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Word Gems 

exploring self-realization, sacred personhood, and full humanity

Kairissi and Elenchus discuss

Belief, Trust, Faith 

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Kairissi. The author has asked us to offer some concluding remarks on this important but contentious subject of Belief, Trust, Faith.

Elenchus. Much has been said with the Carl Jung testimony, the “1-Minute essay,” and the valuable commentary on Mark 11. And yet, because this topic oppresses and enslaves – not just millions, but – billions of people on planet Earth, we have some things to add.

K. I can tell you want to say something. Why don’t begin, my dear?

E. I’ll start with a well known verse in the Bible, Hebrews chapter 1, verse 1. It might be the most famous scripture on the subject of faith.

K. Let me read the passage: “Now faith is the assurance of things hoped for, the conviction of things not seen.” (English Standard Version)

E. And here it is, too, in the well-known Authorized Version: “Now faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen.” From my Greek studies a long time ago, I recall that the original term for assurance or substance conveys the sense of “undergirding” or “that which subsumes.”

K. The Message translation renders it “firm foundation.”

E. Yes, exactly - firm foundation.

K. This is really interesting because, as Hebrews 11 progresses, we’re offered references to the heroes of the Bible…

E. ... heroes of faith, as they’re called.

K. And the question becomes, how do we get that "firm foundation"?

E. When this Hebrews verse is quoted from church pulpits, the general explanation of “faith” resembles something the Queen of Hearts would say:

E. The clergyperson’s allusion to “faith” might come within the context of an appeal for money: “You might feel that you cannot give more or much to the church for God’s work, but let us try to have more faith as commanded in Hebrews.”

K. Or “faith” might come up when a ruling of the church seems insensitive or out-of-touch: “You have to have faith that God works through his appointed clergy.”

E. In these examples and others, the Blackrobes' call for “faith” becomes a directive to “try very hard to believe this now.”

K. Which is the teaching of the Queen of Hearts.

E. But I’m glad you pointed out that the rest of the Hebrews 11 gives us thumbnail accounts of lives lived as “heroes of faith.”

K. And so, for those who prefer a biblical perspective, to find out what a “firm foundation” of faith is, we need to look to the lives of the "heroes of faith."

E. Say more on this.

K. The "heroes of faith" are the big names of the Bible: the famous patriarchs - Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob – also, Joseph, Moses, David – we could go on.

E. And what did they get right about "faith"? By the way, my favorite is Joseph in Egypt; but keep going.

K. It wasn't just theory with them. They lived it. What’s needed is experiment and experience. Success here gives rise to evidence. And now we can trust. This is what Dr. Carl Jung said results from an authentic encounter with God, leading to real pistis, that is, genuine trust.

E. Give us more detail on this virtue of "trust."

K. The question will be asked – trust in what? It’s like this: You had a mystical experience, you know that God was involved, and God came through for you.

E. And now you trust in this experience with God, and you build your life around it.

K. The "heroes of faith" were not thinking like the Queen of Hearts; they weren’t huffing-and-puffing, trying very hard to believe in something inane. Instead, each of the “heroes” had a real-life experience in which God was involved. And their successful “experiment” with God led to an honest-to-goodness conviction concerning the reality of God.

E. (sighing) You know, this whole business of bad definitions of “faith” is really nasty. Many people are caught in bad ideas about this.

K. So much is made of “faith.”

E. In many churches “faith” is given top billing, virtually as the leading godly attribute. However, under close examination, it all falls apart as something very insubstantial.

K. People wouldn’t like to hear this, but “faith,” as commonly referred to, makes a good synonym for “superstition.”

E. The problem is, there’re tens of thousands of religious groups, and they all have true-believers who put faith in their organization’s teachings. Yet, all these teachings, in some measure, contradict each other.

K. That’s why there're tens of thousands of religions or denominations. In any case, in each of these groups people will attest “we are the one true church," and "we have the one true holy doctrines.”

E. People have “faith” that grandiose claims such as these are correct. But unless evidence is produced to support these assertions, “faith” devolves to “superstition.”

K. Without evidence, brash statements of “faith” become so much “puffing in the marketplace” led by the Queen of Hearts.

E. As we’ve used the phrase, it’s just empty god-talk, signifying nothing.

K. Elenchus, before we close we should offer a word more on the battleground of biblical translation.

E. “Belief” or “faith” are common words in the New Testament, and many would assume that “this is the way it is,” that we are required simply to believe in something.

K. But this assessment would be wholly incorrect.

E. It’s generally unknown that the underlying Greek words – actually, a family of Greek words, expressed as different cognates – might be translated variously, depending on the logical flow of the narrative. Stated differently, the Greek word pistis and its close linguistic relatives could be rendered passively or actively, so to speak, offering a sense ranging all the way from simple mental assent to bold conviction resulting in action.

K. This is very important to understand. And this is why in the Mark 11 commentary the Authorized Version translates as “believe” but Eugene Peterson’s The Message renders as “embrace this God-life, really embrace it.” In other words, one translation gives us “mere mental assent” while another takes us very far afield to “bold conviction resulting in action.”

E. Let’s offer a quotation from the Mark 11 commentary that discusses this exegetical problem:

Some of the translations of Jesus' instruction veer into contingency statements such as, "if you can believe," seemingly suggesting, "you can move that mountain if you grit your teeth hard enough, huff-and-puff, and then your will power will make it happen." And now we're back to the advice [of] the Queen of Hearts...

Jesus is not advising Peter, or us, to adopt rigid mental positions, to mindlessly agree. The Greek behind the English "believe," especially in the context of the discussion at the fig tree, is much more expansive in its dictates, reaching far beyond "think as I think," extending all the way to "live as I live, commit yourself as co-creator with God, allow it to envelop your spirit." This is why Eugene Peterson translated "believe" as "embrace this God-life."

K. Most people are not Greek scholars and would not understand that a narrative's contextual setting should dictate whether pistis is translated as simple belief, mere mental assent, or its more robust cousin indicating bold conviction that results in action.

E. Jesus is not arguing for mindless agreement. This is exactly what he does not want. Instead, he wants changed lives, he wants “bold conviction resulting in action” – he wants “embrace this God-life, really embrace it.”

K. Churches that focus on mere mental agreement, mere "faith" and “belief,” do so because they’ve not experienced the “inner life” that leads to conviction expressed as action in the world.

E. And wasn’t it the apostle James who said, to the effect, “Don’t come to me with empty god-talk about ‘faith’ but show me your faith by your works.”

K. Quite right – and this is the conviction leading to action that we're talking about. The churches that preach mere mental agreement do so because that’s all they have, a sterile view of “faith.” Without an accessing of the “inner life” leading to Jung’s “experience with God,” then one is left with blustering, like the Queen of Hearts, about commands to believe this-or-that under pain of punishment.

E. The churches command people to believe - but, as Alice said, this is impossible to do in any honest manner. You can't just decide to authentically believe something, even if you want to - the mind doesn't work that way; there has to be supporting evidence. No one in the history of the world has ever genuinely believed anything due to strong-arm tactics of "you must believe, or else."

K. In the field of law, mental assent is vital; contracts signed under duress, that is, with no legitimate mental assent, have no standing in court.

E. Excellent point. There's no enforceable contract in such cases. If you point a gun at somebody and say "sign the contract or else," they might sign just to get rid of you, but there's no "meeting of the minds," there's no mental assent, which is the essential element of contract law.

K. I’m inwardly casting about for a concluding principle, something to help everyone in their quest for authentic encounter with God. How shall we advise?

E. The author’s “small quiet room” book would be beneficial.

READ

K. Yes, it would, but I’m thinking of another source, as well. The “small quiet room” book, along with the instruction of other modern teachers, is often based on an earlier work – the lectures of Jiddu Krishnamurti. He spent something like 60 years, traveling everywhere in the world, speaking about the “life within.”

E. Jiddu is the best. The “life within” is our locus of experience with Divinity, and we can't really begin until we get this right.

K. Finding the “life within,” the true self, is step number one in the process of inviting mystical experience. And when we succeed here, then conviction and trust easily flow, as naturally as spring follows winter.