Description

The teacher in a children’s Sunday school class asked what faith was. A little boy raised his hand and said, “Faith is believin’ what you know ain’t true.” Many people have that concept of faith. Faith is the opposite of reason. It’s that special something that helps you hang on in spite of the evidence or in the face of no evidence, contrary to what reasonable people know. Faith is what you turn to when knowledge runs out. It is what you need when beliefs and knowledge conflict. Nine-year-old Joey was asked by his mother what he had learned in Sunday school. “Well, Mom, our teacher told us how God sent Moses behind enemy lines on a rescue mission to lead the Israelites out of Egypt. When he got to the Red Sea, he had his army build a pontoon bridge and all the people walked across safely. Then he radioed head- quarters for reinforcements. They sent bombers to blow up the bridge and all the Israelites were saved.” “Now, Joey, is that really what your teacher taught you?” his mother asked. “Well, no, Mom. But if I told it the way the teacher did, you’d never believe it!” This is the way many people approach life; if something doesn’t make sense, then faith steps in and rewords reality so that we have something to hang on to, something to still believe in. Faith is believing something you know isn’t true, the big leap across the chasm of the unknown, the big jump no matter what the evidence. But is this genuine faith?