It takes faith, in the sense of trusting without knowing whether something is true, to understand science as a non-scientist. You must trust that you are receiving the correct ideas. It takes faith to learn a language. You must trust that the concepts you are learning are meaningful and that the words that you use have some sort of validity.
It takes faith to learn about anything.
So it takes faith, in the sense of trusting without knowing whether something is true, to understand religion. But religion can be verified, it is possible to know that God exists. When you seek God and develop intimacy with God, you will know that God is real, God reveals God's ways. I do not ever doubt God's existence. It is not like the mental process that is going on in my head is similar to one in which you are trusting an authority. It is more like one in which you know something very clearly because you have an absolutely clear series of experiences that prove conclusively that what you are seeking is real.
I know God is real and when people say I think God doesn't exist, I feel badly for them, because I know they are ignorant. I know that they don't really know that God doesn't exist, and I do know, because I have experience God. Science cannot prove God does not exist anymore than it can prove Jupiter doesn't exist, but maybe if people are arrogant enough they can prove to themselves that their reasoning and psychologizing about religion equates to real knowledge. It doesn't.
Faith is necessary, because God tests the heart, to see who wants to follow God. God doesn't want to just give people a test in which they make a purely reason-centered selfish choice for God, without any risk or testing the heart. He tests the heart to see who wants to follow God, and who will answer the call to be a moral person.
It takes faith to learn about anything.
So it takes faith, in the sense of trusting without knowing whether something is true, to understand religion. But religion can be verified, it is possible to know that God exists. When you seek God and develop intimacy with God, you will know that God is real, God reveals God's ways. I do not ever doubt God's existence. It is not like the mental process that is going on in my head is similar to one in which you are trusting an authority. It is more like one in which you know something very clearly because you have an absolutely clear series of experiences that prove conclusively that what you are seeking is real.
I know God is real and when people say I think God doesn't exist, I feel badly for them, because I know they are ignorant. I know that they don't really know that God doesn't exist, and I do know, because I have experience God. Science cannot prove God does not exist anymore than it can prove Jupiter doesn't exist, but maybe if people are arrogant enough they can prove to themselves that their reasoning and psychologizing about religion equates to real knowledge. It doesn't.
Faith is necessary, because God tests the heart, to see who wants to follow God. God doesn't want to just give people a test in which they make a purely reason-centered selfish choice for God, without any risk or testing the heart. He tests the heart to see who wants to follow God, and who will answer the call to be a moral person.
