I used to think that faith meant that I was sure of something intangible.

“Now faith is being sure of what we hope for and certain of what we do not see”  Hebrews 11:1

That’s the version I memorized as a kid anyway.  I looked up a bunch of other versions of this bible verse and in all of them there is this overall sense of certainty. 

“Faith is the reality of what we hope for, the proof of what we don’t see.”

“Now faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen.”

“Now faith is confidence in what we hope for and assurance about what we do not see.”

Interesting words when talking about faith:

Sure

Certain

Assurance

Conviction

Confidence

Evidence

Proof

Religion has made faith about certainty and assurance.  We go to church, or to god, or to the guru to find out what is true.  What is absolute.  What solid rock we can and should place our feet on. 

But is this what we are talking about when we talk about faith?  Should it be?  Doesn’t that seem sort of like an oxymoron to use the word faith and certainty in the same breath?  I mean, even though it says we cannot see the thing we are certain about, if we were certain and we had proof, why would we need faith at all?  Isn’t faith a trust in something that we have absolutely no proof or assurance or certainty about whatsoever?  Isn’t the key part in the Hebrews 11:1 verse the “do not see” part? 

The bible is full of stories of faith and none of them seem to me to be about proof or evidence, certainty or assurance.  The same chapter in Hebrews that is quoted above gives examples of faith and it seems to me that they are not about certainty at all, but about action paired with uncertainty and unknowing.   Noah builds an ark.  He had no proof or evidence about the flood.   Abram leaves his people with no real assurance of anything.  It says clearly, “even though he didn’t know where he was going.”   Sarah laughs because it is so ridiculous and of course she had no proof whatsoever that it could happen.  Moses’ mother had faith when she put him in a basket and sent him down the river, with no knowledge or certainty of where he was going or where he would end up.  

The Hebrews 11 passage about faith goes on to say, “Some were made fun of and even whipped. Some were held by chains. Some were put in prison. Some were killed with stones. Some were sawed in two. Some were killed by swords. They went around wearing the skins of sheep and goats. They were poor. They were attacked. They were treated badly. The world was not worthy of them. They wandered in deserts and mountains. They lived in caves. They lived in holes in the ground. All these people were praised because they had faith. But none of them received what God had promised.”

Now I know that religious folk will dismiss the last sentence by saying that this is talking about Jesus.  He was the promise.  But let’s think about that.  If Jesus were the promise, then anyone who saw Jesus would have been incapable of faith in him, because they saw him.  

This might be peripherally referencing the promise of a messiah, but it  isn’t centrally about Jesus, it’s about faith and how faith looks when it’s enacted in a person’s life.  These people are praised for their faith because they acted out something that had nothing to do with certainty, or knowing or receiving some promise in return.   

In other words, the certainty was not an intellectual certainty. It was an action. It didn’t take place in the head, it was embodied.

Faith is not a transaction that we embark upon with the universe.  It’s not about manifesting some outcome by believing in it or envisioning it.  And even though it’s an embodied thing, it’s not about doing “x” to get to a known place called heaven, or a known relationship of certainty with an undoubt-able god.

I know, I know, if we believe something is true, it is much more likely to be made true in our lives.  Like a self-fulfilling prophecy.  But again, this is not FAITH.  Faith is not proved by getting a miracle or an outcome.  Once you get the outcome, faith necessarily exits the picture. Faith is the part of the equation where we sit in unbelief, unknowing and uncertainty and still act.  And those great heroes of faith were the ones who continued in their faith even when they never manifested anything at all. 

I know a lot of folks who have taken their “faith” apart.  They have gone from being religious and feeling that they have the answers to being doubtful or even atheistic.  Many of them would say they have lost their faith, left their faith behind and so would their religious friends and family. 

But have they?

Haven’t they, for the first time actually ENTERED the realm of faith? 

Haven’t they gone from certainty to uncertainty?

Haven’t they, like Abram, just left the land they were familiar with, the land of their forefathers, the place they know and feel safe in and entered into a territory where they don’t know where they are going, what they believe, and where they have no assurances?  Haven’t they gone from living in a solid house to living “in a tent like an outsider in a strange country?”

Haven’t they just pushed their very self out into a river, in nothing more than a basket with no idea where they are going or if they will survive it? 

Haven’t they just stepped off solid ground, stepped out of the boat and onto the water?   They are existing in a realm where nothing is sure, nothing is certain.  They have no solid ground under their feet.  They are asking the questions and risking that there may be no answers.  

And when the wind and the waves cause them to be afraid and sink, their religious friends and family seldom reach out a hand like Jesus, but rather make fun of them, reject them, attack them and stone them and “saw them in two” just as the heroes of faith in Hebrews 11 were treated. 

These uncertain adventurers are “wandering in deserts and mountains and living in caves and holes in the ground.”

The religious community is not praising this kind of a journey, the journey that includes doubt and unknowing, the journey of walking on water.  This kind of faith is NOT the faith that is sought after and praised. 

We have no grace for it. We have no space for it. We recoil from it.  We want the kind of faith that gives us security, certainty and a means to receiving a promise.  A promise of blessing, a promise of a miracle, a promise of safety and security, a promise of heaven.  

That’s not faith. 

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