Saying So Don’t Make it So

When asked, many people will say they believe in God.  Often such persons admit to seldom going to church, perhaps at Easter and Christmas.  Others who say they believe in God feel little need to go to church at all.  Nevertheless they are convinced they believe in God and who are we to tell them otherwise?  How could we possibly know if they believe in God or not?  I’d like to turn the question around, how do they know they believe in God?  Merely saying they believe is not evidence of belief for me or for them.

 

Is there a difference between thinking you believe and actually believing?  Is believing little more than a thought in our heads which says I believe this or I believe that?  I can think the earth is flat, does that mean I believe it?  Admittedly we can believe anything we can think (Griffiths, A.P pg.128.) but must we believe everything we think?  And what is the difference between thinking something is the case and believing it is the case?  Do we think before we are able to believe or do we believe before we can think?

 

Strange as it may seem thinking and believing are isomorphic; they evolved at the same time.  They are much like the notion of colour and shape.  There is no colour without shape and no shape without colour.  If this is difficult to grasp consider when it was you first believed anything?  Those who have watched infants grasp an understanding of language may recognize belief and thought as they evolved.  For me it was when I walked into the room and my infant daughter saw me and cried out ‘Da-da’.  Those were her first words and it was clear she was convinced her claim was correct.  She believed what she was saying.  This should give us a clue as to what is entailed in believing.  Believing is tied to our language use.  I will make a long story short and assert that believing is the conviction that our language use is correct.  Not true or false but correct.  When we learn language we learn what is correct to say and what is incorrect; what is right language use and wrong language use.  We may make a mistake and misuse language but until we are corrected our conviction holds.  It was correct for my daughter to apply the tag Da-da to me.  This was her first experience of believing. (Wittgenstein, L. #141.)

 

 So saying we believe in God is merely an exercise in correct language use unless we can offer more evidence to determine the truth of our statement.  How do we determine our statement to be true rather than merely correct?  How do we know we are not merely thinking: ‘I believe in God’ and taking it for granted this is all that is necessary?  How do we know such a thought is the truth?  Surely thinking and/or saying ‘I believe’ in God’ is necessary to establish a belief in God but as we have seen it is not sufficient.  There must be something else that is necessary to determine such a belief to be the truth.

 

Traditionally we determine a person’s actual believing from merely the espousing of a belief by measuring the conviction they have for their language use.  A belief entails conviction.  No conviction, no belief however much they may say so.  I knew when my daughter raised her arms and exclaimed ‘Da-da’ she was convinced I was the one who belonged to that tag and that I would accommodate her by picking her up.  She had demonstrated her conviction, her belief and I reinforced her language use by complying with her request.

 

Let’s return to the question: ‘How do you know you believe in God?’  How do you demonstrate your conviction to yourself and to others?  Many of you go to church to worship once a week and consequently hold this, in some small way, is evidence of your conviction.   It is also evidence of your faith.  In philosophical circles evidence of belief is called conviction but when discussing God, evidence of belief is called faith.  Faith and conviction are synonymous terms.  We demonstrate our faith by how we behave; by going to church to worship, by talking about God, by praying to God, by writing about God, by undertaking works in God’s name, by preaching about God’s word.  Whatever it is we do in God’s name is evidence of our faith.  The seeming fanatic standing on the street holding up a sign saying: ‘Repent!’  ‘The End Is Near!’ is demonstrating his/her faith.  We demonstrate our faith by asking God to bless others and thanking him for our blessings.  We demonstrate our faith by trying to follow God’s Commandments and asking his forgiveness when we fail.

While demonstrating our faith is often a public act most of us feel uncomfortable pronouncing on our faith to friends, workmates and acquaintances who are faithless.  Such behaviour is looked upon as unwanted proselytizing.  One consequence of this is that our church community and church organized activities become the focal point for our demonstration of our faith.  Churches provide discussion groups, prayer meetings and mentoring sessions for those seeking to confirm their faith to themselves and others.  Repetition is one means of demonstrating ‘how we know’ we believe in God; it refreshes our willingness to welcome the spirit of God into our life.

 

It may be informative to ask: “Are there degrees of Faith?  Do some people have more faith than others?”  Jesus Christ seems to think so.  In four instances he chastises the apostles for their little faith.  See Mathew 6:30, 8:26, 16:8 and Luke 12:28.  At this time in His ministry it would seem that the apostles should be the ones to have the most faith in God.  After all they had previously been versed in the Jewish tradition of worship and they followed Christ as a demonstration of faith.  In Mathew 8:10 Jesus marvels at the faith of the Centurion and proclaims: “Verily I say unto you, I have not found so great faith, no, not in Israel.” In Mathew 15:28 Jesus heals the daughter of the Canaanite woman proclaiming “O woman, great is the faith: be it unto thee even as thou wilt.”  So we have circumstances of Jesus proclaiming great faith and of little faith.   I think that the implication of these two latter stories is that the faith each expressed is not short-lived though we have no way of determining its longevity.  This, of course, leads to the obvious question: “How much faith does it take to be with Jesus Christ at the end of days and/or to get into heaven?” In Romans 10: 9-10 we read “That if thou shalt confess with thy mouth the Lord Jesus and shalt believe in thine heart that God hath raised him from the dead thou shalt be saved.  For with the heart man believeth unto righteousness; and with the mouth confession is made unto salvation.”(KJV)  At first glance this would seem a minimum requirement for those wishing to be with Christ at the end of days but we must not kid ourselves that this is all that is necessary. 

 

Surely there are many who regularly attend church for an hour or so each week convinced they are paying their dues to God and their tithes to the church because their heart is sincere this day.  After all God set aside this day for worship.  This is what he asks of us because he recognizes we are constantly involved with the business of living during the rest of the week.  Whoa! What are you thinking?  You have a once-a-week God?  No, of course not.  We’re comfortable in the knowledge that he is always there.  You’re comfortable?  Yes.  You’re saying you can’t always attend to him?  Well, yes, if you put it that way.  There’s another way to put it?

 

We are all sinners every day and every day we must renew our commitment to the Lord Jesus Christ.  The worship of the Lord Jesus Christ is not a part-time or casual activity.  Diligence is required.  A fisherman does not cast his line and in a moment retrieve it and leave for home satisfied he has been fishing.  The true fisherman stays at the water all day, casting his line many, many times before he is convinced he has been fishing.  Can we be satisfied that our appearances at church at Easter and Christmas is sufficient to ensure we are destined for heaven?  Can we be convinced that once a week is enough?  What do we risk?  

 

We can’t all be pastors who devote their life to the service of God.  How do we fulfil the demands placed upon us by an all-loving, all-protecting God?  In cases concerning worship God provides the questions.  We must provide the answers.  We each are our own apostle; we initiate and reform ourselves and we are never satisfied with our results.  Is this asking too much?  That depends on what we believe our reward is worth.

©Launt Thompson                                                                                                                               Auckland, New Zealand                                                                                                                       2018

 

 

                                 References

Griffiths, A. P., ed. Knowledge and Belief, Oxford University Press, London (1973)            Wittgenstein, L., On Certainty, Basil Blackwell, Oxford (1974)

 

 

Calling a spade a spade and a shovel a different thing.

I form the light and create darkness: I make peace and create evil: I the Lord do all these things.  Isa 45:7 (KJV)

 

I expect that some will point out that the Hebrew word that is translated as ‘evil’ has also been translated as adversity, affliction, calamity, distress, misery and woe as is evidenced by other English translations of the Bible.  In any case, take your pick.  But remember, other English translators are legally obliged to ensure that their translations differ significantly from each other and from the King James Version which is still under copyright in Britain.  Also we should remember that there is no thing in this world that was not created by God and that includes sin which is evil.

 

Evil is evil is evil is evil (with apologies to Gertrude Stein).  We are all captives of evil for we are all sinners.  “As it is written, There is none righteous [good], no, not one:” Romans 3:10 King James Version (KJV).    God created evil to demonstrate he was a just God; that He could dispense justice to preserve and protect His people and righteously punish His enemies.   He also had to ensure that those who worship Him did so as a result of a free choice.  They had to be free to ignore His word and give themselves up to the selfish desires of this world and turn away from the opportunity to gain an everlasting life with Him.  The time will come when they will recognize, with wailing and gnashing of teeth, the folly of such a cultivated ignorance.

 

Nevertheless we must ask: is there such a thing, as philosophers and theologians would have us believe, as natural evil?  Are earthquakes, tsunamis and landslides evil? Are such events brought about by Satan to trap and destroy God’s people thereby undermining his power?  Was the iceberg that sank the Titanic manipulated by Satan?  Did he also create the white-out phenomenon that greatly contributed to the crash of Air New Zealand flight 901 into Mt Erebus on Ross Island, Antarctica killing all on board?  Merely because we cannot describe such events as good, it does not follow that we can describe them as evil.

 

Some may wish to argue: no, they were not done by Satan but they are still evil.  While we may describe such events as distressing disasters causing misery and woe, it would be misleading to describe them as evil.  Describing such events as evil disguises the immoral personification of evil.  Satan gains nothing by destroying people. His task is to turn people against God; to turn people into destroyers.  God accommodates the suffering and death such events cause.  It is true many lives are cut short by such tragic events but those who worship Him will enjoy freedom from suffering and pain at the end of days.   There is no evil to be blamed if some live shorter lives than others.  

Contrary to natural disasters, evil is a demonic personification.  It is Satan’s influence on all of us.  We must continuously be aware that the potential for evil resides in all of humanity.  We are the perpetrators of evil; we are sinners.  Sinners transgress God’s Commandments.  Satan works to undermine God’s authority and he uses his influence over people to accomplish his treacherous deeds. 

 

But are all of our sins demonic?  Was the pilfering of a few table grapes at the market, as we passed by, a demonic sin?  We were merely tasting them to determine their sweetness.  It wasn’t stealing exactly, it is a common practice in every supermarket.  Surely it had nothing to do with Satan?  Could it be described as immoral?  Think on it for a moment.  Did you buy the grapes after you tasted them?  And did you buy the bunch from which the pilfered grapes came?  That bunch would have been purchased by someone.  Alright, it was a sin but it was a little sin.  Compared to the abominations some people commit this sin is hardly noticeable on the sin scale.  Why, because many people do it?  No, of course not, it is because no one is hurt by it.  The market proprietor gets their money and the other purchaser agrees to pay for what they receive.  Are not you hurt by it?

 

The question is, is there a degree of sinning?  Are some sins less or greater than other sins?  Admittedly, the contexts add confusion to the issue but pilfering grapes is stealing.  Is this a lesser sin than, say, embezzling thousands of dollars from the firm you work for?  Is it a lesser sin to murder one person than a thousand persons?  Surely we describe some sins as more deplorable than others and we recognize the treatment of some humans as unconscionable and disgusting because we believe they are heartless acts.  We recognize a difference between sins that come about as a result of thoughtlessness and those that are perpetrated through a heartlessness.  It is the heart; the selfish urges and desires directing our sinful behaviour that determine the measure of our wrongdoing.  But grape pilferers should not rest comfortable because their deed is seen to be merely a thoughtless one.  Such deeds give the personification of evil a foothold.  We remember what James had to say: “For whoever shall keep the whole law, and yet offend in one point, he is guilty of all.”(James 2:10 KJV)  While some scholars accuse the author of James of indulging in a bit of hyperbole, it is not at all clear that there are lesser and greater sins.  A sin is a sin is a sin is a sin.  It is true that we commit some sins and are ignorant we are doing so but who has the responsibility in such cases?  Do not we all have the responsibility to weigh our actions against the Word of God?  Can we afford to be slack in this respect? What do we risk?

 

Jesus Christ often speaks of a greater sin or a greater commandment which lead some to conclude that some sins are greater than others.  For example Christ says to Pilate “You would have no authority over me, unless it had been given you from above; for this reason he who delivered me up to you has the greater sin." (John 19:11)  But here Jesus is drawing a distinction between the culpability of Pilate and the high priest Caiaphas who should have known scripture.  Both are equally guilty of the persecution of Jesus but Caiaphas’ jealousy and fear of Jesus marks his role as a selfish and heartless one.  Pilate’s rule was compromised because Caiaphas was the leader of the Jewish peoples in Jerusalem. Caiaphas stumbled over the first commandment; “Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind.” (Matt 22:37).  Jesus describes this as the great commandment in the law for obvious reasons.  This commandment is the sine qua non (that without which) of commandments.  If we cannot hold by this commandment all the other commandments are without substance or purpose for they were created to promote our unselfish love of God.  Remove this commandment from the Ten Commandments and the others are merely examples of what some would see as admirable behaviour.  They have no bite, no necessary conclusion for the human spirit.  They become like all other rules conjured up by humanity; you follow them if it is convenient and/or they serve your immediate plans.  But we live under the Grace of Jesus Christ because we love God.  To presume that God is not sovereign or relevant returns a consequence many will endure for eternity.

© 2018 Launt Thompson                                                                                                              Auckland