Last year I celebrated 11 years of marriage. What I’ve learned over those years is that trust is an indispensable part of every relationship. In fact our marriage is conditional on us trusting each other! We have faith in each other because each of us is faithful.
Imagine if Richard Dawkins said this about the faith we find in marriage:
Faith is the great cop-out, the great excuse to evade the need to think and evaluate evidence. Faith is belief in spite of, even perhaps because of, the lack of evidence.
Lack of evidence? That sort of marriage would be unworkable!
So what is faith?
First let me say what faith isn't. Faith isn't belief in spite of facts - it can be based on evidence (like I believe my wife loves me because she shows me) or it can be in spite of the evidence (like I believe I'm the best husband in the world). Faith is simply trust.
Now, I concede when most people use the word faith they are referring to religious belief. In the case of Christianity, religious belief is relational - it’s trusting God and enjoying relationship with him.
So why does relationship with God require faith?
For those of us who think the only just basis for reward is merit, the idea of faith or trust somehow 'earning' relationship with God seems appalling. Shouldn’t we need to show ourselves worthy of relationship? But this is not what the Bible says about God and his unconditional love for us. The Bible makes the point that the promise of relationship with God and eternal life is really a gift and not earned. We just need to have faith in Jesus.
Then isn't faith an arbitrary condition?
The problem is one of definition. If faith is defined as credulity - or a predisposition to believe too readily - then it is arbitrary. It's like God only rewarding the ill informed or those who prefer to “evade the need to think and evaluate evidence” as Dawkins puts it.
But if faith is trust in a person and our relationship with him - then faith is a necessary condition. It is a necessary condition because it is part of knowing God.
What is the reward of faith?
Jesus described eternal life in this way -
Now this is eternal life: that they know you, the only true God, and Jesus Christ, whom you have sent' (John 17:3)
Eternal life is a relationship where we're known by our maker and we know him as well.
Why is a relationship with God conditional on faith? That's like asking why is my marriage conditional on me trusting my wife!
Last year I also celebrated 17 years of knowing God. Just like faith is part of my marriage it's part of my relationship with God. It's not faith in spite of the facts but faith based on solid reason. Faith is required for both relationships - but not in some arbitrary way.
Faith. You can’t have relationship without it.
Photo by Karolina Grabowska from Pexels: https://www.pexels.com/photo/a-close-up-shot-of-a-woman-holding-a-rosary-while-praying-5311314/
