The Big Question 73: Do Christians Rely On Blind Faith?
Sep 1, 2021 1436
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Do Christians rely on blind faith?
Well, I’m a Christian, and I think blind faith is stupid.
In fact, the phrase “blind faith” is one that’s been invented by opponents of Christianity to make us look bad. Nowhere in the Bible, and nowhere in the teachings of Christianity, are we told to have blind faith.
However in a sense, we all have faith in what we don’t see for ourselves. We use it regularly in our daily lives. When you board an aircraft, you probably won’t check in the cockpit that all the instruments are working correctly, and that pilots are correctly trained and certified. However, although you will never verify it first-hand, you have faith that all these things are in place.
Why do you have faith in that situation? Well, because you are trusting that there are systems, training, accreditation, and maintenance are all in place, though you’ve never seen these things for yourself, have you?
The fact is that the God of the Bible values thought, reason, and logic. In the book of Isaiah, he challenges us with the words, “Come now, let us reason together.”
God always gives us enough evidence to start believing. Then he wants us to use our brains to look at the evidence and join the dots.
But when it comes to God, people don’t like joining the dots, do they? There’s a double standard here. Why is it that although we personally don’t understand everything about the physical world around us yet we believe it, why is it that people insist on understanding everything about the infinite God and the things of the spirit before they will believe?
That’s where trust comes in. This isn’t a strange concept, is it? Trust is fundamental in every relationship isn’t it. That’s what faith is for a follower of Jesus. Faith is trust.
For me, the central issue of faith has to do with the resurrection of Jesus. Let’s look at it. Yet God doesn’t ask you to believe that the resurrection actually happened based on some kind of blind faith. He’s given us with the evidence of hundreds of eye-witnesses, and the evidence of the resurrection’s impact on history. In fact, it would be hard to possibly come up with more evidence for the resurrection than what God has given us.
And so, God says, “I’ve given you a heap of evidence for that. I’m sure that now you can trust me for the rest.” And as far as “blind faith” is concerned, I’m all for using your brain. I’ll even go as far as to say that it’s the person who chooses not to look at the evidence and weigh it up rationally who is truly blind.
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