I refuse to think of Faith as the blind, flat belief in a dogma.
This isn't really useful by itself, & has often caused more harm than good to the world.
Faith is belief... but I believe there is also more to it.
A part of the following I have learnt from this, it is a sermon in arabic (egyptian dialect).
Christian Scripture establishes that Faith is required from people, & without it there can be no Salvation, but it also says that Faith is a gift, & is also a result of the work of The Holy Spirit.
To reconcile the two apparent opposites, we may see Faith as an ongoing interaction between Man & God.
God gives Man Faith as a gift, we'll call this Revelation. He shows Man a little of Himself.
This happens in so many different ways (& depends on the level of Faith already attained), but it is most often characterized by a sudden realization derived from something that had previously passed unnoticed.
Then Man has to accept this,
he has to take it into his heart & mind,
believe it,
then integrate it into his thoughts & feelings & it becomes part of him.
Through that bit, he can now See (with his heart, as we say) an aspect of God.
God then reveals to him some more of himself, & Man accepts that & so on... this ongoing Revelation-Seeing is what we call Faith, & it is by this that we See God & know Him, & the closer we get to Him & the more we become part of Him, & we go home.
That is what I believe Christianity is all about.
Please allow me to relate this entry to your entry titled "On Relativism: 1- Individualism"
ReplyDeleteSome people will hardly understand what you're saying in there because some Truths need Faith... and yes it's a gift ... "God gives Man Faith as a gift"
Most people do not really "see" the Truth because as written in 1 John 5 : 19
"We know that we are children of God, and that the whole world is under the control of the evil one."
So when people "choose" to have their own ways and forget about the absolute Truths and reliable anchor points,God give them over to a depraved mind as in Romans 1:
"28 Furthermore, since they did not think it worthwhile to retain the knowledge of God, he gave them over to a depraved mind, to do what ought not to be done. 29 They have become filled with every kind of wickedness, evil, greed and depravity. They are full of envy, murder, strife, deceit and malice. They are gossips, 30 slanderers, God-haters, insolent, arrogant and boastful; they invent ways of doing evil; they disobey their parents; 31 they are senseless, faithless, heartless, ruthless. 32 Although they know God's righteous decree that those who do such things deserve death, they not only continue to do these very things but also approve of those who practice them."
what really triggers my mind is that some of these people are good deep inside, and they are really struggling to find the Truth but they just don't see it... may be they start in the wrong place? or search in wrong places?? donno...
I just thank God for the "gift"... He was kind enough to allow me to "see"...