“Seek not to understand that you
may believe, but believe that you may understand.” - St. Augustine
INTRODUCTION
One of the great things I admire about American culture is its seeming
propensity for faith. At their best, Americans are willing to believe
things, which could explain the large amount of emails circulated as 'FWDs'
claiming all kinds of subsequently proven urban myths with threats of
dire consequences if they are not continued.
On the other hand, the down side of this tendency is the prevalent
gullibility of the culture that was understood perfectly by P.T. Barnum
who once said, "There's a fool born every minute." He was able to built
a massive circus empire on this assertion.
THE OPPOSITE OF FAITH
Skeptics have euphemistically described themselves as looking for the
best place between "suckered" gullibility and close-minded cynicism.
They seek to accomplish this by debunking anything that cannot be
verified by the five physical senses. Just like Thomas, they need to put
their finger in the wounds before they will believe.
Skepticism is the opposite of faith! The denial of a spiritual realm
that defies the limits of our five senses assumes an arrogance in our
species that parallels a blind person's assertion that light does not
exist! Skeptical books like Richard Dawkins’ ‘The God Delusion’ and Dan
Brown’s ‘The Da Vinci Code’ can only become best sellers in a society
that does not understand what Christianity is all about. On the other
hand, true faith is not blind. All belief needs some grounding in
reality, and that has often been where the Church has fallen short.
Former atheist Anthony Horvath, a Christian apologist who works with
young adults, explains that renowned atheists such as Richard Dawkins
were raised in the Church but have become some of the fiercest attackers
of God. Horvath explained that some of the recurring questions young
adults struggle with, but churches often fail to address, include the
formation and development of the Bible, the presence of evil and
suffering in the world, and the question of inspiration and inerrancy.
“In large part, it happens when the church leadership is completely
unaware that their members – and not necessarily just the young members
– have questions at all,” he said.
John 20:24-25 describes many modern Christians, "Now Thomas, called the Twin, one
of the twelve, was not with them when Jesus came. The other disciples
therefore said to him, 'We have seen the Lord.' So he said to them,
'Unless I see in His hands the print of the nails, and put my finger
into the print of the nails, and put my hand into His side, I will not
believe.'"
RISING RELIGION
Despite institutionalized promotion of unbelief throughout our
educational systems, interest in religion is increasing on American
college campuses, including Harvard and Berkeley.
Chaplains and professors say students are more interested in religion
and spirituality than at any time they can remember, according to a
report by The New York Times cited on Baptist Press. "My theory is that
the baby boomers decided they weren't going to impose their religious
life on their children the way their parents imposed it on them. The
idea was to let them come to it themselves," said Lloyd Steffen, a
chaplain at Lehigh University. "And then they get to campus and things
happen; someone dies, a suicide occurs. Real issues arise for them, and
they sometimes feel that they don't have resources to deal with them,"
Steffen said. "And sometimes they turn to religion and courses in
religion."
PERSISTENT FAITH
The need to believe will not lessen in this cynical age, and truth will
not be arrived at by philosophies grounded in relativism that pander to
egocentric credos asserting the moral 'sun' revolves around us! Faith
will persist!
"Jesus said to him, 'Thomas, because you have seen Me, you have
believed. Blessed are those who have not seen and yet have believed.'"
John 20:29 #
