I was talking with some awesome LDS Sisters last week and one of them told me that she was "100% certain" that her faith in God, Jesus, the Bible, and the Book of Mormon was true. That really got me thinking: can we ever be certain in our faith?
Now, for clarity, I want to define my terms. She used the phrase "100% certain", which is redundant. We have this terrible habit of saying redundant things, like "PIN number" and "co-mingle", and this falls into that category. Because we can never be less than 100% certain of anything. We say things like "99% certain", but that's not really certain. You are either certain of something, or you are uncertain. So basically she was telling me that she was sure that her faith is true.
With that grammatical mini-rant finished, let's get back to me thinking "how can you be certain of these things?" If our religious faith lies in the unknown, i.e., things we cannot sense and test around us, on what grounds can we find certainty? I suppose many will say that they have SO MUCH faith that they just know, but religious interpretation is by no means black and white, so what they are really saying is that they have SO MUCH faith in their own understanding of doctrine and interpretation of scripture that they are "certain". But isn't that "leaning on our own understanding"?1 It seems to me that in order to truly have faith, we must be uncertain. This does not mean that we cannot trust our faith or believe what we have faith in is likely to be true. It just means we cannot be certain.
While this may seem like just a silly philosophical topic, I believe it is quite important to reflect on. After all, I think 99% of Christians would agree that the founding block of Christianity is faith in Jesus. So it's incredibly important for us to understand what faith is. And if we can assume that faith in Jesus is for our benefit, then we need to reflect on why it is we need to BELIEVE who Jesus is and not KNOW who Jesus is.2
I think the best place to start this reflection is to look at the setting where Jesus jumped into some flesh: Palestine under Roman control. The Jews were expecting a legendary king to rise out of the line of David and kick the Roman's asses out of their Promised Land and restore the Kingdom of God. In the synoptic gospels (Matthew, Mark, and Luke) Jesus is constantly trying to hide his identity, and for good reason. Jesus' teachings were attracting large crowds, and the people were itching to revolt, especially if they thought Jesus was the political ass-kicking Messiah they were eagerly expecting.3 In this situation it makes a lot of sense for Jesus to preach that his followers must BELIEVE in his identity. Because KNOWLEDGE of his identity allows misconceptions of who he is to become cemented in our minds. It was by having faith in who Jesus was, i.e. allowing themselves to be uncertain, that his followers' perception of a political Messiah could be transformed into understanding his role as a spiritually liberating Messiah. Without that kernel of uncertainty, i.e. faith, they could never escape their faulty misconceptions of who Jesus truly was.
While this may seem like just a silly philosophical topic, I believe it is quite important to reflect on. After all, I think 99% of Christians would agree that the founding block of Christianity is faith in Jesus. So it's incredibly important for us to understand what faith is. And if we can assume that faith in Jesus is for our benefit, then we need to reflect on why it is we need to BELIEVE who Jesus is and not KNOW who Jesus is.2
I think the best place to start this reflection is to look at the setting where Jesus jumped into some flesh: Palestine under Roman control. The Jews were expecting a legendary king to rise out of the line of David and kick the Roman's asses out of their Promised Land and restore the Kingdom of God. In the synoptic gospels (Matthew, Mark, and Luke) Jesus is constantly trying to hide his identity, and for good reason. Jesus' teachings were attracting large crowds, and the people were itching to revolt, especially if they thought Jesus was the political ass-kicking Messiah they were eagerly expecting.3 In this situation it makes a lot of sense for Jesus to preach that his followers must BELIEVE in his identity. Because KNOWLEDGE of his identity allows misconceptions of who he is to become cemented in our minds. It was by having faith in who Jesus was, i.e. allowing themselves to be uncertain, that his followers' perception of a political Messiah could be transformed into understanding his role as a spiritually liberating Messiah. Without that kernel of uncertainty, i.e. faith, they could never escape their faulty misconceptions of who Jesus truly was.
Now let's fast-forward 2000 years and look at our faith today. How do we know that we are perceiving God correctly? If we think we know who God is with absolute certainty (now I am being redundant; it's for dramatic effect), then we are sealing a force far beyond our own cognitive capacity into our very limited mental mold. We aren't giving any room for further understanding God, or giving ourselves a chance to be corrected if we have actually been perceiving God in a foolish way. By being "certain" of who God is, we are merely leaving ourselves vulnerable to wallow in our own ignorance, and therefore limiting God's transforming power in our own lives.
Now for my "clean up" speech: I am not saying that Christians should just live any way they feel like living with the excuse that we just don't know if our faith is true. That is also "leaning on our own understanding". The term "faith" also has a strong implication of trust despite its implication of uncertainty. But if we want our faith to grow like a mustard seed, we need to give it room to grow by acknowledging that God can work in ways beyond our understanding of him and that we, as humans, are very capable of being misguided.
1. Proverbs 3.5
This is a reference to Proverbs where we are warned to fear God and not let our own "wisdom" fool us. While this is often used to crush ideas about God that challenge traditional acceptances, if we read further into the chapter we see that we are not to "loathe His reproof". But if we are only willing to be "certain" in our understanding of faith, then how can we welcome God to reproof us if we misunderstand?
2. Believing
To "believe", as used in the bible such as the popular John 3.16 passage, is πιστεύω. It can mean to "trust, put faith in, or rely on".
3. The Political Tension of 1st Century Palestine
Sparking political revolt was a very valid concern. In fact, in 66 CE the Jews did violently rebel against the Romans, only to have Jerusalem sacked and their beloved temple destroyed in 70 CE.
Now for my "clean up" speech: I am not saying that Christians should just live any way they feel like living with the excuse that we just don't know if our faith is true. That is also "leaning on our own understanding". The term "faith" also has a strong implication of trust despite its implication of uncertainty. But if we want our faith to grow like a mustard seed, we need to give it room to grow by acknowledging that God can work in ways beyond our understanding of him and that we, as humans, are very capable of being misguided.
1. Proverbs 3.5
This is a reference to Proverbs where we are warned to fear God and not let our own "wisdom" fool us. While this is often used to crush ideas about God that challenge traditional acceptances, if we read further into the chapter we see that we are not to "loathe His reproof". But if we are only willing to be "certain" in our understanding of faith, then how can we welcome God to reproof us if we misunderstand?
2. Believing
To "believe", as used in the bible such as the popular John 3.16 passage, is πιστεύω. It can mean to "trust, put faith in, or rely on".
3. The Political Tension of 1st Century Palestine
Sparking political revolt was a very valid concern. In fact, in 66 CE the Jews did violently rebel against the Romans, only to have Jerusalem sacked and their beloved temple destroyed in 70 CE.
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