The Opposite of Faith

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Trust in the Lord with all your heart;  don't rely on your own                     intelligence.  Know the Lord in all your paths,                                  and the Lord God will keep your ways straight.
Proverbs 3:5-6

The opposite of faith is not doubt.
The opposite of faith is anxiety.
These provocative statements are from Marcus Borg's book The Heart of Christianity.  Borg teases out and separates faith into two separate entities:  Belief and Trust.  Many Christians equate Belief and Faith--but this is a false dichotomy.  Belief is intellectual. It's the consideration of certain statements, and then choosing which statements we agree with.  For example:

Statement:  God is the Creator of the earth.
We can think about that.  We can consider all the alternatives (Big Bang Theory; evolution; constantly expanding universe, etc), and then decide if we accept the statement that "God is the Creator of the earth."  We can also consider a variety of ways of interpreting that statement.  Is it concrete fact based on a literal interpretation of the Bible?  Or is it the belief that the Sacred Spirit was somehow involved in the generation and regeneration of our physical world?  Or do we reject the whole notion that God is the Creator of the earth?

You see?  When we're talking about belief, we're talking about an intellectual exercise.  It's the "brain" part of religion. Belief is incredibly important...but is it the same thing as faith?

Full disclosure:  One of the highlights of my adult life was spending an entire week at camp learning from and riding horses with Marcus Borg.  He was an amazing man, and his books helped me realize that I was not alone in the way I viewed God, Jesus and the Christian Faith.  He gave me words to express what I had been trying for years to express.  And through his life's work, many of us have come to understand that the hardest part of Christianity to describe is how we as human beings connect with the Divine.

I would define faith as being the connection between us human beings and God.  I believe that every human beings has a connection to the Divine Presence--it's just that too many of us never realize it and never take steps to develop and strengthen that connection.  Faith is much harder to describe--belief is all about words and thoughts.  Faith is all about gut and instinct and sensitivity and feeling.  Faith is TRUST in God--trust that is deep enough to eliminate anxiety and fear.  

Our scripture and tradition teach us to "trust in the Lord with all our heart."  A close, loving, powerful connection to God allows us to trust God--no matter what may come our way.  We know we're OK because we know God.  Whatever we are going through at this moment in time will soon pass away.  We know this, because we see it with the eyes of the Eternal One.  And we trust in God's ultimate promise to us:  I am always with you.

And so I offer this for your consideration:
The opposite of BELIEF is DOUBT or DISBELIEF.
The opposite of FAITH is ANXIETY...
Because FAITH is all about TRUSTING GOD with our whole lives and the lives of those we love.  It's visceral--a "gut" thing--a connection we make in the very depths of our being.  
True FAITH is unshakable TRUST IN GOD.

Prayer Requests: continued prayers for the Navajo Nation, the health workers there, and all the Dineh people as they've reached at least 70 cases of COVID-19; for Julie Thomas, Jordan Haley and all health workers on the Navajo Nation;  for Jen Gaddis, Tye Sprague, Jan Gardner, Chris Ludington and all of the amazing people throughout our country and our world who are fighting this virus head-on; for ALL OF US as we discover the depth of our TRUST IN GOD, and thereby rediscover our FAITH

Peace and all good,
Pastor Jean

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