Misunderstanding Faith

A mistake made by some Christians and most skeptics is believing that religious faith, or faith in God, is blind faith.  But biblical faith is not a leap into the dark, but a leap toward the light.  As Greg Koukl nicely summarizes:

“Faith [on this mistaken view] is religious wishful thinking, a desperate lunge in the dark when all evidence is against you.  Take the leap of faith and hope for luck.  Curiously, none of the biblical writers understood faith this way.  Jesus tells his naysayers, ‘Though you do not believe Me, believe the works, so that you may know and understand that the Father is in Me’ (John 10:38 NASB, emphasis added).  Peter reminds the crowd on Pentecost that Jesus was ‘a man attested to you by God with miracles and wonders and signs’ (Acts 2:22 NASB).

“Paul writes that the evidences from the natural world for God’s eternal power and divine nature ‘have been clearly seen,’ so much so that those who deny Him ‘are without excuse’ (Rom. 1:20).  Later he says that if we believe in a resurrection that didn’t really happen, we have hoped in vain and ‘are of all men most to be pitied’ (1 Cor. 15:19 NASB).  No religious wishful thinking here.

“So let’s set the record straight.  Faith is not the opposite of reason.  The opposite of faith is unbelief.  And reason is not the opposite of faith.  The opposite of reason is irrationality.  Do some Christians have irrational faith?  Sure.  Do some skeptics have unreasonable unbelief?  You bet.  It works both ways.”

—Is God Just a Human Invention, Sean McDowell and Jonathan Morrow, Kregel, 2010, p. 30 (Kindle edition)

Free Download of Sean McDowell’s Book “Apologetics for a New Generation”

* Update:  This link expired on 8/27/09.

Download the Digital Version of Apologetics for a New Generation FREE!

Buy Apologetics for a New Generation on Amazon

(Via Conversant Live)

*Note:  The download is for today (8/26) only.   Using Firefox, I wasn’t able to download it, but it did work with Internet Explorer.

I haven’t read the book (although it looks interesting), so here’s a random review from Amazon that gives a feel for the content:

Apologetics for a New Generation edited by Sean McDowell is a collection of essays about how the study and use of apologetics has changed and needs to change to be relevant in the 21st century. Apologetics is the study and defense of Christianity and is often used to try and convince nonbelievers, but because we now live in a postmodern society, the old arguments don’t work. There are a lot of great essays in this book to help not only in addressing nonbelievers, but in talking to teens, even those who do have faith. Not every essay succeeds as well as others. Some get caught up in jargon and high-minded language. Others are fascinating reading, and I finally now understand the difference between modern and postmodern thinking! This is a terrific book for youth leaders and church leaders as well as lay people interested in wanting to know how to have successful and interesting conversations about God. The overriding theme of the book is that relationships are necessary before opinions can be shared. It’s a good message for everyone.