Recently, Paul Boag shared how he came to a belief in God and His Son, Christ Jesus. He gave his story in response to those who often react in surprise when discovering his faith; those who do not believe in God cannot understand how a rational, intelligent person could believe such things. Paul’s article was built around the idea that believing in God and the person of Jesus Christ is intellectually sound.
I was thankful to see Paul write and share this article. He's a very well known and well respected member of the design community. And if there’s been one aspect of being involved in the web that has surprised and delighted me the most, it's been in discovering that I have so many brothers and sisters in the faith. Paul's article was another reminder of that.
However, after reading the piece, something didn't sit quite well with me for the rest of the afternoon. While taking this analytical, logical approach to defend having faith in the Bible and the claims it makes about God can be helpful, it's not enough.
Faith is not wholly intellectual
In order for a human being to believe that there is a God and that He has revealed Himself to us through His Word and in the person of Jesus Christ, there has to be more of a change. A sound, convincing logical argument is not sufficient to make this change. Because we’re not talking about changing the mind, but rather changing the heart.
The Bible is filled with language about the heart of a man. What is it referring to? Certainly not the muscle and tissue that pumps blood through the body. I'm no expert theologian with a Masters of Divinity, but I'll attempt my own definition … when the Bible talks of the heart, it's referring to the essence of a human. It's a combination of what he/she believes and how she/he acts.
Christ alluded to this when the religious leaders of His time were so concerned about what people put into their bodies, or if they ate with unwashed hands. Their premise was that unclean food or hands would make the people themselves unclean. Christ responded in Matt 15 and explained it this way:
Do you not yet understand that whatever enters the mouth goes into the stomach and is eliminated? But those things which proceed out of the mouth come from the heart, and they defile a man. For out of the heart proceed evil thoughts, murders, adulteries, fornications, thefts, false witness, blasphemies.
Christ knew it's the heart of a man that directs how a person acts and behaves.
Who’s in control?
My slight discomfort with Paul’s article is that, if read the wrong way, it could come across as if he has made this decision based on his intellect, based purely on sound rationale. There is no need for God to help him in this decision, because it’s perfectly rational. I don't believe that to be true.
In order for a human being to have faith in God, God Himself has to get things started. He changes the heart, then everything else follows. Here are a few statements that lead me to make this claim.
… because the outlook of the flesh is hostile to God, for it does not submit to the law of God, nor is it able to do so.
For by grace you have been saved through faith, and that not of yourselves; it is the gift of God, not of works, lest anyone should boast.
Then I will give them one heart, and I will put a new spirit within them, and take the stony heart out of their flesh, and give them a heart of flesh, that they may walk in My statutes and keep My judgments and do them; and they shall be My people, and I will be their God.
Only after this change of heart occurs can the mind follow. And it is God who works to make this change.
I have no idea how Paul Boag feels about all this. It's certainly possible he agrees. I simply walked away from his article feeling like credit needs to be given to God … for me personally, my faith comes from Him. Before my thinking could change, my heart needed to change. Big time!
I am incredibly thankful that He did that for me.
