Faith
“In the act of faith, the motive or moving force is God himself who has spoken both his external word to all and his internal word inside the will and mind of the believer. In almost all other judgments of truth that we make, the motive is our perception of available evidence. We gather in evidence, evaluate it, and gradually come to our conclusion. The process of faith is quite different. There simply is no conclusive evidence available to our minds. We cannot reason our way into faith as we reason our way to other conclusions. It is simply a conclusion that results from God’s attraction in the will and his enlightenment of the intellect.”
(John Powell, S.J., A Reason to Live, A Reason to Die)
I am watching something on television called the Creation Network. Apparently, there are several different programs that make up this network and they all share the common themes of being anti-evolutionary theory and pro-seven day creation theory. Now, if you’ve been reading this little newsletter even once in awhile, you know I love all theories of creation, find them all completely compatible, and have nothing of my faith invested in any of them.
My faith in God has nothing to do with the double helix structure of DNA or the literal meaning of Genesis, chapter two. Both the intricacies of the genetic code and the ancient truths of the story of Creation enhance and enlighten my understandings of God. I truly believe the magnificence of God can be found in both the digital images of the Hubble telescope and in the introduction to the gospel of John (John 1: 1-18).
I find the arguments being put forward by the host of the Creation Network to be illogical and not much more than scientific-sounding gibberish. He is going to great lengths to point out the completely fallacious argument that there have not been enough seconds since the creation of the universe to enable the number of distinctive connections found in human DNA to have been made, at the rate of one connection per second! If that makes no sense to you, don’t go back and read it; it will never make sense. The host is using attractive and complex charts and computer animations to illustrate the point, however. What he is saying sounds and looks good, on the surface. Beneath the graphics and jargon, however, there is complete intellectual emptiness.
Most college students of faith have experienced a similar kind of void at some point in their university careers. They are confronted with the Beauty of Logic and the Seductiveness of Cause and Affect. Many have had their assertions of faith greeted sarcastically by professors they have come to admire or even emulate. Just as the Creation Network host is putting forth a mindset devoid of true rationality, the young person of faith often encounters a mindset devoid of poetry and abstraction. One says there is no room for science; the other says there is no room for theology.
People of faith must, must, must NOT think they can ever “prove” their faith, or lead anyone logically into a profession of faith. If we were able to argue faith in a rational way, it would not be a true faith. God has given us the gift of faith; he has not made it the logical conclusion to a series of actions or stimuli. The belief that we can teach faith or ‘make’ someone believe as we do, is the kind of arrogant misunderstanding of faith that has led to any number of religious wars and crusades. If our faith could be broken down into a formula, their would be no need for God’s gift of it. If faith is something we have to embrace because of its logical nature, then there is no choice on our part to accept it or not.
No, we cannot prove our faith. We can, however, live in demonstration of its reality. The great missionaries in history, beginning with Paul at Mars Hill, were those who never argued for the superiority of their belief system over the inferiority of the belief systems of those to whom they were speaking. The simply presented the one, true God and allowed room for God the Holy Spirit to work. They demonstrated their faith by acting on it, and not in spite of it. They did not put down the faith or lifestyles of others; rather, they introduced a Messiah would lead them toward the very best God had for them.
(John Powell, S.J., A Reason to Live, A Reason to Die)
I am watching something on television called the Creation Network. Apparently, there are several different programs that make up this network and they all share the common themes of being anti-evolutionary theory and pro-seven day creation theory. Now, if you’ve been reading this little newsletter even once in awhile, you know I love all theories of creation, find them all completely compatible, and have nothing of my faith invested in any of them.
My faith in God has nothing to do with the double helix structure of DNA or the literal meaning of Genesis, chapter two. Both the intricacies of the genetic code and the ancient truths of the story of Creation enhance and enlighten my understandings of God. I truly believe the magnificence of God can be found in both the digital images of the Hubble telescope and in the introduction to the gospel of John (John 1: 1-18).
I find the arguments being put forward by the host of the Creation Network to be illogical and not much more than scientific-sounding gibberish. He is going to great lengths to point out the completely fallacious argument that there have not been enough seconds since the creation of the universe to enable the number of distinctive connections found in human DNA to have been made, at the rate of one connection per second! If that makes no sense to you, don’t go back and read it; it will never make sense. The host is using attractive and complex charts and computer animations to illustrate the point, however. What he is saying sounds and looks good, on the surface. Beneath the graphics and jargon, however, there is complete intellectual emptiness.
Most college students of faith have experienced a similar kind of void at some point in their university careers. They are confronted with the Beauty of Logic and the Seductiveness of Cause and Affect. Many have had their assertions of faith greeted sarcastically by professors they have come to admire or even emulate. Just as the Creation Network host is putting forth a mindset devoid of true rationality, the young person of faith often encounters a mindset devoid of poetry and abstraction. One says there is no room for science; the other says there is no room for theology.
People of faith must, must, must NOT think they can ever “prove” their faith, or lead anyone logically into a profession of faith. If we were able to argue faith in a rational way, it would not be a true faith. God has given us the gift of faith; he has not made it the logical conclusion to a series of actions or stimuli. The belief that we can teach faith or ‘make’ someone believe as we do, is the kind of arrogant misunderstanding of faith that has led to any number of religious wars and crusades. If our faith could be broken down into a formula, their would be no need for God’s gift of it. If faith is something we have to embrace because of its logical nature, then there is no choice on our part to accept it or not.
No, we cannot prove our faith. We can, however, live in demonstration of its reality. The great missionaries in history, beginning with Paul at Mars Hill, were those who never argued for the superiority of their belief system over the inferiority of the belief systems of those to whom they were speaking. The simply presented the one, true God and allowed room for God the Holy Spirit to work. They demonstrated their faith by acting on it, and not in spite of it. They did not put down the faith or lifestyles of others; rather, they introduced a Messiah would lead them toward the very best God had for them.
posted by D.Barry Weber at 7:28 AM
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