Real Faith Vs. Said Faith
By Kirk Andersen

Belief (n) is defined as 1. conviction that certain things are true. 2. religious faith. 3.trust or confidence. 4. creed or doctrine. 5. an opinion; expectation; judgement.

Religion (n) 1. belief in and worship of God or gods. 2. a specific system of belief or worship, etc. built around God, a code of ethics, a philosophy of life, etc.

Faith (n) 1. unquestioning belief, specif. in God, religion, etc. 2. a particular religion. 3. complete trust or confidence. loyalty -good (or bad) faith (in)sincerity; (dis)honesty.

OK now that the technicalities of terms are defined and over and done with, lets get into the real meat of this article.

How do you know if your faith is true faith or just said faith. Well I think part of that is answered in the old saying practice what you preach. That my friends is easier said than done, and so is having faith. You have to reach inside yourself and search your soul. How do I do that you might ask? First take some time to examine your life, your job, your relationships with family, friends, etc...

This may raise more questions. All I can say about that is this. Yes more questions will come, because you are searching deeper and deeper either into your soul or into your life and what you think you might believe. I believe true faith comes from the soul through the heart and the mind. Not just from the heart and definitely not just from the mind. Beware for Satan, the enemy, will have you believe that faith comes only from your mind. Your mind is where you think from and faith isn't just about thinking, it's also feeling. Don't be deceived into believing that faith is just feeling either. For what comes from your feelings? Lust disguised as love, that is what comes of feelings.

This makes the whole concept of faith difficult. Some think that faith is based on feelings, others on what religious scriptures say. I believe that faith comes from not only the heart and soul but also from God himself. The problem is that Satan tries to distort everything that comes from God, and man messes up the rest. The key is to evaluate everything and trust in God and the Truth. But how do I do that? That's where faith comes in, and that is also where more difficulties come from.

What exactly is faith? As stated in the definition it is unquestioning belief. For most people on this planet that belief is in God, or a superior being that is responsible for creating this world. When we are unsure of our faith does that mean that we don't have any? Or does it simply mean that we are examining it? According to the definition questioning belief is not faith. Then what is questioning belief? Non faith? Anti-faith? That can't be because Anti-faith is no faith and no faith means no belief and that is Atheism.

Does faith have limits? If not then why would Jesus say to his disciples "Oh ye of little faith?" I don't think there are limits to faith, however, I do believe there are different levels. Often people will speak of pure or true faith. That is the type or level of faith that Jesus had/has in God, his disciples on the other hand had little faith or possibly partial faith. Take for example the origin of the term "Doubting Thomas".

It comes from John 20:24 - 25 Now Thomas (called Didymus), one of the Twelve, was not with the other disciples when Jesus came. So the other disciples told him, "We have seen the Lord!" But he said to them, "Unless I see the nail marks in his hands and put my finger where the nails were, and put my hand into his side, I will not believe it." (NIV)

This is also the reasoning of many atheists, if you can't see him (God) and can't touch him then he doesn't, exist that is. To be silly for awhile (and digress more than a bit), Douglas Adams writes in his book The Hitch Hikers Guide To The Galaxy an argument, or debate, between God and Man on the existence or non-existence of God. After some funny banter back and forth, and a reference to a fictitious creature called a Babel fish, Man argues "It proves you exist therefore you don't QED". When I first read that I didn't know what the heck QED meant. After looking up QED in the dictionary. Whoa! another definition, OK.

QED [L. quod erat demonstradum] which was to be proved.

As I was saying, after looking up QED in the dictionary, I still had very little idea of what Mr. Adams was talking about. That is par for the course when it comes to Douglas Adams' works. Following this type of logic God is actually a paradox. No that doesn't mean God is really Ben Kasey and John Kildare. It means that God just is, even though it seems he couldn't possibly be. If he isn't then some sort of power had to start the universe. Even scientists who believe in the Big Bang theory must admit that something had to make the original molecules unstable, Evolution or not. But since I don't believe in Evolution, and never really did, I won't discuss it here. [UPDATE: Although I dont believe that Man is decended from Apes, I do believe in what some call "MicroEvolution" that is Evolution within a specific species. I believe that Man has changed through the years and that Modern Man is slightly different from Adam & Eve, but they are still identifiable as Man. That is all I am going to say about that for now (Updated April 2005)]

I will say, however, that I believe there are certain things in this existence that mankind is not capable of knowing or comprehending. So why even bother. We bother because we are curious, we want to know what we can't possibly understand. It is part of our nature, perhaps a part that has been corrupted by Satan. Curiosity, and possibly that small part of us, has been with us since Adam & Eve ate the Fruit (often misidentified as an Apple, the plain fact is we don't know what kind of fruit it was) from the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil.

What does curiosity have to do with faith? Again it is the sense or feeling of having to know or understand that which we can't. Sadly I believe, it also keeps us from achieving total true faith. Be what it may this has been a small sampling of things I believe and think. I know at times it sounds very logical and very intelligent, but it also sounds like mindless babble from an idiot. That is exactly what it is, it is a combination of both, for there is a part of me that understands that man is influenced by both God and Satan. Unfortunately most of us, myself included, let Satan's influence win. Fortunately that victory is only a small battle in the whole War of things.

I struggle every day to do what I think God wants me to, sometimes it is exactly what he wants, sometimes not. How much of it is me not believing enough and how much of it is Satan's influence? Does this mean that me and my faith is only said faith? Or is this part of growing in faith. Contradiction is a very confusing thing, as is how man's mind works.

Perhaps this hasn't explained anything about true faith versus said faith. What matters is it makes one think about the debate. Are you A Christian or A Churchian? A Jew or A synagogueian (or is it Synagogueish? Synagoguejew? (Bless You)). A Moslem or A Mosqueslem? An Atheist or A No-Building of Worshipian? (HUh? Atheists are plain Non-Believers, they don't worship anything.) I happen to be a Christian of no longer any denomination. I worship God, not his house. I do believe that when all is said and done I will be spending eternity with both my father God and my earthly father in Heaven and NOT in the Lake of Eternal Flame (or damnation) with Satan and his victims.

You can Order it at Amazon.com today.

If you enjoyed this article about faith you might want to read Norman Mailer's The Gospel According To The Son.

I reviewed it on Amazon.com on 15 June, 1998, and this is what I wrote: Thought Provoking Christ Point-Of-View The Gospel According to The Son, is a well written, thought provoking book written from Christ's point-of-view. If Jesus Christ had written an auto-biography this would be it. It gives you a feeling of insight to what it must have been like for Christ to be God with Us. The stuggle of being both Man & God is beautifully told in this book. If it isn't now this book should be considered a classic work of Christian writting.