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faith.html
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<!DOCTYPE html PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD XHTML 1.0 Transitional//EN"
"http://www.w3.org/TR/xhtml1/DTD/xhtml1-transitional.dtd">
<html xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml" xml:lang="en"
lang="en" dir="ltr">
<head>
<meta http-equiv="Content-Type" content="text/html; charset=utf-8" />
<title>faith</title>
<link rel="stylesheet" media="all" type="text/css" href="all.css" />
<link rel="stylesheet" media="screen" type="text/css" href="screen.css" />
<link rel="stylesheet" media="print" type="text/css" href="print.css" />
<link rel="stylesheet" media="all" type="text/css" href="export.css" />
</head>
<body>
<div class="dokuwiki export">
<!-- TOC START -->
<div id="dw__toc" class="dw__toc">
<h3 class="toggle">Table of Contents</h3>
<div>
<ul class="toc">
<li class="level2"><div class="li"><a href="#desiring_god">Desiring God</a></div></li>
<li class="level2"><div class="li"><a href="#renewing_of_your_mind_and_how_to_have_it">Renewing of your Mind and How to Have it</a></div></li>
<li class="level2"><div class="li"><a href="#think">Think</a></div>
<ul class="toc">
<li class="level3"><div class="li"><a href="#foreword">Foreword</a></div></li>
<li class="level3"><div class="li"><a href="#introduction">Introduction</a></div></li>
<li class="level3"><div class="li"><a href="#clarifying_the_aim_of_this_book">Clarifying the Aim of this book</a></div></li>
<li class="level3"><div class="li"><a href="#deep_help_from_a_dead_friend">Deep Help from a Dead Friend</a></div></li>
<li class="level3"><div class="li"><a href="#clarifying_the_meaning_of_thinking">Clarifying the meaning of Thinking</a></div></li>
<li class="level3"><div class="li"><a href="#chapter_4mental_adultery_is_no_escape">Chapter 4: Mental Adultery is no Escape</a></div></li>
<li class="level3"><div class="li"><a href="#chapter_5coming_to_faith_through_thinking">Chapter 5: Coming to Faith Through Thinking</a></div></li>
<li class="level3"><div class="li"><a href="#chapter_6love_for_godtreasuring_god_with_all_your_mind">Chapter 6: Love For God: Treasuring God with All Your Mind</a></div></li>
<li class="level3"><div class="li"><a href="#chapter_7jesus_meets_the_relativists">Chapter 7: Jesus Meets The Relativists</a></div></li>
<li class="level3"><div class="li"><a href="#chapter_8the_immorality_of_relativism">Chapter 8: The Immorality of Relativism</a></div></li>
<li class="level3"><div class="li"><a href="#chapter_9facing_the_challenge_of_anti-intellectualism">Chapter 9: Facing the Challenge of Anti-Intellectualism</a></div></li>
<li class="level3"><div class="li"><a href="#chapter_10you_have_hidden_these_things">Chapter 10: You Have Hidden These Things</a></div></li>
<li class="level3"><div class="li"><a href="#chapter_11in_the_wisdom_of_god_the_world_did_not_know_god_through_wisdom">Chapter 11: In The Wisdom Of God, the World did not know God through Wisdom</a></div></li>
<li class="level3"><div class="li"><a href="#chapter_12the_knowledge_that_loves">Chapter 12: The Knowledge That Loves</a></div></li>
<li class="level3"><div class="li"><a href="#chapter_13all_scholarship_is_for_the_love_of_god_and_man">Chapter 13: All Scholarship is for the Love of God and Man</a></div></li>
<li class="level3"><div class="li"><a href="#appendix_on_founding_bethlehem_institute">Appendix on Founding Bethlehem Institute</a></div></li>
</ul>
</li>
<li class="level2"><div class="li"><a href="#otha_stuff">Otha stuff</a></div></li>
</ul>
</div>
</div>
<!-- TOC END -->
<p>
Faith appears to be a placeholder term and its meaning shifts depending on whom you ask.
</p>
<p>
According to the bible, faith means “Now faith is the assurance of things hoped for, the conviction of things not seen” (Hebrews 11:1, esv).
</p>
<p>
In the plain sense, this means that you cannot be sure – an assurance based on hope and without direct evidence. Some might claim this excludes the four other senses that provide direct evidence, but this is a childishly silly response; I doubt the same people would want the same pedantic knee-jerk applied to all the other verses in scripture. So, faith is explicitly stated as without physical evidence, and this comports with other uses in scripture (i.e. “doubting” thomas).
</p>
<p>
Additionally, the Christian faith is (currently) centered around “knowing” that God exists, it loves you, and wants a personal relationship with you. Since the Christian 'sees by faith,' then 'knowing' is immediately and obviously impossible. Hope is possible and feeling is possible, but that is all.
</p>
<p>
Thinking about this mathematically, using F and E for 'faith' and 'evidence' and K for 'reasonable conclusion':
</p>
<p>
For a believer, K = F + E.
For a nonbeliever, K = E
</p>
<p>
Since F = 'things I hope for' and hope has no place in an unbiased search for truth, it has no place in a search for 'K' and will more than likely drive the equation to a false 'K'
</p>
<p>
On more speculative terms – why would a God create a world full of measurable and unbreakable physical laws, then require - demand even - that it be sought in a way that excludes evidence? It cannot be for reasons as trite as 'love' as evidence doesn't exclude love. I suspect it has to do with the unfalsifiable nature of the argument by faith – it is an argument which can never be totally defeated.
</p>
</div></body>
</html>