• Blind Faith?

Blind faith is dangerous. The Jones-town Massacre in 1978 killed more than 900 people, who committed suicide, by blindly obeying their leader, Jim Jones. ^<1>

Blind faith, even blind faith in the truth, can damage people. If our faith is blind we do not know how to respond when it is challenged. Even a fictional book, like Dan Brown's The DaVinci Code, can shake blind faith in Christianity. I have seen it happen.

The anti-Christian forces are loud and certain of their opinion. They claim, You cannot believe the Bible; just listen to us. Why? One reason is that the Bible reports miracles, and they assume miracles are impossible, therefore the Bible is false. This thinking leads to logical contradictions, which I explore in my post, Do We Have Free Will?^<2>.

Some anti-Christians claim that science explains everything and is the only route to truth, so the Bible is not relevant. I examine that idea in my post, The Convergence of Science and Theology.^<3>

They also claim the Bible is not historically accurate, because they think it was written a long time after the events recorded. There are multiple ways to demonstrate the authenticity of the Bible. I explore some of them in my post, Is the Bible Trustworthy?^<4>

No matter what we believe, if we believe it blindly, that faith can be dangerous. The problem is not specific to religion. Many abused women believe their spouse will reform. Some of them end up dead.

Today faith is a weak word. In common use, it often means the same thing as blind faith. What does the Bible mean by faith? A centurion asked Jesus to heal one of his servants. His confidence in Jesus' ability to do what he asked impressed Jesus, who praised him:

When Jesus heard him, he was amazed and said to those who followed him, Truly I tell you, in no one in Israel have I found such faith.

Matthew 8:10 [NRSV]New Revised Standard Version Bible by National Council of Churches USA, 1989

Faith is a translation of the Hebrew noun emunah.^<5> Truly is a translation of the Hebrew amen.^<6> It is the adverb form of emunah. In English truly is the adverb form of truth. Using this same pattern the words of Jesus could be translated as:

Truly I tell you, in no one in Israel have I found such truth.
or
Faithfully I tell you, in no one in Israel have I found such faith.

These are awkward translations. The NRSV version of Matthew 8:10 is better English. But, these translations help me understand the impact of the original words of Jesus.

Claude Tresmontant, in his book, The Hebrew Christ, explains the original meaning this way:

emunah ... meant solidity, firmness, constancy, truth, veracity, that which one can be certain about, certitude, and objective certitude about the truth.

Claude Tresmontant, page 226 of [HebrewChrist]The Hebrew Christ: Language in the Age of the Gospels by Claude Tresmontant, 1983 publisher: Franciscan Herald Press

James, the brother of our Lord, emphasizes the importance of objective certainty:

But ask in faith, never doubting, for the one who doubts is like a wave of the sea, driven and tossed by the wind; for the doubter, being double-minded and unstable in every way, must not expect to receive anything from the Lord.

James 1:6—7 [NRSV]New Revised Standard Version Bible by National Council of Churches USA, 1989

How can we build such certain faith? Never blindly. Christianity is based on real historical events. Even the first Christian message, delivered by Peter, appealed to the rational thinking of his audience:

You that are Israelites, listen to what I have to say: Jesus of Nazareth, a man attested to you by God with deeds of power, wonders, and signs that God did through him among you, as you yourselves know—this man, handed over to you according to the definite plan and foreknowledge of God, you crucified and killed by the hands of those outside the law. But God raised him up, having freed him from death, because it was impossible for him to be held in its power.

Acts 2:22—24 [NRSV]New Revised Standard Version Bible by National Council of Churches USA, 1989

Peter delivered this message in Jerusalem, a few weeks after Jesus was crucified, to an audience of hundreds. He does not ask them for blind faith. He reminds them of what they witnessed; he invites them to question other witnesses, and to draw their own conclusions.

It is the same today as it was when Peter delivered his message. Each of us accepts or rejects the Christian message on the basis of the evidence we gather. What is that message? It is, as Peter said, that Jesus Christ rose from the dead after being crucified; He is alive today; and we can share in his eternal life through our faith in Him.

Oops! Did I lose you there? Is that too much to accept? If so, I am not surprised. We are surrounded by a worldly culture that assumes, without proof, that the physical universe is all that exists. That view is not self consistent (see my post, The Material Universe.)^<7> However, it is the predominant assumption.

Perhaps you are a Christian, but wonder if your faith rises to the level of objective certainty. Do you have doubts? Do you have questions? The first thing to get straight is that doubts are not the same as questions. We are encouraged to ask questions, even after accepting Christianity. Asking questions, and seeking dependable answers to those questions brings us to Christianity in the first place, and strengthens faith afterwards.

Emotions are a different matter, as C. S. Lewis explains,

Now Faith, in the sense in which I am here using the word, is the art of holding on to things your reason has once accepted, in spite of your changing moods. For moods will change, whatever view your reason takes. I know that by experience. Now that I am a Christian I do have moods in which the whole thing looks very improbable: but when I was an atheist I had moods in which Christianity looked terribly probable.

C. S. Lewis in [MereChristianity]Mere Christianity by Clive Staple Lewis, 1952 publisher: Harper Collins page 140

As Lewis says a few sentences later, Unless you teach your moods where they get off, you can never be either a sound Christian or even a sound atheist. Faith, in this sense, is never a matter of emotions; they are fickle. We must train our reasoning. That is why faith is a Christian virtue. We cannot let our emotions rule us.

The life and internal experience of every Christian can deepen our faith and understanding. Talking to other believers and reading books by other Christians is helpful. Each Christian has a unique experience with God:

It is only the Christians who have any idea of how human souls can be taken into the life of God and yet remain themselves—in fact, be very much more themselves than they were before.

C. S. Lewis on page 161 of [MereChristianity]Mere Christianity by Clive Staple Lewis, 1952 publisher: Harper Collins

I was 28 when I decided Christianity is true. I invited the Holy Spirit to reside in me. Suddenly it felt like a great burden was lifted. I was no longer in charge (as I thought.) God is in charge. My job is to listen to Him. It is a slow process, but the Holy Spirit started transforming me. I am less proud, and more sincerely interested in other people than I was before. People like me better now. It is hard to like someone who is proud. It is easy to like someone who wants to understand you, to listen to you.

How do we deepen faith once obtained? Everyone has a different approach. Mine is different than yours, so we should listen to each other in order to gain a deeper understanding.

Where are you on your journey? Are you an atheist, struggling against the Bible message, as I once was? Are you a Christian seeking a deeper understanding? I have my own pattern of thinking, bent towards physics and mathematics. Yours may be quite different. I pray that my posts help you understand, ask questions, and get answers.