Faith Part One
Before we learn about Faith, we must understand belief. Belief is distinct from Faith.
Belief is when somebody tells you something you don’t know on your own,
· Either through direct first hand experience
· or because you figured it out
But you make the choice to accept what they say as true.
In such cases, the information at your disposal does not necessitate your belief. Therefore, you must make a choice to regard the other as trustworthy.
It requires a decision to trust the other person – to trust the witness – the one giving testimony.
We operate on the principle of belief in testimony all the time.
Most of what you know of science, medicine, even history does not come from
· direct first hand experience
· or because you figured it out
How do you know that in 1492 Columbus sailed the ocean blue?
Because someone else told you and you made a decision that that testimony was trustworthy.
It we didn’t do that, then all we would have to go on would be our own personal experience and we should doubt everything else – but that is a crazy way to live.
We must begin by accepting the truthfulness of those around us.
People must live with a default of trust in the testimony of other people which allows us to make use of not only the knowledge we’ve gained first hand but of that given us by others.
Faith is belief in God’s testimony
In the supernatural virtue of faith, God speaks to you, God himself witness to you and you make the decision to trust that witness, to trust God.
In so doing you accept the content of what He says and therefore come to learn about supernatural realities, which are far beyond what any human intelligence could know on its own.
Faith is the virtue whereby we accept divine revelation as true
It is the virtue where we accept what God has said in Jesus Christ and which we receive through Scripture, Tradition and the Church, safeguarded by the Magisterium.
Faith (like all belief) is a decision to trust the witness.
We only believe people whose character we trust.
Faith is based on an assessment of the character of the person who is speaking.
God is the witness in the case of faith.
He has revealed to us through the Scriptures, Tradition and the Church things we could not know on our own. Such as the meaning and purpose of suffering.
· Suffering is not in vain. God allows suffering to bring about a greater good for ourselves and others. Therefore, we can embrace it peacefully, with the confidently patient expectation that all shall be well in the end.
Only God can speak with authority on these kinds matters because only God would know. And we can trust him and literally stake our lives on what he has told us.
There are two steps in transmitting faith (Using two examples: Phillip and Nathaniel; the Samaritan Woman)
The next day, after Jesus had decided to leave for Galilee, he met Philip and said, 'Follow me'. Philip came from the same town, Bethsaida, as Andrew and Peter.
Philip found Nathanael[*h] and said to him, 'We have found the one Moses wrote about in the Law, the one about whom the prophets wrote: he is Jesus son of Joseph, from Nazareth'. ‘From Nazareth?' said Nathanael 'Can anything good come from that place?' 'Come and see' replied Philip. When Jesus saw Nathanael coming he said of him, 'There is an Israelite who deserves the name, incapable of deceit'. 'How do you know me?' said Nathanael 'Before Philip came to call you,' said Jesus 'I saw you under the fig tree.' Nathanael answered, 'Rabbi, you are the Son of God, you are the King of Israel'.
Jesus replied, 'You believe that just because I said: I saw you under the fig tree. You will see greater things than that.'
1. The merely human witness (Phillip says to Nathaniel, “Come and see, I have found the Messiah); Phillip facilitates an encounter with the Divine Witness, Jesus;
2. The encounter with the divine witness leads Nathaniel to a certainty of faith.
Faith is accepting the divine witness, Jesus. The human witness merely facilitated the encounter with Jesus.
If faith were based on the merely human witness then every time the human witness proved not trustworthy, it would cause fresh doubts. But if your faith is based on God’s witness, with some supernatural encounter with the Lord, himself, which was originally prompted by the merely human witness, but is not founded on that merely human witness, then nothing can shake your faith.
Because certainty of faith is proportionate to the credibility of the witness.
If you can discredit a character you can discredit what they say. Attorney’s do this all the time in a courtroom. If they can cast into doubt the credibility of the witness then the jurrors wont believe their testimony. The devil acts in this way (I’m not drawing a connection with attorneys and the devil). The devil seeks to destroy the credibility of the Church to destroy the merely human testimony. But our faith is not based on the human testimony of the Church. Our faith is founded on the second step, the encounter with the divine witness, Jesus. And Jesus cannot lie or be mistaken. The credibility of Jesus is total.
If certainty of faith is proportionate to the credibility of the witness. And if the credibility of the witness is total, therefore the certainty of faith is total.
This prevents the possibility of scandal.
Scandal happens when a person you thought was trustworthy, lies or does something gravely sinful. If your own faith was founded on a merely human witness, when that witness is shaken your faith is shaken. But if the human witness was just the facilitator of the encounter with Jesus, the divine witness who gave you faith, then if the human witness fails, you may be sad for that person but your faith will not be shaken because it was founded on the Rock of Jesus.