Two: Faith in the Dark, Part One
Two truths I believe about this mortal life are: first – We are separated from God; spiritually speaking, we are in the dark. And, second – It is vitally important to “see” spiritually in this life.
But how? I used to be bothered when people spoke of “faith.” It seemed to be a loophole to explain away everything. Things got dismissed with a wave of the hand, an exasperated look, and the answer: “Just have faith.” I and people I loved were wandering around in the dark and someone was saying “Why can’t you see in the dark?” But faith (to me) is not to say “I can see in the dark” or even “You don’t need to see.” That isn’t faith, to say: “There are no answers – believe anyway. Walk away from the truth that you know – believe in something illogical.”
I do think a huge part of the answer is “faith”, though. But is faith to see in the dark? Faith doesn’t make things true that aren’t true. It can’t create order out of chaos, or truth out of an untruth, or logic out of nonsense.
“…Faith is not to have a perfect knowledge of things; therefore if ye have faith ye hope for things which are not seen, which are true.” ALMA 32:21 (The Book of Mormon)
I think faith is to say:
1. There exist things beyond my knowledge and comprehension that remain true despite whether I’m aware of them, believe in them, or comprehend them. They remain true despite me.
“…The Spirit speaketh the truth…it speaketh of things as they really are, and of things as they really will be…” JACOB 4:13 (The Book of Mormon)
2. I believe that there are different kinds of “knowledge” and that there are ways to acquire “knowledge” besides my immediate physical senses or my own ability to reason.
3. I will use what I do know to light my path – even if I do not know everything.
What do you think of faith? Again, any and all comments are welcome, but please be sincere and considerate of others, regardless of whether you are expressing faith or doubt, support or disagreement.
posted by Marci at 1:28 AM
1 Comments:
I believe that we are in dark until the light of Christ shines in our lives. Faith is never comprehensive knowledge of anything, nor is it irrational acceptance of set of ideas. Faith must always have an object. Faith for the Christian is rooted in an event. The event is that Jesus Christ died upon the cross for our sins and by His death we are saved from our sins. By His resurrection we have a place with Him in heaven. We are justified and sanctified by His love for us. We have faith in this, we don't just have faith just because.
Honestly, if you get to the heart of the matter every worldview is entirely premised on faith. They must all presuppose certain things to be true about life. No amount of logic will help, for you can simply ask where their logic comes from and why you it should be believed. Logic only has a foundation if God exist and created logic. Otherwise we only have historical convention to prove the rightness of our arguementation. Martin Luther King Jr. once said that we are all "ontological thieves in a universe of interrelatedness." I think this is indicitive of all who try to argue against faith with a system which they blindly accept by faith.
Again I do not believe that faith is just that God is bigger and that there a re things that exist outside of myself. Faith in the Christian sense must be in the death and resurrection of Christ lest we toil in vain.
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