This essay continues a sequence. Read the previous one here.
So many of the “faithful”, and so few of the truly wise. How come?
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We have been exploring the word “faith”.
In an earlier essay we established that faith is a higher form of trust. Faith is facing the unknown with childlike trust in the power of Love and Truth. This is equivalent to childlike trust in The Word.
How does true faith manifest?
The kingdom of heaven is like to a grain of mustard seed,
— KJV, Matt 13: 31-32
which a man took,
and sowed in his field:
Which indeed is the least of all seeds:
but when it is grown,
it is the greatest among herbs,
and becometh a tree,
so that the birds of the air come and lodge in the branches thereof.
If ye had faith
— Luke 17:6
as a grain of mustard seed,
ye might say unto this sycamine tree,
Be thou plucked up by the root, and be thou planted in the sea;
and it should obey you.
We explored these passages in the previous essay. The seedling shoots upwards to the heavens, even though its roots are fixed in the earth. True faith is directed upwards at spiritual things, not at earthly goals, even though it manifests in practical earthly activities.
There is much today that is called “faith” that does not qualify as the spiritually pure seed of true faith.
We shall consider a few types in this and the following essay.
Faith out of Habit
For had ye believed Moses, ye would have believed me: for he wrote of me.
— John 5: 46
A person who believes out of habit has a “faith” that is a function of upbringing. What he calls “belief” is a set of customs, habits, and thinking patterns he acquired as a child or at a relatively early age.
If such a person’s parents or educators had taught him something else, he would “believe” that other thing today.
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He interprets The Word only according to what he was taught. He does not try to open his mind like a child to learn afresh from first principles of Love and Truth.
Because of this he does not really know the content of The Word, even though he thinks he does, and even though he can recite parts of it from memory.
For had ye believed Moses, ye would have believed me: for he wrote of me.
Christ addressed these words to those who said: “We need no new revelations; we have Abraham as our father; we have the law and the prophets; that is good enough for us”.
Many of these people were very “knowledgeable” about the Mosaic law. But such statements were made out of habit, not knowledge.
The Failure of Learnedness
We established earlier that spiritual knowledge only comes to him who tries to live out spiritual precepts in a spirit of love (ref. “Act To Experience To Know“).
Had such people studied the law and the prophets with an independent and open mind, and above all tried to live accordingly in a spirit of love, they would immediately have found value in Christ’s Word.
They would have experienced that The Word does not nullify the law or the prophets, but provides a new and deeper understanding of them.
They would have recognized that The Word clarifies those burning questions that any independent-minded reader of the scriptures has.
In the same way, followers of Christ today need to understand that The Word, which is infinite and eternal, continues to be revealed in new ways that do not invalidate Christ’s Word but only deepen our understanding of It (ref. “Ye Have Heard That Christ Said“).
Today’s Resolution
- We shall mentally fight against our old, habitual interpretations of The Word, seeking always to understand it anew.
- We shall remain humble and open to new understanding of The Word and new revelations, knowing that the values contained in The Word are eternal.
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