When I was 13 I went to an adventure island off the coast of Scotland. We climbed mountains, fished, and were taught survival techniques. The big challenge of the trip was to be abandoned on a small island for a night with nothing but a pair of billy cans, a lighter, a plastic sheet, and some flares in case of emergency. My friend and I made our bivouac and then went in search of food. Dinner was to be heather tea and limpets. Limpets are large volcano shaped mollusks attached to rocks. To get them off the rock you have to pull them off quick (sometimes by kicking them). If…
-
-
Faith: The Ultimate Underdog
I was at mile twenty and pretty sure there was no way I could finish. Mile twenty has a name for marathoners: “the wall.” It’s when you think you can go no further. I was there. I was spent, all out of juice, dead in the water. It is commonly said that faith is at mile twenty; it’s dead on arrival, a dying trade, a disappearing, unnecessary artifact from a bygone era. The culture is like the voice in the runner’s head: it’s time to quit! Atheists think faith has had its day. Sam Harris says that our faith is “the permission that religious people give one another to believe…
-
Faith is…
What is faith? It seems to be a simple concept, one simply believes in something. However, a Biblical definition is rich and multifaceted. Clifford McManis offers a survey of some of the ideas involved in a definition of faith: Faith is being safe and secure (Psalm 4) and being in a refuge or shelter (Psalm 2). Faith is fidelity (Habakkuk 2:4 cf Rom 1:17) and trusting God with your whole life (Psalm 22:1-10). Faith is trusting in the word of God (Gen 15); it is belief that motivates you to action (James 2:14-17). Faith is also the content of belief that you defend (Jude 3). Faith produces growth when it is tested…
-
Faith and Study
Just how do faith and academic studies relate? More particularly, how should students relate their beliefs to their studies? Before we examine the relationship between faith and study we should figure out what we mean by faith and study. Faith, simply put, is as a set of beliefs. A Christian believes, for example, that Jesus Christ is God. She does this not because she can see God in Christ through her eyes or logically deduce that the man Jesus is necessarily God, but by believing Christ’s and the apostles claims. She might also say that God, the Holy Spirit affirms the truth of scripture to her. Faith, then, in basic terms, is a set of basic…
-
Faith: Harris or Calvin?
American a-theist in residence, Sam Harris, says that faith is “the permission that religious people give one another to believe things strongly when reasons fail” (listen to the speech here). Harris seems to think that faith is something one does after all else falls short, a final leap in the dark, a punt. It is as if we can only get so far on our own steam and have to guess at the rest. And, having made the leap, we keep each other bolstered by excusing ourselves from rationality. There may be many religious people who think this way, but by no means all. Christians have other, better ways to…