Faith involves content not nothingness. Many people errantly characterize faith as a leap in the dark; a blind faith. Faith is often seen as that which one employs when no evidence is available. It is seen as something unsubstantiated, unwarranted, unintelligent, and completely unreasonable. For it is argued that if there was substance, warrant, intelligence, and reason faith would not be required.
However, let us consider this further. Maybe some employ such blind unswerving faith without evidence, substance, and reason. We have encountered such people. Sometimes their faith may be in the right end, but we aren’t so content about their means to that end.
There is another option often unconsidered that faith is a substance of hope in things unseen. This means that while we might not have exhaustive complete knowledge of a thing, we have a substance of faith in its reality because of the evidence, reason, intellect and experience pointing in that direction. Lacking exhaustive knowledge and full apprehension of the thing we still gain a surety of its truth by exercising substantive faith.
The Scriptures speak of Abraham. An old man with no children who God spoke to and told he was going to make his decedents a mighty nation. The Bible records that Abraham believed God and his faith was accredited to him as righteousness. Now, the thing here is that Abraham’s faith rested on hearing God speak to him and give him a promise. It was not blind faith, it was faith substantiated by a divine encounter with God. Abraham didn’t suddenly wake up one morning and say God exist and He is going to give me children in my old age. He didn’t believe this in blindness, but in substance. God spoke to Him and he believed God.
True faith then has content. It has substance, not blind nothingness. A three year old who jumps in a pool in front of his dad doesn’t do so in blind faith, but in a substance of experience that dad will protect him. He has faith in his father’s protection and love. He takes the risks not blindly, but because of experience. The child uses faith, but it isn’t a leap in the dark.
In fact, well placed faith is a walk into the light of truth. When you have that faith that involves content, substance, it is noteworthy and not an unintelligent blind floundering around in the dark. And if you jump in the direction of this kind of faith you land with a surety of footing rather than a sink into quicksand or a plunge into nothingness.
The walk of faith may at times have doubt, uncertainty, lack of clarity, but it grows in time with knowledge and experience gain a greater substantialness then when the walk first began. We can learn to feed faith when the faith has substance rather than doubt. If our faith lacks substance we need to examine the foundations of our knowledge to find that which has content of substance. Whichever direction one goes in their knowledge they will reach an impasse that requires faith to proceed. Each will have to choose the path they will walk aided by faith no matter which path they take. But those whose faith is ensconced in substance will see the truth unveiled as they walk building even greater faith in their hope of that which is unseen.
11 comments:
"Maybe some employ such blind unswerving faith without evidence, substance, and reason. We have encountered such people."
Yes. They are called religious.
"There is another option often unconsidered that faith is a substance of hope in things unseen."
This is different how?
"Now, the thing here is that Abraham’s faith rested on hearing God speak to him and give him a promise. It was not blind faith, it was faith substantiated by a divine encounter with God."
You're going to use a fictitious character/event as your example?
"But those whose faith is ensconced in substance will see the truth unveiled as they walk building even greater faith in their hope of that which is unseen."
This is just plain nonsense. If you know the truth of something, it makes no sense to claim that you have faith in it.
Is there anything that you exhaustively absolutely know using reason and your five senses alone?
To 100% certainty? No.
Then don't you use faith to accept those things as real at least pending contrary evidence that would seem more reliable?
"Then don't you use faith to accept those things as real at least pending contrary evidence that would seem more reliable?"
No, I use evidence.
So you are never certain about anything, correct?
Not to 100%, no. Neither are you.
But you go with things as the best present way of looking at them based on the available evidence which does not provide 100% certainty. Thus, you use faith to continue in that path unless you never commit to any particular way of looking at the world.
No, that is a bastardization of the idea of faith. If you define faith that way, then it is a meaningless concept.
I use evidence and reasoning to come to the best conclusions possible. You use faith when you believe in your god.
faith is not just a religious action. It is believing in anything that you don't have absolute exhaustive certainty. You use faith to plan for tomorrow as you are not certain it will be there. You use faith when you sit in a chair, for it is not guaranteed to hold your weight. If it were common for chairs to break you may test it out first, but since they usually do not you sit without thinking if it will hold or break.
"It is believing in anything that you don't have absolute exhaustive certainty."
If that's how you define it, then it's a meaningless term. Luckily, that's not the normal definition. All those things you listed are faith, as is any other thought that you have according to your non-standard definition.
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