‘faith is being sure of what we hope for and certain of what we do not see.’ (Hebrews 11:1)

‘The Heart of Christianty’ outlines four key ways of looking at faith.

Firstly, faith as Assensus; the need to prove and rationally understand what we have faith in. This can be difficult with modern Christianity – Enlightenment thinking makes some fundamentals of Christianity questionable, and therefore definite statements of belief can be problematic. Assensus is increasingly difficult to achieve with Christianity, though of course there are some aspects of our faith where it is important to have some ‘head’ knowledge – it is difficult to believe in your heart what the mind fully rejects.

The next two ways of looking are more relational. Fiducia refers to a kind of inherent trust in God. Rather than needing to know the particulars, we simply trust in God’s control. Fidelitas refers to faithfulness in God – a committment to building a relationship with God.

Finally, Visio is a way of seeing life. For me this is particularly useful. The way we view life has a profound effect on the way we live. Faith in God means we can approach life with hope and trust that God is in control – this does not mean that bad things will not happen to us, but rather that we can see the bigger picture. I see the opposite of this (and the logical alternative) as being postmodern existentialism – the belief that our human lives are, though often enjoyable, ultimately meaningless. This is probably the most popular alternative belief to having faith in God. Faith, on the contrary, makes our lives deeply meaningful, and also removes some of a sense of anxiety about a hostile or meaningless world.

I guess faith is in some way a combination of these elements. In part, it must be ‘head-knowledge’ – it is diffuclt to believe in something our mind fully rejects. But it by no means requires full knowledge. Inheret trust and faithfulness at the level of the heart, which do not require full understanding, are essential. A great motivation for faith is that it provides a completely new way of seeing life.

Some thoughts about faith

For me, faith is (forgive lame metaphor) a journey that has no end. We can and never will be able to prove or know for certain of God’s existence, but we choose to put our faith/hope in god despite this. Of course, we do have reasons to believe. Like a human relationship, developing our relationship with God is based on trust and past experience – how we believe God has impacted upon our lives in the past, and what we can understand about God from the bible.

Despite this, I think faith means accepting that we can never fully comprehend God, and that he is bigger than the little concerns of our lives. A broader perspective on God means our faith can survive challenges. We have faith in something that is bigger than our own lives.

I would suggest that placing ourselves in the centre of our own universe is a misunderstanding of who God is.

I don’t have faith because I have all the answers, but rather because I believe that God is bigger than my questions.

As a cynical person (!) I would find it difficult to say I could ever be ‘sure’ or ‘certain’ in some aspects of my beliefs, but I would argue that having faith is actually having the ability to be certain in your uncertainty. Truth does not have to be proven. A journey of faith will always entail uncertainty and unanswered questions, but that is what makes it exciting.

Something useful that I found in a book this week:

‘It is not always neccessary that truth should find a tangible embodiment’ - Goethe