The Meaning of Faith

As an ex-atheist, I am guilty of perpetuating the false dichotomy of “reason” and faith. The popular culture of the last decade has provided ample ammunition for the rationalists’ (non-)holy war, which presents a distorted image of religious adherents as dangerous fanatics or deluded bigots. The “four horsemen” of the New Atheist movement have led the charge in describing the faithful in terms usually applied to the mentally ill or dangerous criminals: Daniel Dennett, for example, offered an analogy of an ant behaving erratically because it was afflicted by a parasite. A famous newspaper ad depicted the still-standing twin towers in New York with the caption “Imagine No Religion.” Richard Dawkins implicated even the most benign of believers with his assertion that religious extremists learned their destructive mental habits of “faith” at the hands of religious moderates. The implication is that there are two starkly different ways of thinking: rational or religious. And the religious is uniformly bad because it could just as easily take down a building as compose a worship song.

I will argue that this is an unfortunate caricature of faith. As a born again Jesus follower today, I affirm the value of the right kind of faith. To be a true follower of Jesus you must have faith, yes! But don’t misunderstand what that means. Saying you must have faith is not the same as saying you must close your eyes and cover your ears and shout “la la la, I’m not listening, I can’t hear you” until inconvenient facts go away. The kind of faith that Jesus advocates is not the kind that will make you a blindly obedient automaton. Rather, biblical faith requires careful assessment of information, a willingness to reprove error where it is found, and finally, a relational trust in Jesus.

It’s that trust part that gets people, and for good reason. There are a lot of wackos out there who can deceive you, so you want to be careful where you put your trust! Jesus understood this reality, and regularly warned people to “Beware of false prophets, which come to you in sheep’s clothing, but inwardly they are ravening wolves.” (Matthew 7:15). The Bible offers warnings repeatedly such as, “Beloved, believe not every spirit, but try the spirits whether they are of God: because many false prophets are gone out into the world. (1 John 4:1).

It is tempting to say that you will simply trust no one but yourself. Maybe a proven system of fail-safes like the scientific method will be your ultimate and only standard for knowing truth. But you can’t put God in a Petri dish, my friends. Actually, if we had to rely on our five senses and upon science for every bit of information, we would have a difficult time functioning as human beings. How do you know your significant other loves you? Do you have a checklist whereby you can objectively verify their love? Cards on all the right holidays and hugs of just the right duration? Will an EEG reading pinpoint what moves you about a work of literature or of music? Maybe you could chart the exact firing of electrons and then, instead of listening to your favourite song, you could just evoke the same emotions by stimulating the right series of nerves? Can a man in a lab coat do tests to determine objectively what is right and wrong, as atheist Sam Harris comes close to suggesting?

This is all a bit tongue-in-cheek, but it is to make a point. Your epistemology for knowing your spouse loves you is based upon a relational trust. The meanings which we derive from our experiences are far more subjective than “rationality” allows, and yet, they are what make us human. That subjective criterion of relational trust is the basis of the Christian life, and indeed, the singular requirement for salvation. In short, God wants a relationship with you. He doesn’t want you to be just some servant who blindly takes orders, but he wants to call you friend AND make known to you the things of God! (John 15:15). He wants you to get to know him and trust him – not some other false God, not some religious system, and not some man who claims to speak for God today. Trust only God, who as Jesus Christ presented himself to humanity and died on the cross to atone for your sins. He will give you eternal life. (1 John 5:9-13)

Forget whatever caricature of Christian faith that Dawkins or false religious teachers have spoonfed to you. Instead, look at what Jesus said and did as recorded in the gospels themselves. He gives a reasonable basis for that relational trust to rest upon. Take for example “doubting” Thomas, who would not believe Jesus was resurrected until he felt the nail prints in his hands and feet. Jesus gave him that proof, after which his skepticism was satisfied and he cried out “My Lord, and my God!” (John 20:24-28).

Jesus never rebuked Thomas’s skepticism. It is perfectly reasonable to doubt amazing things before you can have some basis upon which to accept them. Just don’t let your skepticism be the hands over your ears as you shout “la la la, I can’t hear you,” lest you miss the reasonable proof God is trying to show you.

Do you trust Jesus? Or a church?

Jesus is the way, not churches or temples

Jesus said, “Woman, believe me, the hour cometh, when ye shall neither in this mountain, nor yet at Jerusalem worship the Father… But the hour cometh, and now is, when the true worshippers shall worship the Father in spirit and in truth: for the Father seeketh such to worship him.” (John 4:21-23)

With these words, Jesus is taking spirituality “out of the box” so to speak. Before Jesus, the way to get to God was through a system of laws and rituals called ordinances, and it was rooted in a particular place and a particular institution. But when Jesus came into the picture, he said that HE is the way to God (John 14:6; John 10:1, 7). 

So be careful when someone says that there is a different way to God. Maybe they will say that it is through a list of rules and good deeds, a set of rituals, or through membership in a church. Not so! Of course, people who trust in a church or rituals say that they are only doing so because Jesus told them to. Please consult your Bible!

Don’t I have to DO something? Good works?

No. Jesus did all the works required for your salvation!  

“For by grace are ye saved through faith; and that not of yourselves: it is the gift of God: Not of works, lest any man should boast.” (Eph. 2:8-9)

After you are born again, you will be led to do good works and bring forth good fruit for God. You will also leave behind sinful habits from your old life. But these things do not earn you eternal life! You will never be worthy of God through your actions – only through the mercy of Jesus. For further discussion on this topic, see this previous blog post.

Ordinances?

No. Jesus did the only ordinance necessary for your salvation!

“And every priest standeth daily ministering and offering oftentimes the same sacrifices, which can never take away sins: But this man [Jesus], after he had offered one sacrifice for sins for ever, sat down on the right hand of God.” (Hebrews 10:11-12)

“Blotting out the handwriting of ordinances that was against us, which was contrary to us, and took it out of the way, nailing it to his cross.” (Colossians 2:14)

What about baptism or the sacrament of the Lord’s Supper? These are not ordinances in the sense that they get you closer to salvation. They are out outward actions which are merely symbolic of the real works accomplished by Jesus! Baptism represents Jesus’ death, burial, and resurrection, and likewise the death of your old life and resurrection to a new life in Jesus – it is a public profession of faith in Jesus. The Lord’s Supper is a reminder of his sacrifice for us.

What about all the ordinances in the Old Testament? The Jewish temple ritual was only meant to happen for a short time, to point to Jesus, to teach us about Jesus: “Wherefore the law was our schoolmaster to bring us unto Christ, that we might be justified by faith. But after that faith is come, we are no longer under a schoolmaster.” (Galatians 3:24-25; see also Hebrews 10:1)

Membership in a church? Jesus did found a church, didn’t he?

Jesus does have a church, of which every true believer becomes part by virtue of their adoption into the family of God. But please understand what that means! It doesn’t mean you have to be a card-carrying member of a modern 501c-3 organization, or have been baptized in just the right building by just the right person. The church is the body of true believers, and they could be in any number of places or denominations around the world. In fact, Jesus said that the saved (read: his true church) and unsaved would be all mixed together until he returns. See Matthew 13:24-30.

The church is meant to celebrate, defend, and proclaim the gospel – but it is not the gospel itself! 

Do not box God into a denomination or a building. “God that made the world and all things therein, seeing that he is Lord of heaven and earth, dwelleth not in temples made with hands.” (Acts 17:24)

Which will you trust: Jesus or a church?

A word of warning to you. If you stand before God on judgement day and try to tell him that you should go to heaven because you were a member of a certain church or performed certain ordinances, he will refuse you: “Many will say to me in that day, Lord, Lord, have we not prophesied in thy name? and in thy name have cast out devils? and in thy name done many wonderful works? And then will I profess unto them, I never knew you: depart from me, ye that work iniquity.” (Matthew 7:22-23)

Paul issued an equally chilling warning: “Christ is become of no effect unto you, whosoever of you are justified by the law; ye are fallen from grace.” (Galatians 5:4)

Be careful who you trust for your salvation. Are you trusting yourself? Your ability to keep the law? The ordinances you’ve done? The church you’re part of?

Or will you trust Jesus alone?

You can’t have it both ways. If salvation is by grace then it is no more of works (Romans 11:6). If you are justified by the law, then Jesus is OF NO EFFECT UNTO YOU. You either have to trust yourself or trust Jesus – it’s very simple. Jesus illustrates this concept in parable form here.

Don’t miss what God is telling you in his Word. You must be born again.

Please pray about this. Go to the Bible and ask God to open your eyes to his true gospel. The stakes are too high to be comfortable where you are currently sitting. Forget what’s on TV. Forget the nice tie you’re wearing or the façade you put on for the world. Forget your day-to-day cares for a minute and just think about what Jesus is saying here.

Feel free to ask me any questions and I would love to explore God’s Word together with you. God bless you!

Christmas Eve at Palmyra, NY

I recently had the opportunity to visit the birthplace of Mormonism! It reminded me how much my LDS upbringing fostered my love of history, and it was an absolute thrill to finally visit the place which so thoroughly captured my imagination as a child. I grew up hearing the stories about Joseph Smith and his family, their hardships with farming and with illnesses, and most importantly their adventures surrounding those mysterious golden plates. So when I moved from the West to attend graduate studies in Central Canada, I had hoped for an opportunity to pay a visit to the little village in up-state New York where a lot of these events took place. This year my wife and I decided to spend our Christmas in Rochester – merely a half-hour drive away from Palmyra, NY, which became part of our itinerary. This was a chance not to be missed!

There are a number of Mormon history sites in and around Palmyra that have been preserved or restored for tourists’ enjoyment. We visited two sites: the Smith farm (with the Sacred Grove nearby) and the Hill Cumorah. Visiting on Christmas Eve day, we enjoyed the sites mostly to ourselves. We were the only ones in our tour group at the Smith farm, which was led by a pleasant and friendly senior sister missionary. You can learn about the historic sites here: http://www.hillcumorah.org/smithlog.php.

The light snowy weather provided a beautiful backdrop for this picturesque early 19^th-century historic site. After the guided tour we were free to wander through the Sacred Grove on our own, the place where Joseph Smith claimed he was visited by God and told of his role as prophet of the restoration. Walking among the snow-covered trees, I was moved to reflect upon my own spiritual journey. This place would have elicited a much different response from me in my youth – I once played the guitar and sang “Joseph Smith’s First Prayer” at an LDS church function. That song may have come to mind, accompanied by deeply-felt admiration for Smith. But in fact a very different song came to mind. It felt important to me to sing quietly to myself and to God “Amazing Grace (My Chains are Gone)” as I walked through that snowy grove. When once my tongue formed the words “Praise to the Man,” today they offer “the sacrifice of praise to God continually” (Hebrews 13:15).

Those who know me know that a few years ago I left the LDS church, for reasons described here. But my outlook toward the church today is not one of bitterness or antagonism; rather, I desire a continued friendly relationship and respectful discussion. As a born again Christian, I share the sentiments expressed by the apostle Paul toward the religion of his upbringing (the Pharisees): “Brethren, my heart's desire and prayer to God for Israel is, that they might be saved. For I bear them record that they have a zeal of God, but not according to knowledge. For they being ignorant of God's righteousness, and going about to establish their own righteousness, have not submitted themselves unto the righteousness of God. For Christ is the end of the law for righteousness to every one that believeth.” (Romans 10:1-4)

What a blessing it was to visit this little site, not only to see the place which inspired my imagination as a child but to see how far God has carried me since then. Once basking in the polished exterior of my own life and of my church, now broken in surrender at the cross. Hallelujah! God truly works in mysterious ways.

As always, thank you for reading, and God bless you!

Smith Family Log Home - December 24, 2013