Wednesday, December 21, 2005
faith in faith is useless
Faith- some say its the final frontier oh wait thats space. Faith seems to be alot like space though- no edges, no boundaries, maybe a few landmarks, is it expanding or contracting? A little mysterious, highly contested.
Faith by itself is useless. In other words I dont believe faith has any intrinsic value. Alot of people say byou gotta have faith in something. There must be an object of that faith that makes it valuable. The "something", i believe is the most important part. Faith in Faith is what i would call believism and it ends up with the focus on me. If I can just muster up enough belief or faith the thing i am hoping for will happen- I can manifest that result. I dont believe it.
Christmas is about faith in the redemption that Christ brings. The hope is that if we associate ourselves with Him- become one with Him by believing what he claimed and stands for- then we would be saved from our selfishness. Its about faith in Christ being God. In the past many people had faith in the law as a means to get them close to God but it was doomed from the start. The law was powerless to separate our sin and selfishness from our self. It took the supernatural. The law simply lead us to Christ as a solution and a realization or revelation that our ability to follow the law- our effort- would never be good enough to get us closer to God.
Knowing that no matter how hard I try it will not get me closer to God is pretty depressing except there is hope. The hope is Christ. Faith is just me agreeing with God about who Christ is and being willing to stand on His side and come under His care.
The meaning of faith is found in its object.
Faith by itself is useless. In other words I dont believe faith has any intrinsic value. Alot of people say byou gotta have faith in something. There must be an object of that faith that makes it valuable. The "something", i believe is the most important part. Faith in Faith is what i would call believism and it ends up with the focus on me. If I can just muster up enough belief or faith the thing i am hoping for will happen- I can manifest that result. I dont believe it.
Christmas is about faith in the redemption that Christ brings. The hope is that if we associate ourselves with Him- become one with Him by believing what he claimed and stands for- then we would be saved from our selfishness. Its about faith in Christ being God. In the past many people had faith in the law as a means to get them close to God but it was doomed from the start. The law was powerless to separate our sin and selfishness from our self. It took the supernatural. The law simply lead us to Christ as a solution and a realization or revelation that our ability to follow the law- our effort- would never be good enough to get us closer to God.
Knowing that no matter how hard I try it will not get me closer to God is pretty depressing except there is hope. The hope is Christ. Faith is just me agreeing with God about who Christ is and being willing to stand on His side and come under His care.
The meaning of faith is found in its object.