Faith: The Basis of All Human Belief

There are many people who claim to believe something because of some degree of empirical evidence. People who believe the earth is old claim to believe it is old based on some manner of carbon dating. They claim to base their theories of evolution on similarities in genetic sequences or fossils. In the same manner, because it is the way of Western society, people claim to believe in a young earth because there are still structures in place that would more likely disappear as the solar system ages. With any significant amount of time, the rings around some planets would vanish, the asteroid belt would thin, the Oort Cloud would dissolve, and spiral galaxies would flatten.

Have you ever noticed that no matter what our conclusions are, all the evidence we look at seems to support the conclusions we have already made? Everyone believes that all things have a common origin, but one group sees similarity and claims, “Common ancestry!” Another sees similarity and claims, “Common creator!” We seem to arrive at our conclusions based on an interpretation of the evidence that is presupposed by our upbringing, questions, and circumstances rather than an unbiased look at the mountain of so called evidence. When I begin to think about the nature of knowledge and what a fact is, I begin to question whether there is really any real empirical evidence in favor or opposed to anything at all. There are simply our observations, and we have to choose to have faith in what we observe. Then, we have to decide what we think it means. As people searching for meaning, we tend to assign a lot of meaning to things that might simply be gratuitous. They might not exist at all as objects. The universe might be entirely a simulation or real physicality that is emergent based on the collapse of the first superpositional atom. No one has an unbiased belief about any of it. That’s what we are left with, belief on all sides–not knowledge. Belief, no matter what our beliefs are, is a matter of faith–not fact on all sides and no matter how we wrap it to pretend we are better than people who believe different stuff. The truth is, facts are very difficult, if not impossible, to deduce.

So, I am immediately skeptical of anyone who claims the evidence clearly points to a certain conclusion. When probed, they can’t typically explain how. They simply expect people to agree with their assertions and the seemingly disconnected narrative they weave even though they weren’t there to observe a single thing. There is always speculation in both matters of religion and science. Most things worth believing are beyond the realms of both, invisible and unsearchable. Before we can be sincere with one another, we have to admit that we are not quite as intelligent as we believe. The narrative of the universe isn’t as clear as we might like. Our black and white view of things often falls to those gray areas where it is much more difficult to see how things fit together. We are misinterpreting our pride as so-called intelligence, and it puts us to shame more often than it proves our superiority.

This realization brings me to a certain biblical principle–human depravity. Even Jesus taught that no one can even see the kingdom of heaven unless he is born again (John 3)–unless God Himself personally reveals it to the individual person. I appreciate the Bible in that way. While every human-centered religion, and even the so-called scientific community, tells us that it is within our grasp to know all things by observation or experience, the Bible is honest with us. God is unsearchable. You will never prove Him according to your cute little sciences that can’t measure much. The Bible doesn’t go out of its way to try to prove God or manipulate people into a cult following. It simply leaves it to God to draw people because people would never be able to find Him. We see over and again that those who have the ears to hear will hear. Those who don’t will not. No one can enter the kingdom of Heaven unless he becomes like a child in faith.

From a worldly perspective, we scoff at the idea of faith. We treat people who openly have faith as if they are mentally challenged. When we get down to it, practicing science also requires much faith. I have to have faith that there is some consistency in the universe. I have to have faith that there are natural laws at work even though I don’t know their origin and can’t read them plainly. I have to have faith that I’m actually measuring something and not merely the result of a rendering simulation. I have to have faith in my own senses to work well. I have to have faith in my brain to work properly. The faith required to derive any scientific result whatsoever is a great mountain. Anyone who says there is no faith or bias involved is simply being intellectually dishonest. We scoff at something that is necessary and good. We scoff at the idea of faith not because we are intelligent but because we are prideful.

Pride leads us to be dishonest about ourselves. Pride causes us to think we have the final answer on any topic. Pride leads us to believe we can interpret so-called evidence the correct way. Pride leads us to think that anyone who believes something different is a lesser person. When we get down to it and really think about our conclusions, we realize that instead of factual knowledge, we all have faith-based belief based on our convictions. Based on our beliefs, we hold to narratives about origins or write new ones even though none of us observed it. On every side, we like to tell grand tales about how we got here and why we exist even though none of us were there to confirm it by observation. In this sense, even the modern day popular scientific movement is its own religion with its own prophets spinning narratives about origins, purpose, and an eventual end of the world. It has different modern terminology, sounds a little more intellectual, and comes with its own set of rituals, but it really is simply the newest religion on planet Earth. It’s based entirely on faith like everything else–so it really doesn’t offer anything new. In a thousand years, their religious texts will be set aside for the next thing.

In sum, it is dishonest to neglect faith in any pursuit. If we have to persuade ourselves and everyone else that we don’t live by faith, our worldview is probably completely wrong. Knowledge is difficult, if not impossible, to gain in any real way. Faith is the basis of all human belief–even if people choose to be dishonest about it.