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Rev. Merlin Shorb Pastor Rappahannock Methodist Charge
Flint Hill, Willis Chapel and Sperryville
IS FAITH PRACTICAL?
Faith is believing a thing in the absence of convincing proof. Faith is the projection of an outcome before all the facts arc in. It is much like the intuitive conclusion that my loved one also loves me. The search for evidence really begins at that point. Quite often faith will cling to something or someone when all observable evidence seems to deny it. We are tempted to doubt, for example, the need for radical surgery when we are feeling so good.
But doubt is part of the creative process of believing; that is, honest doubt. Cynical doubt is too often the blind rejection of others along with their ideas. In truth, every person has a unique perspective and every idea deserves an honest reflection. As a true test of our faith, when striving for intellectual integrity, most of us will raise honest doubts. His doubts about Jesus' resurrection prepared "doubting Thomas" for an instant recognition that exclaimed, "My Lord and my God!” (John 20-28) He would not take someone else’s word for it. A second-hand faith would never do.
Even in the natural sciences where hard facts claim such a major role, it is faith in the experiment to yield the desired results that convinces the scientist to proceed in the first place. Furthermore, it is faith in human ability to look at the evidence and draw the right conclusion, or faith in human courage when the evidence contradicts the assumptions, that makes any experiment valid. In other words, faith necessarily proceeds discovery in a scientific discipline. With each bit of evidence our educated guesses become more informed. We seldom forge ahead on hard evidence that assures the outcome. Instead, technology itself is built on a long series of decisions that were based on faith.
Religious faith is not a whole lot different. The difference comes not in the process of believing as such, but rather in the object: God. Religious faith is more than a set of dogma or data. The articles of faith have little meaning without a prior belief in the person of God. What we believe always depends upon Who we believe. Even the demons believe the "facts" of our creeds. (James 2; 19) But this does not produce faith within them. Practical faith demands that we be baptized "into" Jesus Christ. (Romans 6:3) Far more than intellectual assent, which costs us nothing, faith is an investment of our lives, our very selves, into a Person. And that Person is Christ
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