the great heist

A common and popular concept of faith is captured in this Snoopy cartoon. The appeal of this idea of faith resonates with both Christians and skeptics of Christianity. Why so, would you think? Maybe its the ambiguity of what we're "holding on tight" to, what "the going" is, and what is the notion of "windy"? That about gets it. In other words, each person is left to fill in their own idea of the words used in this cartoon to fit their biases.

The world that is skeptical of Christianity sees the tree as a positive self concept - "I am powerful, unstoppable, beautiful, and so on. "The going" is our circumstances and they are windy when they challenge our well being or what we want for ourselves.

This is a very appealing idea of faith to the human condition.

Yet when the Christian claims to "hold tight" to their faith in Jesus, the world responds like this:

       “Refusal to think leads to faith. Blind acceptance and obedience leads to 
       faith. Faith is belief without evidence or in spite of evidence to the  contrary. 
      It’s wishing – nothing more."

In other words, its OK for me, the skeptic, to trust something I believe even though I cannot defend it through science, but its not OK for you Christians. The skeptic says, "I am reasonable, but you, the Christian, are just being emotional." The world's reliance on faith is evidenced in how often they claim, "you must trust your heart." In a recent Hall Mark Christmas movie the star said, "our heart can tell us more than any spreadsheet ever could." And everyone goes, "yeah!" Business people take pride in "trusting their gut." It's quite common for everyone to operate on faith.

But let a Christian's heart defend its trust in God based on an assurance of unseen evidence (their heart), then the world laughs and says he/she is just wishing. The truth is that the world's view of faith is therapeutic and not transformational. Its like taking medicine to make us feel better when the medicine doesn't cure anything.

Christians must view their faith differently, as transformational. Christian faith does not view "the going" as circumstances and does not view "windy" as something that is working against them. "The going" is being entrenched in an adoring relationship with the King of the Universe and the wind is to help us fly our kite. What the world fails to see is that the power of faith is in the object of the faith, not in the extent in which we believe.

Has the church let the world get away with a great heist. Has the world stolen the notion of faith so Christians don't readily and purposefully defend the hope that is in them? Why do Christians feel they have to prove their faith with physical evidence? That's the antithesis of faith (unseen evidence) and not even what skeptics do to support their own faith. When will Christians stand their ground and call the skeptics hand? Why isn't it enough for a Christian to say, "I trust God because my heart is sold out to Jesus and that's more clear evidence than any spreadsheet could ever provide."

"The things we think are the most important things theologically are not the most important things to God. He wants your heart."  Jon Tyson, pastor Church of the City NYC

Learning to articulate the Christian faith as a heart not based on physical evidence with the same confidence the world defends their own faith is something certainly worth pondering ......