Faith is not the Opposite of Knowledge

One of the most common misunderstandings I see among skeptics of Christianity is the false dichotomy between faith and knowledge. Many people see that they are opposites - that the less knowledge we have means the more faith we need, and conversely, the more we learn, the less we need faith. That's a "false dichotomy" - an "either-or" situation that really isn't either-or.

This false dichotomy becomes a roadblock between someone and faith in Christ. If faith and knowledge are opposites, they reason, then eventually we'll learn enough that we won't need any faith at all.

First, there is no dichotomy here. Faith and knowledge are not opposites. Take an airplane, for example. You can know absolutely nothing about airplanes, and yet still put your trust in one in order to fly to another city. Or, you can know all that there is to know airplanes and still put your trust in one to make that exact same flight to that exact same city. Faith and knowledge are not opposites. As we learn more about how airplanes work, we don't need to decrease the amount of faith we must put in one in order to reach our destination.

Second, more knowledge can actually increase faith. The person who knows all about airplanes has even more reasons to put his faith in one. Someone who knows very little about airplanes may hesitate to put his faith in one because of unfounded fear. The more I learn about the Bible, the more my faith in Christ grows, not less. Likewise, the more I learn about the world around me, the more my faith in Christ grows, not less. The more scientific discoveries I learn about, the more I'm convinced that God designed and created this universe, and so my faith in Him grows ... by gaining knowledge, not by the absence of it.

Third, we will never exhaust the body of knowledge that can be learned. No matter how much we learn, we will not know all there is to know, and we will always have a need to trust God with the unknown. Critics accuse the faithful of having a "God of the gaps" - that if we can't explain something yet, we just assign it to God. Then we learn about it, and reduce our view of God accordingly. True, some people do that sometimes, but that does not explain all of faith, by any stretch of the imagination. Furthermore, secular humanists have a "science of the gaps" - that if they can't explain something yet, they just assign it to a godless scientific process. Granted that the scientific process will inevitable explain more and more, but to assume that there cannot be any activity of God to account for Creation is a science of the gaps as a working assumption.

Finally, God wants us to have an informed faith. He does not expect us to just believe for no reason ("blind faith"). He reveals all kinds of reasons to believe in Him. He invites us to consider the universe to see that He has created everything. He reveals why He has done certain things in human history. He explains how the Christ was the centerpiece of His plan from Day One. Jesus shows the scars in His wrists and side in order to use more knowledge to promote more faith. Jesus appeared to scores of people after the resurrection to offer knowledge to build faith in something very "unscientific."

"Informed faith" is not an oxymoron. It's a divine expectation.

The Power of the Very Small

Part of the package of pastoring is that things like kidney stones become a lot more public than for other folks. And I have appreciated your expressions of care and concern that have come with it.

Being a novice in the whole stone thing, I am learning what many of you have already shared - especially the phenomenal amount of pain that can be caused by something so small. I was reduced to a curled ball of writhing whining in pursuit of only one thing - relief. A 2mm mineral pellet took down a 175-lb man. The power of the very small.

This reminds me of James 3:1-12, which speaks of the power of the tongue - like a small rudder, it can cause an entire ship to change directions. Entire lives can be changed by a spoken word. Indeed, wars have been started by the power of the tongue. The power of the very small.

Sin is the same way - even the "small" ones can take you down! We have the mistaken notion that small sins are less dangerous to our souls. They may be less dangerous in the impact they have on others - stealing candy poses less danger to the victim than taking a bat to his kneecaps. But that doesn't mean that selling out your character for candy poses less danger to your soul than selling out your character to get violent revenge. Both eat away at your inner being with the same voracious appetite. "Small" sins can destroy us as readily as the "big" ones. The power of the very small.

But Jesus also talks positively of the power of the very small. He says in Luke 17:5-6 that even the faith of a mustard seed has the power to move mountains. Frequently, Jesus refers to little children as the models of the kind of faith that we can have. Even the Kingdom of God is likened to a mustard seed, one of the smallest seeds, but grows into one of the largest plants in a typical garden in Jerusalem. Not one single Christian should feel too small (or too young, too weak, too inexperienced, too uneducated, too whatever) to be used mightily in God's kingdom. All it takes is the faith of a mustard seed. The power of the very small.

Just like a little kidney stone can take out a grown man, your faith can move mountains. Abdominable pain will forever remind me of what even a little faith can do.