Monday: Faith: Confidence or trust in a person or thing: Belief that is not based on proof: The fundamental fact of existence is that this trust in God, this faith, is the firm foundation under everything that makes life worth living. It’s our handle on what we can’t see. The act of faith is what distinguished our ancestors, set them above the crowd. Hebrews 11:1 (MES) Reflection: Faith and doubt. Why are we talking about faith and doubt? I’m glad you asked. When I was a younger man I had what you might call a crisis of faith. I was confronted with what I believed to be scientific “facts” and was basically led to believe that I could either embrace the intelligent conclusion and reject God or check my intellect at the door every time I went into church because science had disproved the possibility of a God. It’s like the Snapple lid I got once (don’t you love those? So many tidbits you never knew or even wondered about). It said, did you know that a frog has to close its eyes to swallow? Sounds like what I thought I would have to do to believe in God. But I did believe. That was the problem. When I was a younger man I needed saving. Badly. I was stuck in a life I couldn’t get out of. I had tried everything I could think of to change but I could never achieve lasting change. I was desperate. So I turned to Jesus. I wasn’t sure what I really believed about Him at that point. What I had learned as a child about Him seemed silly. It was a shaky foundation to attempt to build my life upon. But I had no other good options. So I gave Jesus a try. And do you know what happened? I recovered my life. I was transformed. When I really stop and think about it I’m blown away to this very day. And so I was sold on Jesus. I had trusted Him with my life even though I had a hard time synthesizing what I thought was fact (scientific proof) with what I had experienced to be true (that Jesus knows what He’s talking about when it comes to transforming the human life). There have been a TON of books put out lately by evangelizing atheists. Their purpose (according to their own authors) is to stamp out the dangerous plague of faith and convert people to the more rational arena of atheism. What drives them the most crazy (as far as I can tell) is when people of faith ignore facts and proof and swallow what they’re told in church even if they have to close their eyes to do it (like the frogs from the Snapple lid). But what I’ve learned over the last 30 years is this: that argument if overblown. I can have faith and I don’t have to be an idiot to believe (although to be fair… lots of idiots do believe… but I digress). This week we’ll look at an overview of faith and doubt and try to work out together how the two relate. Prayer: Father, give me the grace to be able to trust that Jesus knows what He’s talking about when it comes to transforming the human heart… because my heart needs a LOT of transformation. In Jesus Name, amen.
Posted on: Mon, 28 Apr 2014 19:12:00 +0000
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