Resources/Articles
Is Your Faith Subjective or Objective?
According to an article that was published in the New York Daily Times, August 24, 2007, written by Helen Kennedy, Mother Teresa, the famous humanitarian, had struggled with and lost her faith in God. According to her own letters, she felt “unwanted, unloved” by God, and instead of faith, had nothing but “emptiness and darkness.”
In 1946, when she was a 36-year-old convent teacher, she thought Christ “spoke directly” to her and she felt a “deeply personal bond with Jesus” and recounted “conversations and visions” she had with him. However, the heavenly voices she thought she had heard ceased, and “it was that loss that she mourned the rest of her life.” Spending “her last 50 years secretly struggling with doubts about her faith,” she “felt abandoned by Christ, referring to Jesus as ‘The Absent One.’” It seems her faith was built on hearing - hearing what she thought were voices rather than on hearing the word of God. When the voices ceased, so did her faith. How sad.
God intended for our faith in Christ to be built on historical, objective evidence. “Go…preach the gospel…He who has believed…” (Mark 16.15-16). “Therefore, [based on the evidence presented] let all the house of Israel know for certain that God has made him both Lord and Christ…Now when they heard this, they were pierced to the heart…those who received his word were baptized” (Acts 2.36-37,41). “Many of those who heard the message believed” (Acts 4.4). This was the work given to the apostles, prophets, and teachers of the first century - preach the word. People were commended for “examining the scriptures…to see whether these things were so.” Result: “Therefore many of them believed” (Acts 17.11-12). God’s plan was, “Faith comes by hearing…the word of God” (Romans 10.17).
In the story of the rich man and Lazarus, Abraham told the rich man, “They (the rich man’s living brothers) have Moses and the Prophets; let them hear them” (Luke 16.29). Moses and the prophets are long dead. His brothers had the writings of Moses and the prophets - they were to hear their written word.
Likewise, the apostles, prophets, and teachers of the gospel in the first century are long dead. But we have their writings and this is where our faith should be based. “These have been written so that you may believe that Jesus is the Christ” (John 20.31). “It seemed fitting…having investigated everything carefully from the beginning, to write it out for you…so that you may know the exact truth” (Luke 1.3-4). “By referring to this, when you read you can understand my insight into the mystery of Christ” (Ephesians 3.4). “I will also be diligent that at any time after my departure you will be able to call these things to mind…this is now…the second letter I am writing to you” (2 Peter 1.15-3.1). God’s plan still is, “Faith comes by hearing…the word of God” - the written word of God.
A song in our songbook says, “You ask me how I know he lives…He lives within my heart…I know that he is living, whatever men may say; I see his hand of mercy, I hear his voice of cheer, and just the time I need him, he’s always near.” What does the songwriter mean? What do we mean when we sing this? Is faith in Christ based on something “within my heart”? Yes, faith resides within the heart; not the chest pump, but our mind. Is our faith based on something “within” or something without - objective, historical evidence - that which is declared in God’s word?
If someone asks us why we believe in Jesus, is our answer, “I know it because of what’s within me” or “I know because of what God has revealed in his word”? One definition of faith is “strong belief in God or in the doctrines of a religion, based on spiritual apprehension rather than proof” (Oxford Dictionary). Is this how we view faith - a “spiritual apprehension” within, not dependent on proof? “I know that he is living…I see his hand of mercy…”
What if a friend you have been praying for dies? Does this mean Jesus is not living in you since you did not “see his hand of mercy” to give your friend life? Is our faith based on personal experience - “I hear his voice of cheer, and just the time I need him, he’s always near”? Maybe this isn’t what the songwriter alluded to. But if our faith is based on “spiritual apprehension rather than proof,” on personal experiences, or on culture (i.e., mom and dad believed…), when these fail we too may enter the terrible darkness of doubt where the saving of souls “holds no attraction,” where “heaven means nothing” (both from Mother Teresa’s letters). Faith comes by hearing - not from voices within, not from personal experiences, not from our parents, and not from the church - but by “hearing…the word of God.”
Build your faith on the scriptures. Teach your children the evidences in God’s word. If you want to convert your neighbor, equip yourself to present the evidences the Holy Spirit has given us in the written word of God. Why? Because “Fatih comes by hearing, and hearing by the word of God.”
Then, in all the storms and uncertainties of life, faith can remain sure for the foundation upon which it rests is sure - “The word of the Lord endures forever. And this is the word which was preached to you” (1 Peter 1.25).
