Mutter, mutter, grumble and grouse

Mutter mutter grumble and grouse

... faith is of things hoped for a confidence, of matters not seen a conviction ... by faith we understand the ages to have been prepared by a saying of God ... (Hebrews 11:1,3 YLT)

Now faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen. ... Through faith we understand that the worlds were framed by the word of God ... (Hebrews 11:1,3 KJV)

"Faith is believing what you know damned well ain't so" -- Mark Twain

It should be pretty clear to anyone with good sense (excusing militant Islamists and the XnRt) that faith is not about certitude but about one’s willingness to go along and let it be. Let what be? Whatever. Whether it’s religious boilerplate -- which is to say the Nicene Creed -- or trust in the world around us including friends and loved ones, and the weather channel, and confidence that shortly the sky will lighten and the sun rise. 

Someone said “faith is belief,” which is fair enough if one has sense enough to see, perceive, understand, realize, that belief is not the same as certainty.

The Christian faith is something about God is whoever* said “Let there be” and it was so; God is whoever spoke to Moses from the burning bush; God is whoever led Israel out of Egypt; God is whoever Jesus called Abba; God is whoever raised Jesus from the dead and, because we believe those things, loving God and loving neighbor. We do not know those things as certainty, but believing the testimony of the ages as recorded in the Bible, we decide to let them be our Truth. I am thus a Christian, a member of the Christian church and accept as Truth the Christian faith with its life obligations of loving God and neighbor as we promise in the Baptismal Creed.   

As a naval officer I was an official U.S. Government contracting officer in one capacity or other off and on for twenty years. To every contract we always attached something we called “boilerplate,” which is all the binding details that are identical and the same from contract to contract. We always knew what was in the boilerplate, but we didn’t feel we had to go through and read the boilerplate every time we signed the contract. In the same vein, it beats me why the rubrics require us to stand and read the boilerplate every time we have a church service. 

I believe it even though I realize that “just because I believe it, that don’t make it so,” but again, I don’t feel the need to stand and read the boilerplate every time we assemble in ecclesia. I “have faith” -- just let it be. 

On the other hand, I do enjoy singing the song, “We believe in God Almighty, maker of all things that be,” which has been set to very singable music. 

   

Enough of my Friday dawn nonsense.

TW+

* i.e., in theological terms, "whoever or whatever"