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Podcast
Faith And Understanding
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Transcript
0:00
Hi, I'm Dave DeWitt, and today I'd like to talk a little bit about faith.
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This is obviously a huge subject, but today I just want to talk about what faith is and
0:16
where does it come from.
0:18
First of all, faith is a decision to trust.
0:21
The operative word for faith is trust.
0:24
But where does faith come from?
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How do people come to believe what they believe?
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Most Christians answer this by saying something like, my belief is my faith, or I get my faith
0:35
from God.
0:37
But what about faith itself?
0:39
Everyone has faith.
0:40
We operate every day by faith.
0:43
Where does that faith come from?
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There's one particular inescapable answer, and that is faith is an inevitable, unavoidable
0:53
decision to trust what we understand to be true.
0:59
Faith is a slave of understanding.
1:01
If you understand something to be true, you have no choice in the matter.
1:06
You must believe it.
1:08
So faith can never be an arbitrary choice.
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Whether good or bad, true or false, strong or weak, we have no option but to believe
1:18
what we understand to be true.
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And we will believe it to the extent that we understand it to be true.
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Faith just flows out of understanding inevitably.
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For example, if I asked you to believe there's a pink elephant sitting next to you right
1:34
now, you could not do it, no matter how much you tried.
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Why?
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Because you understand it's not true.
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From my office window, I can see my car in the parking lot.
1:47
So I have no choice.
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I have to believe it's there.
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I also understand that I'll drive it home.
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So I believe that too.
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But not quite as much as I believe it's parked in the lot.
1:59
If I see a puddle of oil forming under it, my faith that it will get me home is further
2:05
decreased.
2:06
I've heard it said that faith takes over when we do not have certainty.
2:13
Quite the opposite is true.
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Faith is tied to certainty.
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Faith in something increases as our certainty of understanding it to be true increases.
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Most of our world's religion, and far too many Christians, use the word faith mystically
2:30
for conjuring up something separated from reason applied to the real world.
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We can creatively think about non-existing imaginary characters like those in the Marvel
2:42
comics, Star Wars, video games, Santa Claus, or some idolatrous god.
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We can imagine the leap of faith of Kierkegaard.
2:53
But whatever such creative thoughts might be, or whatever you may conjure up by an imaginative
3:02
leap, it's not faith.
3:05
It's only faith if we understand it to be true.
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I'm not saying blind faith is just a bad definition of faith.
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I'm saying it's impossible.
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It can't possibly be done.
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It does not exist.
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There's no way you can blind leap your way into believing in tooth fairies, mermaids,
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Zeus, or Aphrodites on Mount Olympus.
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Some clarification.
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There's no distinction between faith and belief.
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The word faith and belief are used synonymously and interchangeably, and they're both translations
3:42
of the same root word in the Greek New Testament.
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Faith is not a commitment to act or what we believe.
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That's just stronger faith.
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Whatever God does to bring about our saving faith in Jesus Christ, it will be something
3:58
that moves us towards understanding the plan of salvation to be true.
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Faith is an inevitable, unavoidable decision to trust what we understand to be true.
4:12
Faith is connected to understanding, not truth.
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There's no necessary connection between everyday faith and truth, the way things actually are.
4:23
But there is an inevitable connection between faith and what we understand to be true.
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If Muslims understand it to be true that Muhammad rode to Jerusalem on a magic horse, climbed
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a ladder into heaven, and taught God down from 22 to 5 prayers a day, and their belief
4:42
in that is assured, the more they understand it to be true, the stronger their faith.
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But the strength of their faith has nothing to do with it being true, only that they understand
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it to be true.
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Now let's talk about biblical faith.
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In general, faith is a decision to trust what we understand to be true.
5:06
Biblical faith is a decision to trust the truth itself.
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Jesus told the unbelieving Jews, because I speak the truth, you do not believe me.
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There are three things we should know about biblical faith and its connection to truth.
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One, biblical faith is always good.
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So if you want to increase your faith in God, read the Bible.
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As you understand more, your faith will increase.
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Number two, biblical faith is always trusting the truth.
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And remember, the truth is the way things actually are.
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And three, in the Bible, the way things actually are is always determined by reasonably examining
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real evidence.
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So biblical faith is an understanding of the way things actually are, based on real evidence.
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It's never a blind leap.
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It's never an imaginary idea.
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It's never fake it till you make it.
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It never contradicts an understanding based on logical, rational examination of the evidence.
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Here's an evangelism application.
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If you talk to people about their faith, they will only tell you something like, well, that's
6:28
fine for you, but not for me, or we'll just have to agree to disagree, or it's a private
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thing, none of your business.
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At that point, all learning stops.
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A person cannot help but believe what they believe.
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Whereas belief is inevitable, understanding can be increased and decreased.
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I suggest to ask questions about their understanding, because their faith will follow their understanding
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inevitably.
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Here's some common questions I get when I talk about faith.
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Question, can I choose to believe what I want to believe?
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Answer, if by choice you mean you're an arbitrary thing, then no, you can't.
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It's impossible to turn your desires into faith.
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It's true if I want to believe something, I may go about finding evidence for it and
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ignore evidence against it.
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I can choose what information I read or listen to for my understanding, but now we're talking
7:33
about understanding evidence, not choosing to believe, and understanding evidence inevitably
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leads to faith.
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I can choose to study what I want, but I cannot choose to believe what I want.
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Question, what if I begin to doubt what I believe?
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Can I choose to continue to believe in spite of my doubt?
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Answer, well, if doubt is defined as a lack of faith, then no, you can't.
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Faith is a moving thing.
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It varies with your understanding.
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If your understanding changes, then your faith changes.
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If that means you begin to understand something not to be true that you previously understood
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to be true, like, say, a belief in Santa Claus, then it's impossible to choose to
8:22
continue to believe it the way you formerly did.
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Question, is blind faith possible?
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No, blind faith is a belief without true understanding, perception, or discrimination.
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Now I've talked about this before, but I want to emphasize it again.
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Blind faith is a nonsense phrase.
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It's impossible.
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You have to understand something about anything you believe in.
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For example, you can't believe in ooglots.
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Suppose I said I'd like you to believe in ooglots.
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I want to convince you to believe in ooglots.
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Well, you can't believe in ooglots because you don't know anything about ooglots.
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They don't exist.
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They just made them up.
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People can believe in nonsense, but not what they themselves understand to be nonsense.
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It's impossible for me to blindly believe that the moon's made out of green cheese,
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the earth is flat, there are leprechauns in Ireland.
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Blind as it's being used here metaphorically for without understanding, and faith are a
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contradiction in terms.
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Question, can I choose to believe, can I choose to not believe gossip I hear about someone?
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Well, if you mean arbitrarily, no, you can't.
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If you understand that the gossip is true, then you already believe it.
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It's impossible to not believe it.
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If you understand that it's false, then you can't choose to believe it.
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If you're not sure, then you can't choose to believe either way.
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If a Christian's understanding changes, and therefore their faith changes, do they lose
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their salvation?
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My understanding about salvation, the new birth that results in a person going to heaven,
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is that salvation is something to be obtained by faith, not something to be maintained by
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faith.
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Salvation of the eternal life sort does not come from us, it comes from God.
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God gives it, God maintains it.
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It's an unconditional covenant, like God's unconditional covenant with Abraham, that
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his people would endure and be like the stars in the sky.
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God is loyal to his own unconditional covenant to those who have received his son, Jesus
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Christ, because he paid for their sins on the cross.
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2 Timothy 2.13 Paul says, If we are faithless, he remains faithful, for he cannot deny himself.
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John 1.12 says, As many as received him, to them he gave the right to become children
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of God.
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3.16 Whoever believes in him shall not perish.
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John 5.24 He who hears my word and believes him who sent me has eternal life.
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Paul told the Philippian jailer, Believe in the Lord Jesus Christ and you shall be
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saved.
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Question.
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Didn't Jesus say we should have the faith of a child?
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Answer.
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No, he didn't.
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You may have heard some speaker claim that since Jesus accepted children, he taught that
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we are to have faith of a child, implying a blind acceptance without understanding.
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It's a reference to Luke 18.16-17 when Jesus said, Permit the children to come to me and
12:00
do not hinder them, for the kingdom of God belongs to such as these.
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Truly I say to you, whoever does not receive the kingdom of God like a child will not enter
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it at all.
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Jesus said nothing here about faith.
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The context is all about humility.
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He said in verse 14, Everyone who exalts himself will be humbled, he who humbles himself
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will be exalted.
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Children had no rights and no authority.
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They were completely dependent.
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They do not come into a family with pride or some achievement or talent to offer.
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They have nothing to offer and their mother loves them anyway.
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That's how you receive the kingdom of God, in dependent humility.
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There's nothing here about faith.
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Well, in conclusion, nearly the whole world, secular, religious, pagan, Christian, understands
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faith as a mystical, blind, arbitrary choice.
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This keeps believers in Christ from growing and effectively sharing their faith.
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The point of this podcast is to show that arbitrarily choosing to believe is absolutely
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impossible.
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Faith is always an inevitable result of what you understand to be true.
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Thank you for listening.
13:25
A longer paper on this subject with footnotes for the quotes is available on our website
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relationalconcepts.org.
