The Issue about Faith

I now have two blogs. One I hardly write in and when I do I think I am going to start a new series and it turns out I only write one blog about that topic. So it ended up being a collection of rather random things. So I have decided to start another blog with the hopes that I can narrow down what is written here.

Monday, November 29, 2010

So I am part of a group that meets on Monday nights (conveniently called Monday Nights) and the topic of Faith came up. I feel it is rather cliche to have Faith as the topic of discussion amongst Christians. It is not only expected but very much over played. Anyhow, the topic came up. My friend Jared had some awesome things to say about Faith because it wasn't just left as a feather-weight topic. So on this I expand.

Hebrews 11:1 says "Faith is being sure of what you hope for and certain of what you can not see." Interesting. I think we have a misconception of what faith is.

This guy I know, he sometimes goes by Jesus, showed me a thing or two about Faith. He showed me this conversation between a scientist and a christian. They were arguing about the famous creation vs evolution issue. At the close of the argument the scientist is just at this place where he doesn't understand how the christian can believe in creationism without any evidence and then the christian responds with "well, you just have to have faith." Another example is the interaction between two christians where one has a doubt issue and the other just answers him with "well, you just have to have faith."

"Just have Faith" is the Christian slogan used way too much, like Nike's "Just Do It". All the issues are covered and answered with that one line. Did Jonah really get eaten by a fish? Don't know, just have faith. Was Jesus really God? Don't know, just have faith. Is there really such a thing called salvation? Don't know, just have faith. Did Jesus really walk on water? Did he really heal a man born blind? Did the disciples really raise people from the dead? Don't know, just have faith.

Bologna.

How can it be that faith is being sure of what you hope for and certain of what you cannot see but yet it is the answer for all those things that we just aren't quite sure about? It just doesn't compute. Jesus gave me some insight on this.

Faith is not a response to a question you don't know the answer to. We need to shift our understanding of faith in a direction that coincides with being sure and certain of those things unseen. If we are to live as Christians we need to live with this new faith, not the faith that just blows off the things that are hard to answer. It is time to usher one another into a deeper understanding of what we do not know to coincide with the God we do know. The goal then is to come out with the mind of Christ, that understands kingdom matters and kingdom faith. We then can operate from this state, where our lives become the response to Faith.

Until the next conversation...