Engaging Truth

"Faith is the great cop-out, the great excuse to evade the need to think or evaluate evidence.  Faith is belief in spite of, even perhaps because of, the lack of evidence."

-Richard Dawkins

   So here we have something that challenges Christian beliefs, what is your first reaction?  Do you dismiss it out of hand, or do you actually try to engage with it?  What does it look like to actually engage with an idea you thing is wrong?  The problem is that many Christians when faced with a statement like the one from Dawkins, simply dismiss it without consideration or worse, accept it.  I know this, because I have watched them do it, and for many years, I did the same.  I told myself that if my faith was a form of denial, then I would rather have my faith then be damned.  That very thinking created an arrogant sort of faith that actually impaired my ability to relate to nonbelievers.  When faced with ideas that seemed to contradict my beliefs, I would turn away for fear of losing my faith.  So great was my fear that I could not be the face of love that Christ called me to be.

   Now, imagine you are thinking about going skydiving.  You do your research.  You find that out of about 3.1 million jumps in 2012, only 19 fatalities and 915 injuries were reported, and thus you reason that skydiving is a reasonably safe endeavor  You do further research on companies that take people skydiving until you find one that has a great safety record and lots of good reliable recommendations.  Now based on the evidence in front of you, you have a pretty reasonable and rational faith in the idea that you can jump out of an airplane and land safely.  The moment of truth comes when you are standing at the edge and you are only one step away from a 10,000 foot jump.  That change in circumstance creates a drastic change in mood.  Are you going to hold onto the things you decided were true when both feet were safely on the ground and jump?  Do you let the emotions of fear and uncertainty overwhelm you and chicken out?

   So here we have an example of faith that is based on evidence, and thus does not fit Dawkins definition of faith.  Since Dawkins' claim is that all faith is in spite of evidence and we have at least one example that shows otherwise, we can explain why his statement is false.  It is important to know the truth, but it also important to know why it is the truth.  That only happens when we engage and try to understand those we disagree with.

   

   As witnesses to Christ, we are called to be a light to those in darkness, and that cannot be done by refusing to engage with the world.  We must live by faith, but that faith cannot be based on arrogant dismissal of any idea that we do not like.  Living out a faith based on love means that we must always be ready to face questions which personally challenge and stretch us.  We are called to treat those who would be enemies with compassion and humility, not defensive words and cold shoulders.

"I am sending you out like sheep among wolves. Therefore be as shrewd as snakes and as innocent as doves.” - Matthew 10:16