What is faith?

By Chaplain Tony Rahaim

Late September 2023

Hello again,

It’s the last week of September as I write this, and the seasons are in full change mode here in western North Carolina.  Summer is trying to hang on and fall is itching to do its thing.  The leaves are beginning to change colors; and when it’s not doing the mountain mist/fog/trying to rain thing, the days are usually warm with cool nights.  And as usual, the ‘pumpkin spice’ fans are in full bloom. 

The Good Lord was kind enough to tell the writer of Ecclesiastes in chapter three to remind humanity that life is full of different seasons.  https://tinyurl.com/mwhf3etp

So, how do we, as reasonable and rational humans, know that this will happen?

Well, most people had a version of ‘earth science’ somewhere in middle or high school here in the United States; and that is where we learn the basics about things like seasons, solar systems, and the tilting angle of the Earth as it goes around our sun.

But did you ever stop to think about the science as it relates to your faith?

The God of all creation that made the universe, and its various galaxies, to do all of their various things without it becoming a cosmic billiard table.

If that doesn’t make you think there’s a divine Creator, I don’t know what else will.

So now, I’d like you to think about the opening of the Old Testament (Hebrew Bible), from the book of Genesis:

“In the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth. 2 The earth was without form, and void; and darkness [a]was on the face of the deep. And the Spirit of God was hovering over the face of the waters.

3 Then God said, “Let there be light”; and there was light. 4 And God saw the light, that it was good; and God divided the light from the darkness. 5 God called the light Day, and the darkness He called Night. [b]So the evening and the morning were the first day.”  –  Genesis 1:1-5 (NKJV) https://tinyurl.com/ybp9kfer

In very simple terms, get out of your own way, and stop listening to what the world tells you to think about God, and your relationship with Him.

This is between you and God.  Each of you must make this decision for yourself.

If you believe that opening statement on faith alone; then the rest of the Judeo-Christian scriptures are a wonderful story of hope, faith, forgiveness, redemption, and love. 

Yes, there are some less than feel-good themes in there too; because you have to understand how much our Heavenly Father loves us, and no matter how many times you/we mess up, there’s always a chance to make it right.  IF you choose to do so.

The opposite of that is that if you choose not to believe the beginning part — then the rest of those scriptures become a four-thousand-year-old family soap opera, with several sections of some pretty sound advice along the way. 

“Well chaplain, that’s a big leap of faith.” Some might say.

All right, let’s break it down a bit more objectively. 

Merriam-Webster defines faith pretty simply as “a strong belief or trust in someone or something”.  https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/faith   

Using the Bible, the word ‘faith’ appears

And if you clicked on any of those links, you noticed that ‘faith’ appears in both the Old and New Testaments.

In fact, some of the more frequently referenced verses on the topic are here:

https://www.kingjamesbibleonline.org/Bible-Verses-About-Faith_KJV/   and or here

https://www.kingjamesbibleonline.org/Bible-Verses-About-Faith-In-God_KJV/

Some struggle with the concept of ‘by faith alone’, and that’s okay.

And then there’s the “Hey chaplain; what if I’m one of those scientific people?” crowd.

For them, I’m going to refer the reader to one of the theologians I learned about in my seminary training, courtesy of the senior pastor who agreed to host and mentor me during that period. 

The philosopher’s name is William Lane Craig, and he teaches at the university level, has written a very easy-to-read systematic theology book, and has a website too. Along the way, he wrote an essay explaining how science and faith are not add odds.

The bottom line; you can enjoy science and believe in God too.

https://www.reasonablefaith.org/writings/popular-writings/science-theology/what-is-the-relation-between-science-and-religion 

I can tell you as someone who spent decades looking for objective facts in my military and law enforcement careers, this introduction to what one might call ‘rational faith’ was literally a Godsend.

It was the bridge between faith and the world that this writer needed.  I realized that my former work life, my faith life, and my personal life — no longer had to be separated.  And now, I could help others cross that bridge too.

I know this is a lot to chew on for a blog post, and I would like each of you to read and mull over it for a bit.   

So, without turning this into a seminar, I can tell you that the next blog posting will be a very generic how to study all of this further.

Until next time; remember that God loves you. All you have to do, is love Him back.

It really is that simple. https://tinyurl.com/yz828ha2 

Have a good week.

Chaplain Tony