Liberating you from bad ideas about God
The Bob Dutko Show (noon – 4pm, Mon-Fri) is Detroit’s number one talk Christian radio show. He is heard on radio stations across the country, making him one of the most listened to Christian talk show hosts in the United States. Go here to learn more about Bob Dutko.
Today he interviewed me about my book, (#AmazonAdLink) What is Faith?
Here is a replay of this interview.
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I have previously written about faith like a child here, but in light of the release of (#AmazonAdLink) my new book on faith, let me revisit the idea of childlike faith.
Some Christians say that they don’t need reasons or explanations for what they believe, because they have “faith like a child” or “childlike faith.”
When they say this, they mean that they don’t ask questions about their beliefs, nor do they wonder if what they believe is true. Childlike faith is often described as a faith that does not doubt, question, or seek explanations; it just believes.
But this is not childlike faith.
So what is childlike faith?
In seeking to understand what childlike faith actually is, let us look at four reasons why the lack of desire to ask questions is not “childlike faith.”
First, while it is completely fine if a person does not want to ask questions about what they believe or seek answers about why they believe what they do, they should not look down upon those who do ask questions. Nor should they prohibit people from doing so.
Some who claim to have “childlike faith” wear it as a badge of honor, seeming to indicate to others that their unquestioning faith is superior to those who ask questions and seek explanations.
For this reason, “childlike faith” could actually be called “arrogant faith” for those who claim to have it sometimes look down on those who require reason, logic, and explanations for what they believe.
People who have this attitude will often say “I just believe the Bible” or “God says it, I believe it, that settles it.”
In reality, they don’t “just believe the Bible.” They believe a particular interpretation or explanation of the Bible, and often claim to “just believe the Bible” when someone comes along and presents a different perspective or explanation.
When faith is thought of as “blind faith” or a “leap into the void” in a way that does not require reason, logic, or explanation, those who are able to maintain this sort of faith sometimes have the tendency to look down on those who require reason, logic, and explanation for their beliefs.
Of course, the opposite is also true. People who use reason and logic to support their beliefs often condemn those who don’t for having an “ignorant and uneducated faith.” This is not good either.
So if a person does not want to ask questions, there is no requirement to do so.
Many people do not enjoy the “life of the mind” and should not be expected to engage in such practices.
However, this preference should not be equated with childlike faith.
Those who do not seek to dive deep into theology and seek answers to questions should not look down on those who do seek such answers as having a “lesser faith” (and vice versa).
So rather than say that a faith which does not question is “childlike faith” it might be better to simply call it an unquestioning faith.
This is the second reason that childlike faith cannot be equated with the lack of desire to ask questions.
Childlike faith is not about the avoidance of questions, for children ask many, many questions.
As any parent will tell you, the unrelenting barrage of questions from a two-year old can become quite exhausting.
Therefore, it could easily be argued that true “childlike faith” is actually a faith that asks lots of questions.
So the desire (or lack of desire) to ask questions has nothing to do with whether or not a person has childlike faith.
The third reason that a faith which does not ask question or seek explanations cannot be called “childlike faith” is because there are explanations and reasons for what a child believes … even if they themselves are not aware of what those reasons are.
In other words, children do not believe anything without reason. The most common reason that children believe what they believe is because someone they trust told them what to believe. Children often simply believe whatever their parents and teachers tell them.
Therefore, true childlike faith is not an unthinking faith, for the authority of the person who teaches is a factor that faith takes into consideration.
Something similar occurs whenever a person has a so-called “unquestioning faith.” They do not believe without reason; they simply have not thought through what the reasons and explanations for their beliefs might be.
Instead, they believe what a pastor or teacher taught them, or what seems to be the “plain reading” of Scripture (though careful, contextual studies of the text often reveal that the “plain reading” is not the best reading).
There is nothing wrong with not knowing exactly why you have the beliefs you have, but a lack of understanding about why should not be confused with a lack of explanation. There are explanations for why you believe what you believe, even if you don’t know what these explanations are.
And that’s okay.
Nobody has a complete explanation and understanding for why they believe what they believe. \
But everybody, over time, naturally and normally grows in their understanding and gains explanations for their beliefs. While initially, a belief might be gained because “I learned it in Kindergarten,” this belief will either remain unquestioned and unchallenged throughout life, or it will be challenged and questioned.
If it is challenged and questioned, the belief will either be supported and affirmed, or disproven and denied.
But nobody’s beliefs all stay the same throughout all of life. Instead, everybody matures and grows in what they think and believe. This is normal, natural, and just as God intended.
Just as children grow and mature, so also does faith. This is the way God made humans, and this is the way God made faith.
Which brings up the fourth and final reason that unquestioning faith cannot be equated with childlike faith. And it is this: “childlike faith” is not found in the Bible.
There is no such thing as biblical “childlike faith.”
When people refer to “childlike faith” or “faith like a child,” they have in mind the sorts of things Jesus says in Matthew 18:3, Mark 10:14, and Luke 18:17, where He teaches that the kingdom of heaven belongs to little children.
But in these passages, Jesus isn’t talking about faith. In fact, He doesn’t mention “faith” at all. Instead, Jesus is talking about entering the kingdom of heaven, and He encourages His listeners to humble themselves like a child and receive Him like a child (Matt 18:4-5; Mark 10:14) if they want to see the kingdom of heaven.
In other words, there is something essential about the childlike perspective for the person who wants to see the kingdom of heaven.
But what is Jesus talking about? What is this childlike perspective that Jesus has in mind?
To begin with, it is critical to recognize that the kingdom of heaven is not eternal life. The phrase “see the kingdom of heaven” does not mean “go to heaven when you die.”
Similarly, “Seeing the kingdom of heaven” is not the same thing as “going to heaven.”
The two concepts of entering (or seeing) the kingdom and going to heaven when you die are not equivalent in the Bible.
It is important that we recognize this, because Jesus says that seeing the kingdom of heaven requires humility. If seeing the kingdom of heaven was the same as going to heaven, then the good work of personal humility would be required for entrance into heaven after death.
But eternal life is received by faith alone in Jesus Christ alone (John 3:16; 5:24; 6:47); not by living humbly before God.
Good works are not required to gain entrance into heaven.
What then is the kingdom of heaven?
In the Gospels, the phrase “kingdom of heaven” or “kingdom of God” refers to the rule and reign of God in our lives now on earth. It is about God’s will being done on earth, as it is done in heaven (Matthew 6:10).
All the kingdom imagery and terminology in the Gospels is not about “leaving earth and going to heaven when we die” but about “heaven coming down to earth while we live.”
Seeing the kingdom of heaven is not about life after death, but about living and experiencing God’s life in this life here and now.
This is what Jesus has in mind when He teaches about becoming like a little child. Experiencing the life of God in this life requires humility like a little child.
In what way? Not by remaining ignorant, for God gave us Scripture so that we might learn, grow, mature, reason (Isaiah 1:18), and become students, disciples, and followers of Jesus Christ (Matthew 28:19-20; 2 Timothy 2:2).
Instead, becoming like a little child means that we maintain the wonderful and beautiful characteristics and qualities of children that life in this sinful world tends to beat out of us.
Like what?
Like tenderness of conscience.
Openness about emotions and feelings.
Creativity and imagination.
Wonder and awe.
Joy.
Eternal hope.
Playfulness and humor.
Trust.
Easy forgiveness.
Undying love.
Boundless exuberance and energy.
Always thinking the best about life and other people.
Being willing to learn and grow.
These are the sort of qualities that tend to define children, but which get stripped out of people as they encounter the sin and brokenness of this world.
As adults, we get bored with flowers, bugs, and sunsets. We lose delight in talking with others about nothing.
We become jaded and disinterested.
Adults hold grudges, harbor fears, and stay angry.
Adults refuse to forgive.
Adults remember slights.
Adults lose hope because their hopes have been dashed and destroyed so many time.
Adults do things “because they’ve always been done that way” and have trouble imagining anything different.
But children do not behave in any of these ways. Nor did Jesus.
One of the things that attracted people to Jesus is that He was “childlike.”
Does this mean He lacked wisdom and understanding? Far from it. Jesus was “childlike” because He was full of the wonder of life, the hope for humanity, and the beauty of creation.
Jesus lived in awe of life, awe of God, and awe of humanity.
And this awe was contagious. People who saw how Jesus lived began to see how life should be lived. Jesus revealed how God intended life to be lived. In other words, those who begin to live life like Jesus are those who begin to see heaven come down to earth.
They begin to see the rule and reign of God unfold in their own life with all its beauty, majesty, glory, and creativity. This is what Jesus Himself lived, and this is what Jesus invited others to live also. He taught that if you want to experience God’s life in this life (the kingdom of heaven), then you need to become like a little child once again.
If so, then ask questions. Lots of questions.
But also have fun. Laugh. Play. Imagine. Sing. Dance. Hope. Dream. Forgive. Create. Trust. Live life to the full. Be excited. Be adventuresome. Be tender of heart.
And most of all, love. When you live this way, you will become like a little child, and will see the kingdom of heaven rise again in your life.
Understanding the Gospel requires us to properly understand the key words and terms of the Gospel. Take my course, "The Gospel Dictionary" to learn about the 52 key words of the Gospel, and hundreds of Bible passages that use these words.
This course costs $297, but when you join the Discipleship group, you can to take the entire course for free.
Affiliate Disclosure: As an Amazon Associate I earn from qualifying purchases. Thank you for supporting my work in this way!
Some teach that faith is a work of God performed in the heart or mind of a person. Another way of saying this is that faith is a gift from God to the heart of human beings.
Those who hold to this view say that God gives faith to those whom He has chosen for eternal life. There are three reasons that some people teach that faith is a gift of God.
First, some believe that since unregenerate people are “dead in trespasses and sins” (Eph 2:1), and have had their minds darkened or blinded (cf. (Eph 4:18; 2 Cor 3:14), they cannot do anything good, including believing in Jesus for eternal life.
Those who hold to this view teach that if a person is going to believe in Jesus for eternal life (or even believe anything good and pleasing about God at all), they can only believe if God sovereignly bestowed up them the gift of faith.
Various texts are often referenced in defense of this idea (cf. Acts 5:31; 11:18; 13:48; 16:14; Rom 12:3; 1 Cor 12:8-9; Eph 2:8-9; Php 1:29; 2 Tim 2:25; 2 Pet 1:1). But in several of these, faith is not even mentioned (e.g., Acts 5:31; 11:18; 2 Tim 2:25), and the others can all be reasonably explained in the context.
Sadly, I cannot look at all of these texts in this post … but we will consider the primary text below, Ephesians 2:8-9. (I also explain several of the other texts in my book, (#AmazonAdLink) What is Faith?)
Note, however, that this entire line of thought stems from thinking that faith is a good work.
In other words, the idea that faith is a gift derives from the false idea that faith is somehow meritorious. After all, if faith is a work, then we must say that faith is a gift from God, for we cannot teach that humans are able to work for eternal life.
But Scripture is clear about faith, that it is not a work; it is not meritorious. Faith is the opposite of works (cf. Romans 4:4-5). Faith does not earn, achieve, or gain good standing with God in any way.
Therefore, faith does not need to be a gift from God. People are persuaded about all sorts of things, and no such persuasion is ever considered to be a good work or a meritorious action, or a gift from God.
So the faith to believe in Jesus is also not a gift from God.
The second reason that some people believe and teach that faith is a gift of God is because they confuse this idea with the biblical teaching about the “spiritual gift” of faith.
Even though Paul does write about the gift of faith in 1 Corinthians 12:9, this is the spiritual gift of faith, and is not the same thing as the so-called “gift of faith” which some teach God gives to people before they can believe in Jesus for eternal life.
Furthermore, Paul is quite clear that we all have different spiritual gifts (Rom 12:6). If everyone had to receive the “gift of faith” from God in order to receive eternal life (John 3:16; 5:24; 6:47), then this would mean that all Christians have the spiritual gift of faith, which Paul says we do not.
So what is the spiritual gift of faith? As (#AmazonAdLink) I wrote in my book on the spiritual gifts, a person has the spiritual gift of faith when they firmly persuaded of God’s power and promises to accomplish His will and purpose and to display such a confidence in Him that circumstances and obstacles do not shake that conviction (1 Cor 12:8-10; cf. Heb 11).
People with the spiritual gift of faith know what they believe and why they believe it, and are able to inspire action in others based on their beliefs. Those with the gift of faith are often called upon to encourage others to step out in faith and follow God to accomplish seemingly impossible tasks.
The spiritual gift of faith to some Christians for the edification and encouragement of others is not the same thing as God giving faith to all Christians so that they can believe in Jesus for eternal life.
So biblical passages about the spiritual gift of faith cannot be used to support the idea that God gives faith to unregenerate people so they can believe.
The third reason that some people think faith is a gift from God is because of what Paul seems to say in Ephesians 2:8.
He writes, “For by grace you have been saved through faith, and that not of yourselves, it is the gift of God.”
Some people see the phrase “and that not of yourselves, it is the gift of God” as referring back to the word “faith.”
They read Ephesians 2:8 this way: “For by grace you have been saved through faith, and faith is not of yourselves, faith is the gift of God.”
There are numerous problems with this approach to Ephesians 2:8, the greatest being that it reveals a complete disregard for the Greek text.
Greek words have gender: masculine, feminine, and neuter. When relative pronouns (such as “that” and “it”) are used to refer back to a noun, they always agree with the gender of the noun. The word “faith” in Greek is feminine. Therefore, if Paul was intending to say that faith is not of ourselves, but faith is a gift of God, he would have used a feminine relative pronoun for the word “that” (the word “it” is not actually in the Greek).
But the word “that” is not feminine; it is neuter.
Therefore, it is impossible for Paul to be thinking about “faith” when he wrote “and that is not of yourselves, it is the gift of God.”
It is grammatically impossible for the word “that” to refer to “faith” in Ephesians 2:8.
So what was Paul referring to, if not to faith?
You can read my longer explanation of Ephesians 2:8-9 here, or in my book (#AmazonAdLink) What is Faith?, but let me summarize the meaning of the text for you here.
As stated previously, Greek pronouns must agree with their antecedent in gender, number, and case. Faith is feminine, and the pronoun “that” is neuter, so the pronoun cannot be pointing back to faith.
So to what does the pronoun refer?
The problem is that there is no neuter noun in the preceding context.
So what was Paul referring to, if not to faith?
The answer is that Paul is referring to the entire “salvation package” that he has written about in Ephesians 2. The description of Paul about what God has provided to us in Jesus contains a mixture of masculine and feminine nouns. So Paul uses a neuter pronoun to refer to the entire “salvation package.”
Paul’s overall point in Ephesians 2 is about how God solved the problem of human division and strife that is caused by racial, religious, and political differences (Eph 2:1-4). Paul shows how God revealed the problem and the solution through the crucifixion of Jesus (Eph 2:5-10) so that we can all live in peace and unity with one another in this life (Eph 2:11-22), as God has always wanted and desired.
Everything Paul mentions in Ephesians 2 is the gift of God to us.
The gift is not faith itself, but everything else that God has done and taught and provided through Jesus Christ, and which we can benefit from when we believe in Jesus for it.
The gift of God is His revelation to humanity and the salvation which comes to us by His grace. When we see, understand, and believe what God has revealed to us and done for us through the life, death, resurrection, and exaltation of Jesus, it is then that the peace of God starts to become a reality in our life here and now.
It is then that all who were formerly at enmity with each other are fitted together to grow into the holy temple in the Lord, as a dwelling place of God in the Spirit (Eph 2:21-22). This is the mystery of the church, which Paul goes on to explain in Ephesians 3–4.
All of this is the gift of God, and when we receive it by faith, we begin to experience this new reality in this life and on this earth.
See my article here for more reasons why Faith is Not a Gift From God.
Therefore, since faith is not a gift from God, this means that every person is able to believe in Jesus for eternal life. Just as any person can believe that 2+2=4, or that gravity is a force of nature, so also, anybody is able to believe in Jesus for eternal life, once the truth is presented to them.
Since faith is not a work, but is the opposite of works, a person who believes in Jesus is not doing anything meritorious for eternal life, but is only accepting the free gift of God.
So … have you believed in Jesus for eternal life? If not, what is holding you back?
If you want to learn more about this, try my online course mentioned below, or get my book, (#AmazonAdLink) What is Faith?
Understanding the Gospel requires us to properly understand the key words and terms of the Gospel. Take my course, "The Gospel Dictionary" to learn about the 52 key words of the Gospel, and hundreds of Bible passages that use these words.
This course costs $297, but when you join the Discipleship group, you can to take the entire course for free.
Affiliate Disclosure: As an Amazon Associate I earn from qualifying purchases. Thank you for supporting my work in this way!
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If faith is best understood as reasonable certainty then this means that we either believe something or we don’t. If we doubt something, then we don’t believe it.
If we think of our network of beliefs as a vast Excel spreadsheet with each individual cell holding a single statement that we either agree with or not, then this means that there are no degrees of faith. You cannot have 10%, 50%, 90%, or even 99% faith. Each individual belief on the spreadsheet of faith is either “On” or “Off.”
But if this is true, then what are we to make of the statements by Jesus about people having “little faith” and “great faith”? (cf. Matt 6:30; 8:26; 14:31; 16:8; Luke 4:14-30; 12:28).
There are also numerous passages in the Bible which seem to indicate that we must have “enough faith” before God answers our prayers (cf. Matt 13:58; 21:22; Mark 11:24; Luke 7:9, 50; 18:42; Jas 5:15-16).
But if there are no degrees of faith, then what do these descriptions of faith mean?
The terms “Great faith” and “Little faith” simply mean this: Some truths are easy to believe while others are difficult. If you believe something that is difficult to believe, then you have great faith. If you do not believe something that is relatively easy to believe, then you have little faith.
Since faith is the conviction or persuasion that something is true, people who have little faith have not been persuaded or convinced of even the basic truths, whereas, people who have great faith have been persuaded or convinced of some of the hard and difficult truths which few people come to believe.
You and I do not have faith containers in our souls which overflow when our faith is great, but are nearly empty when our faith is little. Faith does not work like that.
Great faith and little faith have nothing to do with the size, amount, or degree of faith.
Rather, the terms “great faith” and “little faith” describe the difficulty of the truths that are believed.
When a person fails to believe even some of the simple or easy truths, this means that some of the basic, fundamental cells in their network of beliefs are turned “Off.” Since they do not believe these simple truths, vast segments of their spreadsheet are also turned “Off.”
Their spreadsheet is darkened with unbelief because they don’t even believe some of the simple, foundational, basic truths of life or Christianity.
They have little faith, that is, an undeveloped and unexamined spreadsheet of beliefs. On such a spreadsheet of faith, most of the basic truths are still turned “Off.”
On the other hand, there are some people who have great faith. These are those people who are persuaded or convinced of some difficult things to believe.
People who have great faith believe truths and ideas that relatively few people understand and believe.
There are truths in Scripture, life, and theology that are hard to believe, but people with great faith believe them. Such ideas often take great thought, insight, understanding, research, investigation, or deep spiritual experiences in order to believe them.
When people come to believe these things, they believe something that few others believe, and can therefore be described as having great faith. Vast segments of their spreadsheet of beliefs are lit up with the light of the truth of God.
There are numerous truths from Scripture that are easy to believe.
These might include the statements that “A man named Jesus existed” or that “I am a sinner.” Almost everybody believes these, including most non-Christians.
Yet people with little faith do not even understand or believe these truths. People with little faith have trouble believing some of the simple, elementary, and introductory truths of Scripture, such as “God is love” or “Jesus gives eternal life to anyone who believes in Him for it.”
It is a telling fact of the condition of faith in our churches when most Christians don’t truly believe these things. As simple as these truths are, many do not believe them.
However, there are other truths in Scripture which are hard to believe. People who believe these difficult truths have great faith. For example, it is difficult to believe that “God will supply all of your needs according to His riches in glory” (Philippians 4:19).
Frankly, since I often worry about tomorrow, this means that I don’t believe this promise. I don’t believe that God will supply all my needs, and often find myself trying to supply for my own needs. So this means I don’t yet believe this statement. But those who have great faith believe it. (See “Now That’s Faith!“)
So great faith and little faith have nothing to do with the amount of faith one has, or the percentage to which one believes a particular fact. Faith does not come in degrees or amounts.
There are two kinds of faith that amazed Jesus: great faith and little faith. As seen above, there were times when Jesus marveled at the little faith of His disciples (cf. Matt 6:30; 8:26; 14:31; 16:8; Luke 4:14-30; 12:28).
But in Matthew 8:10, Jesus was impressed by the great faith of a Gentile. He said, “I have not found such great faith, not even in Israel!” (See my sermon on Luke 7:1-10 for a longer explanation of this text.)
In Matthew 8:10, Jesus praises a Roman Centurion for having great faith.
What did the Centurion believe that few others believe? He believed two advanced truths that are quite rare for people to believe (even today).
First, he believed in his own lack of merit. Though he was courteous, humble, and a good man, though he loved the Jewish people and built a synagogue for them, he knew he didn’t deserve anything from God, or from Jesus Christ. Despite his high standing and all he had done, he knew he was unworthy to meet with Jesus (Matt 8:8).
Most people do not believe this.
Most people think they do deserve favors from God. Most people think they are pretty good people and that God owes them something. It is much harder to believe that all we have and all we are given is simply and only by the grace of God. But the centurion believed this, and told Jesus that he was not worthy to have Jesus visit his house.
The second thing the Centurion believed is that healing could be done at a distance. He believed in the divine authority of Jesus, even over sickness and disease through space and time. He likened Jesus to a military commander who simply had to give orders for them to be followed (Matt 8:9).
The Centurion knew that what Jesus commanded would be done, even if Jesus was not present where the healing was to take place. He knew that the words of Jesus were sufficient to accomplish whatever He said.
Most people do not believe this. Most people believe, even today, that if a person is going to be healed, they need to be touched by the person praying for them. They believe that they have to go visit the healer, and have the healer lay hands on them, say special prayers over them, and anoint them with oil.
If a person was seeking healing for their friend and they went to one of the “miracle healers” of today for help, and the healer said, “Go home, your friend will be fine,” that person would feel like they had been ignored, slighted, or brushed off.
But this Centurion knew differently. The Centurion believed some truths that few others believed. He believed that if Jesus wanted to heal someone, He could do it with a simple word and from a great distance.
He told Jesus, “Only speak a word, and my servant will be healed” (Matt 8:8).
This truly is great faith, and few believe such an idea, either in the days of Jesus or today. As a result, Jesus marveled at this man’s great faith, and healed his servant from a distance, simply by the power of His word.
All of the other “great faith” passages in the Bible can be understood in similar ways. The context always reveals that someone is believing something that is difficult to believe, and that few people do believe.
So great faith is not a large amount of faith or a high percentage of faith. Great faith simply believes truths that are difficult to believe.
Do you have more questions about faith, how it works, and what various passages in Scripture teach about faith? Try taking my online course, The Gospel Dictionary:
Understanding the Gospel requires us to properly understand the key words and terms of the Gospel. Take my course, "The Gospel Dictionary" to learn about the 52 key words of the Gospel, and hundreds of Bible passages that use these words.
This course costs $297, but when you join the Discipleship group, you can to take the entire course for free.
Affiliate Disclosure: As an Amazon Associate I earn from qualifying purchases. Thank you for supporting my work in this way!
I originally went to college to be a Mechanical Engineer. I have always enjoyed tinkering with things, trying to learn how they work so that I can understand what is happening, and either fix or improve whatever I am working on.
As a result of my engineering background, I often approach my study of Scripture and theology in the same way. I try to understand things and how they work, so that I can attempt to explain them more clearly to others.
This is also true when it comes to the inner workings of faith. For me, as a theologian and Bible scholar who has an engineering background, it is not enough for the Bible to call me to believe … I want to know how belief works … how faith works … so that I can not only believe, but also know why I believe, and how to help others believe as well.
So the following article might be a bit technical for some people as I try to explain how faith works, but I do provide an illustration for how faith works to help it make sense.
The reason I want to explain faith this way is because there is so much misinformation out there about faith. People write emails to me all the time, and when I teach in live settings, I get questions and objections all the time, about how a person can know if they have really believed, or if they have believed enough.
In seeking to answer these questions, I first had to figure out what faith is and how faith works.
In a previous study, we learned that Faith is defined as a certainty or conviction that something is true.
Some do not like the idea of faith as certainty. For example, author and pastor Greg Boyd once criticized the idea that faith is certainty by comparing faith to a house of cards.
Greg Boyd argued that if we believe that our faith must be certain, then any time a challenge or question comes along which threatens this certainty, our entire belief system comes tumbling down like a house of cards.
I agree with Greg Boyd that we cannot have a “house of cards” faith in which all of our beliefs stand or fall together. But how can we avoid this if faith truly is defined as certainty?
The solution is to use a better analogy.
Rather than thinking about faith as a house of cards, a better analogy is to think about our network of beliefs as a giant Excel spreadsheet (I first heard this analogy from Dr. Dave Anderson, pastor in The Woodlands, TX).
If you are not familiar with a Microsoft Excel spreadsheet, it is an accounting tool which contains a series of rows and columns. At the intersection of each row and column, there is a “cell.” This cell can contain a bit of data.
For example, a cell could contain a number or some sort of mathematical calculation. Spreadsheets are usually set up so that as you enter data into the cells, it automatically makes calculations in other cells.
Advanced Excel spreadsheets might contain thousands of cells set in a way so that a change in one single cell might affect the numbers or calculations in thousands of other cells. Each little change can have a ripple or cascading effect throughout the rest of the spreadsheet.
It is helpful to think about our network of beliefs in a similar way. We can think of our belief system as a giant Excel spreadsheet.
But rather than numbers and math calculations, each cell contains an individual fact. Since there are a nearly infinite number of facts, this giant spreadsheet has a nearly infinite number of cells.
“The sky is blue” is in one cell, “I exist” is in another, and “There is a God” is in third.
Furthermore, just like on any complex Excel spreadsheet, nearly all the cells are interconnected by functions, so that when one cell changes, it causes a cascading, rippling effect throughout the rest of the spreadsheet.
If we think about our beliefs in this way, we can see that when it comes to each individual statement, we can either believe it or disbelieve it. We can either know it to be true, or we can doubt that it is true. We can either assent and agree with the statement in the cell, or dissent and disagree.
While we will be reasonably certain about several statements on this spreadsheet, we will be either ignorant or uncertain about the vast majority of statements. And as we change what we think about any particular fact, this change will have a cascading, ripple effect through the related and connected cells on the spreadsheet of beliefs.
What this means is that as we come to believe new ideas, some of the beliefs which have not changed for decades might need to be reconsidered in light of new evidence. Therefore, while we can have reasonable conviction or confidence about the accuracy of any single cell (or belief), we nevertheless know that the content of that cell is based upon the ideas of other related cells, about which we are less confident.
To put it another way, the complete confidence of one belief in one “cell” can be based upon less confident beliefs of other “cells.”
This way of thinking about faith provides adequate responses to many of the objections that some pastors and theologians have to the concept of faith as certainty. Many who criticize the idea of “faith as certainty” seem to think that the entire system stands or falls together.
But this is not the true nature of faith. When we think about our system of beliefs as a giant Excel Spreadsheet, we see that it is impossible for the entire system of faith to collapse.
Instead, our beliefs constantly shift and change as additional information is presented to us, so that new beliefs are turned “On” in the spreadsheet while other beliefs are corrected and turned “Off.”
Best of all, with each cell that changes you gain a spreadsheet that is more accurate than it was before. One of these truths you discover quite soon (if you allow God to teach it to you), is that God does not require a spreadsheet of beliefs that is free of error.
Quite to the contrary, He desires a spreadsheet of beliefs that is constantly shifting and changing as we bring our life and thoughts into conformity with Jesus Christ and the revelation of Scripture. But this is a process, a journey, or an adventure that will last a lifetime (I suspect this adventure will last into eternity as well, as we forever unravel the infinite mysteries of glorious vistas of God), and so God is patient with us as we fill out our spreadsheet of beliefs with Him by our side.
Viewing faith in this way helps you see that although one changed belief often does cause a change in many other related beliefs, your entire belief system never collapses like a house of cards. It may initially feel like this has happened, but by taking a deep breath and examining the new evidence you have been given, you will discover that most of your beliefs remain intact.
You will also discover that you now have a better and more accurate belief system through which to view God, Scripture, yourself, others, and life in general.
Let us briefly see how this works with the truth claim that “Jesus gives eternal life to those who believe in Him for it.”
I believe this truth with absolute certainty. I have many reasons for this belief, all of which reside in their own individual cells.
For example:
If all these things are true, as I believe they are, then it is completely logical to be convinced and persuaded that Jesus gives eternal life to those who believe in Him for it. And since I believe in Jesus, I know that I have eternal life.
But if any of these beliefs were to change, then this would likely cause me to stop believing that Jesus gives eternal life to those who believe in Him for it.
If I stopped believing that God existed, or that the Bible accurately records the teachings of Jesus, I might stop believing in Jesus for eternal life.
However, the more I study and learn, the more evidence I find that supports all these beliefs. I now know too much to turn back on any of these truths and cannot imagine a situation that would cause me to reject them.
The more I study and learn, the more beliefs I gain, each of which further supports the belief that Jesus gives me eternal life.
Is it possible that the authors of the Gospels failed to accurately record what Jesus said? It’s possible, but not likely, so I don’t believe this.
Is it possible that those who copied the Bible and passed it down through the generations made a mistake? It’s possible, but manuscript evidence proves that this is unlikely, and so I don’t believe it.
Is it possible that I have incorrectly understood what Jesus said and meant? Well, this is the most likely factor that could cause me to stop believing in Jesus. But since the teachings from Jesus about how to receive eternal life are some of the simplest teachings He gave (even a child can understand and believe these promises), I do not think this is likely, and therefore, I believe I have properly understood His promises.
Since my belief in Jesus for eternal life is based on a large number of other reasonable beliefs, if any one of these other beliefs were to change, there would indeed be a cascading effect of changing beliefs. As numerous beliefs changed, it might indeed feel like Greg Boyd’s house of cards, as if everything I thought I knew was tumbling down around me.
However, note that there are many beliefs that can safely change without affecting my belief in Jesus whatsoever.
My belief in Jesus is not affected at all by belief (or lack thereof) that Methuselah lived to be 969, that the universe was created in seven 24-hour days, or that Jesus is going to return in the future to slaughter all His enemies with a reign of terror and blood (I actually don’t believe this).
These beliefs can change back and forth numerous times (as they have over the years), but such changes will not cause my entire belief system to come tumbling down like a house of cards.
Now the same sort of belief changes can be observed even with beliefs that are not “theological.” The “network of belief” concept applies to any individual belief.
For example, I believe the sky is blue because I believe I know what “blue” is, and because I believe my eyes are not deceiving me. I furthermore believe that I truly exist in this world rather than in a dream world or computer simulation as in “The Matrix.” Since all of these are reasonable beliefs, I can confidently believe (know) that the sky is blue.
However, if someone could persuade me that I did not exist, or that this world was a computer simulation, or that I have color-blindness and so do not accurately understand “blue,” then I might realize that I am wrong about the blueness of the sky.
But until these other beliefs change (which is extremely unlikely), I am fully confident that the sky is blue. (As a side note, I now actually believe that the sky is violet. I explain why in my book on faith.)
Let us consider an example from Scripture where we see this concept of spreadsheet faith being played out in real time.
In John 11, Lazarus has died, and Jesus goes to Bethany to grieve with Mary and Martha. When Jesus arrives, Martha comes out to meet Him on the road and says, “Lord, if you had been here, my brother would not have died” (John 11:21).
Jesus responded by saying, “Your brother will rise again” (John 11:23).
So Mary says, “I know that he will rise again in the resurrection at the last day” (John 11:24).
Do you see what is going on here? Each of these statements is a factual statement that exists on Martha’s spreadsheet of beliefs. She believes that if Jesus had been present, Lazarus would not have died. Remember, they sent word to Jesus when Lazarus was sick, but he delayed in going to them until after Lazarus had died. So Martha is chiding Jesus a bit. She believes that Lazarus died because Jesus didn’t show up when she wanted Him to.
But then Jesus makes another factual statement. He says, “Your brother will rise again.” Now, does Martha believe this? She does. For she goes on to say, “Yes, I know, believe, agree that he will rise again … but on the future day of resurrection.”
Based on these beliefs, Jesus goes on to teach her some new ideas about Himself. He is going to make some factual statements to see if they are turned “On” or “Off” in her spreadsheet of beliefs.
So Jesus says, “I am the resurrection and the life. He who believes in Me, though he may die, he shall live. And whoever lives and believes in Me shall never die” (John 11:25-26). Jesus makes three factual statements here. Each one is a truth claim about Jesus, and each one is dependent upon the others, and dependent upon what Martha has already stated about the resurrection. Jesus is inviting her to build upon her previous beliefs and add some new beliefs to them.
Jesus claims that (1) Resurrection and life resides in Him, (2) that those who die in Him will also live in Him, and (3) that who live and believe in Him will never die.
After Jesus makes these three factual statements, He says, “Do you believe this?”
Notice how Martha responds. She doesn’t say, “Yes, Lord, I believe these three things. I believe that (1) Resurrection and life resides in You, (2) that those who die in You will also live in You, and (3) that who live and believe in You will never die.”
She does not restate the beliefs and affirm her agreement with them.
Instead, she says something that has confused a lot of people over the years. She says, “Yes, Lord, I believe that You are the Christ, the Son of God, who is to come into the world.”
Lots of people read these words and get confused. They see Martha state her agreement with Jesus, but then she seems to say something back to Him that is not a restatement of what Jesus just said. She doesn’t state her agreement by summarizing what Jesus just said; instead, she states her agreement by stating her belief in something else entirely.
So people get confused by this and say, “Well, maybe to believe that Jesus is the resurrection and the life is the exact same as believing that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God.”
And while we could say that the two concepts are related, the two concepts are not identical beliefs. That is, to say that Jesus is the Christ is not the same thing as saying that Jesus is the resurrection and the life. We know this for a variety of reasons. There are lots of people in the days of Jesus who believed that He was the Christ, but did not believe that He could raise people from the dead, or even that He Himself would be raised from the dead.
Furthermore, there were many people throughout biblical history who were thought of as “Messiahs” or “Christs” (that is, deliverers, saviors), but nobody ever thought that these people could raise others from death.
So since believe that Jesus is the Christ is not the same thing as believing that Jesus is the resurrection and the life, why does Martha answer the way she does?
She answers the way she does because she is saying that because Jesus is the Christ, then she trusts and accepts whatever else Jesus says, including these recent three statements about the resurrection.
To put it another way, Jesus makes three truth claims about Himself, and then asks Martha if she believes what He has said. These are new ideas to her, and she has never been told these ideas before.
So she can either accept, acknowledge, and agree with what Jesus has just said, thereby believing His words, or she can disagree with Him, thereby not believing.
But since Martha already knows and believes something else on her spreadsheet of faith, namely, that Jesus is the Christ, the Messiah, the son of God, this therefore causes Martha to realize that everything Jesus says can be trusted and accepted.
Therefore, because of her belief in Jesus as the Christ, Martha also believes these new statements about Jesus, that He is the resurrection and the life, that those who die in Him will live again, and that those who live in Him will never die.
Do you see? A cell on her spreadsheet of faith which said “Jesus is the Christ” was turned “On.” As a result of this cell, another cell on her spreadsheet of faith which said, “Everything Jesus says is true” was also turned on.
So when Jesus comes along and says something she has never heard or thought of before, and then Jesus asks her if she believes these new ideas, it does not take her long to turn these cells on as well. She didn’t fully understand the ramifications of what Jesus was saying, but she did know that Jesus was saying it, and that because He was the Christ, His words could always be trusted and believed.
So she believed Him.
Then, of course, to provide further support and proof that her believe in Him was well-founded, Jesus went and raised Lazarus from death.
This is just one example of how the network of beliefs that exists on our spreadsheet of faith works together to consider new ideas and incorporate new beliefs. We see it work very quickly with Martha, but it doesn’t always move this fast. Sometimes the process is much slower.
But regardless, I hope that with this illustration of faith, it can help you understand how faith works, and how you can come to consider and accept the various truth claims that bombard you each and every day.
No one is asking you to take a leap of faith. Each belief is built upon others that you might or might not have. Also, your faith is not a house of cards that can be knocked down by a passing wind of doubt or a troublesome question. Instead, your faith is a vast network of individual beliefs that are constantly moving, shifting, changing, and developing over time. It is not something to be afraid of, but can be enjoyed and anticipated as we continue to follow Jesus wherever He leads.
Now, I imagine that this illustration of faith might raise some further questions. For example, if this is how to think about faith, then what does the Scripture mean when it refers to great faith or little faith? How do these terms fit in with this concept of faith as a network of beliefs?
We will consider this question in the next study.
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