Faith is not based on a rational consideration of argument and counter-argument but rather on something much more radical and transformative

I don’t believe that faith in Christ and God can be delivered through a rational consideration of argument and counter-argument. Good quality discussions and debates are important in all our journeys, whether we are Christians, otherwise religious, or not religious. And as we exercise, with healthy curiosity, our God given minds when considering important issues, opening ourselves up to new ways of thinking and believing. But having faith in God and Christ can never be about simply weighing-up evidence for and against a set of propositions and beliefs, with this somehow, after careful consideration, coming down on the side of God and Jesus for us to become believers.

So what is faith then, and specifically what is Christian faith based on? Christian faith is in one way harder to cultivate than the weighing-up of arguments, because it must involve a step into the unknown. That is, a step which is taken without having any knock-down evidence which can confirm that this step is the right one. However, the start of faith is also, in another way, easier than the weighing-up of arguments. Why? Because, when this step into the unknown is taken, I believe it miraculously opens a door to God and Christ coming into a person’s life and radically changing it, but, crucially, without this person having to tie herself up in mental knots getting to the ‘bottom of it all’ via argument before she engages with God and Christ as a new believer. Therefore, for numerous reasons unique to that person’s life and her circumstances, the start of her faith is made often with little or no certainty from her about God’s and Christ’s existence or purpose; only from a very personal sense of disquiet and disturbance that that person’s life, and her responses to her life, can’t remain the same. Consequently, she is in some way profoundly dissatisfied with her life and how things are and so is looking toward the possibility, however remote in her eyes, for deep and everlasting healing and change.

Christian faith begins, then, not from a careful and detailed consideration of argument and counter-argument which then allows a person to finally agree to a set of propositions or beliefs about God and Jesus. Rather, it is from a more heart-felt and personal invitation which a person makes to God and Christ that things radically change and that a person’s life is completely recommitted and refocused as a result. This invitation may be made then with little hope that the change will actually happen, but nevertheless the invitation carries with it the expectation that if her life does change, it must be a root and branch transformation.

This is and extract from my new book ‘Wrestling ‘Til Daybreak’ which I am presently writing that explores the many struggles and questions we all have (whether we are Christian believers, otherwise religious, or not at all religious) about faith, life, and God. If you want a copy of the latest draft for FREE please contact me via Google+ and I can send you a copy.