The Substance and Evidence That is True Faith

What is faith? A direct answer has been provided for us in the 11th chapter of the book of Hebrews. This one book of the Bible provides in its forty relatively short verses an exact meaning, and some definitive examples of this often misunderstood and often undervalued spiritual principle.

Hebrews begins with the definition, that "faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen." But it does not leave us there with no direction as to where this quality originated, or with no practical examples that highlight the simple definition of faith.

It is the 'substance' of things hoped, their very essence or foundation. Without a solid foundation, a structure or a system, or a person, will crumble. Faith is the substance of every good thing that we wish for ourselves and those we love. With faith, the achievement of all our dreams and goals is made possible.

It is the 'evidence' of things not seen. We cannot 'see' the being of God. We cannot look into His eyes. His arms do not wrap around us in a hug that we can feel. But when we have faith, we are actually aware of His loving presence in our daily lives. During our best of good times, our most difficult periods of challenge, and during our most awful of tragedies we experience that we are never alone.

In the book of Hebrews we receive numerous examples of men and women who entrusted their faith in God and were rewarded. Noah in preparing the ark and its inhabitants while the sun shone. Abraham in his willingness to offer up his only son as a sacrifice in the belief that God would raise him or have a greater plan. Moses in choosing the truth of his Hebrew background over an adopted Roman one when confronted with a future filled with likely persecution.

Faith, it turns out, comes directly from God. "Through faith we understand that the worlds were framed by the word of God, so that things which are seen were not made of things which do appear." God created everything that is now, ever has been, and ever will be in existence. We can know this intellectually, without recourse to blind faith. Common sense in understanding visible and theoretical science points us to the signature of our Creator. Faith helps fill in the blanks and answer the questions.

God did not leave us photographs or video of his creation, but He did inspire our ancestors' words and visions to be left to us in the Bible. He did impart in us an intellect and critical thinking ability. And more importantly, He sent His Son to us to teach us directly. Jesus Christ let us know through His teaching that we "need only have faith as small as a grain of mustard seed, and we can say to a mountain "move from here to there", and it will move."

In Romans 10:17, Paul imparts to us that "faith comes by hearing, and hearing by the word of God." This gives us practical instruction that we can gain and strengthen our faith by listening to God and the teaching of Jesus Christ, who emphasized this act of listening many times during his public ministry.

Read up on God's word, on Jesus' teachings. Perhaps just as importantly, listen to them. Go to church and hear His words spoken, His lessons taught, and share the experience with others. Remember what Jesus said, that "wherever two or more are gathered in my name, there I am in the midst of them." Your faith will be affirmed in His truth, the truth which truly shall set you free.

An Existential Threat

Israel has been a people since early Biblical times, since around the 20th generation of mankind following their creation in the Garden of Eden. God promised the ancient land of Canaan to the Jewish patriarch Abraham and what would be his innumerable descendants in a covenant that would be in exchange for their worshiping Him as their God. This covenant anointed them as God's 'chosen people', and He promised them his blessings as long as they would worship Him and obey His commandments. God also promised Abraham that in regards to the nation he would "bless those who bless them, and curse those who curse them." The same covenant was made by God with Abraham's son Isaac, and through to Isaac's son Jacob, who during his life had his named changed to 'Israel'. The sons of Israel eventually prospered in the neighboring land of Egypt before their descendants became so numerous that the Pharaohs feared and enslaved them. After hundreds of years of slavery, the Israelites were freed by God through the leadership of Moses and the imposition of a series of plagues on the Egyptians. Under Moses and with God's help the Israelites returned to the promised land. Beginning just over a thousand years before the birth of Jesus Christ, and continuing for almost a thousand years, various Israelite kingdoms and states ruled over the promised land. This beginning is the root of Israel's nationhood, established here on earth by the will of God Himself. Down through the ages at various times the people of Israel drifted away from God's law, and He punished them with eviction from the promised land at the hands of the Romans and with dispersal among the nations of the earth in the time just after the life of Christ. However, he made another covenant with Israel that was conditional on them repenting, and returning to Him and His law. On this repentance they would be returned to the promised land, be restored with God, and be blessed even above their forefathers. In the last century we finally saw that regrouping of the Israeli people, the Jewish nation, in the promised land which culminated in the historic founding of the Nation of Israel. Since it's founding, the United States has been the biggest supporter of Israel, and it is God's promise of blessing on Israel's friends that is the foundation upon which America itself has flourished and become the world leader. But there remain enemies of God's chosen people here on earth who do not share Israel's faith or belief in God. These enemies do not recognize the covenant or even Israel's right to exist as a nation, and who want nothing less than Israel's expulsion from or destruction in the promised land. Recent decades have seen numerous attacks on Israel by these nations, either individually, in unison, or through proxy terrorist organizations. The goal is always the same for these Muslim nations: the destruction of Israel and it's erasure from the Middle East map. In recent years and months, the Islamic nation of Iran has been attempting to develop nuclear weapons as its radical President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad has made public statements that Israel is "a rotten, dried tree that will be eliminated by one storm" and is "a regime based on evil that cannot continue and one day will vanish." On Tuesday, Israel saw Benjamin Netanyahu sworn in as its Prime Minister. The tough and hard-line Netanyahu was elected to the position by an Israeli population that had grown weary of its leaders constantly bargaining away land to the Arabs and receiving no reciprocity other than continued attacks and threats. While campaigning he promised that if he were elected "Iran will not acquire nuclear arms, and this implies everything necessary to carry this out." Now that he has been sworn in, Netanyahu has put the world, particularly American President Barack Obama, on notice that if nothing is done to dismantle Iran's nuclear program, then Israel will do it themselves, calling Iran "an existential threat to Israel." He is absolutely correct in this assessment. But Obama was elected in America largely as a peacemaker, and you can bet that he will not lead or authorize any attacks on Iran. Instead, he and the European leaders and the liberal media who have coddled radical Islam will continue to press Israel for further concessions, and even go so far as to paint the Israelis as instigators and aggressors. Nothing could be further from the truth, and the American people should not stand for an American administration that will not continue to actively support God's chosen people in the promised land. Turn away from Israel, and America will surely find that God will turn away from her, which would create the greatest existential threat to America in our own history as a nation.

Our Lenten Burden is Light

Yesterday was 'Ash Wednesday' which marks the beginning of the 40-day period leading up to Easter marked by sacrifice and fasting known as Lent. The origins of this pre-Easter fasting period have been disputed. Some feel that Lent traces back to the Apostolic era of Jesus' followers themselves during the years immediately after his death. Others feel that it developed later, perhaps around the time of the Council of Nicea in the early fourth century. Whatever the origins of the custom, it has become a period of forty days based on various Biblical examples provided for such a period by Moses, Elias, and Jesus Christ Himself, who was said to have laid in the tomb for forty hours. In the early years the actual fasting periods and methods varied in many places, but of course it generally involved someone intentionally 'giving something up' from their regular daily lives as a sacrifice in remembrance of the ultimate sacrifice that Christ had made on the cross. Socrates spoke of the practice in the fifth century when he described some who "abstain from every sort of creature that has life", meaning that these people would eat only fruits, vegetables, nuts, grains, and things of this nature. Still others, he said, ate fish only, or ate only birds and fish, or abstained from eating eggs, or ate only dry bread. There were still others in those times who were even more strict in their fasting, taking only a couple of meals each week, and the early rules of the Church on fasting said that you could only take such meals in the evening, and that meat and wine were forbidden during fasting. It was during the sixth century that Saint Gregory laid down what has become considered as common law within the Church. In a letter to Saint Augustine of England, Gregory stated "We abstain from flesh meat, and from all things that come from flesh, as milk, cheese, and eggs." Exceptions were made traditionally as 'dispensations' for special circumstances, as well as in exchange for gifts to the greater Church. There has still been a general prohibition on eggs and milk observed by many during the Lenten period, and from this over the centuries evolved the practice of the 'Easter egg' as a return to the produce on Easter Sunday. Many different customs and rulings from the Church Fathers evolved over the centuries, and the Holy See, the central administration of the Church, has modern rulings in place for Americans. In the United States today, the official Church position is that working men and women and their families may use flesh meat once a day throughout the year, except Fridays, Ash Wednesday, Holy Saturday, and the Christmas Vigil, and that during Lent we are not supposed to take both fish and flesh at the same meal. Besides the traditions and customs of sacrifice and fasting, since Vatican II the Church has emphasized Lent as a preparation period for the Baptism of catechumens, those individuals who are first coming in to the Catholic Church voluntarily as adults or older children. Lent is about conversion, the turning over of our lives more completely and fully to Christ, and nowhere is that process more full and complete than in the willing Baptism into the Church, which is itself the very body of Christ, of new believers. But it is not just for these 'newbies' that the conversion aspect is important. All believers are urged during Lent to not just give something up, but also to recommit to Christ and to our faith. We should all be encouraged to make a good, full Confession, do Penance, and thus receive forgiveness for our sins and make a new beginning. For many who have been away from the sacrament for a long time, that overcoming of your fear and your ego is a wonderful sacrifice in itself. The Lenten sacrifice lasts for a period of forty days, but you will have many more opportunities during the period to recognize your need for conversion. Not just on Ash Wednesday, or on Fridays, or on Sundays. Not even in your daily lives when you give up that candy, or soda, or smoking, or some other habit or sin. Every intentional act of drawing closer to Christ, be it increased prayer, the saying of the rosary, going to Confession, watching EWTN on television, being nicer to the people in your life. All of these things are acts of conversion, and all can be considered as a part of the Lenten sacrifice. Remember that whatever you give up, or whatever new you take on, none of your sacrifices could ever compare with the sacrifice that God has made for you. He gave up His only begotten Son that you might live. Jesus Christ suffered severe persecution and ultimately died on the cross so that your sins would be washed away. With this in mind we should all realize that our Lenten burden is indeed a light one.