| Show 1 C I 1 V T E L R I 1 E N D cm CA n K VE 0 t 14 al 0 IN INITIAL NUMBER OF SERIES EN YEST YESTERDAY ERDAY the meaning of faith from the S standpoint of conviction certain basle basic points evolved at the presbyterian church sunday reverend carver began a series ot of sermons on the bible speaking from the theme the meaning of faith he said in part professor sant santayana ayana of harvard has said religion must withdraw its pre to dealing with matters of fact and such ono also are the convictions vict ions of man many whose acts and lives speak louder than their professions think of it A religion and a fat faith ll 11 upon pon which we are arc trusting through our faith in our christ tor for our souls salvation and et not be certain and grounded concerning it what kind of faith and religion would that be if our religion is real if our faith is real faith it must be founded upon facts wo we cannot say that faith takes for granted tho the promises of the bible or its statements twit without hout any adequate evidence or proof hope nil might ight do that but faith never could true faith in the sense in which the word was used by the now testament writers Is founded upon tipon the cle clearest arost of facts and there is no place for doubt in it at all one of the most amusing incidents in the story of don quixote la Is when the don summons all the people to combat ft ff they will ivill not confess that there is no more beautiful woman in the world than the queen of la mancha when those whom lie he meets surprised at this sudden command ask that a picture of this beautiful woman oman be shown to them that they may speak wisely concerning her beauty don quixote replies replie Z 1 show her picture to you what value then would there be in a confession of a truth of which you have such clear and convincing proof what I 1 demand is exactly this that you shall without seeing believe confess swear by and fight for this lady if you will not then prepare for war now strange as it roay may seen many in a religious WB wa ask for and expect I 1 act a con confession fesson of faith and life of service serice from as small amount of conviction as that implied in don otes challenge indeed wo we often licar hear belief or faith when related to religion defined as the acceptance of that which e have no means of knowing it if it be true or not and thus faith is said to be an attitude or relation to th the unknown the uncertain the unproved and the now as aa ln in tails this s series erles of sermons sermon s we are certain to endeavor to state certain basic facts that form the foundation for our fath faith it Is essential that we determine first just what the meaning of faith and belief is in ithe the bible set forth to be I 1 this is important for two reasons otis first because such wondrous promises are conditional upon our fath and belief and secondly because we wish to ask you wholly to have faith in a few great truths we eftimes hear bear people gibly profess such earnest faith in so many truths truth and prom sea sets that we can but wonder why the achievement of their life is so little in a religious way iway when the master promises so much for just a attle arnst and our inference I 1 that either their faith is not the faith of the bible or that the promises are untrustworthy faith is in fact used tor for ganv different in ln flir poplar speece speech h locko locke says faith is the es gent to any proposition as true of whose whole truth we have no nn pertain certain know knowledge this makes falth faith only co ex with and this is indeed the ordinary 1 i usage of the word today for most people make a distinction between faith and knowledge ithe the bible however uses faith alth the I 1 same as it does dees knowledge to have faith Is to be certain and in biblical faith there is no place for even the slightest dolbt thus it is that the biblical idea of faith is conviction to truth founded upon testimony and it 11 includes the idea of self commitment to that hat which is believed this brings faith arlid and belief to have even a stronger meaning than knowl knowledge dge for kuo luio may be peerless pw p erless to move the will of the kii knowing owing unless it arouses the one to action who believes the bible everow erd between dead faith ana sav saving I 1 ng faith the differ is that deal dea 1 faith aerl e 4 letl tit or no power over the life an I 1 1 i a ter of ane believer may alay it nt not be prible that most of the faith of to a is dead faith loose use yf vf words is one of the strange peculations speculations of our language we see another marked instance of it in the use of the word knowledge kow know edre should be that of which we are certain but the scientist tells us its that there Is no evi evidence derice that is certain evidence for from the stana standpoint point of science no evidence gets bets beyond the region of the probable only abstract reasoning is theoretically certain there have been so many theories and so sa called facts discarded by hewer discoveries that this view has come to be the accepted one thus it is that if one refi refuses ses to have faith because of jack of evidence the answer Is readily given that the same objection can be brought against hav ing or st striving rIvIn ki to havo any knowledge 11 there Is another phase to the fact that many refuse to have faith because of lack of evidence now of course there must be sufficient evidence to produce conviction if we aro ara to bave any real faith but let us bo be very careful how we place our ideas above the evidence presented the evidence which satisfies me may not satisfy you I 1 may not draw conclusions beyond the evidence when I 1 accept that which you refuse the evidence wag all at hand band long before nowton concluded for the stating of the law of gravitation tile the ages had refused the evidence newton did not and ho he was right there had been many who had noted the same phenomena which led columbus to try to find a western passage to india but they had refused the evidence therefore do not say there is not enough evidence to gender faith in christ a and na god it if faith is to be interpreted as conviction foun founded lea upon testimony wait and see j 1 do not ask you to to believe much I 1 i I 1 I 1 would rather you would believe a little but believe it whole in other words have strong faith in it a little rather than opinion merely about much for I 1 do want you to know tor for certainty that you have some faith there are certain basic truths and realities to which religion science ind and philosophy lend their united testimony stirel surely y you can have not guess work not opinion s but whole conviction when it is founded upon testimony like that and that con eviction will be falth faith indeed f |
