We often want certainty in life. It’s also that way when it comes to matters of faith. And if we aren’t careful, we end up reducing our faith to magical formulas of mathematical exactitude. And in trying to make everything we believe so certain, we end up destroying the very faith we claim to ultimately believe in and preach.
In this podcast episode, I talk about the differing ways that various Christian traditions have replaced the mystery of the faith with that of certainty. I discuss how we’ve put the proverbial cart before the horse when it comes to faith and assurance, and how often we get this backwards.
I examine how genuine faith is not built on the certainty of the things we can see, but on the things we cannot see, and is ultimately grounded in the hope of things yet to come. And, perhaps this is a reason why (among many other reasons) why church attendance is now below 50% in the United States. For people have seen the cute formulaic answers we have reduced the gospel to as being unable to speak to the great uncertainties that ultimately plague our lives.
Exodus 3:10-12 “…this shall be the sign to you that it is I who have sent you: when you have brought the people out of Egypt, you shall worship God at this mountain…” (NASB)
Hebrews 11:1 “Now faith is the assurance of things hoped for, the conviction of things not seen.” (NASB)
