Many of us students were brought up in Christian homes. We were forced to go to Sunday school, church services, and maybe even some sort of Wednesday night youth group. Attending these many events, from a child’s point of view, is often looked at as extraneous and meaningless. I am speaking from personal experience. But there comes a time when we take a closer look at Christianity and what it actually means to be a Christian in the 21st century. This happened to me during my second semester of my freshman year. It is during this transitional time period at which young adults begin to make decisions for themselves on what they do and do not believe about Christianity. Many quickly flock to the middle ground of faith and atheism, which is agnosticism. Others grow much deeper in their faith and feel called to live out their faith in their personal lives as well as their social lives. Others just think if they are a good person and go to church on Sundays that they will be alright in the end. Nevertheless, being a student with faith in an almighty God is more difficult than I anticipated.
One of the Merriam-Webster definitions of faith is “a firm belief in something for which there is no proof.” In the International Standard Version translation of Hebrews 11: 1 in the Bible, faith is defined as “the assurance that what we hope for will come about and the certainty that what we cannot see exists.” Inherently, faith does not require proof, only belief. This runs directly contrary to what scientists would require for any well thought-out opinion to be valid. In science, in order to believe in something you have to have evidence to support it. Who would believe that vaccines actually helped eradicate certain diseases if there was not evidence to prove that it would? Who would believe that smoking causes cancer if there were not countless studies done on the effects of smoking? Nobody.
There are many things in Christianity that require faith in order for one to believe in them and accept them as truth. Faith that there is a God who loves and cares for humanity is the biggest one of them all. Skeptics have a hard time believing this, since one cannot logically or empirically prove that God exists with any hard evidence. Faith in an afterlife where humanity gets to spend eternity with their creator is another big one. Again, this cannot be proven with an in-depth analysis or research into the evidence for said afterlife (at least not yet). The last huge one is faith that Jesus was in fact the Son of God and died on a cross for the entire world’s sins so that we may have a greater chance to spend eternity with God when we die. Again, there is little evidence to support this claim (other than the four Gospel accounts by Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John, of course). This is also a huge difference that separates Christianity from Judaism and Islam that many people seem to forget. In those faiths, Jesus was not the Son of God, but a prophet.
In my experience, when an individual who has been indoctrinated into the belief that there has to be evidence for anything one believes crosses paths with an individual of faith, the person who has faith is regarded to be of a lower standard than the other individual for the reasons stated above; according to them, they are blindly believing in something that cannot be proven with hard evidence or facts, which makes them ignorant and senseless. They believe that these individuals should have thoughtfully considered all the possibilities through thorough analysis before they made their decision, and rightly so. People should not shy away from becoming more informed about topics of importance to them. They should be open to hearing all opinions and then make their informed decision. Some of the time, they have already done this. I know for myself I have done this on many different topics and eventually remained believing what I had already believed. This is looked at as being stubborn, when in actuality it is just the result of someone coming to a different conclusion than someone of the scientific mindset.
What I am getting at is having faith in a higher power is looked at as being close-minded and ignorant of “the facts” that pervade our daily lives. If one vocally rationalizes a coincidence to be the responsibility of divine intervention, weird looks are shot their way. Along with this faith comes the false notion that all who are Christian judge others based on the tenets of said faith. This also could not be further from the truth. Christians are called to discern what is right and wrong, but to also love their neighbor, regardless of whether they are a Christian or not. If anything, Christians feel sad for those that have not yet come to the realization that there exists a God that loves them so deeply that he sent his only son down to earth to be sacrificed for the world’s sins so that we may have a chance to spend eternity with God, our creator.
So next time you feel the urge to write someone off because they are too attached to their faith in God to see things from a perspective of reason and scientific fact, stop and think. It is hard enough to stand up for what you believe in and vocalize said beliefs inside the classroom or even at a social setting, let alone be criticized for your faith and looked down upon. Just because it is a different way to look at the world, does not mean it is the wrong way. Wait, listen, respond respectfully, and move on.
I would argue there is evidence of God and faith. This is where someone who doesn’t believe in God would honestly need to ask that question for themselves as if they are truly asking it God will reveal himself to them. In a tangible, unexplainable way… personally God’s hand in my life is evident. There’s not so many coincidences that could possibly happen that explain a specific question being asked and the direct answer. Or the direct provision that He’s provided consistently at the right time when there was no possibility. And so much more.
John 20:29
Then Jesus told him, “Because you have seen me, you have believed; blessed are those who have not seen and yet have believed.”
I would point out the discoveries of the Bible’s truths by scientists is confirming so much more of the Bible. That many things that the Bible says is very literal and what’s just now being discovered with all the technology yet was declared by the Holy Spirit prior to any of this technology In biblical times. Just because science hasn’t discovered it yet doesn’t mean God’s word is not true or that my beliefs aren’t true. Look up Ron Wyatt.
I would say the burden of faith and standing up for what we believe is something that becomes stronger as we walk with him longer. I agree the classroom is a rough place, but take heart! God’s word is powerful- he says it!
Hebrews 4:12 says, “For the word of God is living and active, sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing to the division of soul and of spirit, of joints and of marrow, and discerning the thoughts and intentions of the heart”
So what that means to me is when we speak the truth no matter who’s listening or responding to us God’s going to use that seed! It’s His Spirit that will reveal the truth! We speak it out! He moves the heart! So no matter if met with encouragement or discouragement. God’s word is truth and it goes beyond the brain into our bodies, soul and spirit! So choose to have faith and see how he moves!
Faith that does not lead to a direct confirmation or justification for that faith make us prisoner to ignorance, no matter how sincere that faith may be. So long as the Promise of the Incarnation remains undelivered, evil untouched, the existing, all too human theological construct of faith, remains open to serious questioning and critique from outside tradition. That is not to question God but how mankind has come to understand that potential reality.
The question is: is faith a path to truth? Each religion/denomination gives evidence that it is not. Therefore, why faith?!