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CHURCH
Isn't
faith just a leap in the dark ?
Every society in every time has a different way of looking at and interpreting the world - and our society is no exception. Over the last 500 years we have developed the idea that the "real" things in life are those things that can be seen and tested physically in a lab and that spiritual phenomena are at best un-testable and at worst a figment of people's overheated imaginations.
The "Leap in the dark" idea was developed by a Danish philosopher called Soren Kierkegaard who said that as we cannot really know if God exists; then belief in Him is nothing more then a "leap of faith". This is still the way that many people view Christianity.
Others, who are more contemporary in their outlook, feel that spiritual belief needs to come out of "what works for me". Their approach can be summed up in the following way, "if believing in God "works" for you then do it, if you prefer to believe in leprechauns, little green men and spirit guides - that's cool too!"
Being a Christian is not about taking leaps in the dark and it's not about adopting something just because it meets an emotional need.
Being a Christian is about examining the facts as they are presented and then choosing to put ones trust in what we have learned. Becoming a Christian is not something that you do but that happens to you!
When we choose to put our trust in Jesus Christ then what is happening is that His Spirit is touching our hearts and minds. As our essential being is influenced by God's Spirit then we start to take an interest in the factual evidence and claims laid out in the World's best seller - The Bible.
We start to read this book which has been carefully and precisely pieced together from over 13,000 ancient manuscripts (which are consistent with one another). As we read, we start to understand what eye witnesses have to say about what God did in time and space both in the history of the Jewish nation and especially through the person of Jesus Christ. As we understand who Jesus claims to be and we look at what He did then we give God's Spirit space to persuade us of the truth that we are studying.
It's at that point that we choose to put our trust in the living person of Jesus, the Son of God, and we decide to accept His offer of forgiveness and let Him take charge of our lives and of our eternal destiny.
Just as buying a car is rooted in research and in a test drive so the Christian faith is an act of the will rooted in a divine given conviction that Jesus is who he claims to be.
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