Life of Faith

A friend sent me this poem:

The life of faith
is not about things we understand;
it is about things we believe.
It is less about the things we can know about God
and more about the things that call us to God.

Robert Bensen

The first part of this poem speaks of an idea that has been on my mind. Much of my reflection of spiritual things is centered around questions. Some of these questions have to do with how I as a Christian should live out my faith. My earlier post about the purpose of the church is part of that arena. Other questions have to do with the intersection of the physical and the metaphysical world. Some of these questions are deep and foundational. Is Jesus really God? Is there such a thing as God? Can it really be true that Jesus rose from physical death to be once again alive, although alive in a new and fundamentally different way?

The question of the resurrection is a good question to use as an example when I think about the meaning of faith. Bensen's poem fits my thinking.
"The life of faith is not about things we understand. It is about things we believe."
I do not understand the resurrection. It is not a believable event. We know, absolutely, that when people die, they stay dead. In fact, even in "near death" experiences, we realize that even though the individual seemed dead, they were not dead. All the evidence we need to know they were not dead is that they are still alive.
As the great metaphysicist Miracle Max (played by Billy Crystal) in "The Princess Bride" said, "If they're all dead, there's only one thing you can do... go through their pockets, and look for loose change."

It is interesting that all the ancient evidence that can be studied seems to have only one probable explanation, and that is that the resurrection really happened. There have been many, many attempts to explain the resurrection away, from "Jesus swooned" to "the disciples stole the body". But none of these explanations are really plausible. The only explanation that seems to fit the evidence is that the resurrection actually happened. But we automatically reject that idea. It doesn't happen. It is a preposterous claim.

It is at this point that I have decided to accept in faith that this particular event really took place. As Benson says in his poem, I have moved beyond understanding, and come to believe.

Recently I listened to a lecture by John Ortberg. He spoke at the January Series of Calvin College. He made the point in his lecture that faith lives in an atmosphere of doubt. Faith is sort of a counterpoint to doubt. In fact, if there were no doubt there would be no faith. Faith is the clinging to a conviction in the presence of doubt, inspite of doubt.

That is faith. Paul calls it the conviction of things not seen.