Faith

What is faith, if it isn't a leap into the absurd? Modern minds have a hard time understanding what faith is, I think, because the idea that faith is opposed to reason has permeated society. Most people think of faith along the lines of 'belief in something against all the evidence.' If you look up 'faith' in an English dictionary you will get something along those lines, too. But that doesn't express at all the biblical meaning of 'faith.' The beginning of Hebrews 11 is good place to look for help with the definition of faith. And Hebrews 11 is a good place to look when studying faith anyway, with its 'Faith Hall of Fame.' But a simple definition for the biblical idea of faith is this: the ability to behave according to what we say we believe, or, a believe held at a deep enough level that we can act on it.

I've heard examples given with things like parachutes and bullet-proof vests. Sure, it's easy to say that you know a bullet-proof vest will protect you, but do you believe it enough to put one on and let me shoot you in the chest? Let's make it even more mundane. When you get up in the morning and go out to the kitchen table, you exercise faith when you sit in the chair. You have faith that you can sit down and won't fall. You believe at such a deep level you don't even think about it, and you behave accordingly. You sit. You don't fall. The next time you are even more sure to drop down with complete confidence that you won't fall. You have faith in that chair.

Now, some people might object that such a mundane example doesn't do justice to the idea of religious faith. Believing in things we can't see, touch, hear, etc, is altogether different, they would say. But I would say that the point of religious faith is to grow enough so that you have the same type of faith in Christ as you do in the chair at the kitchen table. Let's look at an example from the Bible.

Take Peter. When Peter first met Jesus he didn't have much faith. He played along when Jesus instructed him to drop his net on the other side of the boat, but he didn't really believe. When the nets were found to be overloaded he was very astonished. But his faith grew. He learned as he lived with Jesus day-to-day that what Jesus said made sense and could be trusted. He was there when the 5000 were fed, and when the 4000 were fed. So when Jesus started talking about how He was the bread that came down out of heaven, and those who eat of Him, and drink His blood will have everlasting life, he could believe in that. As many of those who had been following Jesus decided to turn away Peter said, "where else would we go, you have words of eternal life." Peters belief in Jesus had strengthened to the point where he could act on it. He didn't get wishy washy and fall away.

But growth in our faith isn't a straight line up. Peter still had faith when he the guards came to the Garden of Gethsemane, even if it was misdirected. But before the cock crowed three times he had denied Jesus. At that point I suspect Peter saw the absurdity of the situation and it led him away from faith, not to a leap of faith. The one he thought was the Messiah was being beaten and close to being killed. How can you have faith in that? Of course, we know part of his problem was that he didn't believe, and therefore couldn't behave accordingly, what Jesus had tried to tell him on more than one occasion about what had to happen to Him.

He still had his doubts Sunday morning at the tomb. But he was able to see the resurrected Christ for himself. From then on, and particularly after Pentecost, Peter's faith was great. It still wasn't a straight line up. Paul still had to correct him at one point. But by the end of his life he was willing to suffer and die for Christ's sake. It wasn't a leap into the absurd, he was behaving according to what he knew to be true.

I've spoken before, following Kierkegaard's famous example, of Abraham's similar path. When God called him to sacrifice Isaac he knew God would keep his promise somehow, even if he didn't understand it, and he proceeded to behave accordingly. There are many other example's in the Bible of course, but they all show the same thing. Look through Hebrews 11 and think about each one of the examples there. And what about Joseph (both the son of Jacob and Mary's husband), Mary, Moses, Shadrack, Meshack, Abednego, Thomas, and on and on. All of these people came to a place where acting in faith was as much a part of them as sitting in the chair is for you in the morning.

Is that trivializing faith? Perhaps it could be taken that way, and I want to be careful that I'm not misunderstood. Most of the biblical examples had their struggles along the way. Doesn't it seem like it should be much harder to go deep into the jungle to preach to cannibals than to sit on the kitchen chair? Sure, it isn't exactly the same thing. Some examples of faith may require more courage than others. But we should all desire to grow to the point that when the Lord calls us we go, and it is as second nature as sitting in a chair, because we know that what the Lord says is reliable and He is to be trusted, not in spite of what we assume we know.

Fortunately, we have a gracious God. Sometimes, abandoning the wrong things we think we know isn't that easy. As C.S. Lewis said in The Screwtape Letters, God is at times even pleased with our stumbles. I suppose that depends on how we learn from them. At times our knowledge may be more sure than others.

But there is one area of life in which our faith truly can improve to the point where we can have faith as easily as we sit in a chair. In his book How Long, O Lord? Reflections on Suffering and Evil, DA Carson talks about helping people 'die well.' Part of his point is that when faced with life and death, too many Christians are unable to face reality without a tremendous amount of fear and anxiety. It shouldn't be that way. We have every reason to know that what happens to us after we die, as Christians, is a very good thing. Some people say they fear the process of dying, not the actual death. But too many Christians have enormous anxiety about death itself. This is just speculation on my part (I just thought about it) but I think part of the blame for this can left with Kierkegaard. Maybe his faith was passionate and authentic enough that he really knew he was going to heaven. I don't know. But I don't think that a 'leap of faith' into the absurd gives many people much real confidence.