Is the opposite of faith - disobedience??

bob_2 · 09-20-09 11:19 pm

The opposite of faith is not doubt or certainty; it's disobedience. - David Hamstra David Hamstra is a Divinity student at Andrews University. He has a BA from Canadian University College and was a pastor in Grande Prairie, Alberta for nearly four years. He blogs at apokalupto. The above quote, and the article below are from his blog: <a href="http://apokalupto.blogspot.com/" target=_top>http://apokalupto.blogspot.com/</a> (scroll down) <blockquote><hr size=0><!-quote-!>quote:My Theological Education Or Between Doubt And Certainty Faith exists somewhere between and beyond doubt and certainty. If all you have is certainty, you have no need of faith. If all you have is doubt, you don't see the need for faith. Faith is what happens when you have reasons to doubt, reasons to be certain, and, in that situation, choose to trust. Last year, a friend and I were reflecting on our theological educations. During our undergrad, we both attended the same school, Canadian University College, for four years--an experience that left us with more questions than answers. Later, as pastors, we both wrestled with those questions, finding answers to some and putting others on the shelf. Now we are doing our Masters of Divinity at the flagship seminary of the Seventh-day Adventist church in Andrews University and having the very different experience of being provided with more answers than questions. In some ways this is frustrating, because we know when a professor is oversimplifying facts or minimizing the weaknesses of the traditional Adventist position. But in other ways it is liberating to discover that others have found the same answers we came up with or, better yet, to be given novel solutions to questions we had left unresolved. Anselm said that theology is faith seeking understanding (fides quaerens intellectum). If this is true then the goal of theology must be to simultaneously explore doubt and sore up certainty. This, of course, is an impossible task. During my conversation with my friend I realized that institutions of theological education tend to favor one or the other. I realize that it is not good PR to characterize my alma mater, Canadian University College, as a institution that offers a theological education promoting doubt. But remember, doubt is not the opposite of, but a prerequisite to faith, for where there is no reason to doubt, there is also no reason to have faith. In fact, doubt was just what I needed at that point in my Christian experience. Fore example, I came out of high school believing that there were no major questions about the Bible that I could not answer, and that if a question about the Bible were to come up that I did not have the answer to, I would be able to look at the Bible and Ellen White's writings and find that answer with relative ease. In short, I had a high degree of certainty about the world, my life, and the way things ought to be, and as a result, I was not very open to God bringing anything new into my life. Questions, doubt, and uncertainty were what I needed to restore balance to my faith. This stands in contrast to my experience prior to entering seminary. I invested a great deal of time during my ministry reading material by those who emphasize the doubt side of faith, who present me with more questions than answers. Confronting these questions is well and good, but faith requires a healthy level of certainty in order to function. And as a pastor, I need to have answers that prompt faith for those who are struggling with doubt in their spiritual life. The mission of the MDiv program at Andrews University is to produce competant pastors, and what that means in the context of theological education is pastors who are certain of what they believe. One would expect the church's flagship seminary to be dedicated to promoting certainty, and there is definately a place for that, considering the significant doubts Adventist clergy and academics are known to harbor or even promote. But consider the implications of pursuing certainty of belief as an absolute. David Koresh is an extreme example of what can happen when a religious leader's certainty leaves no room for doubt. A pastor who is big on certainty will find it difficult to practice humility or patience and may end up damaging their church with their rigidity and inflexability. Perhaps it would be better if pastors left the seminary with some doubts intact. Because, for all the good certainty can do for a pastor, it is in realm of our doubts that God has room to grow us. I prefer to be more like Job, and less like his three friends. As I look back on my admittedly incomplete theological education, I see a new reason for certainty in my faith. On my path God has provided my faith with just what I needed when I needed it. Doubt tells me to chalk it up to happenstance, but I choose to trust my creator to continue to guide my life. And, I am glad that neither those institutions and individuals which promote doubt nor those which promote certainty are able to exclude the other from our church's system of theological education. I'm not saying a thousand theological flowers should bloom within Adventism, but the current institutional mix has been good healthy for me and others I've encountered. So maybe it's a good thing that we have the ATS and ASRS, but it's an even better thing that they're on speaking terms. I'll sign of with one final thought for you to comment on: The opposite of faith is not doubt or certainty; it's disobedience. Posted by David Hamstra at 9:22 PM <!-/quote-!><hr size=0></blockquote>

don · 09-21-09 12:11 pm

Disobedience: Opposite of Faith Apparently, Hebrew words were mostly concrete rather than abstract. The Hebrew word for Faith comes from the concrete noun "pillar" or "support". So, to have faith in God, is to apply one's support to God. If a person is breaking God's commands, he certainly isn't supporting God. ___________________________________ Further reading: Ancient Hebrew Thought <a href="http://www.ancient-hebrew.org/12_thought.html" target=_top>http://www.ancient-hebrew.org/12_thought.html</a> .

bob_2 · 09-22-09 3:06 am

<blockquote><hr size=0><!-quote-!>quote:FAITH AND ITS OPPOSITES Faith is a strange thing for many people. They would like it, they want it but yet they are not sure what it is and they are not sure of how to get it. They do not recognise it within themselves and they do not understand its opposites. Opposites are helpful in understanding something. Eg war is not peace; fiction is not fact; black is not white; sin is not holiness. But what are opposites of faith? Most people would answer “doubt”, but doubt can be part of faith and doubt can be indecisiveness and a personality characteristic. A better word for doubt that is the opposite of faith is “double-minded” James 1:5-8 Note in verse 6 “but let him ask in faith, with no doubting, for the one who doubts is like a wave of the sea that is driven and tossed by the wind.” This is a person who wants God but also wants the world, who wants God’s wisdom but also the world’s wisdom. There are people who want God’s wisdom but still live by their own wisdom, unless God’s wisdom agrees with them. That is not faith, because we cannot rely upon God and something or someone else. The second opposite is related to doubt, namely disobedience. We see it in Hebrews 3:17-18, “And with whom was he provoked for forty years? Was it not with those who sinned, whose bodies fell in the wilderness? And to whom did he swear that they would not enter his rest, but to those who were disobedient?” They did not enter the promised land because of their disobedience and their unbelief. If you believe God,then you believe God’s word. If God in His word tells you to do something, then you do it. If God in his word tells you not to do something, then you do not do it. To disobey God is to show you do not believe God; that you do not trust God; that you do not rely upon God and that you do not have faith.<!-/quote-!><hr size=0></blockquote> <a href="http://www.healingministrysydney.org/Sermons/060125%20-%20The%20Reluctant%20Hero%20of%20Faith%20.pdf" target=_top>http://www.healingministrysydney.org/Sermons/06012 5%20-%20The%20Reluctant%20Hero%20of%20Faith%20.pdf</a> (Message edited by Bob_2 on September 22, 2009)

john8verse32 · 09-22-09 8:21 am

“And with whom was he provoked for forty years? since that number...40... is a figurative number, are we not then justified in having faith that that verse is not to be taken literally? and since "faith" is belief in things not able to be proven, how does that make it the opposite of "disobedience"??? are the two mutually exclusive? cannot one have "faith" that the law says speeding is illegal, but that since the road is empty, and I'm a good driver, and my car is in top condition, the law does not apply to me?

don · 09-22-09 9:58 am

cannot one have "faith" that the law says speeding is illegal, but that since the road is empty, and I'm a good driver, and my car is in top condition, the law does not apply to me? A similar example: It is 3:00 a.m. A street light shows "red". The roads are empty of traffic. The light seems stuck on "red". Is it okay to drive through the "red" light? Faith is about relationship. We learn of Jesus, sitting at the right hand of the Father. We are invited, by the Word, to have faith in Jesus. What do we decide? .

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#1 09-20-09 11:19 pm

Is the opposite of faith - disobedience??

#2 09-21-09 12:11 pm

Re: Is the opposite of faith - disobedience??

#3 09-22-09 3:06 am

Re: Is the opposite of faith - disobedience??

#4 09-22-09 8:21 am

Re: Is the opposite of faith - disobedience??

#5 09-22-09 9:58 am

Re: Is the opposite of faith - disobedience??

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