Christian Foundations - Faith
Bible Facts Newspaper Article (Ian C. Kurylyk)

“ For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life” (John 3:16).

Who doesn’t know that the key to Christianity is believing? Its promises are personally appropriated by faith alone. The principles and teachings of Christianity in the Bible are called “the faith”. But what is faith? All are not in agreement about this.

Faith is, in fact, often misrepresented by those who dislike the claims it makes upon the one that would live by it. Some discount faith as only a psychological or emotional crutch for the simple-minded or gullible. In reality, it is a reasonable response by a rational person to the most compelling of testimonies, which have been left for us by God. Some make the claim that they are too scientific or too “thinking” to have faith. The truth is that these same people believe many things on the basis of the testimony of others (who are far less trustworthy than God). There is a sense of believing that is an everyday fact of life for humanity. Most of what we have come to believe and accept was presented to us simply as something to be believed - often beyond our power to subject to any kind of scientific testing.

The great body of knowledge and learning that we accumulate as children is largely told by parents or others and then believed. We absorb the values of our peers, our culture, and our educators almost unconsciously into a belief structure that we live and die by. To pretend things are only accepted after the individual has subjected them to supposed scientific tests is simply untrue and unworkable. There are many areas of life that are simply outside of human ability to determine the right approach to without outside help.

All men have a spiritual side and all men depend on some kind of revelation from outside themselves for knowledge of spiritual matters. How else can one know the nature of God, the origin of the universe, what happens after death, and many more questions that are so important. This dependence is evident by the human experience religiously all over the world. Consider all the holy books, oracles, and prophets that offer special knowledge in countless religions.

The early pagan cultures that Christian preachers first brought the Christian message to did not have the same problem with the concept of a divine revelation and of chosen holy prophets that must be believed. They had their own gods, albeit false, with their own spokesmen and priests. They simply had to be convinced to give up their idols for the One True God. And they did, which was the greatest single factor impacting our Western civilization.

Today, Bible Christianity has gradually been replaced with the religion of secular humanism, though often still cloaked in the robes of Christianity. Many who have embraced its ideas would probably deny its religious character, but the facts speak for themselves. It depends too on acceptance by faith of certain tenets delivered to be believed, accepted by faith. A close examination of its fundamental pillars reveals that what is often accepted as “scientific fact”, is in fact something that can be traced back finally to the oracular statements of some “expert”. He can neither prove nor demonstrate his teachings, but they must be accepted by faith. Secular humanism has its prophet figures such as the authorities that insist on the theory of evolution, from Charles Darwin to its modern representatives. Real proof evaporates when you get close. Many, many thinkers from Sigmund Freud to the countless contemporary spokesmen for the “post-Christian” world are in fact the priests and prophets of the world’s current religion of secular humanism.

So the issue is not IF we believe, so much as WHAT we believe (or rather WHO we believe). The Gospel of Jesus Christ when believed is far reaching in its significance and consequences. It confronts the belief structure that we were born and bred in. The Bible invites the serious soul to read about this person who claimed to be The Son of God in sinless human flesh. Learn of His perspective of this world and its present order. Learn of how comprehensive and far reaching the problem of sin is for mankind. Learn of the love of God that gave His only begotten Son to die as a sacrifice for our sins so that all who trust Him as personal Lord and Saviour have the gift of eternal life.