Basis of Faith

For my Christian Faith class I had to write a paper on my Basis of Faith and discuss the authority of Scripture. I thought I would share it on here (it's only 4 pages double spaced, so it's not too extensive, but still covers a decent base) as it's something I have been thinking about lately and the paper came at an opportune time to write out my thoughts.


Faith is a funny thing. Our entire lives are centered around our faith or lack thereof. People shop for a religion or a church that has faith in the same thing as them. We find deep camaraderie in those who come from the same faith culture as us. But faith is not so simple as we often think. It takes great time to develop a strong basis for one’s faith.

It takes great courage to have faith in something that has not made itself apparent. Often it is said to be lunacy to do so, but to miss out on that lunacy completely would be to miss out on the true sense of living. It seems crazy to believe in something that one cannot see, cannot hear, cannot touch. But as Philip Yancey says, “Were there no room for doubt, there would be no room for faith either.” We all have faith in something; unfortunately, often people choose to have faith in things that have shown themselves everyday in a very literal sense. People have faith the sun will rise, the chair will stay firm when sat upon, and their roommate will use all the hot water in their shower. These things are dependable, visible, and constant. Yet, what faith is that -- to believe in something that always is? How does that change anything? My life is no different if I only believe in something so tangible. My life is different, however, because I believe in something intangible. Something just beyond the senses. Something supernatural. Because I believe in a God that is out of time and space, I do not experience Him in the same way that I experience a drink of water. Yet both refresh me and are necessary for my daily life.

Many would say a belief in the supernatural is a complete belief without proof. In the scientific, fact-based world we live in, this is appalling. As a product of that world, I work to find proof to support my beliefs. I find proof in the classic Wesleyan Quadrilateral: scripture, tradition, experience, and reason. All of these things feed into my beliefs. I see God breathing truth through scripture. There are principles in the Bible that I know would make the world a better place and have brought great change in my life. I see God making changes through his followers in history. When I see people like Rich Mullins or C.S. Lewis as radical followers of Christ, I cannot help but want to follow the God of their lives. I see God showing up all over the place in nature and human interaction. Whether its true understanding between friends or the radical beauty of rolling hills and forests, God shows up. I also see God in truth. Isaac Newton once said, “In the absence of any other proof, the thumb alone would convince me of God’s existence.” My beliefs are not based on nothing. They are based on the core realities of life and the truth that can be found when one truly searches for answers. I am not saying that I have it all figured out or that I even have found the highest truth or my specific set of beliefs is the only way to go. What I am saying is that when looking into life, one will find that love wins all battles, forgiveness and grace are the only way to find peace, and there is a God who practices all of those things.

Though there is satisfaction that comes from having a faith that can be backed up with reason and analysis, I find myself craving a faith that is content with no proof. Our world has not always been a scientific one, and though belief with no proof can lead to absurd beliefs (thousands of gods who fight each other and must each be given their sacrifice, the knowable specific date of the end of the world, practices of human sacrifice to end a drought), having beliefs based completely on proof misses the point. I yearn to have the faith to move mountains even though I have never seen a mountain moved. I want to have faith that God can heal my present headache when Tylenol cannot. That is the kind of faith that truly changes the world. I believe it is a balance of the two types of faith – based on reason and proof and based on trust alone – that is needed in one’s life and Church.

The proof that is often given in the Church as the basis of faith is from Scripture. Scripture defines who God is, what He has done in the past, what He is doing in the present, and what He will do in the future. Each Christian works to learn Scripture so as to back up their faith in times of trouble and doubt. Yet, often Christians use that same Scripture to back them up in prejudices, in acts of violence, or in oppression of a race, a culture, or a gender. Stanley Hauerwas pegs this in his book Unleashing the Scripture: Freeing the Bible from Captivity to America when he says, “[North American Christians] read the Bible not as Christians, not as a people set apart, but as democratic citizens who think their ‘common sense’ is sufficient for ‘understanding’ the Scripture” (p. 15). It is tiring to hear opinions being spouted over and over again by ignorant Christians (which really, is basically all of us) who speak with authority on the behalf of God in hate toward another group of people or speak illogical untruths about God’s character.

Scripture truly does take authority over all when one looks for a window into the heart of who God is and for finding examples of faith in God. However, I struggle with separating the authority of Scripture found through exegesis and the authority of Scripture found through eisegesis. In this, I find it extremely difficult to make the blanket statement that the Scripture has authority. I know it is true, but I have seen it take on a monstrous form in the hands of those who misuse that authority. So to whom do we give the authority of interpretation? Stamoolis (2004) asks this, “If we posit that there is only one correct understanding of a text, whose understanding do we accept? The early church’s understanding? The Reformation understanding? Western Christian (however defined) against the insights of the emerging churches?” The term authority loses all sense after awhile. I have learned, however, that to find authority in Scripture does not mean that it is static, literal, or concrete. It is okay to accept multiple understandings of Scripture Hauerwas (1993) said it this way: “That way of putting the matter [of hermeneutics] presupposes that the text exists as a fact and that we simply need to know how better to explicate what the fact really means. Yet we must acknowledge that the text has no ‘real’ meaning, and no real, abstract ‘human understanding’ exists to constitute such meaning.”

To this end, we can see that Scripture by itself does not bring true understanding of God nor provide a sure foundation for our faith. There is the interpretation of Scripture that needs to be done with discernment within a community, with the utmost respect for its holy mystery, but also its ability to work with the Holy Spirit to bring truth to those who seek it. This requires acceptance that the Church and, along with it, tradition have authority too. However, “[i]n matters of theological development and debate, tradition should get a vote but never a veto, whereas Scripture is the gold standard by which every idea--including those developed within tradition--must be tested” (Olson, 2003). Along with tradition and scripture, there is personal experience. We often give this too much precedence, as it is the best that we know. Yet, it should not be ignored. God teaches us often through our experiences, individually or communally, and as with that, they should align well with Scripture. Lastly, reason plays a role in connection with Scripture. It is important to use the ability to discern and think logically that God gave us. This is an important part of faith, as blind faith in illogical theories or unbiblical principles can be carefully bypassed if reason is utilized. By these powers combined, one’s faith can have a strong basis.

I like how Fredrick Buechner (1992) talks of faith. He says, “Faith is like the dream in which the clouds open to show riches ready to drop upon us that when we wake into the reality of nothing more than common sense, we cry to dream again because the dreaming seems truer than the waking does to the fullness of reality not as we have seen it, to be sure, but as by faith we trust it to be without seeing. Faith is both the dream and the crying. Faith is the assurance that the best and holiest dream is true after all. Faith in something – if only in the proposition that life is better than death – is what makes our journey through time bearable.” The basis for that faith is developed through a careful discovery of Scripture, a mind of discernment, a continual interaction with God in community and individually, and a trust in the tradition of the Church.



P.S. The headache I mentioned had been incessantly pestering me for the entire week before I wrote that paper, and daily extra strength Tylenol hadn't touched it. I had just prayed before writing that paper that God would heal my headache, and it hasn't been back since.