Why do you have faith that God exists?
Why do you believe in this entity that can’t be proven, who has an inconsistent, almost erratic presentation in Scripture (i.e., compare Ps. 137.9 against I John 1:1-5), and who rarely gives a straight answer but seems to delight in confounding us about why, what, and how God does what God does!
On the surface, believing in God is almost ridiculous, so I love to ask people why they believe, why they put their faith in something that they will never know for certain is legit.
For instance, recently at the Academy of Homiletics meeting, I asked one of the professors in attendance why she believed. She said there were three reasons.
Faith Brings Hope
The first reason is that faith gives her hope.
She relies on faith to expand humanity’s imagination for a different, better, more loving way to live.
Without faith, believing in an alternate future than the one we create by our own ego- and power-tripping designs feels impossible.
Faith Makes Sense
The second reason is that faith makes more sense of the world than not having faith.
Science answers many questions, and it describes the mysteries of creation and our part in it.
But science can never describe it all, even when there is a neurochemical basis to love, awe, or connection.
Science can describe the how but it can never describe the why. Science can never reduce the experience of joy, wonder, or gratitude to a chemical interaction.
Faith comes from experiences
And the third reason, she said, is that she has faith because she can’t not have it.
She’s had too many experiences of the ineffable, too many encounters with something bigger yet more intimate and more true than anything else.
Even if she were able to say with conviction that God weren’t real, she’d still have to reckon with the experience of Love.
And then she asked why I believed, and I didn’t have anything to add to her list.
As we find during the Season of Epiphany, coming to faith is a process.
It’s built over time when strands of experience, curiosity, knowledge, and trust are knit together, resulting in loving action.
Quotes from those Who Got Curious
These quotes come from those who have gotten curious about:
Faith and Love
Faith and Trust
Faith and Doubt
Faith and Science
Faith and Works
I hope you find them helpful in your preaching and personal reflections.
Download your copy below.
What about you? Why do you have faith?