FAITH

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Now faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen. -Hebrews 11:1 KJV

Two names:  Michael Butterfield and Greg Koukl.

Mike and I became best friends during our first week of orientation at BIOLA. Throughout college, Mike daily went on and on about someone named "Koukl" (pronounced like “coke” + “ull”). What's a Koukl?? Well, it wasn't until a couple years after graduating -- during my year-long stay in Australia, where I listened almost daily to Stand to Reason lessons Mike shared with me -- that I truly appreciated the knowledge and wisdom of this Mr. Koukl.

Throughout the lessons, one of the things Koukl pointed out to his audience was to have a correct understanding of the word "faith."

I present how I would define it (using a bit of his words and a little bit of my own):

FAITH is reasonably believing and trusting in something; it is NOT hopeful wishing; it is NOT a blind running to something; it is a solid belief and trust.

My wife can testify to my ongoing passion for this understanding. Whenever we watch a movie or TV show together, and a character uses the word "faith," my ears prick up, and I verbally criticize when the character uses the word incorrectly. 10 out of 10 times, the character uses the highly-misunderstood-and-oh-so-widely-accepted definition:  faith is hoping, wishing, believing just because. It's usually used in the sense of, "Just believe it, and it will be so." I argue that the word faith is quite the opposite. Faith is reasonably believing in something because it is so. I'm not hopefully wishing that what I think and feel and believe is true. I'm solidly, reasonably believing and trusting in something that I absolutely know to be true. I haven't figured out why these 10 out of 10 characters don't listen to me, but as a writer, I'm hopefully wishing my characters can help shift the trend towards rightful thinking.

Thank you, Mike. Thank you, Koukl. You have made positive impacts on my life.

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If you want to read more from Mr. Koukl, check out his article called "Faith Is Not Wishing." 

https://www.str.org/w/faith-is-not-wishing

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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