Blindness
I often wonder why it is so difficult for some people to see Christ--and in doing this I've forgotten the words of Jesus as he prayed:
"O Father, Lord of heaven and earth, thank you for hiding the truth from those who think themselves so wise and clever, and for revealing it to the childlike." - Luke 11:21
Until we surrender ourselves to Jesus, allowing him to rule our lives, we remain blind.
Surrendering to Jesus does not mean we give up thinking. Christianity is the only religion not based on a blind faith (even atheism is a blind faith), and thus it is the only religion that encourages thinking and an intellectual pursuit of the truth. Christianity encourages an open mind and scientific inquiry because it is the only religion (including atheism) that does not fear the truth.
"O Father, Lord of heaven and earth, thank you for hiding the truth from those who think themselves so wise and clever, and for revealing it to the childlike." - Luke 11:21
Until we surrender ourselves to Jesus, allowing him to rule our lives, we remain blind.
Surrendering to Jesus does not mean we give up thinking. Christianity is the only religion not based on a blind faith (even atheism is a blind faith), and thus it is the only religion that encourages thinking and an intellectual pursuit of the truth. Christianity encourages an open mind and scientific inquiry because it is the only religion (including atheism) that does not fear the truth.
posted by BrickBalloon
Read This Post In Our: Christianity in America Blog Archive
6 Comments:
Please explain what you mean by 'Christianity is the only religion not based on a blind faith'.
Are you saying you don't need faith to be a christian?
Thank you for another excellent question.
No, I'm not saying that faith is not needed. An informed faith is still faith.
There are many Christians who have blind faith. Not because they have no other option, but because they do not need the evidence. Our faith come from God, and for some He provides a strong faith that requires no evidence.
Then there are people like me who, for 40 years said, "Show me." And for 40 years God ignored me.
Although Christianity can be a blind faith, unlike all other religions, it does not have to be a blind faith. It is the only religion that has factual evidence to back it's claims. For example...
Christianity is the only religion whose leader taught that there is life after death, and then that leader came back after death to prove it.
Would you like to examine the evidence? Simon Greenleaf is probably the greatest legal mind this country has ever had. He was one of the founders of Harvard Law school. He was known for his unmatchable skill at examing legal evidence. One day he was challenged by a student to examine the evidence for the resurrection of Christ. He expect to be able to prove that Christ never rose from the dead. Instead he proved that Christ did rise from the dead. You can read what he wrote about this at:
Simon Greenleaf
No matter where you turn: archeology, secular records, psychology, forensic science... the evidence supports the Biblical record as being true. No other religion can say this. And thus Christianity is the only religion that is not a blind faith. Those who chose to do so may examine the evidence.
P.S. I wanted to include some examples in Christianity that do require faith, but I was drawing a blank. However, I just came across a verse that requires faith for most people to accept. It is John 1:18
"No one has ever seen God, but God the One and Only, who is at the Father's side, has made him known."
Read this carefully. What is it saying?
It says the ONE AND ONLY GOD is at God's [the Father's] side.
How can this be? How can God be at God's side--in particular since this verse goes out of its way to make it clear there is only one God? For most people this verse is something they must accept on faith.
What this verse is describing is the Trinity--there is one God who is three persons. Okay, that doesn't compute either, so faith (trust in God) steps in again.
The Trinity is one of the hardest characteristics of God to understand. But over and over again the Bible describes God as three persons in one--in both the Old Testament and the New Testament. So we know it is true, but we have to accept that it is a characteristic of God that is beyond our understanding.
I'm confused. Do you or do you not need faith to be a christian?
Yes, faith is a part of being a Christian. Please excuse my limited ability to clearly describe the differences between blind faith and an informed faith.
However, this is too big of a topic to try to discuss in comments. I'll make several new posts discussing faith, that hopefully will help to answer your question.
I just realised. Maybe I'm making this a bigger question than it really is.
The plain answer to your question is, yes, Christians need faith. The one Bible verse that best describes Christianity is John 3:16 (which is why it is quoted so often):
"For God so loved the world, that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him shall not perish, but have eternal life."
To believe in Christ means to have faith that He will provide our salvation. It means to trust in Christ for our salvation. This is what defines a Christian as a Christian--our trust (faith) in Christ.
My point has been that this trust (faith) is not blind or uninformed. Faith does not need to be a blind faith in order to still be faith.
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