VAST DIFFERENCE BETWEEN BELIEF AND FAITH

Your belief system, when locked and unyielding, can literally paralyze any spiritual growth.

Belief is a mental activity. With our mind, we hold onto certain things as being true.  It’s a cerebral assent.  A saying “yes” to what we have been taught.

It is a set of rules or creeds that we agree to believe in- what the church says, or what mom and dad say is true- or society, or the government, or some other…

Mom says don’t touch the stove- it’s hot. Maybe you didn’t believe that once and you did touch the stove.  Ouch!  So now, whether the stove is really hot or not, you don’t touch it.

We believed that the world was flat and you could fall off the edge of it. We believed that if you sailed west from Europe you’d get to China- completely unaware that there was another huge continent in the way.

We believed that that heavenly bodies circled around the earth. Along come Galileo with the news that the earth and other planets circled the sun…..And for that piece of truth, the Inquisition found him suspected of heresy, he was forced to recant, and spent the rest of his life under house arrest.

We believed that if God had wanted us to fly, we would have been given wings. In 1913, the Wright Brothers proved that belief wrong.

And just 60 years later, we were walking on the moon. Imagine that- from non-flight to space flight in just a little over a half century.

When I was in college biology, DNA wasn’t taught at all. Several years later, Crick and Watson received the Nobel Prize for proving that the chemical structure of DNA was a double helix of two spiraling DNA strands that replicate themselves and thus explaining how genetics are passed from generation to generation.

In Seminary, I memorized the Shorter Westminster Catechism in order to win an award. It’s a set of statements the Church believes to be true, along with other statements of faith.

John Assaraf writes:

“Once a belief is anchored in the psyche, all actions will just be automatic and in accordance with what you believe…Remember that beliefs are like blinders for humans. They can be so powerful that they cause you to see only what’s in line with them.  Yet, they are not the truth.  They are just your perception of the truth based on your past teachings, experiences, and evaluations.”

Historically, radically new information is treated with suspicion, doubt,  and massive attempts to suppress it.  Fear can imprison you and paralyze any attempt to understand.

But eventually, truth wins out, and the information becomes part of our better understanding of our world.

So too, beliefs can be radically changed by new information and discoveries. What we belief as truth today can be radically altered by tomorrow.

What some in the religious community have chosen not to deal with is modern scholarship that has helped to explain and illuminate religious history, to point out scientific fallacies based on inadequate knowledge in the Biblical era, and to look at scripture critically.

Some of those discoveries are pointing us in new and exciting directions.

FAITH STEPS OUTSIDE- AND LEAPS INTO THE UNKNOWN

Faith on the other hand, is a leap into the unknown. It is beyond scientific proof- it comes from an inner knowing and a stretching beyond any facts.  It’s a deep, intimate knowing in your heart and soul.  The spiritual realm is invisible, and unless God opens our spiritual eyes, we cannot see the spiritual realm.

“Faith is a knowledge within the heart, beyond the reach of proof.” Kahlil Gibran

 “Faith is different from proof; the latter is human, the former is a gift from God.” Blaise Pascal

The concept of faith is so darn hard to grasp or to define- like trying to corral water with a sieve, or put feathers back into a busted open pillow.  As soon as you think you’ve defined faith, it slips away.

Here’s what some people have said about faith:

“Faith is a grand cathedral, with divinely pictured windows – standing without, you can see no glory, nor can imagine        any, but standing within every ray of light reveals a harmony of unspeakable splendors.    Nathaniel Hawthorne

“Hear with your heart. See with your soul.  Be guided by a hand that you cannot hold.  Trust even if you cannot see.  That’s how faith must be.”  JP

Change is Inevitable

But faith changes too. It changes- or should- as we age and acquire new life experiences and mature in our thinking. New times call for new ways of doing things, which calls for spiritual flexibility. Fresh vision and fresh faith require fresh awareness.  It’s supposed to grow as we grow.  But that can be a very scary thing.

There’s a part of you that genuinely wants a higher spiritual experience, but another part resists it.

That part of you is afraid of change, wants the feeling of safety and security of what has always been…wants the old familiar, is scared of getting lost in the transition.

Understood- any risk or venture seems foreboding or frightening. There is always reluctance in letting go of our comfort zone.

Think of it. A Child believes in Santa as real- for what?  Six, seven, eight years.  Then some school mate or a know-it-all older sibling tells you that Sana doesn’t exist and there goes that cherished idea. 

But the child has only held that belief for less than a decade.

Now for an adult, most of us have held our beliefs for 20, 30, maybe 50 or 60 years. Those beliefs don’t roll over and die just like Santa did.

So much of our belief system has been based on all those beliefs as being true, factual, correct, and God’s honest truth!

What Now?

Now we are confronted with information that can shatter what we have over the years created as our foundation.

And the usual question is- What then am I supposed to believe is true anymore???

What do, or can, I hold onto as truth?

How am I supposed to rebuild when my foundation is eroding away?

Why isn’t the church helping with this process?

The Church is Mired in Tradition and Rigid Orthodoxy

If clergy, and church hierarchy  know all this new information, why hasn’t the church dealt with it?  Why is this information being kept away from church goers and spiritual seekers?

And the blunt truth is- they’d lose their job. Most people are comfortable with what they see as truth, so don’t upset the apple barrel- don’t rock the boat, and for heaven’s sake don’t dispute my lifelong belief system.  We will replace you or seek to have you defrocked or your ordination invalidated.  Sad, but true.

Many pastors try to infuse sermons with thoughtful information so that those who are seeking, or who are dissatisfied with the same old same old, and are leaving churches because the stories are no longer relevant to them, will find reason for new hope and insights, and discover a deeper spirituality.

This is where the recent scholarship excels. It takes into account research and a more discerning approach that DOES jive with today- that does make sense- that lifts faith to a whole new level.

The Essential Leap

BUT- to get to that new level, some of the old material has to be seen for instructive stories instead of factual truth, and not to be taken literally.  So many people are right on the edge of that leap, but stop, wary of the unknown.  Why?  Because…

“Faith is walking face-first and full-speed into the dark.” Elizabeth Gilbert

“Faith is daring the soul to go beyond what the eyes can see.”  William Newton Clark   

 “Faith is taking the first step even when you don’t see the whole staircase.” Martin Luther King, Jr

Simply put, our natural selves tend to fight against the things of God. We are at odds with Divine ways, and have no way of reconciling those differences on our own. The natural person is at war with all things spiritual.

When we try to understand the things of God with our own minds, we will come up short every time. The things of God, and about God,  must be received and understood through faith.

We humans may exhaust all our resources, all knowledge, all technology, all science, and still never understand the ways of God.

Yes, a faith leap is counter-intuitive for many people, particularly for left-brain, scientific minds, that have been conditioned to only go where there is definitive prove.                                                                   

But, to take from STAR TREK- (Faith)- the final frontier- to boldly go where no one has gone before.

So yes…you are walking into the unknown- and perhaps it is only the courageous and adventurous who can take that leap. But WHAT A GLORIOUS LEAP!  It lifts life into a whole new realm of discovery and growth!

The very best advice I have for you sojourners, you searchers and questers, you people who are willing to brave the unknown, is to find a group of people of like-mind who are also on this journey. You need support and fellowship while you reconstruct your faith foundation.            

This website is specifically for YOU. Maybe you are in a situation or place where you don’t know any like-minded people.  I understand.  Multiple times in my life I’ve been out there by myself, as far as I knew.

Here on this website is information to chew on- to ruminate upon- to ask questions- and if you choose, to talk on the phone with me. We can skype, if you like, or use facetime. E-mail me and we can set up a time!

Wishing you a blessed Christmas and a rewarding, exciting New Year…Ginny