In Theology 201:
siliconwafer said: January 13th 2012 12:16 PM
Faith according to Hebrews 11:1

Hebrews 11:1 says, "Now faith is the assurance of things hoped for, the conviction of things not seen." Can anyone here on this discussion board what this verse means? Is this verse saying that faith means to be confident that what has been promised will come to pass?
I don't think so... In short:

Faith is by hope, not just "not by proof."
Heb 11:1 Now faith is the substance of things hoped for, the conviction of things not seen.

Faith is not magic ie the stronger you believe, the more likely it will come true.

Faith is our ability to believe on all the evidence that something is true without actual proof and all scripture is understood by faith, not proof...faith in the interpretation we have learned from an authority we accept or the spirit who leads us.

2 Corinthians 5:7 We live by faith, not by sight, (ie proof). NO SECT / PERSON HAS PROOF, just faith.

Why is faith so important to GOD?

Faith has the unique characteristic of defining who we are and what we want that can't be duplicated by any other method.

Think about sitting around with your friends, having a sip of a nice wine, nibbling on snacks, and someone says, "If you could be God, what kind of God would you be, and what kind of universe would you create?" Idle speculation can be fun right?

One might choose an Hindu interpretation, suggesting a world where every act is rewarded according to its moral content with himself as the judge in an endless circle of lives slowly moving upward in moral evolution for eternity. Another might counter that that might get boring so someone in that world should be able to become enlightened and move on to pure bliss, leaving this circle of life.

Some friends might group together to be a pantheon of gods to their creations, and someone else might chose to animate special places and mountains, rocks and pools with special spiritual forces to lead their creations. And some might not play the game at all, not wanting a reality with any god at all.

And all this speculation about what kind of spiritual reality you think is most perfect continues until three of the group, ordinary but maybe looking a bit older suddenly tell you that that is all certainly reasonable but the fact is that they, the three of them, were in fact our GOD and creator though they looked just like the rest of us, and that THEY / HIM had a plan for our creation which we would have to accept or reject sooner or later,with different consequences.

How would YOU choose in the face of this? Would you not talk to everyone about this strange development and whether they thought it was reasonable or even possible? Might there not be some who turned their noses up at these three as liars and a false god (while wishing they had thought of it first) who claimed we were all as good as THEM and need not think about THEM at all?

Might not others hope that the trinity were indeed false gods so as to not disturb their hope that the nature of reality was the way they had conceived it to be during their time of speculation?

And might not all ask deeply searching questions about what kind of reality they faced if the trinity were in fact GOD? Thus they would learn that THEY promised that to accept THEIR purpose for their creation would bring them two promises, first they would be chosen to become members of HIS holy church for eternity and if they should ever go against HIS will and become sinful and depraved, HE secondly promised to never quit loving them but to do all HE needed to do to ensure they came back to their first choice to accept HIM.

On the other hand, THEY told us that in THEIR reality that a choice to rebel against THEM due to a deep hope and abiding faith that HE was a liar, would alienate them from HIS divine purpose for their creation for all eternity, because once they knew the truth and GOD's reality was proven, they could never again put true hope / faith in GOD but could only bow to HIM from force and self preservation, their deepest hopes of reality dashed for eternity.

Such people outside of HIS plan for them could never fulfill love nor true worship so He told them they would be damned, separated forever from HIS glory and communion in hell.

These are the things we all pondered until we gravitated toward the position of our greatest hope and our willingness to put our faith in that hope to be true until we had all thereby chosen our own best reality.

Thus hope and the depth of our faith / conviction of that hope separates us all in our relationship with GOD from close by quickly and fully hoping deeply that THEY were who THEY said THEY were to those who accepted because they hoped only to miss damnation to those who refused to have faith in THEM at all, putting their faith and hopes in their own plans and desires.

Proof of which reality was true before the choice was fully realized would destroy this development of faith as the great divider in people's hearts. Proof after the choice would metaphorically "freeze" everyone's choice at that stage because with that proof would come the end of faith...faith proven is knowledge, not anymore faith.

And this is a good simulation of how GOD let everyone choose, by a true free will choice, their future reality with HIM and self chose their own destiny by faith and proves the importance faith has in the free will process.

Peace, Ted