A Funny Little Thing Called 'Faith', Part II

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What is true of real estate is equally true of a person's faith: it's all about location, location, location.

In my last submission to this column I stated that the word "faith" is a verb that requires an object when it is used in a sentence. To speak of faith merely as a thing all by itself is too confusing for conversation. So, with some help from the word "in" we are able to bridge the gap between the act of faith and its object. But even if we successfully build this bridge we are going to want to know if the bridge is worth crossing. We will want to know just what, or who is on the other side.

According to the story of the Bible (and by story I do not mean to suggest that it is fictional) the object on the other side of the bridge is God Himself. Actually, to tweak the analogy just a bit, the picture that the Bible, both the Old and New Testaments presents is one of a grand chasm where we humans are on one side and where God is on the other. The story of the Bible tells us that at one time this chasm or spiritual separation did not exist. There was a time when a bridge between people and a holy God was unnecessary. In fact, the first couple pages of the Bible describe a relationship that the first humans had with God that was absolutely perfect. But then we read that something happened; everything changed.

Theologians will tell you that what happened was that sin entered the world and what changed was the perfect divine-human relationship that was once enjoyed. The theologians are correct but we need to be clear on what all this means. When I say that the Bible speaks of sin entering the world, try not to picture sin as some foreign object, falling from the sky, entering our world like a meteor from outer space. Sin entered the world through the rebellious hearts of the first man and woman. Sin has ruled over the hearts of every man and woman ever since. (Well, all except for one man, but we will get to that). In our hearts there is an ongoing attempt to "degod" God, that is an attempt to remove God from power and to assume that role for ourselves.

You can imagine what rebelliousness does to a relationship! You've heard the expression, "don't go burning any bridges," haven't you? Well, according to the story of the Bible that is exactly what each and every one of us has done. The trouble we now face is that even if we wanted to rebuild the bridge, no one on our side of the separation is qualified to make the repairs. We are stuck on this side of the chasm and that is a hell of a place to be (pun intended). But knowing we are stuck and lacking the repair qualifications can't prevent us from attempting to engineer our own solution.

The process is pretty universal. First, we deny that there is really anything wrong with us. We won't let a little thing like a grand chasm trouble us. Second, we get angry and shout, "This isn't fair! If God is so good, why didn't He keep us out of this mess in the first place?" Then third, we begin to bargain with God. We try to calculate just how many Sundays in church or how many good deeds will convince God to look the other way at our rebellious hearts. Whether we realize it or not we are all grieving the loss of a relationship with our Creator. It is then and only then that we will come to the realization that the bridge needs to be built from the other side in order to reach us on our end.

So what does all this talk about objects of prepositions, bridges, and the story of the Bible have to do with that funny little thing we call "faith"? As I said at the beginning, what is true of real estate is equally true of person's faith: it's all about location, location, location.

The bridge is the central picture in the story of the Bible. The New Testament writers used the word "gospel" to describe this picture. This "gospel" or "good news" that these New Testament authors announced is the message that God has indeed built a bridge from His side of the chasm over to us. What might surprise us is that His bridge is neither a thing like a religious system or a code of ethics, nor is it a place like a temple or a church. The bridge is actually a person, and that person is His Son, Jesus Christ. The good news of the gospel is that God has accomplished the necessary work of reconciliation between Himself and rebellious humanity that both satisfies His justice and expresses the fullness of His love.

There are still two questions that I need to answer yet. First, how exactly has God accomplished this divine-human reconciliation, and second, is this "bridge" truly worthy of our trust, that is, is Jesus a worthy object of our faith? But with my allotted writing space having nearly run out, I must postpone the conclusion of my argument until my next submission. And so again I say, "To be continued..."

[This column was originally written for and published in the August 31, 2011 edition of the EV Star, North English, IA]

A Funny Little Thing Called 'Faith'

Cover of Schoolhouse Rock! (1973 TV Series)

Faith is a funny word. I don't mean funny in the sense that it makes you giggle when you say it (like 'dipthong') or that if you say it repeatedly it doesn't sound like a real word any more (like 'phalange'). What I mean is that the word 'faith' is one that carries multiple meanings. Sometimes it is hard to know just how a person is using the word in a given instance.

For example, we might talk about 'faith' categorically, such as, "There were many different 'faiths' represented at the community event." We might even be bold enough (since discussing religion and politics is culturally taboo) to ask someone, "Tell me about your 'faith' tradition, are you religious?"

We sometimes use the word faith in a quantitative sense, "It is going to take a lot of 'faith' for me to get on that airplane!" or "I couldn't muster up enough 'faith' to confront my boss."

The word 'faith' can also be used in contexts where someone's character is either being praised or scolded. You might know someone who visits the same coffee shop every day, at exactly the same time, and orders the exact same beverage. We call that person a 'faithful' customer. On the other hand a cheating spouse is labeled 'unfaithful' because of his or her marital misconduct.

I could go on with other examples but I will attempt to make my point. How do we know what people are talking about when conversations turn to the topic of 'faith'. What exactly does the victim of a terrible tragedy mean when they for example, say, "It was my 'faith' that carried me through this difficult time"? How should my congregation understand me when I tell them that the Bible says we are to be 'people of faith' or that a Christian is someone who has placed their 'faith' in Jesus Christ?

If we go back to our early days in school, when we were first taught English grammar we may remember hearing something about prepositions. Prepositions are those little words that typically point us to a location (yes, they can point to time and relationship too but bear with me). So when we first were learning to read we said that, "The cat is on the mat" or that we would not eat green eggs and ham "in a box or with a fox." (If you're still a bit rusty on prepositions be sure to review the classic episodes of School House Rock.)

Now if we are building a sentence to help us better understand what faith is we might say something like, "I (the subject) have (the verb) faith (the direct object) in (a preposition)..." What we need now is what our English teachers called "the object of a preposition."

You see, faith requires an object. You can't just have 'faith' by itself, that is unless you are talking about "the faith" as in "Keep the faith!" or you are talking about that girl whose name is Faith. Thanks to that little two-letter word "in" we know that there must be another noun (person, place or thing) that tells us where that faith is located.

We could say then that 'faith' is the trust that a person has in a certain object (something or someone) based on what they believe to be true about that object. For example, imagine you were about to board a flight at the airport when you notice that your pilot is yawning uncontrollably and is complaining to his co-workers about how he hasn't slept in days. Then you happen to notice out the window that someone appears to be patching up sections of the plane with duct tape. Would you take your seat? My guess is no, you would not deem this situation travel-worthy.

Now according to the Bible, both the Old and New Testaments (a claim that is worth verifying), the most worthy object of a person's faith is in God Himself and in His Son Jesus Christ. But that doesn't tell us much, does it? We might reply by asking, "Faith to do what? Why should I trust God? Why is Jesus worthy of faith?" Based on my definition of faith stated above we would have to somehow demonstrate that God and/or Jesus are worthy of faith by showing that we could trust them to do what they claim to be able to do for us because of what we believe to be true about them.

And that's what I hope to demonstrate next time. To be continued...

[This column was originally written for and published in the July 20, 2011 edition of the EV Star, North English, IA]