What is Faith?
Faith, in the subjective sense, is putting your faith or confidence in someone or something, particularly when you cannot see the object of your faith. In this regard, the writer of Hebrews defines it as such:
Now faith is confidence in what we hope for and assurance about what we do not see (Hebrews 11:1).
Faith, in the objective sense, is the belief system, usually religious, to which one adheres. Those who believe in the God of the Bible and in Jesus Christ, his Son, adhere to the Christian faith, or have a Christian world-view. Others have an Islamic or Buddhist faith, or world-view. Your world-view is the lens through which you look at the world and make sense of it. Even those of your generation who have no religious identity—the “Nones,” have a world-view, or faith. For many “Nones,” that world-view is naturalism—belief that everything can be explained by science, leaving no room for supernatural intervention. This world-view also requires faith—faith that science can explain everything, even though it has not yet explained everything, such as the origin of life or the fine-tuning of the universe. Even if science could eliminate all explanatory gaps, even if scientists could discover the elusive theory of everything that unifies all the laws and constants of nature into one elegant and powerful mathematical equation, would not this very reality be a thing of wonder that points to the existence of a Master Mathematician and Designer?
Moreover, some statements that are taken to be science because scientists say them are really nothing other than naturalistic philosophy and require faith to believe them. For example, as discussed earlier, Stephen Hawking explains the fine-tuning of the universe by postulating multiple universes—universes which we have not seen. This is not science but faith in multiple unseen realities, a faith that he is driven to by his naturalistic world-view. Discard the false dichotomy between faith and science or faith and reason. The question is not whether you have faith, but what your faith is in.
What is it that determines your faith, or world-view? Historically, most have followed the faith of their parents. This is increasingly not the case for millennials and beyond. The reason is that the dominant faith of Western Culture is shifting from Christianity to a naturalistic and pluralistic world-view. The culture that you live in indoctrinates you with this world-view, through education, media, peer influence, etc. The air that you breathe is the air of the prevailing culture and it impacts you. You follow the path of least resistance and start thinking like those around you. As you look at the world through that lens, you find that your Christian faith no longer makes sense, and you discard it. But what has changed? Has the evidence for the Christian faith changed? No, it is not the evidence that has changed but the environment you are in that has changed. It is not that the evidence fails to support Christianity but that you have assumed an anti-faith bias. It is not that Christianity fails to make sense of the world, but that you are looking through a different lens.
It is not easy to be a Christian in an environment that is anti-Christian. But Christianity has survived for two millennia and has flourished around the world precisely because Christians have gone against the flow, because they believed when believing was not the norm and followed God when others were not. By faith Noah, though ridiculed by the people of his time, built an ark, and in doing so, saved his civilization from extinction.
By faith Abraham, when called to go to a place he would later receive as his inheritance, obeyed and went, even though he did not know where he
was going (Hebrews 11:8).
By faith he also, though past age, believed in God to have a son, and through that son became the great nation God had promised (Hebrews 11:11). By faith Joseph believed in God for the fulfillment of his dreams, even when sold into slavery and forgotten in prison, and saved Egypt from famine and his own family—the beginnings of that great nation promised to Abraham, from extinction. By faith Moses, though driven from Egypt and forgotten in Midian, responded to God’s call to lead his people out of Egypt. By faith he also, when the Israelites were pursued by Pharaoh and hemmed in by the sea, raised his staff and parted the waters so his people could escape to their freedom and journey to the Promised Land.
By faith the Apostles, after they had seen the resurrected Lord, spread the gospel near and far, even in the face of threats and persecution. Some were exiled, beheaded or crucified upside down, yet they were strong in the faith and gave glory to God. Future generations, inspired by their example, continued to spread the gospel to new lands. By faith St. Patrick, though kidnapped and enslaved, after escaping to his home in England, responded to God’s call and returned to Ireland and led the people to embrace the Christian faith.
By faith William Wilberforce fought against slavery in England, and though denied and delayed by vested interests, racism and personal sickness, persevered to bring an end to the slave trade and to hear, three days before his death, of the passage of the Slavery Abolition Act, abolishing slavery altogether in the British empire (see note 1 below). By faith William Carey, the father of modern missions, in spite of the apathy of his own church and the mental incapacity of his wife, brought to India not only the gospel, but advancements in education, agriculture and botany as well as social reforms that led to more humane treatment of lepers and the abolition of infanticide and widow burning (see note 2 below). By faith Jim Elliott and his companions, motivated by a desire to share with them the good news of the gospel, sought to establish contact with the Auca Indians in Ecuador, which no outsider had successfully done, and were slaughtered and left dead on the beach. Yet his words, “He is no fool who gives what he cannot keep to gain what he cannot lose,” lived on to inspire many, including his wife and others, who returned to those same Indians with a message of forgiveness and hope, and led them to embrace the Christian faith (see note 3 below).
By faith Mother Teresa established an order of nuns that served the poorest of the poor in Calcutta, picking up thousands that were left to die on the streets, thus overcoming the prevailing indifference to show that even “the least of these” possessed human dignity and worth (David Aikman, Great Souls, pp. 197, 203, 212). By faith the ordinary Christians of China resisted indoctrination, endured persecution and spread the gospel after the western missionaries were expelled, leading to the many-fold growth of the church during the following decades, so remarkably so that one prominent researcher has said:
The survival and reviving of the Church in China was one of the decisive events of the 20th century (Johnstone and Mandryk, Operation World,
6th edition, p. 161).
By faith also many of your own generation are going against the flow to stand for Christ. By faith, Trip Lee, the “hip-hop theologian,” used his music to brag about God and then left his music career behind to go to seminary. By faith Dale Partridge started a business and dared to put people before profits—and succeeded. By faith Christena Cleveland wrote a book that calls Christians to task for division within the church along racial and political lines. By faith Nabeel Qureshi left his Muslim faith behind, though it meant being disowned by his family, and became an evangelist for the Christian faith. By faith, Jena Lee Nardela co-founded Blood: Water Mission alongside Jars of Clay to help the band use its influence to promote the clean water cause (“33 Under 33,” Christianity Today, http://www.christianitytoday.com/ct/2014/july-august/33-under-33.html). These and many more of the millennial generation are putting their faith into action to make a difference in this world and for the cause of Christ.
Pascal was a 17th century mathematician and Christian who articulated what is now called “Pascal’s wager.” He reasoned that if one believes in the Christian faith and is right, then he has infinite gain—eternity in heaven with God, whereas if he believes in the Christian faith and is wrong, then he has only finite loss, such as sinful pleasures he may have foregone or time spent on church activities or Christian service, etc. If, however, one rejects the Christian faith and is right, he has only finite gain in this life (although even that is arguable, as the Christian life provides a more meaningful life), while if he rejects the Christian faith and is wrong he faces infinite loss—eternal punishment and separation from God. Therefore a rational person is wise to follow the Christian faith (“Pascal’s Wager,” in Wikipedia). While this argument does not prove whether the Christian faith is true, it highlights what is at stake in deciding for or against. To follow the path away from Christ is a risky choice.
Do not be of those who shrink back into a life without hope or purpose, but of those who believe and are saved. Do not throw away your faith, for it will be richly rewarded.
You need to persevere so that when you have done the will of God, you will receive what he has promised. For in just a little while,
“He who is coming will come and will not delay.
But my righteous one will live by faith.
And I take no pleasure in the one who shrinks back” (Hebrews 10:37-38).
Don’t just look around and follow the crowd of those in your generation who are walking away from the faith. Take a deeper view, and see that following Christ offers a better purpose for living based on a coherent belief system. Don’t just follow the latest trends, but take a longer view, and see that by following Christ you are part of a historic faith that goes back for 2,000 years. Don't just look at the West and think that the Christian faith is obsolete--take a global view and see that, while Christianity may be declining in the West, it is growing in many parts of the world. Don’t be oblivious to what is going on in the world around us, but take a watchful view, and see that the signs of the times indicate that Christ may be coming soon. Don’t just look around and follow the crowd, but take a forward-looking view—be a leader who guides your peers to a better alternative. Along with other millennials and beyond, you can be part of a hero generation (www.generationhero.org) that reforms the evangelical church and helps it to regain a relevant witness in our culture.
Arise, shine, for your light has come,
And the glory of the Lord rises upon you.
See, darkness covers the earth and thick darkness is over the peoples,
But the Lord rises upon you and his glory appears over you (Isaiah 60:1-2).
1. http://www.wilberforceacademy.org/wilberforce.html, page on William Wilberforce;
http://www.christianitytoday.com/ch/131christians/activists/wilberforce.html, “William Wilberforce.” See also “Slave Trade Act 1807” in Wikipedia. John Piper’s blog: “This Politician Was Passionate for Precious Doctrine,” at http://www.desiringgod.org/Blog/2276
2. Paul Pierson, “The History of Transformation,” in Perspectives on the World Christian Movement, 3rd edition, edited by Ralph Winter and Steven Hawthorne, Pasadena, California: William Carey Library, 1999, p. 265. “William Carey,” http://www.wmcarey.edu/carey/aghort/founder.htm; Charles C. Creegan and Josephine A. B. Goodnow, “William Carey,”
at http://www.wholesomewords.org/missions/bcarey12.html; “William Carey,” in Wikipedia.
3. The story is documented in Through Gates of Splendor by Elizabeth Elliott and portrayed in the film “End of the Spear.”
You have finished
Faith, in the subjective sense, is putting your faith or confidence in someone or something, particularly when you cannot see the object of your faith. In this regard, the writer of Hebrews defines it as such:
Now faith is confidence in what we hope for and assurance about what we do not see (Hebrews 11:1).
Faith, in the objective sense, is the belief system, usually religious, to which one adheres. Those who believe in the God of the Bible and in Jesus Christ, his Son, adhere to the Christian faith, or have a Christian world-view. Others have an Islamic or Buddhist faith, or world-view. Your world-view is the lens through which you look at the world and make sense of it. Even those of your generation who have no religious identity—the “Nones,” have a world-view, or faith. For many “Nones,” that world-view is naturalism—belief that everything can be explained by science, leaving no room for supernatural intervention. This world-view also requires faith—faith that science can explain everything, even though it has not yet explained everything, such as the origin of life or the fine-tuning of the universe. Even if science could eliminate all explanatory gaps, even if scientists could discover the elusive theory of everything that unifies all the laws and constants of nature into one elegant and powerful mathematical equation, would not this very reality be a thing of wonder that points to the existence of a Master Mathematician and Designer?
Moreover, some statements that are taken to be science because scientists say them are really nothing other than naturalistic philosophy and require faith to believe them. For example, as discussed earlier, Stephen Hawking explains the fine-tuning of the universe by postulating multiple universes—universes which we have not seen. This is not science but faith in multiple unseen realities, a faith that he is driven to by his naturalistic world-view. Discard the false dichotomy between faith and science or faith and reason. The question is not whether you have faith, but what your faith is in.
What is it that determines your faith, or world-view? Historically, most have followed the faith of their parents. This is increasingly not the case for millennials and beyond. The reason is that the dominant faith of Western Culture is shifting from Christianity to a naturalistic and pluralistic world-view. The culture that you live in indoctrinates you with this world-view, through education, media, peer influence, etc. The air that you breathe is the air of the prevailing culture and it impacts you. You follow the path of least resistance and start thinking like those around you. As you look at the world through that lens, you find that your Christian faith no longer makes sense, and you discard it. But what has changed? Has the evidence for the Christian faith changed? No, it is not the evidence that has changed but the environment you are in that has changed. It is not that the evidence fails to support Christianity but that you have assumed an anti-faith bias. It is not that Christianity fails to make sense of the world, but that you are looking through a different lens.
It is not easy to be a Christian in an environment that is anti-Christian. But Christianity has survived for two millennia and has flourished around the world precisely because Christians have gone against the flow, because they believed when believing was not the norm and followed God when others were not. By faith Noah, though ridiculed by the people of his time, built an ark, and in doing so, saved his civilization from extinction.
By faith Abraham, when called to go to a place he would later receive as his inheritance, obeyed and went, even though he did not know where he
was going (Hebrews 11:8).
By faith he also, though past age, believed in God to have a son, and through that son became the great nation God had promised (Hebrews 11:11). By faith Joseph believed in God for the fulfillment of his dreams, even when sold into slavery and forgotten in prison, and saved Egypt from famine and his own family—the beginnings of that great nation promised to Abraham, from extinction. By faith Moses, though driven from Egypt and forgotten in Midian, responded to God’s call to lead his people out of Egypt. By faith he also, when the Israelites were pursued by Pharaoh and hemmed in by the sea, raised his staff and parted the waters so his people could escape to their freedom and journey to the Promised Land.
By faith the Apostles, after they had seen the resurrected Lord, spread the gospel near and far, even in the face of threats and persecution. Some were exiled, beheaded or crucified upside down, yet they were strong in the faith and gave glory to God. Future generations, inspired by their example, continued to spread the gospel to new lands. By faith St. Patrick, though kidnapped and enslaved, after escaping to his home in England, responded to God’s call and returned to Ireland and led the people to embrace the Christian faith.
By faith William Wilberforce fought against slavery in England, and though denied and delayed by vested interests, racism and personal sickness, persevered to bring an end to the slave trade and to hear, three days before his death, of the passage of the Slavery Abolition Act, abolishing slavery altogether in the British empire (see note 1 below). By faith William Carey, the father of modern missions, in spite of the apathy of his own church and the mental incapacity of his wife, brought to India not only the gospel, but advancements in education, agriculture and botany as well as social reforms that led to more humane treatment of lepers and the abolition of infanticide and widow burning (see note 2 below). By faith Jim Elliott and his companions, motivated by a desire to share with them the good news of the gospel, sought to establish contact with the Auca Indians in Ecuador, which no outsider had successfully done, and were slaughtered and left dead on the beach. Yet his words, “He is no fool who gives what he cannot keep to gain what he cannot lose,” lived on to inspire many, including his wife and others, who returned to those same Indians with a message of forgiveness and hope, and led them to embrace the Christian faith (see note 3 below).
By faith Mother Teresa established an order of nuns that served the poorest of the poor in Calcutta, picking up thousands that were left to die on the streets, thus overcoming the prevailing indifference to show that even “the least of these” possessed human dignity and worth (David Aikman, Great Souls, pp. 197, 203, 212). By faith the ordinary Christians of China resisted indoctrination, endured persecution and spread the gospel after the western missionaries were expelled, leading to the many-fold growth of the church during the following decades, so remarkably so that one prominent researcher has said:
The survival and reviving of the Church in China was one of the decisive events of the 20th century (Johnstone and Mandryk, Operation World,
6th edition, p. 161).
By faith also many of your own generation are going against the flow to stand for Christ. By faith, Trip Lee, the “hip-hop theologian,” used his music to brag about God and then left his music career behind to go to seminary. By faith Dale Partridge started a business and dared to put people before profits—and succeeded. By faith Christena Cleveland wrote a book that calls Christians to task for division within the church along racial and political lines. By faith Nabeel Qureshi left his Muslim faith behind, though it meant being disowned by his family, and became an evangelist for the Christian faith. By faith, Jena Lee Nardela co-founded Blood: Water Mission alongside Jars of Clay to help the band use its influence to promote the clean water cause (“33 Under 33,” Christianity Today, http://www.christianitytoday.com/ct/2014/july-august/33-under-33.html). These and many more of the millennial generation are putting their faith into action to make a difference in this world and for the cause of Christ.
Pascal was a 17th century mathematician and Christian who articulated what is now called “Pascal’s wager.” He reasoned that if one believes in the Christian faith and is right, then he has infinite gain—eternity in heaven with God, whereas if he believes in the Christian faith and is wrong, then he has only finite loss, such as sinful pleasures he may have foregone or time spent on church activities or Christian service, etc. If, however, one rejects the Christian faith and is right, he has only finite gain in this life (although even that is arguable, as the Christian life provides a more meaningful life), while if he rejects the Christian faith and is wrong he faces infinite loss—eternal punishment and separation from God. Therefore a rational person is wise to follow the Christian faith (“Pascal’s Wager,” in Wikipedia). While this argument does not prove whether the Christian faith is true, it highlights what is at stake in deciding for or against. To follow the path away from Christ is a risky choice.
Do not be of those who shrink back into a life without hope or purpose, but of those who believe and are saved. Do not throw away your faith, for it will be richly rewarded.
You need to persevere so that when you have done the will of God, you will receive what he has promised. For in just a little while,
“He who is coming will come and will not delay.
But my righteous one will live by faith.
And I take no pleasure in the one who shrinks back” (Hebrews 10:37-38).
Don’t just look around and follow the crowd of those in your generation who are walking away from the faith. Take a deeper view, and see that following Christ offers a better purpose for living based on a coherent belief system. Don’t just follow the latest trends, but take a longer view, and see that by following Christ you are part of a historic faith that goes back for 2,000 years. Don't just look at the West and think that the Christian faith is obsolete--take a global view and see that, while Christianity may be declining in the West, it is growing in many parts of the world. Don’t be oblivious to what is going on in the world around us, but take a watchful view, and see that the signs of the times indicate that Christ may be coming soon. Don’t just look around and follow the crowd, but take a forward-looking view—be a leader who guides your peers to a better alternative. Along with other millennials and beyond, you can be part of a hero generation (www.generationhero.org) that reforms the evangelical church and helps it to regain a relevant witness in our culture.
Arise, shine, for your light has come,
And the glory of the Lord rises upon you.
See, darkness covers the earth and thick darkness is over the peoples,
But the Lord rises upon you and his glory appears over you (Isaiah 60:1-2).
1. http://www.wilberforceacademy.org/wilberforce.html, page on William Wilberforce;
http://www.christianitytoday.com/ch/131christians/activists/wilberforce.html, “William Wilberforce.” See also “Slave Trade Act 1807” in Wikipedia. John Piper’s blog: “This Politician Was Passionate for Precious Doctrine,” at http://www.desiringgod.org/Blog/2276
2. Paul Pierson, “The History of Transformation,” in Perspectives on the World Christian Movement, 3rd edition, edited by Ralph Winter and Steven Hawthorne, Pasadena, California: William Carey Library, 1999, p. 265. “William Carey,” http://www.wmcarey.edu/carey/aghort/founder.htm; Charles C. Creegan and Josephine A. B. Goodnow, “William Carey,”
at http://www.wholesomewords.org/missions/bcarey12.html; “William Carey,” in Wikipedia.
3. The story is documented in Through Gates of Splendor by Elizabeth Elliott and portrayed in the film “End of the Spear.”
You have finished