{"id":5711,"date":"2018-01-08T13:23:33","date_gmt":"2018-01-08T19:23:33","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/tampaseo.expert\/focus\/?p=5711"},"modified":"2018-01-08T13:23:33","modified_gmt":"2018-01-08T19:23:33","slug":"blind-faith-believe","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/tampaseo.expert\/focus\/2018\/01\/08\/blind-faith-believe\/","title":{"rendered":"Do You Have to Have Blind Faith to Believe?"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><strong>By Lee Parish\u00a0<\/strong><br \/>\n\u201cOh, you have to have faith to believe\u00a0in\u00a0the Bible.\u201d Have you heard\u00a0someone say that, or\u00a0something similar?\u00a0Those who say such things may mean well, but\u00a0regardless of their intentions, their\u00a0observation\u00a0carries with it damaging implications. Implicit within the above statement is this:\u00a0\u201cyou have to go out on a limb to believe the Bible.\u201d\u00a0Another implication is that the Bible does not have the power to produce faith in\u00a0unbelievers;\u00a0rather one must already possess faith in God in order to believe the Bible\u2019s teachings.\u00a0<span data-ccp-props=\"{&quot;201341983&quot;:0,&quot;335559731&quot;:720,&quot;335559738&quot;:120,&quot;335559739&quot;:120,&quot;335559740&quot;:360}\">\u00a0<\/span><br \/>\nBiblical faith\u00a0is often misunderstood. Biblical faith is not some\u00a0shot in the dark hope without proof.\u00a0Neither\u00a0is\u00a0it\u00a0a bridge that extends from the safe\u00a0foundations\u00a0of knowledge to hang over the deep chasm of\u00a0the unknown.\u00a0Rather\u00a0Biblical faith is as Dick Sztanyo put it, \u201cthe volitional commitment of an informed intellect.\u201d<span data-fontsize=\"12\">1\u00a0<\/span>Faith is informed by knowledge and therefore knowledge comes before faith; this is a consistent theme throughout scripture.\u00a0Biblically speaking, one simply cannot\u00a0have faith\u00a0in something without prior knowledge of what that something is and why one should believe in it.\u00a0The Bible is\u00a0intended and\u00a0designed to give\u00a0the knowledge necessary\u00a0to bring about saving faith in the hearts of honest seekers.\u00a0<span data-ccp-props=\"{&quot;201341983&quot;:0,&quot;335559738&quot;:120,&quot;335559739&quot;:120,&quot;335559740&quot;:360}\">\u00a0<\/span><br \/>\nIn John\u2019s\u00a0Gospel account, the apostle offers a purpose statement for his writing: \u201cAnd truly Jesus did many other signs in the presence of His disciples, which are not written in this book; but these are written that you may believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, and that believing you may have life in His name\u201d (John 20:30-31).\u00a0Notice three key words in this text:\u00a0<i>signs, belief,<\/i><b>\u00a0<\/b>and\u00a0<i>life<\/i>.\u00a0John refers to the seven specific\u00a0signs\u00a0he records the Christ doing during His earthly ministry (2:1-11; 4:46-54; 5:1-9; 6:1-14; 6:16-21; 9:1-12; 11:1-46).\u00a0Merril\u00a0Tenney\u00a0states that each of these signs served to reveal\u00a0a certain\u00a0characteristic of\u00a0Christ; specifically\u00a0Jesus is demonstrated to be the master of quality, distance, time, quantity, natural law, misfortune, and death.<span data-fontsize=\"12\">2<\/span><span data-fontsize=\"12\">\u00a0<\/span>In other words, these signs progressively reveal the power and superiority of Jesus.\u00a0Each of these signs was\u00a0designed to point the reader toward\u00a0a conclusion, namely that Jesus is the Messiah.\u00a0The Gospel of John was not written solely to Christians; rather God has preserved it to\u00a0declare Christ to believers and unbelievers alike throughout the centuries.\u00a0This faith in Jesus, based upon the evidence given, could then lead to eternal life.\u00a0<span data-ccp-props=\"{&quot;201341983&quot;:0,&quot;335559738&quot;:120,&quot;335559739&quot;:120,&quot;335559740&quot;:360}\">\u00a0<\/span><br \/>\nThe claim of Holy Scripture being able to produce saving faith by way of the knowledge it imparts is not unique to John. Paul would encourage his son in the faith Timothy to\u00a0\u201ccontinue in\u00a0what you have learned and have firmly believed, knowing from whom you learned it and how from childhood you have been acquainted with the sacred writings, which are able to make you wise for salvation through faith in Christ Jesus\u201d (2 Timothy\u00a03:14-15). These \u201csacred writings\u201d are equivalent to \u201cScripture\u201d in verse 16, and would encompass both Old and New Testaments. Paul declares that the sacred\u00a0writings\u00a0are able\u00a0to\u00a0produce faith in Jesus\u00a0as the Christ. This word\u00a0<i>able<\/i>\u00a0is translated from the Greek\u00a0<i>dunamena<\/i>\u00a0which\u00a0has to do with capability and power, or being equal to a task.<span data-fontsize=\"12\">3<\/span><span data-fontsize=\"12\">\u00a0<\/span>Therefore the\u00a0Scriptures are capable of producing\u00a0faith in the honest seeker.\u00a0<span data-ccp-props=\"{&quot;201341983&quot;:0,&quot;335559738&quot;:120,&quot;335559739&quot;:120,&quot;335559740&quot;:360}\">\u00a0<\/span><br \/>\nWhile evidence of a Creator is all around (Romans 1:19-20), it is the\u00a0Word of God that produces saving faith (Romans\u00a010:17). Paul would\u00a0write\u00a0that he was so bold in proclaiming the\u00a0Word of God because \u201c<b>\u202f<\/b>for it is the power of God to salvation for everyone who believes, for the Jew first and also for the Greek.\u201d\u00a0(Romans\u00a01:16).\u00a0The Bible is powerful because it\u00a0tells of the God who created us\u00a0and who is willing and able to save us. The Bible is powerful for it is the very Word of God (1 Thessalonians\u00a02:13).\u00a0If an honest soul picks up the Bible, having never heard of God, faith can be produced which can result in salvation. Praise God for His wonderful gift!<span data-ccp-props=\"{&quot;201341983&quot;:0,&quot;335559738&quot;:120,&quot;335559739&quot;:120,&quot;335559740&quot;:360}\">\u00a0<\/span><br \/>\n<span data-ccp-props=\"{&quot;201341983&quot;:0,&quot;335559738&quot;:120,&quot;335559739&quot;:120,&quot;335559740&quot;:360}\">\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>By Lee Parish\u00a0 \u201cOh, you have to have faith to believe\u00a0in\u00a0the Bible.\u201d Have you heard\u00a0someone say that, or\u00a0something similar?\u00a0Those who say such things may mean well, but\u00a0regardless of their intentions, their\u00a0observation\u00a0carries with it damaging implications. Implicit within the above statement is this:\u00a0\u201cyou have to go out on a limb to believe the Bible.\u201d\u00a0Another implication is [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"give_campaign_id":0,"_et_pb_use_builder":"","_et_pb_old_content":"","_et_gb_content_width":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[59,66],"tags":[118,61,1051,1318,1307],"class_list":["post-5711","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-christian-living","category-think-excerpts","tag-bible","tag-faith","tag-feature","tag-lee-parish","tag-march-2013","et-doesnt-have-format-content","et_post_format-et-post-format-standard"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v27.4 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>Do You Have to Have Blind Faith to Believe? - Focus Press<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/tampaseo.expert\/focus\/2018\/01\/08\/blind-faith-believe\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Do You Have to Have Blind Faith to Believe? - Focus Press\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"By Lee Parish\u00a0 \u201cOh, you have to have faith to believe\u00a0in\u00a0the Bible.\u201d Have you heard\u00a0someone say that, or\u00a0something similar?\u00a0Those who say such things may mean well, but\u00a0regardless of their intentions, their\u00a0observation\u00a0carries with it damaging implications. 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