Faith and Unbelief
by Stephen Bastin
Often some outstanding athlete will
declare that his team is going to win some important game.
Oozing confidence he proudly makes his declaration.
Sometimes he will be right; sometimes he will be wrong.
Is his declaration a matter of faith?
Faith
and confidence are synonyms. Another
aspect of faith is trust. Sometimes
it can be expressed as conviction (closely related to confidence).
The
problem with the athlete’s declaration is not with his confidence, but with
the lack of any substantial evidence to support that confidence.
Even when the bookmaker’s declare that his team is a 3-1 favorite to
win that means that the chances of losing are one in four or 25%.
Funny
things happen in sporting events and sure losers can suddenly become winners.
Even the bookmakers are just making educated guesses because no one
really knows what kind of attitude the players will bring to a particular game.
In other words there is insufficient evidence to have faith in the
athlete’s declaration as to the outcome of the game.
Faith
is not something that can be related to the outcome of sporting events for the
simple reason that there is insufficient evidence to predict what will actually
happen. Faith is not a guess.
Faith is not a “hope so.“ It
is a decision based upon a lot of evidence.
Perhaps
our trial system might be used as an illustration.
Juries are instructed to find guilty only those for whom there is no
reasonable doubt as to their conduct. We
have faith in the jury system as long as jurors proceed on that basis.
The jurors are expected to consider the evidence before reaching a
decision. People who show evidence
of bias before the trial are routinely excluded from juries.
They have made a decision without considering the evidence.
People do the same thing in the realm of religion all the time.
That is not faith. That is
guessing.
When
it comes to matters of faith in God, the Bible, Jesus Christ, heaven and hell
one needs to look for evidence. Whether
you believe or not should be a decision made on the basis of evidence.
John wrote near the end of his gospel, “These things are written that
you might believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God.”
He presents evidence in order that the reader might reach a verdict:
is Jesus really the one he claimed to be?
Archaeology,
other sciences and the Bible all provide evidence that is important to be
considered. Our Bible studies are
devoted to a search for the truth. We
invite you to join us in study. Faith
that is based on the truth will stand the test of time and trials.
Guesses often lead to failure, in life and in death.
For further information please see the following web site: "Belief" as used in the book of Acts"