Multitudes of people in the twenty-first century are allergic to the word “faith.” Because of advancements in the fields of science, information, and technology they feel self-sufficient. They have convinced themselves they are more informed than were their ancestors because they have read books, heard lectures, and participated in discussions. They boast that they live by facts and logic and not by faith. They think faith contains neither facts nor logic.
This explains why the anchor lines of faith and morality have so often been cast aside in today’s world. It has become easy in this kind of world to believe that religious faith is infantile thinking, belief based on fallacy, superstition in the age of science. Modern man, therefore, feels no need of saving grace.
These observations lead me to point out that without faith there would be no progress, no brilliant discoveries, no achievements, no high attainment in any area of our lives or field of endeavor. All seeking for truth, be it scientific or religious, theistic or secular, is an act of faith. There is no significant conflict, when properly understood, between science and religion. Like science, those who believe in God begin with what we know, ask questions regarding what may be known, and then venture forth toward that which has not yet been discovered.
The writer of the letter to the Hebrews was both Christian and scientific when he said , “By faith we understand that the universe was formed at God’s command, so that what is seen was not made out of what was visible” (Hebrews 11:3 NIV). That is true of chemistry, physics, and Christianity. Without faith there is no progress, for only by faith do we move from what currently exists to what may become possible.
Faith is a part of all basic human relationships. Christopher Columbus sailed for the New World because certain people had faith in him. The people who sailed with him had faith in him. His theories about navigation and geography were probably not understood by those who trusted him, yet they sailed with him. They had faith in him.
The couples who stand at God’s altar to be married have faith in each other. There are many things that no bride and groom know about each other. Neither do they know what the future holds of wonder or surprise, but they are willing to trust the unknown because they have faith in each other.
All business is conducted on the basis of faith. Banks, investment houses, commercial concerns, and industry, all operate on the basis of faith. Without faith there could be no contracts, no agreements, no commitments, and no courts. All that is good between people, all that we say and all that we do is evidence of our faith in one another. Without faith we can do nothing. When faith is lost, homes are broken, partnerships are dissolved, businesses are ruined, churches are divided, and nations go to war with each other.
Finally, it should be said that faith in God undergirds every other relationship in life. Who but God placed our earth near enough to the sun to be warmed and healed, yet far enough away to prevent our being reduced to ashes? Who placed the moon where it would give us reflected glory, and raise and lower the seas, without destroying the earth?
Faith unequivocally and unashamedly says, “God did!” It would take a great deal more faith to believe that our almost limitless universe – with both its complexity and unity – just happened without there being a creative mind behind it all. That is why the kind of faith that people need most, and which pays the greatest long-term dividends, is to believe in God.
Lillian Smith, in The Journey, said, “To believe in something not yet proved and to underwrite it with our lives: it is the only way to keep the future open. Man, surrounded by facts, permitting himself no surprise, no intuitive flash, no great hypothesis, no risk, is in a locked cell. Ignorance cannot seal the mind and imagination more securely.”
The Paper Pulpit 
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