, since what may be known about God is plain to them, because God has made it plain to them. For since the creation of the world God’s invisible qualities—his eternal power and divine nature—have been clearly seen, being understood from what has been made, so that people are without excuse.

To the unsaved, it isn't about facts or evidence, it's about submitting to God – and Atheist can't handle that truth.  So as a Christian, what should our faith be grounded in?  How can we be sure it is real?

What Real Faith Looks Like

First, it helps to understand what faith actually is. It is not "blind", or a "feeling" that is contrary to observable facts.  Faith is a combination of the following:

• Trust - built from experiences in life
• Knowledge - of God's Word via effort and time spent studying the Scriptures and learning from other believers
• Action(s) - positive reinforcements that 'test' the basis of your faith. These are both:

+ Positive Actions - "stepping out" in faith

- Negative or “non-actions” - "obedience" and "waiting on the Lord"

• The Holy Spirit ties this all together in the redeemed soul who has accepted Jesus Christ as their savior and experiences the indwelling presence of the Holy Spirit.

The image above is a rudimentary attempt to define Faith mathematically.

Faith consists of Trust, Knowledge, and our Actions (avoiding sin and acting in faith).  All of this multiplied to the indwelling of the Holy Spirit (signified by the infinity symbol) that animates and energizes our spirit.

Romans 8:15-16 For you did not receive a spirit of slavery to fall back into fear, but you received the Spirit of adoption, by whom we cry out, “Abba, Father!”  The Spirit Himself testifies together with our spirit that we are God’s children...

Faith is Reliable (Trust)

• Experiences in the past
• God's promises that are fulfilled
• Evidences from creation and the Holy Spirit

Psalm 40:4-5 Blessed is the one who trusts in the Lord, who does not look to the proud, to those who turn aside to false gods.

Faith is Rational (Knowledge)

• Learning God's Word
• Learning theology
• Counsel of others who are wise in the Lord

Proverbs 3:13-22 Blessed are those who find wisdom, those who gain understanding, for she is more profitable than silver and yields better returns than gold. She is more precious than rubies; nothing you desire can compare with her. Long life is in her right hand; in her left hand are riches and honor. Her ways are pleasant ways, and all her paths are peace. She is a tree of life to those who take hold of her; those who hold her fast will be blessed.

Faith is Revealed (faith is acted out)

• Positive actions – acting in faith reveals God, "stepping out"
• Negative / non-action – obedience to God's command, shunning sin, waiting on the Lord patiently

James 2:14-18  What good is it, my brothers and sisters, if someone claims to have faith but has no deeds? Can such faith save them? Suppose a brother or a sister is without clothes and daily food. If one of you says to them, 

“Go in peace; keep warm and well fed,” but does nothing about their physical needs, what good is it? In the same way, faith by itself, if it is not accompanied by action, is dead. But someone will say, 

“You have faith; I have deeds.” 

Show me your faith without deeds, and I will show you my faith by my deeds.

Faith is Received (By the Holy Spirit)

• He guides you in all knowledge and wisdom

1 Corinthians 2:12-16  What we have received is not the spirit of the world, but the Spirit who is from God, so that we may understand what God has freely given us. This is what we speak, not in words taught us by human wisdom but in words taught by the Spirit, explaining spiritual realities with Spirit-taught words. The person without the Spirit does not accept the things that come from the Spirit of God but considers them foolishness, and cannot understand them because they are discerned only through the Spirit. The person with the Spirit makes judgments about all things, but such a person is not subject to merely human judgments, for, Who has known the mind of the Lord so as to instruct him?” But we have the mind of Christ.

A word of warning about faith:

Faith, if not tested, is of no value.  If your faith is based on how wonderful things are in your life, you have no faith. 

If you lose your faith because something bad happens to you personally, you probably never had it to begin with – because bad things are happening to other people all around you --every day -- and if you measure your faith in God simply by whether only pleasant things occur in your life, then your faith is not really in the God of the universe who sets His sights on eternity, not this earthly moment. 

Decide in advance, build upon your acts of service and obedience and serve God, learn about Him and in time you will understand, trust and love Him. Faith does not come free, or without sacrifice, and to be of any use to you it will have to be tested and sure. But, if you truly understand the basis of your faith, you don't have to live the life of the atheist, a life of logical contradictions and hopelessness and selfishness with no purpose or meaning.

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Scripture citations are from:  Holman Christian Standard Bible (HCSB) © 2009 Holman Bible Publishers, Nashville TN or New King James Version®. (NKJV) Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson