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November 24, 2013 |
| Unquestioning Faith | ||
There is a thing that scares an atheist - one thing above all others that causes him to lose sleep. When he hears it he tries to shout it down. When he sees it he attacks it. To his mind it is so dangerous that it must not be allowed to exist. This thing is unquestioning faith.
In this lesson we will look at how horrible and dangerous "unquestioning faith" really is.
As I prepared this lesson I did some web searches to find sources for useful teachings on unquestioning faith. But it turns out there are many more atheist web sites talking about the dangers of unquestioning faith than there are Christian pages talking about the need for unquestioning faith. In fact, Atheists use the phrase "unquestioning faith" far more than Christians do, at least on the web. Here are some of the things I found
Say what you will about the sweet miracle of unquestioning faith, I consider a capacity for it terrifying and absolutely vile - Kurt Vonnegut
Religion's terrifying capacity for unquestioning faith - Victor Billot
Unquestioning, blind faith is just plain stupid - Neal Stone
Blind, unquestioning faith = True Evil - Aleister Nacht (a Satanist)
From their perspective unquestioning faith is not just stupid, it is dangerous. You never know what crazy thing someone might believe in and what they might do. People like that are like bombs ready to go off. You can't reason with them. Even when you show them proof that they are wrong they reject it.
But these same people have forgotten their history. When I was very young the main theory of the universe, the one taught in schools, was called the Steady-State theory. Basically the theory was that everything in the universe was the same now as it always had been and always would be. Planets had always circled their suns and always would and everything in the universe moved as it always had and does.
The implication of this of course was that there was no beginning and there would be no end and therefore there was no need for a god. Thus the people with unquestioning faith in the Bible's story of creation were mocked and called dangerous.
But then scientists discovered that the universe was expanding. Suddenly the whole theory of the universe changed completely. With the new Big-Bang theory the universe now had both a beginning and an end. But it began all by itself and not at all like the Bible said and therefore there was still no need for a god. Thus the people with unquestioning faith in the Bible's story of creation were mocked and called dangerous.
The two theories were so completely different that the only thing they had in common was that there was no need for a god. A person with faith has to wonder who has their faith in what. Those with their faith in science were utterly and completely wrong before but undeterred by that, they are convinced that this time they are absolutely correct.
To these people, reason is everything. They are certain that the reasoning capabilities of mankind will eventually lead them to the truth.
It's not that Christians are against reason. We use reason in most areas of our lives. But we accept that there are limits to reason. We accept with unquestioning faith that there is a God and that the Bible is his word to mankind. But from this foundation comes a life of faith.
Because we believe that he is God and has given mankind his word we believe that he is able to preserve his word through all the generations of mankind. Therefore its message to us is as complete and reliable as when it was given. It is trustworthy and therefore to be obeyed.
Reason plays no place here. There are many things God has not told us and many other things that we only understand a little. What we do not understand we accept by faith, knowing that God is truth.
In Romans 10, Paul discusses one of the places where human reasoning serves no purpose but to increase doubt and thus destroy faith. As the chapter begins he has been speaking about the people of Israel who have not put their faith in the Messiah.
1 My brethren, the desire of my heart and my petition before God is on their behalf that they would have life.
2 For I bear witness to them, that they do have zeal for God, but not by knowledge.
3 For they have not known the righteousness of God, but they have sought to establish their own righteousness, and therefore they have not submitted to the righteousness of God.
4 For the Messiah is the consummation [completion] of the Written Law for righteousness to everyone who believes.
In speaking of the people of Israel who have rejected the Messiah, Paul says that they have enthusiasm to please God but they do not have the knowledge of what pleases God. Because they do not know the righteousness of God they have tried to make themselves righteous with God. We see this through the way that Paul plays two opposite phrases off of each other.
In the first he says that they have sought, which is to say they tried but could not. And by saying "establish" he shows that they were trying to achieve a kind of righteousness through their own actions. In the second phrase we see "submitted" which is yielding. Paul's message is that they were trying to achieve righteousness with God by their works, instead of submitting to God.
In verse 4 Paul is saying that, for those who believe in the Messiah, the Messiah has put an end to the use of the works of the law to achieve righteousness with God.
5 Moses wrote in this way of the righteousness which is in the Written Law: "whoever shall do these things shall live in them."1 2
6 But the righteousness which is in faith says thus: "You shall not say in your heart, 'who ascended to Heaven and sent down the Messiah?', 7 and 'who went down to the Abyss of Sheol and brought up the Messiah from among the dead?'"
8 But what does it say? "The answer is near your mouth and your heart."3 This is the word of the faith that we preach.
Paul again plays two opposites off of each other. He quotes Moses speaking on the righteousness of the law and compares that to another quote from Moses about the source of true righteousness. Paul is making it clear that there are two kinds of righteousness, living a righteous life and being righteous before God, by faith.
The Jews had tried a third way, being righteous before God by living a righteous life. This way faith was not required. That is only acceptable to God if you can live a flawless life, which we cannot do.
In the first quote, from Leviticus 18:5, Moses is saying that those who obey the law are living righteously. Those who do that will have lived a righteous life, which has many benefits. Not the least of these is avoiding the death penalty prescribed by the law. But we know living righteously is not righteousness before God.
Then, in verses 6, 7 and 8, Paul speaks of the righteousness that comes by faith but he makes his point in a complicated way. Paul quotes Moses a second time, but it isn't really a quote. He uses the ideas expressed in Moses' words but applies them to different words. This is what Moses said.
For this commandment which I command you today is not too difficult for you, nor is it out of reach. 12 It is not in heaven, that you should say, "Who will go up to heaven for us to get it for us and make us hear it, that we may observe it?" 13 Nor is it beyond the sea, that you should say, "Who will cross the sea for us to get it for us and make us hear it, that we may observe it?" 14 But the word is very near you, in your mouth and in your heart, that you may observe it. (Deuteronomy 30:11-14)
The point that Moses was making in Deuteronomy is that the commandments that he, by God, was giving the people of Israel were not out of their reach. Moses had written the Torah by the time he said this, but there would have been only a few copies. Also, the people are about to enter the promised land, but Moses will not be going with them. Moses was the person who "went up to Heaven" (figuratively, of course) to get the words of God and taught it to them and made them observe it. Without Moses they would have no access to the words of God and no access to Moses. So, these are their questions about losing Moses.
Moses says they don't need to worry about that because the words are in their hearts. How does that to help them though? They can't reach into their hearts and pull out a book of Moses to read. They also can't ask their hearts what to do in special situations. So, if the word is in them, how do they access that?
That really takes us to the point of what Moses is saying. These are faithless questions. They are the same kind of questions the Israelites had always asked. "Were there not enough graves in Egypt that we had to come out here to die?" God had provided them with everything yet many still had no faith in him. Instead they want to reason about it and understand it, instead of trusting God.
When Moses says "the word is in your mouth and in your heart", he means that God would continue to provide. God wrote an understanding of righteousness into mankind from creation. If they have faith and desire to, they can follow that.
Instead of quoting the words Moses used, "Who will go up to heaven to get the words", Paul says something that is similar in structure, "Who ascended to Heaven and sent down the Messiah." They are very different topics, but they show the same problem.
The words Paul uses are examples of ones that the Christians in Rome and elsewhere have likely heard or even said themselves.
Again these are the words are those of faithless questioners. They are expressions of doubt, which is the opposite of faith. In Moses' case they wondered how they could continue on without Moses. In Paul's case they are trying to understand the technical details that aren't available to them, "How, exactly, did the Messiah get from Heaven and into a zygote in a woman's womb?" and "How, exactly, did the Messiah get out of Sheol and back into his body and come to life".
These faithless questioners are trying to understand it all by reason so they can accept it, but God wants them to accept some things by faith. In their faithlessness, even if they find an answer to a question, they will just move on to the next question, and never accept anything by faith. Paul says that the one who has faith will not continue to rely on reason once reason has reached its limit. This can only lead to doubt.
Paul's meaning is the same as Moses, everything you need is in you, just have faith. It is not beyond their reach. It is in their hearts and in their mouths.
9 And if you will confess with your mouth Our Lord [Jesus], and you will believe in your heart that God has raised him from the dead, you shall have life.
10 For the heart that believes in him is made right, and the mouth that confesses him has life.
11 For the scriptures say, "Everyone who believes in him will be unashamed."4
In verse 9 Paul hints at Leviticus 18:5 "you shall live in them". The Leviticus verse is referring to physical life but Paul means spiritual life. Everlasting life was available to the people of the first covenant, not because they observed the law but because of the faith they had in their hearts. God wanted them to obey the law because of their faith in him, not because it was a tradition or a procedure or a legal requirement. The difference was faith.
When Paul says "you shall have life", he is referring to spiritual life more than physical life.
He echoes the "mouth" and "heart" of the Deuteronomy verses but he contrasts the faithless questions with what a heart must believe and what the mouth will say.
Then in verse 10 he returns to his theme of the different kinds of righteousness in a person. When the heart believes in God, the heart is made righteous; when the mouth confesses him the person lives a righteous life.
It's important to understand that when Paul says "the mouth that confesses" he isn't talking about a one-time confession. He is talking about living a life of righteousness. This is the same meaning that Moses intended when he said "The answer is near your mouth" and "whoever shall do these things shall live in them".
Returning now to our original topic, which was reason versus unquestioning faith, we have seen one of many cases in the Bible where unquestioning faith is required of us. In this case it was faith that God has raised Jesus from the dead. This is exactly the kind of faith that Atheists abhor. "How could anyone believe that someone could be raised from the dead?", they would ask. And their second thought would be to wonder what other crazy things you might believe in and what danger you might pose.
But we do not reject reason in the rest of our lives. In fact we also reason about the intended meaning of some of the passages in the Bible. So where exactly is that line between reason and faith. Some verses in the Bible seem to be in conflict here. For example Isaiah 1:18 encourages reasoning
18 "Come now, and let us reason together," Says the Lord, "Though your sins are like scarlet, they shall be as white as snow; though they are red like crimson, they shall be as wool.
But Proverbs 3:5 says
5 Trust in the Lord with all your heart, and lean not on your own understanding;
"Biblically, faith is having confidence in something you have not experienced with your senses. Biblical faith is not 'blind'; it's not the act of 'believing without a reason.' Just the opposite; biblical faith is the act of believing in something unseen for which we do have a good reason.
"For example, when we believe that God will keep a promise, this constitutes faith because we cannot 'see' it and yet we have a good reason for it: God has demonstrated that He keeps His promises."5
"Biblical faith and biblical reasoning actually work very well together. In fact, faith is a prerequisite for reason. In order to reason about anything we must have faith that there are laws of logic which correctly prescribe the correct chain of reasoning. Since laws of logic cannot be observed with the senses, our confidence in them is a type of faith.
"For the Christian, it is a reasonable, justified faith. The Christian would expect to find a standard of reasoning that reflects the thinking of the biblical God; that's what laws of logic are.6 On the other hand, the unbeliever cannot account for laws of logic with his or her own worldview.
"Since laws of logic are necessary for reasoning, and since the Christian faith is the only faith system that can make sense of them,7 it follows that the Christian faith is the logical foundation for all reasoning. This isn't to say, of course, that non-Christians cannot reason. Rather, it simply means they are being inconsistent when they reason; they are borrowing from a worldview contrary to the one they profess.
"Since reason would be impossible without laws of logic, which stem from the Christian faith, we have a very good reason for our faith: without our faith we could not reason. Even unbelievers (inconsistently) rely upon Christian principles, such as logic, whenever they reason about anything. So the Christian has a good reason for his or her faith. In fact, the Christian faith system makes reason possible."8
1 Leviticus 18:5
2 Jesus said much the same in Luke 10:28
3 Deuteronomy 30:14
4 Isaiah 28:16
5 http://www.answersingenesis.org/articles/am/v5/n4/faith-reason
6 "The law of noncontradiction, for example, is an expression of the self-consistent nature of God. We should not conclude from this that we can think exactly as God thinks; after all, He is infinite and we are finite, He is beyond time, and we must think within time. Nonetheless, we are able to line up our thinking (in a limited way) with God's nature. We too can be consistent and rational, though because of sin we don't always do this"
7 "Laws of logic are universal, invariant, abstract, exceptionless entities. Only the Christian worldview can make sense of these properties, because only the Christian worldview has a God who is fully self-consistent, omnipresent, and beyond time, who has made us in His image and who has revealed some of His thoughts to us objectively in His written Word. So, we can have confidence in the laws of logic and their properties."
8 http://www.answersingenesis.org/articles/am/v5/n4/faith-reason