Faith is Fact

In one of my more recent blog posts, Coasting Through, I made the statement faith is not based on feeling or emotion but on fact. I thought I would take some time to explain what I mean by that.

When I was at camp over the summer we talked about knowing your faith. The camp slogan is "Do you really know what you say you believe? Is this your faith or your momma's faith?"

Unlike believing in evolution or atheism or something, the Christian faith is the most intelligent faith in the world. When you put your faith in God and the Bible you aren't believing without evidence. Contrary to popular belief, the Bible is very consistent. Even though it was written over a period of 1500 years, every copy says the same thing. The Bible was written over forty generations and by over forty different authors ranging from a variety of social positions and occupations such as peasants, philosophers, fishermen, poets, statesmen, kings, etc. Something that I find really interesting is that it was written on three continents: Asia, Africa, and Europe. It was also written in three different languages: Hebrew, Aramaic, and Greek.

How can something written such a long time a go, in several different languages, and on several different continents be consistent with itself?

Because the Bible is the Holy Inspired Word of God.

The Bible has been translated into 2,400 languages and dialects. How amazing is that? While at camp they told us that all great works of (ancient) literature have several surviving handwritten manuscripts. They gave us examples like Plato's Tetralogies, which has seven surviving manuscripts. Aristotle has forty-nine manuscripts and Homer's Iliad has 643 surviving manuscripts.

The New Testament has 24,633 surviving, handwritten manuscripts.

2 Samuel 22:31 says, "As for God, his way is perfect; the word of the Lord is flawless."

That is why I believe that faith is based on fact and not emotions. How else can you explain it? The Bible is the truth, it has survived for thousands of years and remained consistent throughout. The Word of God is alive and will speak to His people yesterday, today, and forever.